Better Know a Pretender: The Oracle

[OmikronWarrior]

Better Know a Pretender: The Oracle

"The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.”- Freud

Cost: 0
Base Dominion: 4
HP: 10
Size: 6
Strength: 15
Attack: 5
Defense: 0
Precision: 10
Base Protection: 25
Starting Magic: Astral-3 and 40 points per new path
Slots: 4 Misc., no head, hands, chest, or feet.
Movement: 0
Base Encumbrance: 0
Miscellaneous: IMMOBILE, lifeless, blind, does not eat.
Availability: Almost every land nation, exceptions in include Abyssia, Mictlan, Utgard and a few others.

Pros: It's very cheap, has high base dominion, starts with 3 levels of Astral magic, and has extra miscellaneous slots.

Cons: It can't move except through magic means. Lacks head, hands, chest, and feet slots. Inability to equip Dwarven Hammer particularly painful.

First Impression: I love the Oracle, at least for certain nations and strategies. The chassis is perfect for affording great scales while giving players and a powerful Astral based endgame. Admittedly, players who like a Pretender to take provinces for them and bash armies in the midgame are going to find the Oracle very wanting. Don't be fooled, though, with the right spells it can be a dominate force on the battlefield as well as behind the lines.

Awake Strategy: Practically nonexistent. Without research, all this pretender can do is, well, research. If a player is that desperate for early game research, there are probably better routes to take.

Bless Strategy: Astral as a bless is considered “situational.” Astral-9 grants all sacreds Twist Fate, which means the first damaging attack is neutralized, but the effect is lost for the rest of the battle. For most sacreds, thats a marginal benefit. However, for a sacred thats unlikely to get hit in the first place, it becomes much better. In this regard, an Astral bless, which is really cheap with the Oracle, works best with a Water bless, which is not nearly as cheap. The classic example is Middle Ermor Shadow Vessels, which come with high defense and ethereal. Their undead status means they also greatly benefit from the increased Magic Resistance, which can help protect low MR sacreds of all nations.

Magic Diversity Strategy: Astral magic by itself is a great way to diversify due to two Construction-6 forges, the Ring of Sorcery and the Ring of Wizardry. The first improves Astral, Blood, Nature, and Death magic by one. The second, improves every path except Holy by another one. Equipping one of these Rings is like a movable level of empowerment. They are more expensive to forge with the Oracle due to the inability to equip Dwarven Hammers, but the Oracle will save the player in pretender points. Beyond Astral, the best path to add to the Oracle is undoubtedly Earth. The amount of forging that can be done by Earth and Astral is enormous, including Crystal Coins, a +1 Astral booster that may make up for the fact that Oracle can't wear the Astral booster cap. Also forged with Earth and Astral are Crystal Matrices and Crystal Shields. Finally, at 50 points for a new path, the Oracle should be limited to one or two additional paths at the very most, and only if the offer an obvious benefit. Also, keep in mind that the Oracle cannot use some boosters. It can simultaneously equip a Crystal Coin, Ring of Sorvery, Ring of Wizardry, and a Tome of High Air granting +4 to Astral, but it can't equip any of the Death Boosters. An important thing to consider when picking paths for diversity.

Army Strategy: The Oracle unfortunately lacks the capacity to keep up with your armies on the move. However, if the player knows where the next attack is going to occur (such as an imminent siege), the Oracle can Teleport to that location. Or, it can just Teleport right on top of the enemy army. Astral does give a handful of nice buffs (with Will of Fates topping the List), though most of them can be cast by your garden variety Astral Mages and not worth the time of the the Astral 6-12 Oracle. What the Oracle really wants to do on the Battlefield is cast either Arcane Domination (if facing Magical Beings) or Master Enslave. Where as most nations trying to cast this spend their time trying to get the boostes and communion strong enough to cast these spells without killing the slaves, the Oracle can easily have enough magic as its base. And with extra miscellaneous slots, it gets better. An Oracle can simultaneously equip Rings of Wizardry and Sorcery (which simultaneously improve Astral and Penetration), penetration gear such as Eyes of the Void or Spell Foci, and other items such as a Crystal Matrix to quickly lead a communion. This extra power and penetration makes the spell much more effective. And when in doubt, the Oracle and simply whisk the army away by casting Vortex of Returning.

Scale Strategy: As suggested earlier, the Oracle really is best when imprisoned, though Teleport can be learned relatively early and the Oracle can start being helpful by year one making Asleep viable. I can say that an imprisoned Oracle with Astral-9 leaves enough points for Dominion-8, Order-3, Production-3, Growth-3, Temp-1, Magic-3, and Misfortune-2. These can be adjusted to taste.

Conclusion: As I said earlier, don't let the lack of physical mobility to fool you. The combination of Teleport and the “Returning” school of spells means the Oracle can move just fine. Meanwhile, it provides a powerful weapon to control endgame globals and devastate armies on the field of battle. It also is the most affordable pretender in the game. Just be prepared to expand using national troops at the beginning.

P.S.

If anyone would like to contribute to the BKaP project, feel free. Ideally, contributors should follow my general format and have used their Pretenders in MP and be able to offer honest insights. Uncommon or underutilized Pretenders make the best additions.