Commune with Nature

[Vraister]

Hey,
last session my Druid casts Commune with Nature to track some Orcs down which left a couple of hours before. Actually they were not in range anymore but I'm wondering what you could find out with Commune with Nature.
The spell description is not totally clear for me.

Could you find a specific group of say 4 orcs?

Thanks
Vraister

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

If the orcs are above ground, then they should still be in range. If underground, perhaps not.

CWN might tell the druid how many orcs were present, if they were native to the area, if they've been destructive (and, if so, how), if they're mining the area, if they have a druid of their own, if there are more orcs around, if they've left the area of the spell (or are hiding), secret orc passages, etc., etc., etc.

 

[Vraister]

The spell description says you can notice the presence of powerful unnatural creatures. Could you sense their location and what type of creatures they are?

Vraister

 

[The Forsaken One]

Orcs are natural creatures, undead, non native elementals, outsiders are unnatural creatures.

 

[Vraister]

I know that orcs are natural creatures but I meant it more generally.
For example, you sense the presense and location of a powerful unnatural creature, could you sense what creature it is?

Vraister

 

[shilsen]

I know that orcs are natural creatures but I meant it more generally.
For example, you sense the presense and location of a powerful unnatural creature, could you sense what creature it is?

Vraister

From the spell description, I would say that you need to specify what kind of unnatural creature to detect. For example, you could choose (as the three things to detect) to detect powerful undead, powerful elementals and powerful outsiders. And you would get their locations, but you would not know if a particular undead was a lich or a vampire, and definitely not whether it was a specific one.

The spell description isn't very specific, so the above is my interpretation. I'm sure many others will differ.

 

[Vraister]

From the spell description, I would say that you need to specify what kind of unnatural creature to detect. For example, you could choose (as the three things to detect) to detect powerful undead, powerful elementals and powerful outsiders. And you would get their locations, but you would not know if a particular undead was a lich or a vampire, and definitely not whether it was a specific one.

That's the stuff I am looking for. Maybe some other could come of with examples how they used CwN.

Vraister

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I would say you can learn about the presence of all unnatural creatures and then Nature will tell you what it can about them. For instance, you might learn that the creatures have been draining the life from living beings in the area, or feeding on their blood, or whatever. I see CWN as being different from the other commune-type spells in the Nature tells you what it has witnessed or "felt", without a thorough explanation or reasoning why or how. It's like speaking to an animal; it wouldn't know the difference between a lich or a vampire other than the fact they both feel "wrong" in addition to whatever it has witnessed. I think your mileage may vary with CWN, depending (as always) on if you ask the right questions. If orcs are native to the area, then perhaps CWN wouldn't detect them as unnatural but might inform you that "destructive beasts who ravage nature" are commonplace in the area. If orcs are not native, then Nature might consider them unnatural, or at least foreign to the area (probably the latter).