D&D 5E (2014) Is there a spell....?

[DND_Reborn]

How about this as a spell. It basically mimics the Monster Slayer feature, Hunter's Sense:

Thoughts? At first I was going to have it provide all the information, but I don't want to make the Hunter's Sense feature useless, so I decided to maybe reduce it to a choice of the three. Is that too limiting?

 

[MarkB]

How about this as a spell. It basically mimics the Monster Slayer feature, Hunter's Sense:

View attachment 123192

Thoughts? At first I was going to have it provide all the information, but I don't want to make the Hunter's Sense feature useless, so I decided to maybe reduce it to a choice of the three. Is that too limiting?

The casting time and material cost both make this a very niche spell. Since it has a verbal component and a 60 foot range, any creature against which you attempt this will be well aware of your presence throughout the casting time. How many situations are going to come up in which a creature will be friendly/passive enough to allow you to stand there spellcasting at it for a minute, and yet potentially hostile enough that you're willing to spend 100 gp to know its combat strengths and weaknesses?

 

[jsaving]

The Kingmaker CRPG handles this issue pretty well. Each time you encounter a monster, you make a check against the appropriate skill (such as nature lore if the monster is an animal) which then if successful reveals some information about the creature. Then you make a second check upon dispatching the monster to learn more.

If you are going to let mages do this kind of thing through spells, bypassing the need to make sacrifices in their builds, then I definitely agree a gp-per-use cost is appropriate. Moreover from a RP point of view you want this kind of spell to be used only in certain situations, whereas without a gp cost you'd simply cast this spell every time you encounter something new.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I think it was Pathfinder which had a spell that did 1d6 damage of each standard energy type, specifically so you could scan for resistances and vulnerabilities.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The casting time and material cost both make this a very niche spell. Since it has a verbal component and a 60 foot range, any creature against which you attempt this will be well aware of your presence throughout the casting time. How many situations are going to come up in which a creature will be friendly/passive enough to allow you to stand there spellcasting at it for a minute, and yet potentially hostile enough that you're willing to spend 100 gp to know its combat strengths and weaknesses?

So, you think removing the Verbal component would be good? I can see that. The other option would be boosting the range to 120 feet maybe? I almost thing increasing the range would be better.

We typically allow ability checks to know information to an extent (typically Arcana or Nature). The player wants a spell that gives more than a check.

 

[Guest 6801328]

"Google"

 

[Iry]

The best first step is doing what @iserith says.

The Monster Slayer Ranger and Cobalt Soul Monk both have class features that can, and many divination spells if you ask the right questions.

 

[DND_Reborn]

"Google"

Ok, so now that you mention it, I have to use the name "Google" in the spell title. The player will get a kick out of it.

The best first step is doing what @iserith says.

Otherwise, the Monster Slayer Ranger and Cobalt Soul Monk both have class features that can. And many divination spells can if you ask the right questions.

We already do ability checks for lore, the player is asking for a spell since the character is neither a Ranger nor a Monk. Most divination spells that will answer if you ask the right questions are higher level and cryptic typically due to the nature of the scenario. Basically, this player is looking for a boosted "Identify" that works on creatures for their info instead of a magic item.

 

[MarkB]

So, you think removing the Verbal component would be good? I can see that. The other option would be boosting the range to 120 feet maybe? I almost thing increasing the range would be better.

We typically allow ability checks to know information to an extent (typically Arcana or Nature). The player wants a spell that gives more than a check.

I'd just drop the casting time down to an action. That makes it viable for use in combat, if you're up against something that's shrugging off your regular attacks.

One suggestion for an alternative approach would be the Monster Knowledge checks from D&D 4e. I don't recall the precise details, but they involved an appropriate knowledge skill check based upon the creature's type, with various levels of information being revealed based upon how high you rolled. You could import that mechanic, and make this spell be the thing that allows you to make the check.

 

[jsaving]

We typically allow ability checks to know information to an extent (typically Arcana or Nature). The player wants a spell that gives more than a check.

If the player is not trying to min-max by using the spell as a substitute for arcana/nature/etc, then you might consider a spell along the lines of 3e's find traps and letting her add half her caster level to the roll. Or if the player is trying to min-max by using the spell as a substitute for arcana/nature/etc, then you might consider a spell along the lines of 5e's find traps that would automatically confirm the presence of an anomaly but wouldn't provide detailed information about exactly what the anomaly is. That would make the spell simultaneously more and less powerful than arcana/nature/etc without being a complete substitute for them, and might not even require a consumable material component for balance.