D&D 5E (2024) Divination (4th lvl Spell). Is Karsus Alive?

Zardnaar · Tuesday at 8:02 AM

MonsterEnvy said:
Karsus by official lore is quite dead. He died his body turned to stone and shattered and his soul became a vestige invisibly roaming the material plane with no power except when called on.

His weave he briefly was said to have created in BG III was small, incomplete and bound to a single artifact later.

Aware. Second sundering though is my thoughts.

Kippityo came back. Talona murdered her again apparently.

EzekielRaiden · Tuesday at 12:48 PM

Zardnaar said:
So you cast the spell and ask that question. Thoughts?

You get no answer, because--per the thread tags--this is 5.5e rules, and the 5.5e rules don't allow a question like this.

"You ask one question about a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days."

Karsus, whatever his status might be, definitely isn't a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days. Given his Folly was thousands of years ago.

Your entire premise is built on asking a question the spell cannot answer.

Edit: Correction. This text is also present in the 5.0 rules. "You ask a single question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days."

The spell has jack-all to do with asking about information regarding events thousands of years ago. It is for future events, and only future events.

Now, you could potentially try to phrase it in such a way that it becomes about future events...but I don't think there's any way you can squeeze out of that anything actually useful regarding Karsus' current status. I'd like to see folks try, of course, I'm just pretty well convinced it ain't happening.

Maxperson · Tuesday at 2:40 PM

Zardnaar said:
Karsite weave or heavy magic.

I don't see Mystra being unaware or unable to get rid of this.

Zardnaar said:
2. Ancient netherese artifacts predating the ban.

This is how I would probably do it.

Zardnaar said:
3. Shadow weave.

While this would absolutely work, I don't see Shar being foolish enough to allow magic powerful enough to kill her to be used.

Zardnaar said:
4. Mystras only been back 15 years. Maybe she's to weak.

She popped in as a greater goddess and has too much awareness for this to work in my opinion.

Zardnaar said:
5. Time travel/manipulation.

If I didn't go with the artifacts idea, I'd go with time travel.

Zardnaar · Tuesday at 9:08 PM

EzekielRaiden said:
You get no answer, because--per the thread tags--this is 5.5e rules, and the 5.5e rules don't allow a question like this.

"You ask one question about a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days."

Karsus, whatever his status might be, definitely isn't a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days. Given his Folly was thousands of years ago.

Your entire premise is built on asking a question the spell cannot answer.

Edit: Correction. This text is also present in the 5.0 rules. "You ask a single question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days."

The spell has jack-all to do with asking about information regarding events thousands of years ago. It is for future events, and only future events.

Now, you could potentially try to phrase it in such a way that it becomes about future events...but I don't think there's any way you can squeeze out of that anything actually useful regarding Karsus' current status. I'd like to see folks try, of course, I'm just pretty well convinced it ain't happening.

Point but they can start using similar questions to narrow things down.

SkidAce · Tuesday at 11:45 PM

"Is it possible for me to meet Karsus, ruler of Netheril, in the flesh this week?"

EzekielRaiden · 2026-04-22T00:27:46+0100

SkidAce said:
"Is it possible for me to meet Karsus, ruler of Netheril, in the flesh this week?"

THing is, this could be answered either yes or no, equally validly. The spell description explicitly says that it doesn't account for possible spells or other influences that could alter the answer over time. So the answer could be "yes" in a purely hypothetical sense, but the most likely answer is "no" even if Karsus is actually still alive, because the spell won't predict whether a specific combination of spell effects could make it happen.

This is more or less what I meant with the thing above. Anything open enough to definitely not get a dead-end answer will have the risk of a vague answer that doesn't tell you enough. Anything pointed enough to guarantee no vague/incomplete answers runs the risk of being evaded with excess specificity. And if you cast the spell more than once in a single day, you risk just not getting answers at all.

I even checked other similar spells. Legend lore doesn't help, because it only delivers past information, and thus you can only learn whether Karsus is still around if the GM wants you to know that he is.

And that's kind of the rub here. These are powerful information tools, but they are very, very difficult to use to learn things the GM doesn't want you to know about the past, and can't guarantee knowledge about the future. Not even accounting for the explicit instruction to the GM that the spell can generate an indecipherable riddle or highly metaphorical answer!

For example, what if you got this as your answer to your stated question:

"Your quest to seek the wizard-fool
Who shaped a crown as wicked tool
Will show you all how mages fall
His fated thread must still unspool."

This could mean almost anything. Maybe you'll meet Karthus and deal with the final legacy of Netheril. Maybe you'll free him from his curse. Maybe he's dead, but his "fate" remains unresolved, and the players have to deal with the lingering consequences that still remain. Maybe Karsus has unknowing descendants, and now they are being pulled forward by the "fated thread" that "must still unspool". Perhaps a god has some kind of plan for the idiot, and the party will get wrapped up in it.

Or maybe Karsus is alive and well, but you aren't going to meet him for more than a week, and the answer is simply a flat "no", despite that seeming like it means Karsus is just gone.

Zardnaar · 2026-04-22T02:31:42+0100

EzekielRaiden said:
THing is, this could be answered either yes or no, equally validly. The spell description explicitly says that it doesn't account for possible spells or other influences that could alter the answer over time. So the answer could be "yes" in a purely hypothetical sense, but the most likely answer is "no" even if Karsus is actually still alive, because the spell won't predict whether a specific combination of spell effects could make it happen.

This is more or less what I meant with the thing above. Anything open enough to definitely not get a dead-end answer will have the risk of a vague answer that doesn't tell you enough. Anything pointed enough to guarantee no vague/incomplete answers runs the risk of being evaded with excess specificity. And if you cast the spell more than once in a single day, you risk just not getting answers at all.

I even checked other similar spells. Legend lore doesn't help, because it only delivers past information, and thus you can only learn whether Karsus is still around if the GM wants you to know that he is.

And that's kind of the rub here. These are powerful information tools, but they are very, very difficult to use to learn things the GM doesn't want you to know about the past, and can't guarantee knowledge about the future. Not even accounting for the explicit instruction to the GM that the spell can generate an indecipherable riddle or highly metaphorical answer!

For example, what if you got this as your answer to your stated question:

"Your quest to seek the wizard-fool
Who shaped a crown as wicked tool
Will show you all how mages fall
His fated thread must still unspool."

This could mean almost anything. Maybe you'll meet Karthus and deal with the final legacy of Netheril. Maybe you'll free him from his curse. Maybe he's dead, but his "fate" remains unresolved, and the players have to deal with the lingering consequences that still remain. Maybe Karsus has unknowing descendants, and now they are being pulled forward by the "fated thread" that "must still unspool". Perhaps a god has some kind of plan for the idiot, and the party will get wrapped up in it.

Or maybe Karsus is alive and well, but you aren't going to meet him for more than a week, and the answer is simply a flat "no", despite that seeming like it means Karsus is just gone.

Thats a good cryptic answer tbh.

Seramus · 2026-04-22T03:48:39+0100

"Alive" generally doesn't include fragments of a soul lingering in the outer planes, so he should count as very dead. But he is a vestige that can be interacted with, under the right circumstances.

Henadic Theologian · 2026-04-22T10:57:45+0100

vecna00 said:
I would say no, but I remember him being a vestige in one of the 3.5 magic books, Tome of Magic maybe?

However, I do think it would be a cool adventure or even campaign having him regain life/unlife. I might need to brainstorm that one...

Yeah he's a vestige. Vestige warlock will probably use him as an example.

EzekielRaiden · 2026-04-22T20:58:02+0100

Zardnaar said:
Thats a good cryptic answer tbh.

I learned from the best (Tolkien, Chesteron, Le Guin, and many more!), and have always had a poetic flourish...or at least some embellishment.

Thank you though. I appreciate the compliment.