Find The Path guidelines

[Galfridus]

What sort of locales do you allow characters to find with Find the Path?

• Water (in a desert)
• The dragon's secret lair
• The entrance to the dragon's secret lair
• The Thieves' Guild HQ
• The current location of (insert powerful item here)
• The local temple of Hextor

I'm trying to come up with some easily-stated guidelines about what does and does not work.

 

[Antoine]

What sort of locales do you allow characters to find with Find the Path?

• Water (in a desert) = no, though you can find the way to a named (specific) oasis, river or coast.
• The dragon's secret lair = no, unless it's been visited by the caster before or he has gathered enough intelligence to turn a supposed secret lair into a specific location.
• The entrance to the dragon's secret lair = if you have knowledge of the lair's specific location, you can find the path to get into that locale.
• The Thieves' Guild HQ = no definitely, local is defined by what it contains/its inhabitants.
• The current location of (insert powerful item here) = nope, local is defined by what it contains, you find the path to a specific locale, not to an item, whatever formulation you may come up with when casting the spell.
• The local temple of Hextor = the most difficult question here. The ground is consecrated to the deity. So the "of Hextor" part in the sentence pretty much defines the location rather that what it contains. But then, location is not specific. I'd rather say no. Unless its a geographical landmark.

Hope this helps.

 

[Scion]

Usually good to have the spell up as well, to help jog peoples memories

SRD:
Find the Path
Divination
Level: Brd 6, Clr 6, Drd 6, Knowledge 6, Travel 6
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 3 rounds
Range: Personal or touch
Target: You or creature touched
Duration: 10 min./level
Saving Throw: None or Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No or Yes (harmless)
The recipient of this spell can find the shortest, most direct physical route to a specified destination, be it the way into or out of a locale. The locale can be outdoors, underground, or even inside a maze spell. Find the path works with respect to locations, not objects or creatures at a locale. The location must be on the same plane as you are at the time of casting.
The spell enables the subject to sense the correct direction that will eventually lead it to its destination, indicating at appropriate times the exact path to follow or physical actions to take. For example, the spell enables the subject to sense trip wires or the proper word to bypass a glyph of warding. The spell ends when the destination is reached or the duration expires, whichever comes first. Find the path can be used to remove the subject and its companions from the effect of a maze spell in a single round.
This divination is keyed to the recipient, not its companions, and its effect does not predict or allow for the actions of creatures (including guardians).
Focus: A set of divination counters of the sort you favor.


It is a tough one, very tough. Anything that can be used as a location though would seem to be viable.

So, 'bobs house' would be fine, it is a location. That would be fine as it is well defined.

'Thieves guild' would not because it is not well defined. However, if you knew that bob's house was the thieves guild, then you could find bobs house.. of course, that doesnt mean it will be the right bob's house

I have even let it work on the instant fortress.. the party member said 'the inside of XX's insant fortress'. Boom, he could get in.

 

[AuraSeer]

You must specify a locale by some property of the locale, not by what it contains. Also, if there are multiple locales that fit the description, you need to specify which, even if you only want the nearest one.

You can't find "water" in the desert, because water isn't a place. Finding "the nearest oasis" works fine, because an oasis is a location.

"The current location of [Artifact]" is clearly not allowed, because it depends on what is in the location. However, if legend says that the artifact is hidden in the crater of the world's biggest volcano (or whatever), you can find the path to "the world's biggest volcano" and hope the legend is correct.

Things like "the lair of the dragon Abraxas" are less clear-cut, but I usually don't allow them. You're not really looking for a particular cave in the forest; what you're really asking for is the location of the dragon, and that's not allowed. However, if someone who had seen the lair could plot it on a map for you-- or even accurately describe where it is-- you'd be all set.

 

[Philip]

You can find Bob's House, but cannot find Abraxas' Lair? That seems weird.

Many locations are defined by their occupants, their function etc. It seems strange that you cannot find an oasis because it has never been named.

When the dragon Abraxas goes to sleep in a random cave, it's not a location yet. But at some point it, if Abraxas sleeps there often enough, somehow it becomes Abraxas' Lair. The location 'The King's Palace' can change overnight when the king moves his estate, and the other location becomes 'The King's Former Palace'.

I think Find the Path is just a troublesome spell that won't contribute to anyone's fun, or at least, will not be missed when eliminated.

 

[Ferret]

I think the spell is named so you get directions from where you are, not where the place is...

 

[AuraSeer]

You can find Bob's House, but cannot find Abraxas' Lair? That seems weird.

I wouldn't allow you to find "Bob's House" either, unless you can somehow specify which house it is-- you've been there before, or you have a good description, or somebody told you it's the third-largest building on River Street. Just naming the owner doesn't work, IMO, because ownership doesn't seem like a property of the location itself.

 

[Scion]

The definition of property is one of the many ways to specify a destination.

It sounds like you wouldnt let someone find a certain druids grove (although something that qualifies more as a local I would be hard pressed to find). Or something like 'Chicago'.

At this point I am not even sure what you would allow.

Could I say 17 Baker street? If so why cant I say, 'the home of sherlock holmes'. After all, if there is only one sherlock holmes, and he has a home, then it is as unique of a location as one could hope for.

If 17 Baker street doesnt work then I think you are relegating it to the sole use of, 'some other exit from this dungeon other than the one we entered'. Pretty poor list of uses for a 6th level spell

 

[nameless]

On the topic of Bob's House...

I would allow you to find Bob's house if (in the caster's mind, anyways) "Bob's House" was a specific place. Bob need not be present, and Bob could even be in a different house at the time, or Bob could have sold the house unbeknownst to the caster and moved somewhere else; the spell would still send you to the place that the caster refers to as "Bob's House." The name is just the label and needs not be an accurate description of the place. Thus, "Abraxus's Lair" isn't a valid place for find the path unless the caster already knows a place that he refers to as "Abraxus's Lair."

Maybe putting it in algorithmic terms will help: as an algorithm, Find the Path will send the caster to whatever place matches the string he gives it, but not go inside the string to try and figure anything out. If a nonexact, but relative location is given, there is some more leeway. The important thing about the spell is that it won't track a person or object down, that requires Discern Location and possibly Legend Lore.

 

[AuraSeer]

The definition of property is one of the many ways to specify a destination.

In general terms, yes, but not for purposes of the spell. In simple English you can also "specify a destination" by saying "the location of the nearest hoard of platinum pieces," but that specification is not usable with find the path.

"The home of Sherlock Holmes" specifies something inside the location. If not for the contents (Sherlock), that designation wouldn't apply. So if this were the only way you knew to describe the destination, the spell wouldn't work. (To look at it another way: the spell lacks the power to do divination about people or objects, so it has no idea who or what a "sherlock holmes" is. Since it doesn't have that information, it can't base a decision on it.)

"17 Baker Street" does not depend on contents. No matter who or what is in the house, or even whether the building still exists, the address specifies a unique location. If you heard that Holmes lived there, you could find your way to the address easily-- but Holmes might have moved or died or sold the building, and find the path won't inform you of that.