Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How specific is Commune with Nature?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="toucanbuzz" data-source="post: 8752061" data-attributes="member: 19270"><p>My group's 12th level druid routinely uses <em>Commune with Nature, </em>the capstone divination for his class. The information obtained strongly depends on the question asked. Ultimately, it cannot provide knowledge that nature wouldn't know. I like to provide information to players from the perspective of the elements or creatures therein, not just flat data. I also use the term "prevalent" to mean widespread/common, and the term "peoples" to common sense D&D purpose (e.g. player races, the type that use tools, speak common languages, live in communities).</p><p></p><p>Also, I watch for compound questions. The spell grants 3 facts, unlike other spells which grant a certain # of questions. One single question may exhaust the spell.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jungle village of halflings. </strong> If you ask <em>"what is the prevalent people"</em> you might get a DM reply of: <em>"The wind whips around you and a sweet smell of tabac smoke fills your nostrils reminding you of the Hin (halflings)." </em>The DM does this because halflings are the most numerous folk in the range of the spell.</p><p></p><p>If you then ask <em>"where do the Hin live"</em> the DM might reply:<em> "You are overwhelmed as for a moment you are simultaneously seeing through the eyes and ears of birds, crocodiles, snakes, and other creatures that have seen the Hin." </em>The DM answered this way because the Hin forage and hunt, and thus they "live" everywhere for purposes of the spell. If the PC had asked <em>"in what direction is the nearest Hin" </em>you'd get a response for that current, exact moment in time. </p><p></p><p>If you instead asked "where is the nearest building to me with Hin" the DM should decide if this is a compound question. He knows the Hin are the prevalent people and the spell can give facts about them. He then might answer: <em>"from the sky you swoop over the trees and spot a tiny plume of smoke from a massive tree with many branches. You bank on a slight wind and see the sun setting. Tabac smoke summoning the feeling of the Hin briefly fills your senses and the connection is broken. The wind shifts around you and pushes you to the north and west." </em>The DM counts this as 2 facts because he's given a location + the Hin are the prevalent race. If the Hin were not the prevalent race, the spell might only give a building but the animal outside cannot tell anything about what made it. Also, the DM would have to determine if the building is something like a hunter's cabin (spell can give facts about) or an area replaced by construction such as a village (the spell fizzles and no fact is gained).</p><p> </p><p><strong>Specific creature. </strong>If a missing Hin child is captured by humans, the spell won't find a specific Hin because one "people" isn't at all common or widespread. However, this could be different if asking about powerful undead in the area as those register differently in the spell because of their unnatural nature, not their commonality to the region.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="toucanbuzz, post: 8752061, member: 19270"] My group's 12th level druid routinely uses [I]Commune with Nature, [/I]the capstone divination for his class. The information obtained strongly depends on the question asked. Ultimately, it cannot provide knowledge that nature wouldn't know. I like to provide information to players from the perspective of the elements or creatures therein, not just flat data. I also use the term "prevalent" to mean widespread/common, and the term "peoples" to common sense D&D purpose (e.g. player races, the type that use tools, speak common languages, live in communities). Also, I watch for compound questions. The spell grants 3 facts, unlike other spells which grant a certain # of questions. One single question may exhaust the spell. [B]Jungle village of halflings. [/B] If you ask [I]"what is the prevalent people"[/I] you might get a DM reply of: [I]"The wind whips around you and a sweet smell of tabac smoke fills your nostrils reminding you of the Hin (halflings)." [/I]The DM does this because halflings are the most numerous folk in the range of the spell. If you then ask [I]"where do the Hin live"[/I] the DM might reply:[I] "You are overwhelmed as for a moment you are simultaneously seeing through the eyes and ears of birds, crocodiles, snakes, and other creatures that have seen the Hin." [/I]The DM answered this way because the Hin forage and hunt, and thus they "live" everywhere for purposes of the spell. If the PC had asked [I]"in what direction is the nearest Hin" [/I]you'd get a response for that current, exact moment in time. If you instead asked "where is the nearest building to me with Hin" the DM should decide if this is a compound question. He knows the Hin are the prevalent people and the spell can give facts about them. He then might answer: [I]"from the sky you swoop over the trees and spot a tiny plume of smoke from a massive tree with many branches. You bank on a slight wind and see the sun setting. Tabac smoke summoning the feeling of the Hin briefly fills your senses and the connection is broken. The wind shifts around you and pushes you to the north and west." [/I]The DM counts this as 2 facts because he's given a location + the Hin are the prevalent race. If the Hin were not the prevalent race, the spell might only give a building but the animal outside cannot tell anything about what made it. Also, the DM would have to determine if the building is something like a hunter's cabin (spell can give facts about) or an area replaced by construction such as a village (the spell fizzles and no fact is gained). [I] [/I] [B]Specific creature. [/B]If a missing Hin child is captured by humans, the spell won't find a specific Hin because one "people" isn't at all common or widespread. However, this could be different if asking about powerful undead in the area as those register differently in the spell because of their unnatural nature, not their commonality to the region. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How specific is Commune with Nature?
Top