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Message: <blockquote data-quote="breschau" data-source="post: 4173356" data-attributes="member: 52376">To some degree that can easily lend itself to the DM pounding his fist on the table and yelling no. Unless there's no one from the same village, no one knows the big bad, no information about him, never attacked before, etc. The only way a reasonable DM can absolutely keep bits like that out of the hands of players, is to pull fiat.Ex: if the big bad had a raiding party hit the village, there will be something physical left behind. Some scrap from a surviving peon that's back at the lair. Scry him, and you're in.Scrying, telepathy, detect, locate object, and many other spells can flat out ruin any hope of a mystery. The DM has to perfectly navigate the issue to avoid giving too much away to the players, and avoid being a jerk by just saying no all night.That's one of the issues in magical settings. With these kinds of spells available, any semi-intelligent PC is going to seek them out to make life easier. If the authorities don't use these types of spells on a regular basis, or don't hire someone with the spells, they're stupid. Sure, the criminals will have anti-scrying measures—if they're smart and capable—but there is some limit to that. The DM can't have every baddie the PCs go up against have those counter-measures without becoming a jerk.If the DM flat-out refuses, that's lame. If the DM always makes the scrying useless, that's lame. If the baddies all have counters, that's lame. If the PCs can't use spells/rituals they have access to, that's lame. Same with the DM not allowing those spells. Point being that at some point, the PCs will get access to these and use them successfully, when that happens *poof* goes the intrigue.These spells simply spoil any hope of a mystery style game. An old druid scrying spell had casting time of an hour. When ever the druid tried to use it, the last 5 minutes was cut short by the appearance of a "random" encounter. That's an a-hole move, sure. But, that's just about what DMs are reduced to if they hope to avoid their mysteries ruined.This really is the no-win scenario territory for many a DM.</blockquote>

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