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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 9109570" data-attributes="member: 2629">As written, it has a very limited scope.&nbsp; When you cast it, the DM determines whether a course of axction you'll take in the next 30 minutes is good, bad, both or not really significant.&nbsp; Specifically, the spell assumes only the things woven into your description of a course of action take place - not additional spells, the loss of an ally, adding additional allies, making more detailed plans, etc...The problem I have seen is that DMs tend to default to one answer based upon their perception of the spell.One DM I knew almost always gave woe.&nbsp; If there were any threats on the way, the DM told the party woe because they'd never be specific about what they'd do to respond to the threats, so he'd assume they'd just stand around and be slaughtered.&nbsp; Another DM almost always went weal and woe.&nbsp; He assumed the PCs would face a threat, get some treasure, but lose some hps.&nbsp; Another DM almost always said weal.&nbsp; After all, how often does a PC ever really have a permanent negative outcome from an encounter?&nbsp; They usually come out ahead in treasure and experience - with no long term penalty outside of lost ammunition or a used up potion.To that end, I effectively eliminated the spell by making my own homebrew Ritual Divination at 2nd level that fulfills the role better.&nbsp; This spell: Lesser Divination - works like Divination (4th level spell) except for 2 things: 1.) The response is a single word, 2.) Using any other divination magic to research the situation asked about can anger the particular (fickle) powers you're asking and they will curse you.&nbsp; That second clause means no Augury, 4th level Divination, Commune, or other spellcasting/abilities can be used without punishment.&nbsp; If they cast the other spell first, the curse comes when they cast lesser divination.&nbsp; When they cast lesser divination first, the punishment comes when they invoke the other divination.&nbsp; A one word response is usually vague, but hints meaningfully towards the future.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 9109570, member: 2629"] As written, it has a very limited scope. When you cast it, the DM determines whether a course of axction you'll take in the next 30 minutes is good, bad, both or not really significant. Specifically, the spell assumes only the things woven into your description of a course of action take place - not additional spells, the loss of an ally, adding additional allies, making more detailed plans, etc... The problem I have seen is that DMs tend to default to one answer based upon their perception of the spell. One DM I knew almost always gave woe. If there were any threats on the way, the DM told the party woe because they'd never be specific about what they'd do to respond to the threats, so he'd assume they'd just stand around and be slaughtered. Another DM almost always went weal and woe. He assumed the PCs would face a threat, get some treasure, but lose some hps. Another DM almost always said weal. After all, how often does a PC ever really have a permanent negative outcome from an encounter? They usually come out ahead in treasure and experience - with no long term penalty outside of lost ammunition or a used up potion. To that end, I effectively eliminated the spell by making my own homebrew Ritual Divination at 2nd level that fulfills the role better. This spell: Lesser Divination - works like Divination (4th level spell) except for 2 things: 1.) The response is a single word, 2.) Using any other divination magic to research the situation asked about can anger the particular (fickle) powers you're asking and they will curse you. That second clause means no Augury, 4th level Divination, Commune, or other spellcasting/abilities can be used without punishment. If they cast the other spell first, the curse comes when they cast lesser divination. When they cast lesser divination first, the punishment comes when they invoke the other divination. A one word response is usually vague, but hints meaningfully towards the future. [/QUOTE]

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