Commune Spell

[Stuvius]

Hi Playgrounders,

I have a player in my game, his PC is a Cleric of Heironeous, who plans on using the spell Commune in our next session. Having not encountered this before, I decided to research the spell. After doing so, I am still unsure how much information I should give. I understand the answers are to be yes or no and be limited by what the deity would reasonably know. My concern is, how do I determine that? I don't want to cheat the player of the effects of a well-used spell, but I also don’t want to give away too many secrets too early. Any suggestions on how to address this would be much appreciated. :smallsmile:

[Seto]

What secrets specifically are you worried about ?

Heironeous would know a lot of things, especially when it comes to his portfolio/agenda/followers etc. But some big secrets he might not know (especially obscure things hidden by other powerful entities).

I recommend giving information liberally, especially since the answers cannot be specific (yes/no, or five words or less). Commune is a powerful spell, one that you don't cast all the time (and if he really does, have his deity be annoyed with him) ; it should be legitimately helpful and the player shouldn't feel cheated.
As for not-especially-secret but very very specific knowledge, have Heironeous take 10 on a Knowledge check with something like +35 modifier.

In any case, even if the answer is "unclear", it should not be... erroneous :smallbiggrin:

[Flickerdart]

Heironeous is an Intermediate level deity, meaning that he can:

See for 10-15 miles around any worshiper or sacred site of his, anywhere his name is spoken, or the site of any battle or heroic deed (since these things are in his portfolio)
View any battle or heroic deed (or anything else related to his portfolio) up to 1 week in the past and automatically know when and where these events take/took place.


In addition, he would know anything that's been going on in his godly realm.

So pretty much anything related to war or knightly heroics, Heironeous has perfect knowledge of. Note that commune does not require Heironeous to take actions to look at something he doesn't already know, so while he could teleport somewhere, look up the answer in a book, return, and tell the cleric what he read, he won't.

[Aleolus]

Ba-dum tish.

Seriously though, I agree. If it has to do with anything in his portfolio, or any area with his Divine Rank (which I think is 16) miles of a shrine or temple of his, he knows about it automatically. Otherwise, use the taking 10 option given above.

[Urpriest]

On the DMing side, rather than the mechanical, it's important to recognize that information is your friend. Divinations like Commune let you give hints that guide the party back on track when they go astray, or further commit them when they're on the right track. Even if you weren't planning to reveal a given secret until later, you use the results of Commune or the like to foreshadow it, making the eventual full reveal more compelling.

[noob]

I remember one player using this spell to know the location of one opponent which was fleeing after having cast some wail of the banshee killing plenty of people since he had no teleportation he was flying away so the priest asked say yes if he is south or no if he is at north and then he asked some questions for knowing the direction in which to research thing he could not have obtained with other divination since the magi had impenetrable spirit.

[atemu1234]

On the DMing side, rather than the mechanical, it's important to recognize that information is your friend. Divinations like Commune let you give hints that guide the party back on track when they go astray, or further commit them when they're on the right track. Even if you weren't planning to reveal a given secret until later, you use the results of Commune or the like to foreshadow it, making the eventual full reveal more compelling.

In this way, Divination is like railroading. Kind of. Not really.