The Past-Scrying Mage

[Palanan]

In the Inner Sea World Guide, there's a line about "past-scrying mages," as if this is part of the repertoire of magic in Golarion.

Are there any spells in Pathfinder which allow for seeing into the past, or was this just a comment for atmosphere?

[Slithery D]

Retrocognition

[Extra Anchovies]

The Occultist can perform object readings, and there's probably some similarly themed spells in Occult Adventures but I'm not familiar enough with the spells in that book to say for sure.

[Psyren]

Legend Lore (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/l/legend-lore)
Vision (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/v/vision)

Right in core

[Palanan]

Retrocognition is from Occult Adventures, although I only learned this a moment ago. (The book's sitting right here on my desk, but I haven't gone through the spells yet....)

Interestingly, Retrocognition has a time-depth limit of 2000 years for pre-epic casters, so it wouldn't be as useful as I'd been hoping for exploring truly ancient history. Is there anything else in Pathfinder that could go deeper?



EDIT: Okay, got Psyren'd there. Those two spells are interesting, but they seem to be lore-checking rather than direct scrying per se.

If anyone's familiar with Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card, that's the sort of thing I had in mind, following that reference from Inner Sea World Guide.

[Psyren]

EDIT: Okay, got Psyren'd there. Those two spells are interesting, but they seem to be lore-checking rather than direct scrying per se.

I'm not really sure what the difference is supposed to be. Those spells tell you important things that happened in the past (relative to a significant event, person or location.) If it's a visual feed you're specifically looking for, Vision provides that. Best of all, neither of these has any time limit - as long as it's important and related to the thing you're trying to learn about, they can go back as far as they need to go.

More to the point, ISWG came out several years before Occult Adventures so it's likely they weren't referring to anything in the latter (though of course there are spells there now that can fit the bill.)

[Crake]

I'm not really sure what the difference is supposed to be. Those spells tell you important things that happened in the past (relative to a significant event, person or location.) If it's a visual feed you're specifically looking for, Vision provides that. Best of all, neither of these has any time limit - as long as it's important and related to the thing you're trying to learn about, they can go back as far as they need to go.

More to the point, ISWG came out several years before Occult Adventures so it's likely they weren't referring to anything in the latter (though of course there are spells there now that can fit the bill.)

Huh... I never actually realised that vision actually granted you a vision, despite it being in the name. I always just thought it was a fast-cast legend lore.