Can Commune Predict the Future?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Commune
You contact your deity—or agents thereof—and ask questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no.

So here’s a question about Commune: Is it limited to questions about the present, or can it also be used to divine the future?

This isn’t specified in the text of the spell, although the text does emphasize that “powerful beings of the Outer Planes are not necessarily omniscient,” and that the responses “are correct within the limits of the entity’s knowledge.”

Given this, it seems that a narrow ruling would limit the responses to present circumstances, especially since there’s no provision in the text for how far in the future the spell can provide answers for. But how do others rule this? Is Commune generally used to query the future as well as the present?

[Grek]

According to the rules in the D&D Joke Book Deities and Demigods, greater deities and higher get "Portfolio Sense", which makes them aware of future events related to their portfolios up to one week in advance per divine rank. So I'd go with that as a guideline.

[Palanan]

Interesting, thanks.

This is for Pathfinder, so I don’t know if it works the same way with deities and divine ranks.

[Grek]

Pathfinder is ostensibly compatible with 3.5 material; you're supposed to be able to convert any 3.5 material over to Pathfinder if you want to. And Pathfinder doesn't have rules for deities. So I figure stealing the 3.5 rule is as close as you're going to get to a definite answer.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Palanan
But how do others rule this? Is Commune generally used to query the future as well as the present?


Originally Posted by Grek
So I figure stealing the 3.5 rule is as close as you're going to get to a definite answer.

Thanks, although I'm still interested in hearing how other tables rule on this issue.

[BWR]

Depends on the setting, cosmology and specific being contacted.

Most questions about the future are, in my games, simply knowledge of basic physics and psychology and extrapolations of current events. Like if you see a rock tipping on an edge and people pushing it you can make an educated guess that at some point in the near future it will fall, or understanding how Person A's extreme fear of a certain segment of the population will lead to A trying to kill them. Extraplanar beings like gods tend to have a lot more information to work with so their predictions can be quite specific, distant in time and useful, even if there exists a small chance they may be wrong. This is, incidentally, how I rule using the Force to get visions of the future works.
Some beings, like Zivilyn from Dragonlance IIRC, can literally see future timelines and give answers based on that.

Nitpick: D&DG was 3.0, not 3.5.

[Thealtruistorc]

Interesting, thanks.

This is for Pathfinder, so I don’t know if it works the same way with deities and divine ranks.

I'm just gonna eyeball the main 20 Pathfinder Gods and see what their divine ranks would be. This is based on how old they are, how powerful they are in the lore, and whether their influence is planetary, multi-planetary, or universal.

Abadar-16
Asmodeus-20
Calistria-11
Cayden Cailean-7
Desna-14
Erastil-13
Gorum-9
Gozreh-14
Iomedae-6
Irori-8
Lamashtu-10
Nethys-8
Norgorber-7
Pharasma-20
Rovagug-20
Sarenrae-10
Shelyn-15
Torag-8
Urgathoa-14
Zon-Kuthon-15