3.P - What Divinations (etc) Would Work Best IRL?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Between spells, powers, invocations, and any other similar abilities throughout the various editions based on the d20 system (3.0, 3.5, PF, etc), what would be most useful in the real world?

Between lottery numbers, playing the stock market, making good decisions, averting personal disasters, and averting major disasters, what sorts of effects would be the most useful, what sorts of events would they be most useful in, and why? Don't forget to add sources, if you please.

[Gnaeus]

Pathfinder detect poison cantrip. “Is this meat still good?” *stares* “yep”

[Jack_Simth]

Between spells, powers, invocations, and any other similar abilities throughout the various editions based on the d20 system (3.0, 3.5, PF, etc), what would be most useful in the real world?

Between lottery numbers, playing the stock market, making good decisions, averting personal disasters, and averting major disasters, what sorts of effects would be the most useful, what sorts of events would they be most useful in, and why? Don't forget to add sources, if you please.

"Most useful" - to whom?

Additionally:
1) Are we assuming that the components are easy to come by?
2) Are we assuming repeat castings are easy?

If both 1 and 2 are yes, then "Commune". It can be used for lotto numbers, picking stocks, identifying when the next major disaster will hit (also where), answering physics questions, and so on.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

"Most useful" - to whom?Like I said, most useful in the real world.

Consider if you woke up and someone dumped some items of some spell/power/etc effects that you could use. Which divination/clairsentience/whatever effects would you want?

CL/ML 20.


Additionally:
1) Are we assuming that the components are easy to come by?
2) Are we assuming repeat castings are easy?

If both 1 and 2 are yes, then "Commune". It can be used for lotto numbers, picking stocks, identifying when the next major disaster will hit (also where), answering physics questions, and so on.Assume 5/day, I guess. Enough to get some info but not enough to spam willy-nilly.

[Jack_Simth]

Like I said, most useful in the real world.OK, so that narrows it down to an estimated six billion folks. What I would find useful is not the same thing as what a spy agency would find useful, or a country, or a president....



Consider if you woke up and someone dumped some items of some spell/power/etc effects that you could use. Which divination/clairsentience/whatever effects would you want?

CL/ML 20.

Assume 5/day, I guess. Enough to get some info but not enough to spam willy-nilly.
For me, personally? I'd go with Commune. Very flexible, no baked-in failure chance.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

OK, so that narrows it down to an estimated six billion folks. What I would find useful is not the same thing as what a spy agency would find useful, or a country, or a president....This is the reason I said "and why" earlier.

[daremetoidareyo]

Sweet water from defenders of the faith. The only divination spell that comes with free digging!

[Quertus]

Although Know Alignment could be enlightening - especially if the GM mistook alignment for personality - I'm really not sure, if the number of activations is set, how many things will actually have advantages over the psionic power… metaconcert, iirc.

This is one of the few times that I look at all the custom Divinations I've built, and don't see them helping much.

However, real world, but in the past? Google. Kids boggle at the notion that I grew up without Google, and are baffled how anyone could have ever gotten anything done under such primitive conditions.

For completeness, I'll add that divine portfolio sense would be hilarious as one's only ability IRL.

[tiercel]

There are a few “how does this translate?” issues that might affect a choice:

Can the D&D alignment grid be reasonably overlaid over real-life attitudes? If so, having some way of knowing, e.g., whether someone is Evil—or their full alignment—that actually seems kinda potentially useful, if nothing else in terms of knowing who to trust.

How does real life “XP” work, or do we assume that the magic widget/Sp ability doesn’t need to spend any of our “life force”? That certainly affects how viable any spell with an XP component is (if nothing else, if the XP component meant to “balance” a spell is actually free, it certainly makes all such spells more attractive choices).

(Here I’m mostly just looking at 3.5 Core options. Spell Compendium is actually really light overall on arcane Divination options, for one thing.)

The humble comprehend languages (as well as tongues) would certainly be quite useful in real life, assuming you wanted to specifically rework your life around those abilities.

Detect thoughts (or SpC’s probe thoughts) for literal mind-reading could undoubtedly be useful... if double-edged (in terms of what constitutes “surface thoughts”, much less reading some things you mighn’t want to, much less if you have moral qualms). But then, many classic (e.g. scrying-type) divinations fall under this umbrella - how much do you want to be a literal spy?

Assuming that many real life activities and challenges can be expressed as D&D skill checks, moment of prescience seems like a fantastic all-around option. (I’m thinking about the “escaping with the precog” scene in the Minority Report movie where seeing into the future predicts all the right moves to escape capture.). Even at 5/day, being able to achieve strong success on any allowed untrained check and truly exceptional success at anything you’ve actually trained at seems like a “oh yes this would be very good every day,” even if you just wanted to have a really good meal.

[Calthropstu]

Locate object would come in handy.
Locate person too.
Tracking down stolen goods, drug dealers, kidnap victims...

Discern value when browsing garage sales or thrift shops.

Tongues when going abroad.

Telepathy might be interesting.

Retrocognition: solve almost any crime.

Discern location.

Those are probably the best sorc/wizard divinations available.

[Troacctid]

One I think might be underrated is vigilant slumber (CM). It guarantees that you will wake up fully alert and ready for action at a time you specify, making it alarm clock and coffee in one.

[Thurbane]

I can't tell you the number of times I have misplaced keys, phone etc. and wished Locate Object was a real thing!

[Morcleon]

Hypercognition seems like a very good choice here. Instead of doing a specific thing, it's just "do all the things". Put on one of those incredibly fast news scrawl screens that you see in movies and have fun figuring out a great deal of things.

[Calthropstu]

I can't tell you the number of times I have misplaced keys, phone etc. and wished Locate Object was a real thing!

And that damn remote.
And where the hell did my sock go?

[unseenmage]

One I think might be underrated is vigilant slumber (CM). It guarantees that you will wake up fully alert and ready for action at a time you specify, making it alarm clock and coffee in one.

As much as I know Commune is the right answer... I need the vigilant slumber spell in my life so very very badly.

[TotallyNotEvil]

There's the optimal answer of Commune.

But for a more characterful answer, I'd say Scholar's Touch. Good god I wish I could read my entire Heat Transfer textbook in one touch.