Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 7th episode of out second level spell series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the most complicated ones for me to understand and in all honesty could be a subject of a session zero in of itself.
So yeah, i do get into why that is in a little bit here, today we can be taking a look at dnd 5e augury spell which is pretty cool granted and i would probably suggest taking this in all honesty but it really depends on all your DM thinks of it so please god run it past them.
First and foremost augury is usable by the cleric exclusively…there’s a couple class exceptions to that for the most part it’s only ever found on a cleric spell list so please bear that in mind and it is found in the players handbook so we should all have access to it just fine. Fantastic with that intro out of the way let’s move on to its mechanics so we can at least get a general idea of what the spells about.
Mechanics
- Casting Time: 1 Minute (Ritual)
- Range: Self
- Duration: Instantaneous
- Components: Somatic, Material and Verbal
- School: Divination
Your cast time is one minute and it can be ritual casted by putting an additional 10 minutes of your time into it. The range is self, the duration is instantaneous which is pretty cool.
The components are somatic, material and verbal meaning you have to gesture with one hand, the material component is essentially any divining tool that’s worth at least 25 gold piece and the verbal component plans have to speak forth an incantation. The school unsurprisingly is divination which makes sense because you’re kind of convening with god’s.
The effect at a glance is as followed: You use some form of divining tool and you receive some insight as to the result of your future actions within the next 30 minutes. The spell is not considered to be all knowing and if casted more than once a day has a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting that you get a random reading.
Fantastic, now with that brief summary out of the way let’s take a look at its full description where i can further discuss why i think this spell is a little ridiculous and of itself.
Description
Actually, by casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling the dragon bones, laying out the ornate cards, or else employing some other divining tool, you might receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about any type of results of the specific course of an action which you plan to take within a next 30 minutes. Actually, the Dungeon Master (DM) chooses from the following omens possibly.
- Weal, for good results
- Woe, for bad results
- Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
- Nothing, for results that aren’t especially good or bad
Actually, the spell does not take into the account of any possible circumstances which might change the outcome, like casting of additional spells or else the loss or gain of the companion. But if you cast the 5e Augury spell tow or more than two times before completing your next long rest, actually there is a cumulative 25% chances for each casting after the first which you get a random reading. Actually, the DM makes this roll in secret.
Did you check our article on: suggestion 5e spell
So, if you haven’t guessed already my beef with this spell is how general it is and how little is actually specified and this is true for life in general which is kind of meta-commentary i guess but it’s very very difficult to determine what is a good result and what is a bad result especially the way that spells worded so it implies loosely, loosely implies that this spell is related to the caster.
So let’s say you gotta be clerics, so let’s say you’re a cleric and you got a rogue in your party and the rogue has been up to as usual shenanigans and has gotten busted by the police and he is a bounty in a particular town you want to visit. Now you don’t like the rogue but you’re kind of neutral about it.
So you cast in this spell because the party wants to know if it’s safe to go into town or not. Now this is where it gets complicated because you don’t particularly care about the rogue is the result automatically going to be nothing because whether or not he gets picked up by the police or not you’re on affected you don’t care.
Is it good because you’re a cleric and you’re kind of just and you think the rogue deserves his punishment. So what do you get a wheel or would you get a whoa because losing the rogue would be bad for the party.
It’s very complicated and not to mention if the way it’s worded is it’s not the DM directly communicating with you. It’s an omen from an otherworldly entity. So let’s say you’re aligned with a fairly evil guy listen to your trickery domain cleric or anything like that.
Then how much more would that complicate the spell. That’s why i think this is a great discussion to have in a session zero or out of the table. My personal thoughts please let me know what you think down in the comments may be i’m just reading way too much into this or maybe i’m not reading enough into it. I don’t know let me know down in the comments.
I also don’t like the fact that it says it doesn’t account to any possible circumstances that might change the outcome isn’t that kind of the point of this spell i get it’s incredibly low level i get divination magic is typically top tier and i get convening with gods there’s nothing to be considered lightly but still it just seems so general. In any case let’s move on to some alternative uses.
Alternative Uses
Needless to say these assume that you’ve had that discussion with your DM. Then i think that’s fair, i think i would highly encourage you, i’d highly recommend. You could use this to just plot out a path you know if you don’t know what to do if you’re at a loss just basically treat it like a magic 8-ball you know!
You can also use it to determine if a place is safe or not that is definitely something that would apply to almost any case would give you a definite good or bad result. Just imagine you’re staying there, cast a spell if it’s a good result you can stay there if it’s a bad result i’d start casting up some spells.
You can also use this when purchasing unknown magic items will purchasing this be a good decision we all whoa pretty straightforward, pretty cut-and-dry you could potentially also use this to gain the effectiveness of plans.
If everything goes according to this plan here..will it be successful wheel whoa stuff like that. Naturally doesn’t take into account anything that really anything when you really read the spell. But it’ll give you at the very least a general idea as to whether or not the fight is comparable to your current level. That’s kind of a meta game version of it but it makes sense.
Attributes Of DnD 5E Augury
| Casting Time | 1 minute |
| Classes | Cleric |
| Components | V S M |
| Duration | Instantaneous |
| Level | 2 |
| Material | Specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp |
| Name | Augury |
| Range | Self |
| Ritual | Yes |
| School | Divination |
| Target | See text |
Conclusion
Fantastic, if you have any ideas, things you want to share or stories involving augury please put them down in the comment section below i really appreciate it and then spells like this man we need all the help we can get because it’s just so general.
Once again may be i’m missing something but i’ve read it like five or six times now it always seems to be a little bit confusing but hopefully i was able to help. That being said, thank you so much guys i really do appreciate the time. I hope you all have a wonderful day and as always happy casting.