Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 7th episode of our second level spell series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the complicated ones for me to understand and in all honesty could be a subject of a session zero in of itself.
So yeah i’ll get into why that is in a little bit here. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at how does augury work 5e 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 but 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 spell is about.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Minute (Ritual)
- Range/Area: Self
- Components: V, S, M *
- Duration: Instantaneous
- School: Divination
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Foreknowledge
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 and the effect at a glance is as followed:
You use some form of divining tool. And you recieve 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% chance for each casting that you get a random reading.
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. You can also read this is augury a wizard spell?
The school unsurprisingly is divination. Which makes sense because you’re kind of convening with god’s. 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 it of itself.
Description
By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:
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
The spell doesn’t take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.
If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret. * – (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Oh man! So if you haven’t guessed already my beef with this spell is how general it is and how little is actually specified. This is true for life in general which is kind of meta-commentary i guess but it’s a 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 that this spell is related to the caster. Okay so let’s say you gotta be clerics so let’s just say you’re a cleric okay! 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. Okay! 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 unaffected you don’t care.
Is it good, because you’re a cleric and you’re kind of just and you think the rogue desrves his punishment. So would you get a weal or would you get a woe because losing the woe 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 god or listen 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. Don’t miss out 5e spell rules.
My personal thoughts, please let me know what you think down in the comments maybe 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 comment section. 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 5e 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. Also check out this do druids have augury?
Alternative Uses
Do you know what is the use of augury? Needless to say these assume that you’ve had that discussion with your DM. I think that’s fair, i think i would highly encourage you out, highly recommend it. 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 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, Weal, Woe pretty straight forward, pretty cut and dry. Also check out can you cast a spell as a bonus action.
You could potentially also use this to gain the effectiveness of plans. If everything goes according to this plan here will it be successful. Weal, Woe stuff like that. Naturally it 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 the meta game version of it but it makes sense. Also read 5e divination spells
Conclusion
Fantastic if you have any ideas, things you want to share or stories involving what does the augury spell do? please put them down in the comment section below i really appreciate it and the spells like this man we need all the help we can get because it’s just so general. Do you know 5e when to give magic weapons.
Once again maybe 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. Keep reading commune 5e | scroll of augury 5e |