Divine Magic • Core Spell Reference
Divination
Divination grants an omen or a useful answer about a specific plan within the coming week. Fifth edition offers a truthful but potentially cryptic reply; Pathfinder and 3.5e use a level-based reliability roll. Unlike the shorter-sighted Augury spell, Divination concerns events up to seven days ahead.
Divination at a Glance
| 5.5e (2024) | Level 4 |
|---|---|
| 5e (2014) | Level 4 |
| Pathfinder 1e | Cleric 4, Witch 4 |
| D&D 3.5e | Level 4 |
| Browse | Cleric spells • Witch spells |
Spell Rules
Divination — 5.5e (2024)
4th-level Cleric, Druid and Wizard spell. 2024 rules reference.
| Spell | Level 4 Divination (Cleric, Druid, Wizard) |
|---|---|
| Casting Time | Action or Ritual |
| Range | Self |
| Components | V, S, M (incense worth 25+ GP, which the spell consumes) |
| Duration | Instantaneous |
This spell puts you in contact with a god or a god’s servants. You ask one question about a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days. The GM offers a truthful reply, which might be a short phrase or cryptic rhyme. The spell doesn’t account for circumstances that might change the answer, such as the casting of other spells. If you cast the spell more than once before finishing a Long Rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get no answer.
Divination — 5e (2014)
Cleric spell level 4. Edition source.
| Spell | 4th-level divination (ritual) |
|---|---|
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | Self |
| Components | V, S, M (incense and a sacrificial offering appropriate to your religion, together worth at least 25 gp, which the spell consumes) |
| Duration | Instantaneous |
Your magic and an offering put you in contact with a god or a god’s servants. You ask a single question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days. The GM offers a truthful reply. The reply might be a short phrase, a cryptic rhyme, or an omen. 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 finishing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The GM makes this roll in secret.
Divination — Pathfinder 1e
Cleric 4 and Witch 4 (the Witch entry is listed in the Advanced Player’s Guide). Pathfinder core spell source.
| School | divination |
|---|---|
| Level | Cleric 4, Witch 4 (Advanced Player’s Guide) |
| Casting Time | 10 minutes |
| Components | V, S, M (incense and an appropriate offering worth 25 gp) |
| Range | personal |
| Target | you |
| Duration | instantaneous |
Related spell: Augury (reference only — not Divination’s procedure)
Important: the following inherited text describes the separate Augury spell, which sees approximately 30 minutes ahead. Divination itself concerns a question about a goal within one week and uses its own reliability rules below.
An augury can tell you whether a particular action will bring good or bad results for you in the immediate future.
The base chance for receiving a meaningful reply is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%; this roll is made secretly. A question may be so straightforward that a successful result is automatic, or so vague as to have no chance of success. If the augury succeeds, you get one of four results:
- Weal (if the action will probably bring good results).
- Woe (for bad results).
- Weal and woe (for both).
- Nothing (for actions that don’t have especially good or bad results).
If the spell fails, you get the “nothing” result. A cleric who gets the “nothing” result has no way to tell whether it was the consequence of a failed or successful augury.
The augury can see into the future only about half an hour, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result. Thus, the result might not take into account the long-term consequences of a contemplated action. All auguries cast by the same person about the same topic use the same die result as the first casting.
Divination’s actual spell effect (one-week horizon)
Changes for this spell: more powerful, a divination spell can provide you with a useful piece of advice in reply to a question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity that is to occur within 1 week. The advice granted by the spell can be as simple as a short phrase, or it might take the form of a cryptic rhyme or omen. If your party doesn’t act on the information, the conditions may change so that the information is no longer useful. The base chance for a correct divination is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%. If the die roll fails, you know the spell failed, unless specific magic yielding false information is at work.
As with augury, multiple divinations about the same topic by the same caster use the same dice result as the first divination spell and yield the same answer each time.
Divination — D&D 3.5e
Cleric spell level 4. Edition source.
| School | Divination |
|---|---|
| Level | Clr 4, Knowledge 4 |
| Components | V, S, M |
| Casting Time | 10 minutes |
| Range | Personal |
| Target | You |
| Duration | Instantaneous |
Related spell: Augury (reference only — not Divination’s procedure)
Important: the following inherited text describes the separate Augury spell, which sees approximately 30 minutes ahead. Divination itself concerns a question about a goal within one week and uses its own reliability rules below.
An augury can tell you whether a particular action will bring good or bad results for you in the immediate future.
The base chance for receiving a meaningful reply is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%; this roll is made secretly. A question may be so straightforward that a successful result is automatic, or so vague as to have no chance of success. If the augury succeeds, you get one of four results:
- Weal (if the action will probably bring good results).
- Woe (for bad results).
- Weal and woe (for both).
- Nothing (for actions that don’t have especially good or bad results).
If the spell fails, you get the “nothing” result. A cleric who gets the “nothing” result has no way to tell whether it was the consequence of a failed or successful augury.
The augury can see into the future only about half an hour, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result. Thus, the result might not take into account the long-term consequences of a contemplated action. All auguries cast by the same person about the same topic use the same dice result as the first casting.
Material Component: Incense worth at least 25 gp.
Focus: A set of marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens of at least 25 gp value.
Divination’s actual spell effect (one-week horizon)
Changes for this spell: more powerful, a divination spell can provide you with a useful piece of advice in reply to a question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity that is to occur within one week. The advice can be as simple as a short phrase, or it might take the form of a cryptic rhyme or omen. If your party doesn’t act on the information, the conditions may change so that the information is no longer useful. The base chance for a correct divination is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%. If the dice roll fails, you know the spell failed, unless specific magic yielding false information is at work.
As with augury, multiple divinations about the same topic by the same caster use the same dice result as the first divination spell and yield the same answer each time.
Material Component: Incense and a sacrificial offering appropriate to your religion, together worth at least 25 gp.
What Changed?
- 2024: Clerics, Druids and Wizards may cast Divination with an Action or as a Ritual; repeated casting risks receiving no answer.
- 2014: the spell uses an action and ritual casting; repeated casting risks a random reading, rather than no answer.
- Pathfinder 1e: Clerics and Witches may cast it; the ten-minute casting and success chance of 70% + 1% per caster level, capped at 90%, govern the answer.
- D&D 3.5e: Clerics and the Knowledge domain use the older d20 version with its ten-minute casting and percentage success check.
Using Divination in Play
Ask a specific question whose answer could change what the party does next. Divination is most valuable before a dangerous journey, negotiation, ritual or assault when several possible plans are still open.
Counterplay and Rulings
- Divination is information magic: it does not force the future to happen and does not override free choice.
- Counterspell: can stop the casting where the chosen edition allows it.
- Dispel Magic: normally has little to undo once an instantaneous answer has been received.
- Unclear questions: vague wording can produce equally vague or cryptic answers; use the selected edition’s exact limits.
Related Magic
Worked Example: The Road Through the Pass
A Witch wants to know whether the party should cross an avalanche-prone mountain pass within the next seven days. She asks a precise question about the planned crossing rather than demanding an account of her whole future.
Pathfinder 1e, caster level 8: the base chance for a correct answer is 70% + 8% = 78%. The Games Master makes the roll in secret. On a failure, the caster knows the divination failed unless specific magic supplies false information. Asking again about the same subject does not grant a new roll or different answer.
2024: the Games Master gives a truthful but potentially cryptic response. A second Divination before a Long Rest carries a 25% chance of receiving no answer.
2014: the second casting instead carries a 25% chance of a random reading. Do not exchange these two outcomes between editions.
Mythical Context
Ancient Greek tradition named Gaia, Themis and Phoebe as earlier holders of the Delphic prophetic seat before Apollo. In Aeschylus’ Eumenides, the priestess recounts this succession before delivering the god’s oracle. The myth gives divination its sense of inherited, sometimes cryptic authority; it does not establish the spell’s chance of success or casting time.
Ancient testimony on the Delphic oracle and its mythical origins
Historical Context
At Delphi, petitioners travelled to Apollo’s sanctuary to receive counsel through the Pythia. The site’s oracle had major political and religious influence across the Greek world, especially by the sixth century BCE. The surviving sanctuary and votive monuments provide archaeological evidence for the institution of consultation; its prophecies should not be treated as verified predictions.
UNESCO: Archaeological Site of Delphi and the oracle’s historical role
Rules Sources and Licensing
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