Any spell that would work for a paternity test? So I usually don't allow this kind of thing in game but because it was so ridiculous I allowed a gnome player to seduce a half ogress and faded to black. He rolled a 20 on his charisma check, rolled a 3 on his con save, and had his pelvis shattered. The wizard did sweep of the town with detect magic and only found a vial of oil of slipperiness on the ogre's night stand.
The players enjoyed the humor so if they came back to that town I though I might have something ready for them.
Yes legend-lore definitely wouldn't work. The individual must be legendary (either the parent or the offspring). So for example in the real world Heracles has a legendary status and his paternity is also legendary.
On the other hand, I would also rule, as DM (though this is just me) that the spell only gives you the legend, not the truth. So for example, legend has it that Julius Caesar was the direct descendant of the goddess Venus. (A legend he promoted himself.) Since we know (in the real world) that there was no such being as Venus, we also know that this legend cannot, in fact, be true, but that Caesar made it up to provide himself with legitimacy when he took over the Roman Republic as a dictator. However, if you cast the spell in our world somehow, it would not tell you who his actual ancestor is... it would tell you the legend, that Caesar is descended from Venus.
Legends are not always true, and often are false, or at least exaggerated. Legend Lore should give you that exaggerated version, not the literal truth. Which would mean that you could never really trust it for paternity tests. It will give you the legend of Leda and the Swan, not who the actual father is. At least that is how I would run it.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Bear in mind that the spells that appear in published books, in fiction, aren't all the spells that exist. I like to think of them as 'Adventuring Spells' because they're most often used by adventurers in the varied situations they find themselves in. I imagine there's volumes of spells existent that aren't that useful to adventures at all, but apply to other fields, like architectural spells, academic spells, spells for finding reference material, purely theoretical spells, medical spells (aside from simply "heal", things like diagnostic spells or even contraceptive or paternity spells), that kind of thing.
If this is for a game you're DMing, feel free to just have that kind of stuff exist. Also bear in mind that sometimes NPC's have abilities that do not appear on any adventurer's spell list or class abilities, so the content of the books is therefore not always strictly relevant when it comes to what is possible in the game world. It really depends more on your setting, and how high magic vs low magic it is.
This comes up now and then. The idea that a magical paternity test WOULDN'T exist is flat-out crazy in a high-magic world of hereditary aristocracies. At a bare bare minimum, every royal court would have a wizard who CLAIMED to be able to determine descendence (even if their judgment could be fixed with bribes). Whether a random townsperson has access to that kind of magic is up to you.
If this is just for a joke, the fact that a 7 foot half-ogress has a 3 foot tall child who wears curly-toed shoes and a pointy hat and already has a white beard might be a perfectly good visual gag that doesn't even require you to worry about adding spells.
This comes up now and then. The idea that a magical paternity test WOULDN'T exist is flat-out crazy in a high-magic world of hereditary aristocracies.
Eh, the fact that people want to do something doesn't mean they can. However, the wide variety of magical monstrosities that breed true rather argues for magical genetics being decently advanced, so it's certainly plausible that methods for the purpose exist.
This seems to be one of the instances where Legend Lore would be appropriate.
In my (and many others') experience, Legend Lore is basically useless because the way many DMs adjudicate it, it only tells you things that are already known.
I think the paternity test should be announced on stage with the ogre mother and possible babydaddies... the gnome, another ogre, a sphinx, and a very romantic gelatinous cube.
I think the paternity test should be announced on stage with the ogre mother and possible babydaddies... the gnome, another ogre, a sphinx, and a very romantic gelatinous cube.
"Daddy, where do Gelatinous Cubes come from?"
As for the "Test", I'm sure everyone has thought it but just not said it I would homebrew the spell as you could tailor the SVM the best way needed to justify how the match could be identified.
Create a new spell. Homebrew it to pieces (or the opposite of "to pieces"). The spells in the the official books are not the only spells in existence. Even players creating new spells is a long standing tradition of D&D stretching back to the very beginning of the game. So surely, a GM could come up with a know lineage spell.
Here's a freebie: Know lineage. 2nd level spell, ritual, requires a lock of hair from the subject. The spell gives a murky idea of the identity of the subject. The subject is away of the the race, age and (natural) appearance of the parents at time of conception, but does not give information of their name or dynasty. The images appear in flashes to the spellcaster and cannot physically be seen.
This seems to be one of the instances where Legend Lore would be appropriate.
In my (and many others') experience, Legend Lore is basically useless because the way many DMs adjudicate it, it only tells you things that are already known.
As written, it only tells you things that are already known. It's just that it can tell you things that are only known by a small group. It's basically a History autosuccess.
This seems to be one of the instances where Legend Lore would be appropriate.
In my (and many others') experience, Legend Lore is basically useless because the way many DMs adjudicate it, it only tells you things that are already known.
As written, it only tells you things that are already known. It's just that it can tell you things that are only known by a small group. It's basically a History autosuccess.
Yeah, it's like "you can turn invisible, but only when nobody is looking" like from Mystery Men.
Any spell that would work for a paternity test?
So I usually don't allow this kind of thing in game but because it was so ridiculous I allowed a gnome player to seduce a half ogress and faded to black. He rolled a 20 on his charisma check, rolled a 3 on his con save, and had his pelvis shattered.
The wizard did sweep of the town with detect magic and only found a vial of oil of slipperiness on the ogre's night stand.
The players enjoyed the humor so if they came back to that town I though I might have something ready for them.
I mean, divination should do it.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
This seems to be one of the instances where Legend Lore would be appropriate.
There are no spells that specifically do so, but there are some spells that might tell you.
Yes legend-lore definitely wouldn't work. The individual must be legendary (either the parent or the offspring). So for example in the real world Heracles has a legendary status and his paternity is also legendary.
On the other hand, I would also rule, as DM (though this is just me) that the spell only gives you the legend, not the truth. So for example, legend has it that Julius Caesar was the direct descendant of the goddess Venus. (A legend he promoted himself.) Since we know (in the real world) that there was no such being as Venus, we also know that this legend cannot, in fact, be true, but that Caesar made it up to provide himself with legitimacy when he took over the Roman Republic as a dictator. However, if you cast the spell in our world somehow, it would not tell you who his actual ancestor is... it would tell you the legend, that Caesar is descended from Venus.
Legends are not always true, and often are false, or at least exaggerated. Legend Lore should give you that exaggerated version, not the literal truth. Which would mean that you could never really trust it for paternity tests. It will give you the legend of Leda and the Swan, not who the actual father is. At least that is how I would run it.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Bear in mind that the spells that appear in published books, in fiction, aren't all the spells that exist. I like to think of them as 'Adventuring Spells' because they're most often used by adventurers in the varied situations they find themselves in. I imagine there's volumes of spells existent that aren't that useful to adventures at all, but apply to other fields, like architectural spells, academic spells, spells for finding reference material, purely theoretical spells, medical spells (aside from simply "heal", things like diagnostic spells or even contraceptive or paternity spells), that kind of thing.
If this is for a game you're DMing, feel free to just have that kind of stuff exist. Also bear in mind that sometimes NPC's have abilities that do not appear on any adventurer's spell list or class abilities, so the content of the books is therefore not always strictly relevant when it comes to what is possible in the game world. It really depends more on your setting, and how high magic vs low magic it is.
This comes up now and then. The idea that a magical paternity test WOULDN'T exist is flat-out crazy in a high-magic world of hereditary aristocracies. At a bare bare minimum, every royal court would have a wizard who CLAIMED to be able to determine descendence (even if their judgment could be fixed with bribes). Whether a random townsperson has access to that kind of magic is up to you.
If this is just for a joke, the fact that a 7 foot half-ogress has a 3 foot tall child who wears curly-toed shoes and a pointy hat and already has a white beard might be a perfectly good visual gag that doesn't even require you to worry about adding spells.
Eh, the fact that people want to do something doesn't mean they can. However, the wide variety of magical monstrosities that breed true rather argues for magical genetics being decently advanced, so it's certainly plausible that methods for the purpose exist.
Who said there would or should be a baby from this one time?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
The person who made the thread. That’s the whole point of the thread.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
In my (and many others') experience, Legend Lore is basically useless because the way many DMs adjudicate it, it only tells you things that are already known.
I think the paternity test should be announced on stage with the ogre mother and possible babydaddies... the gnome, another ogre, a sphinx, and a very romantic gelatinous cube.
"Daddy, where do Gelatinous Cubes come from?"
As for the "Test", I'm sure everyone has thought it but just not said it I would homebrew the spell as you could tailor the SVM the best way needed to justify how the match could be identified.
Allow me to suggest a novel course of action:
Create a new spell. Homebrew it to pieces (or the opposite of "to pieces"). The spells in the the official books are not the only spells in existence. Even players creating new spells is a long standing tradition of D&D stretching back to the very beginning of the game. So surely, a GM could come up with a know lineage spell.
Here's a freebie: Know lineage. 2nd level spell, ritual, requires a lock of hair from the subject. The spell gives a murky idea of the identity of the subject. The subject is away of the the race, age and (natural) appearance of the parents at time of conception, but does not give information of their name or dynasty. The images appear in flashes to the spellcaster and cannot physically be seen.
As written, it only tells you things that are already known. It's just that it can tell you things that are only known by a small group. It's basically a History autosuccess.
Yeah, it's like "you can turn invisible, but only when nobody is looking" like from Mystery Men.
Not a spell, but a "Blod Stone" would work. Costs a lot, but to a previous point in the thread it's probably only really used for royalty.