if you know the god well enough then sure, whether they notice, respond or appreciate it depends on the god and circumstances

Evocation is the magic that project energy, be this energy a fireball, a magical healing or a word.

What would happen if the person you're sending it to is has died without the sender being aware?  Would you all rule it as they cast the spell and just don't get a response?  They cast it, but get like a 404 target does not exist kind of thing?  Doesn't work at all?  I'd rather avoid the possibiltiy of it getting sent to their soul in the afterlife.

I guess ultimately it depends on what I want them to learn, but I'd like to know your thoughts.

Ok wait, "The spell enables creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 1 to understand the meaning of your message." So you can send (and then presumably receive, if you speak that animal's language) messages to and from ANYTHING with an intelligence of at least one?! All you have to be is "familiar" with them?!

Messenger pigeons? Spy rats? If my players find out about this... oh, jeez. Now along with all the other NPC's I have to rp, I know I'm gonna have to be a seagull or a poisonous snake or some stupid crap... :D

she uses it properly..she just needs to learn to not be quite so..motor mouth

Quote from ZorkFox >>

This seems like a great utility spell, but as a third level spell its a hefty cost for players who just got their third level slots. Making it a ritual would be nice.

 Indeed! I am going to use your suggestion as a rule for my players in our upcoming campaign. T'anks

Quote from ChewtotheBacca >>

Limits.

If you give an infinite of communication magic that even has a high chance of success over the planes, there is no reason to never-not know anything. All knowledge, always.

Challenge Rating: -infinity

Indeed. The animal messenger serves very well for any non-instantaneous communication need you have, can be ritually cast, and doesn't have (RAW, anyway), a word limit, so for terrestrial communication that's not time sensitive, it's a pretty good. substitute.

I was drawn to your comment..."All knowledge, always"...due to a story/chronicle I'm writing, using a world and its PC's from one of our group's longest running games.  One of those PC's was a 575-year old male elven bard, played by my best friend (an amazing woman who died in1994, sadly).  Take Prince (for his outrageous fashion sense and musical genius), Pierce Brosnan (for his rough Irish charm and good looks), and Rudolph Nureyev (for his grace, athleticism, and wonderful dancer's body), throw in a little Spanish flare from Antonio Banderas (whom she would've loved had she lived that long) and a dash of Lando Calrissian, and you pretty much have our bard.  Knowledge, and the pursuit thereof, were his absolute drugs of choice and Achilles' Heels...along with a fabulous wardrobe and some kick-ass instruments. 

My own lawful good half-elf priestess healer had a running battle with his chaotic good self, over the definition of what was good for the party vs what was good for him vs what could ONLY end up being good for the bad guys.   But that was his *charm*...of course!

On a regular basis,  our beloved bard would get himself and all the rest of us into sticky situations, all for the sake of obtaining some kind of (what if?...maybe?...perhaps?) new "knowledge".  So, when my friend needed to take a 2-month leave of absence from the game for personal reasons, our DM (who had a wicked sense of humor) came up with a temporary exit scenario he knew would appeal to our knowledge-hungry bard.  There we were, at the bottom of a long ramp that led up to a massive utterly "dark-hole" black obelisk, reeking of interdimensional evil and inscribed with pulsing blood-red runes.  And of course, our bard just had to touch those glowing blood-red runes, while the rest of us all screamed variations of  "Look out, Luke!  It's a trap!" in the background.   It was like watching a really bad slasher movie.  One critical-fail die roll later, he found himself transported to the chaotic evil-dead plane of our DM's world, where he was imprisoned by a queen harpy/succubus and subjected to BDSM for the better part of two months.  Upon being returned to us  2 months later, all he had to say for himself was that it was "a quite informative experience".   

Distance limits. And it's what you can say in 1 action while you cast it.

Quote from alphagray >>

 

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from ChewtotheBacca >>

Limits.

If you give an infinite of communication magic that even has a high chance of success over the planes, there is no reason to never-not know anything. All knowledge, always.

Challenge Rating: -infinity

Indeed. The animal messenger serves very well for any non-instantaneous communication need you have, can be ritually cast, and doesn't have (RAW, anyway), a word limit, so for terrestrial communication that's not time sensitive, it's a pretty good. substitute.

Can this contact the dead? The dead would typically be in the fugue plane or they'd be on their primary deity's plane, right? What if they were reincarnated, such as turning into a devil?

Does "familiar" mean you have to know them personally? What if you're told everything about someone, and someone in your party casts 'Disguise Self' to look like them. Is that enough?

Cause the spell also says the target recognized you "if they know you." So you clearly don't have to be *that* familiar with them. 

Wait, if you read enough about Asmodeus, could you contact him?

Quote from JBbattlebros >>

Wait, if you read enough about Asmodeus, could you contact him?

 

 Knowing a lot about someone isn't the same as being familiar with them, so probably not no

a) The wizard IMC wants to upcast this spell.  Is another 25 words per level too much? Or maybe a second back-and-forth exchange?

b) Wow, pretty much no chance of failure even across planes?  Sheesh...

I'm now wondering if the specific use of the word "enable" here means this could override the communication limits on a Feeblemind victim, if only one way, since this wording implies the spell can temporarily grant the target comprehension skills they didn't necessarily have before.  I don't think the target could respond in any coherent way except maybe a surge of emotion, but I'd be inclined to allow a player to send a message that the Feeblemind victim could understand if they attempted the spell.

Do the caster and target say their messages out loud?

Like do you and the target need to be able to breathe?

Quote from RaiShockmaster >>

Like do you and the target need to be able to breathe?

 I think that would be a conversation to have with your DM. Personally, I'd rule that the entire communication can take place telepathically since the target of the spell "hears the message in its mind", but it would be fun to have the whole thing out loud. If you're underwater or something, I think there's room to interpret that you can do this all without physically speaking.

Suppose you encounter a monster with which you would prefer to converse than to combat but they don't speak your language.

Would this be a way to say a short statement (yes, it's only 25 words and a response) to them?

While it's not Comprehend Languages it could be used to avoid some combats if that's possible.

This spells solves the longitude problem for my cartographer character