On Augury

“What are your fees?" inquired Guyal cautiously.

"I respond to three questions," stated the augur. "For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue.”

― Jack Vance, Tales of the Dying Earth

In my long-running 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign, which ended just a few months ago, one of the player characters was a Path of the Ancestral Guardian barbarian (Xanathar's Guide to Everything - side note: perhaps my favorite barbarian Primal Path, and arguably more busted than the infamous Bear Totem Warrior). At 10th-level, the Ancestral Guardian barbarian gains the feature "Consult the Spirits", which allows them to cast augury or clairvoyance once per rest without using material components or a spell slot.

I don't think I've ever had a player choose to take augury, but in this case the barbarian got it for free. Understandably, they wanted to use it. A lot.

"I hate this spell, but I'll try," I said.

Babbling in an Unknown Tongue

The problem with augury, more so than other divination spells, is that is asks the Dungeon Master to predict the future of a game which relies heavily on dice rolls.

In 5e, the spellcaster "receives an omen...about the results of a specific course of action" and the DM chooses between Weal ("something good will happen if you do this"), Woe ("something bad will happen if you do this"), Weal and Woe, or Nothing. Given the nature of dice, I find it hard to give any answer other than "Both...maybe?"

The spell is much the same in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd edition) - along with 1st edition, my fallback when something in 5e needs more advice, context, or (dare I say?) mechanics - except that the spell is, in classic AD&D fashion, slightly more difficult to cast effectively, having a much greater chance of giving a "meaningless reply", and requiring 1,000 gold pieces-worth of components!

Interestingly, the 2e description includes this example of use:

"...if the question is 'Will we do well if we venture to the third level?' and a terrible troll guarding 10,000 sp and a shield +1 lurks near the entrance to the level (which the DM estimates the party could beat after a hard fight), the augury might be: 'Great risk brings great reward.' If the troll is too strong for the party, the augury might be: 'Woe and destruction await!'

Interpret As You Will

Two potential uses of augury come to mind which don't fundamentally change the mechanics of the spell: telegraphing danger and enhancing a piety system (as described in Mythic Odysseys of Theros, page 36).

The above play example included in 2e demonstrates the spell's potential to telegraph danger. If the DM is running a sandbox, in which challenges and locations of varying difficulty and danger are usually scattered about the area of play somewhat randomly, and the players can well and truly try to go anywhere and do anything, a savvy cleric, druid, wizard, etc. might use this spell to effectively assess the "appropriateness" of a given expedition for characters of their level.

Unfortunately, the spell only applies to courses of action that the party plans to take within the next 30 minutes. It's unclear if, for example, the party plans to set out to the incredibly dangerous Kandalifi Jungle region in the next 30 minutes, whether or not the spell accounts for the entirety of that journey or only the first 30 minutes of it. If it's the latter, then the spell is good only for assessing the danger of exploring the next few rooms of the dungeon (which can also be useful). I'd lean towards interpreting the spell as applying broadly to the currently-planned course of action, so long as the party plans to take that action imminently. Here, I'm favoring leniency and generosity because this is an oft-neglected spell which could use some love from the referee.

5e's optional piety system is laid out in the Magic: The Gathering setting book, Mythic Odysseys of Theros (a supplement which, like Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, is useful but unfairly maligned and neglected merely for being a Magic book). Theros provides a comprehensive list of its gods, their goals, worship, suggested alignment, classes, cleric domains, backgrounds, and - most importantly - ways to earn and lose piety.

In an ideal world, this system would be a part of every D&D book going forward (given it details the gods in some way). If the DM is running a game in the Forgotten Realms or another established setting, it's easy enough to extrapolate ways to earn and lose piety - as well as piety's benefits - from Theros's blueprint and the descriptions of the gods in the chosen setting. If the DM is running a custom setting, it's worth it to consider these elements for each of the setting's gods (or at least the ones that are relevant to the campaign).

So how does this relate to augury? Well, a character who is concerned with piety could use the spell to determine whether a given course of action would gain or lose their god's favor, or leave it unaffected. Piety works just as well for a cleric as it does for a druid concerned with placating nature spirits or a wizard who is particularly devout towards a deity of magic or knowledge. If the DM was to introduce a piety system and tie augury into it in this way, I would recommend opening the spell up to godly paladins as well (perhaps the spell could also telegraph whether the paladin is likely to be put in a situation where their morals or oath is put into jeopardy, although this might be asking too much of the DM).

Admitting for Ambiguity

5e's description of the augury spell has another element I didn't mention, which further complicates the issue:

"The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome."

This is basically the DM's "get out of jail free" card for the spell. The description specifies the casting of additional spells or the loss or gaining of a companion. It's obvious enough that if the player casts this spell before proceeding to fight the fearsome troll beyond the stairs to the dungeon's third level and gets the "Weal" result, and then the party's fighter abruptly decides to go home, that the odds of defeating the troll have probably drastically changed. Similarly, a result of "Woe" might be significantly altered by the druid casting flame blade immediately afterwards. But what if the troll is accompanied by an ogre mage who wins initiative and opens the encounter by devastating the party with a cone of cold? The DM can anticipate the added difficulty posed by the ogre mage's presence, but they cannot foresee bad luck such as the ogre going first in combat, or a majority of the party failing their saving throws against its spell.

One way to account for this uncertainty is to tie a certain benefit to the spell. Perhaps a "Weal" result carries with it a Portent, akin to the School of Divination's 2nd-level feature, which the caster then gets to utilize at a time of their choosing within the next 30 minutes. A "Woe" result might grant the DM a Portent instead. Instead, maybe the caster gains inspiration from an auspicious omen, or - one of my personal favorite house rule mechanics - the DM gains reverse inspiration from a bad omen, i.e., the DM can force a player to have disadvantage on a roll or reroll a result of their choice at a later time.

These are two ways the DM can gently nudge an uncertain outcome towards greater certainty, if so inclined. The question is, is it fair for the DM to then have say over the result of the spell's casting when it's now being tied to a meta-currency? Is it more fair to roll a d4 to determine the result and apply the benefits and drawbacks based on that? Should the spell remain a ritual? Should the components be consumed?

For Twenty Terces

I included the Jack Vance quote from Tales of the Dying Earth at the top of this post because it made me think of augury as transactional, which made me think of material components. The spell requires 25 gold pieces-worth of "specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens", which are not consumed in the casting of the spell. What if greater components could garner greater portents? What if augury could be cast at higher spell levels? When viewed this way, augury is less a neutral reading of the situation at hand and more a ritual performed and offering made to gain a god's favor.

My revised version of augury is as follows:

Augury

2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp and up to 2,500 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous, or 30 minutes

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.

Alternatively, you can use this spell to determine whether a given course of action will be looked upon favorably or unfavorably by any one god.

If you cast this spell using a 2nd-level spell slot, you can instead choose to roll a d20 and record the number rolled. You can replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with this foretelling roll. You must choose to so before the roll. The foretelling roll can be used only once. After 30 minutes, you lose the foretelling roll if it is unused. This use of the spell consumes the material components.

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.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a 5th-level spell slot and material components worth at least 250 gp, you can choose to roll two foretelling rolls, and you lose any unused rolls after 8 hours. When you cast this spell using an 8th-level spell slot and material components worth at 2,500 gp, you can choose to roll three foretelling rolls, and you lose any unused rolls after 24 hours. Both of these uses of the spell consume the associated material components.

Classes: Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Wizard