Legend Lore

• Level: 5
• School: Divination
• Class: Bard, Cleric, Wizard
• Casting Time: 10 minutes
• Range: Self
• Components: V, S, M (incense worth 250+ GP, which the spell consumes, and four ivory strips worth 50+ GP each)
• Duration: Instantaneous

Name or describe a famous person, place, or object. The spell brings to your mind a brief summary of the significant lore about that famous thing, as described by the GM.

The lore might consist of important details, amusing revelations, or even secret lore that has never been widely known. The more information you already know about the thing, the more precise and detailed the information you receive is. That information is accurate but might be couched in figurative language or poetry, as determined by the GM.

If the famous thing you chose isn't actually famous, you hear sad musical notes played on a trombone, and the spell fails.

Tactical Usage

Intelligence Gathering: Legend Lore provides comprehensive background information about famous subjects, making it invaluable for research, investigation, and strategic planning. The spell reveals both public knowledge and secret lore that could change tactical approaches.

Campaign Preparation: Use Legend Lore to research major campaign elements, legendary artifacts, powerful NPCs, or significant locations before encounters. The information gained can provide crucial advantages in negotiations, combat, or exploration.

Mystery Resolution: The spell excels at resolving long-term mysteries or providing exposition about campaign elements. Secret histories, hidden connections, or forgotten truths become accessible through focused inquiry.

Spell Combinations

Identify Synergy: Combine with Identify for comprehensive artifact analysis. Identify reveals mechanical properties while Legend Lore provides historical context and potential hidden purposes.

Detect Magic Preparation: Use Detect Magic to confirm the magical nature of subjects before spending the significant resources required for Legend Lore casting.

Divination Chain: Follow Legend Lore with other divination spells like Scrying or Locate Object to pursue leads discovered through the legendary information.

Material Component Details

Expensive Investment: The 250+ GP incense plus four 50+ GP ivory strips represent substantial expense, making each casting a significant resource commitment requiring careful target selection.

Component Symbolism: Incense connects to mystical tradition and communication with otherworldly knowledge, while ivory represents permanence and the preservation of ancient wisdom.

Preparation Requirements: The expensive components require advance acquisition and planning, preventing spontaneous usage and encouraging careful selection of research targets.

Creator Notes

Fame Requirement: The spell only functions on genuinely famous subjects, preventing abuse for gathering information about minor NPCs or obscure objects. This limitation maintains narrative focus on significant campaign elements.

Information Control: The GM controls what information is revealed and how it's presented, allowing narrative pacing and preventing the spell from revealing campaign secrets prematurely.

Figurative Language: The spell might present information in riddles, poetry, or metaphors, requiring interpretation and potentially leading to multiple possible meanings or misunderstandings.

Environmental Interactions

Knowledge Accessibility: The spell taps into collective knowledge and legend, potentially accessing information from scholarly records, cultural memory, or supernatural sources of wisdom.

Cultural Perspective: Information received might reflect the cultural perspective of its sources, potentially including biases, legends that aren't literally true, or culturally specific interpretations.

Temporal Scope: The spell can reveal information from any time period, potentially including prophecies about future events or ancient secrets lost to conventional research.

Common Rulings & Clarifications

Fame Definition: Fame requires broad recognition across multiple communities or cultures. Local celebrities or regionally known figures might not qualify depending on the campaign setting.

Subject Specificity: The spell requires naming or describing specific subjects rather than general categories. You cannot ask about all magical swords but could research a specific legendary blade.

Information Accuracy: While the information is accurate, it might be presented symbolically or require interpretation. Literal facts might be embedded in metaphorical descriptions.

Alternative Applications

Academic Research: Scholars can use Legend Lore for historical research, cultural studies, or academic investigation into legendary subjects within their field of expertise.

Legal Investigation: Research the history of disputed territories, ancient claims, or legendary precedents that might influence legal proceedings or diplomatic negotiations.

Archaeological Planning: Investigate legendary sites, lost civilizations, or ancient artifacts before undertaking expensive or dangerous archaeological expeditions.

Related Spells

Identify: Provides mechanical information about magical items while Legend Lore offers historical context. Use both for comprehensive artifact analysis.

Contact Other Plane: Different approach to accessing otherworldly knowledge with different risks and information types. Compare based on whether specific legends or general cosmic knowledge better serves needs.

Divination: Provides guidance about future courses of action while Legend Lore focuses on historical and legendary information about specific subjects.

Scaling Analysis

Mid Levels (9-14): Legend Lore becomes accessible when 5th-level spell slots are available but still represent significant resource investment requiring careful planning.

Campaign Integration: Most valuable in campaigns emphasizing history, mystery, or legendary elements where background information significantly impacts story development and character decisions.

Resource Economics: The high component cost makes repeated usage expensive, encouraging strategic selection of research targets and careful resource management.

Narrative Flavor

Mystical Revelation: As you burn the expensive incense and arrange the ivory strips, knowledge flows into your mind like whispered secrets from the collective memory of ages. Ancient voices share their wisdom across time.

Legendary Echoes: The information arrives as a tapestry of interconnected stories, songs, and legends. You experience brief visions of historical moments while understanding their significance to your inquiry.

Trombone Failure: When the subject lacks sufficient fame, the spell manifests its failure through sad trombone music that seems to mock your wasted resources and poor target selection with comedic disappointment.