Dungeons and Dragons is, at its heart, an improv game where anything can happen. Your players might slay the dragon, or they might marry it and settle down in a peaceful commune. The roll of the dice can drastically alter the outcome of key events. From session to session, the Dungeon Master barely knows what'll happen next - so how are you supposed to cope when your D&D party can literally see the future?
The first step is not to panic. While D&D has divination spells built in, they don't have to derail your campaign. A confident Dungeon Master can easily improvise their way through any spontaneous bout of clairvoyance. They just need to remember a few key tips:
Read the spell very carefully
Typically, if a player initiates a fortune-telling session, it's because they have a class feature or DnD spell that allows them to do so. There's an entire school of magic dedicated to divination, but DMs only need to worry about a select few spells:
- Augury
- Commune
- Commune with Nature
- Contact Other Plane
- Detect Thoughts
- Divination
- Legend Lore
These are the only spells where players can ask a divine entity (A.K.A the Dungeon Master) for knowledge that the players couldn't have already known.
This communication isn't without restraints, however. On the DM side of the screen, it's crucial that you read the spell's rules and understand exactly what a player can ask of you. A thorough check of the Player's Handbook can often save you from over-explaining in those moments where inspiration is running dry.
For example, take the spell Augury. A player can only use this spell to ask about "a course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes". It can't be used to gaze into the past or make long-term plans. Additionally, the DM doesn't have to provide any description of the outcome. They simply offer one of four omens:
- Weal - A good result will occur.
- Woe - A bad result will occur.
- Weal and woe - The results will be both good and bad.
- Indifference - The results will be neither good nor bad.
Augury also has an extra 'get out of jail free' card in the form of the following clause: "The spell doesn't account for circumstances, such as other spells, that might change the results." Essentially, the actions of the players can still change the final outcome - so it won't break the canon of your campaign if things don't play out the way that you said they would.
These kinds of limitations are common for divination spells. Commune and Contact Other Plane can only give players single-word answers, for example.
However, many entries on the list above do require some creativity on the DM's end. In those cases, there's one key solution that's often suggested by the rules themselves:
Don't be afraid to be cryptic
Okay, so your players have cornered the one NPC who knows all the answers to the mystery that they're trying to solve. Does that mean you have to spell everything out for them?
Absolutely not. D&D actively encourages DMs to use rhyme, riddle, imagery, or cryptic wording to deliver divinations.
Perhaps you pen a quick poem in response to a diviner's question. Maybe the answers they seek arrive in the form of flashing images, each connected but not in immediately obvious ways. Perhaps they hear snippets of a half-finished conversation or sentences that deliver the message indirectly. There's lots of room to get creative here.
If you do want to play with your players in this manner, just remember to:
Give players something they can actually use
In most cases, divination spells demand a cost. That might be expensive material components that are consumed after casting, or it might be a precious, high-level spell slot.
If your players are investing in divination, they'll be extremely disappointed if it doesn't yield results. When the glimpse of the future that you get is pure gibberish, you're bound to feel a bit cheated.
When your players use divination, confusing them should be the last thing you want to achieve. No matter how cryptic your answers are, they should have value. You don't have to give them an easy answer, but you do need to show them how to earn that answer themselves.
Drop breadcrumbs to the next location or person they need to track down. Confirm some of the theories they're trying to prove with their fortune telling, even if you don't unravel the entire mystery. Give them reasons to be excited and pursue the plot threads further.
Plan for diviners, not against them
You'll know from session one whether a player is - or one day will be - capable of divination. This should factor into your planning, particularly if you want to run a mystery campaign or one that features major plot twists.
Mysteries are tough to pull off in a D&D game, because you don't have complete control of the narrative. You can't predict how players will respond to a red herring or what you thought was an 'obvious' clue.
You can't guarantee that they'll open a locked door with crucial secrets behind it. In fact, you can't predict any of their actions with much accuracy. Even in games without divination, a player with a hunch can often undo a plot twist that you spent months building up to.
Again, do not panic. This is how things are meant to be in D&D.
You are the facilitator of the story, but you are not controlling it. When you internalize this philosophy, it becomes much easier to deal with diviners. Place less emphasis on The Big Moment when an answer is obtained, and focus on the interesting consequences of that knowledge. This will help you create adventures that are structured to reward characters with divination powers.
Don't over-prepare
Our last tip is good advice for all DMing situations. You never need to do as much prep as you think you do. And, unless you have an unusual zeal for planning and worldbuilding, you'll have more fun when you prepare less.
Sometimes, you can anticipate key questions a party will want answered with divination. Spells like Legend Lore and Commune With Nature request specific, static knowledge on a place or person that's unlikely to change. Those kinds of visions are easy to keep notes ready for.
D&D players love to throw you a curveball, though. You can't prepare the details of a Detect Thoughts spell cast on an NPC you never thought would be important. You also don't have to do that, like, ever.
Be confident in your ability to improvise. At most, ask your players for a few minutes to consider their divinations and jot down a reply. Ask yourself what the players are looking for and decide how much you're prepared to give them. Then simply fill in the creative blanks.
You don't need an answer ready at all times - especially when the question is 'what happens if I try to seduce the dragon?'
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