Many GMs are wary of allowing divination powers in their games because divination can neutralize mystery plots. It is true that magic or psychic powers or other divination methods might reveal clues about a mystery that ordinarily would have gone unnoticed by conventional investigation, but that doesn't necessarily invalidate the conventional investigation techniques. For example, if a psychic detective is investigating a series of murders, his special abilities may tell him that the killer is the brother-in-law of the mayor. That's a helpful piece of information but the case isn't solved yet because most settings don't allow psychic hunches or cosmic “vibes” as admissible evidence in a court of law. That poor psychic detective can't arrest the killer without real tangible evidence and a judge won't issue a warrant based solely on the detective's word or gut instincts.
Divination powers alone won't solve the case for you (unless you're a vigilante who acts as judge, jury, and executioner). On the other hand, they can save a lot of time by letting you avoid red herrings and dead end leads, because you can focus the investigation on the guilty party and spend your time gathering evidence that links them to the crime. Divination can tell you the answer to a mystery, but if you want anyone else to believe you, you'll still need to prove it. The key to running a good mystery game with divination powers is to ensure that the PCs don't live in a vacuum. PCs who have the ultimate authority to act on their information and answer to no one can just say "Oh, the mayor's son-in-law is the killer? I waste him with my crossbow. Case closed." In a campaign structured like that, you'll either need to disallow divination for PCs or be comfortable with the fact that mysteries aren't going to provide much challenge in themselves. On the other hand, PCs who live in a society with laws and public opinion that matters will still need to find real evidence. Just think of all the police dramas that feature detectives investigating someone that they know is guilty but they can't find the evidence they need to convict him. With that in mind, the first divination power is after the jump.
Divination powers alone won't solve the case for you (unless you're a vigilante who acts as judge, jury, and executioner). On the other hand, they can save a lot of time by letting you avoid red herrings and dead end leads, because you can focus the investigation on the guilty party and spend your time gathering evidence that links them to the crime. Divination can tell you the answer to a mystery, but if you want anyone else to believe you, you'll still need to prove it. The key to running a good mystery game with divination powers is to ensure that the PCs don't live in a vacuum. PCs who have the ultimate authority to act on their information and answer to no one can just say "Oh, the mayor's son-in-law is the killer? I waste him with my crossbow. Case closed." In a campaign structured like that, you'll either need to disallow divination for PCs or be comfortable with the fact that mysteries aren't going to provide much challenge in themselves. On the other hand, PCs who live in a society with laws and public opinion that matters will still need to find real evidence. Just think of all the police dramas that feature detectives investigating someone that they know is guilty but they can't find the evidence they need to convict him. With that in mind, the first divination power is after the jump.
