Divine Purpose (Priest Spell)

This spell helps the caster to discern the pur­pose of an item, even if it is broken or only a part of it can be examined. The caster must establish direct flesh-to-item contact with both the mystery item (which can be of any size, but must be solid, not a gaseous cloud, illusion, or visual effect) and his holy symbol, then utter a specific prayer. Neither the item nor holy symbol is altered by the spell. Through divine guidance, the caster can glimpse a vision of what the mystery item once was a part of, or how it is used or functions. Whether or not the spell succeeds, it drains 1 hit point from the caster (which can be regained read­ily through rest or magical healing).
The chance of learning something about an item has a base of 1%per level of the caster, plus 1% per point of the caster's Wisdom, plus 5% if the item was made by beings of the same race as the caster, plus 10% if the item is or was wholly nonmagical in its functioning (not necessarily in its making), plus 10% if the item performs a func­tion or has an end effect similar to one personally familiar to the caster. (For example: If the caster has shoed horses, an unfamiliar smithy tool con­cerned with horseshoes would gain this modifier.)
The DM must determine how clear or extensive is the vision gained. This spell is very good at showing the nearby location (if such exists) where an item was used or allied items lie, but it is very poor at showing the identities of past users of an item. A priest can only work divine purpose on a given item once: subsequent castings fail.
The material component of this spell is the priest's holy symbol.
Notes: Granted by the god Gond, Lord of All Smiths, of the Forgotten Realms setting. This spell is found only in a few exceptionally rare tomes.
Category:Priest Spells
Category:Spells from Priest's Spell Compendium
Category:Spells