Trying to figure out the clues your DM has scattered before you? These spells can help you, without even spending a slot.
There comes a point in nearly every D&D campaign, especially homebrew ones, where you end up faced with a mystery to solve. And a good nine times out of ten, there’s magical BS involved. But don’t worry! Your DM might be supplying you with cryptic clues, but with the right spells, you can start getting the info you need to solve the “plot” so you can go back to running the best Inn this side of Waterdeep.
These won’t even take a spell slot, if you can ritual cast.
Detect Magic
This is probably the single most important spell for gathering clues, solving puzzles, and getting deep into mysteries in D&D. Detect Magic is an indispensable 1st-level spell that can be cast as a ritual. And while it’s up, you can sense the presence of magical effects. And with the Magic action, you can get clues about things. Depending on the campaign, having Detect Magic up might enable Arcana and Investigation checks that would otherwise be unavailable to those without magical senses.
Comprehend Languages
What Detect Magic is to figuring out magical clues, Comprehend Languages is to solving riddles steeped in knowledge or social situations. Comprehend Languages lets you understand the meaning of any language that you can hear or see. This goes a long way towards solving mysteries written in a lost, ancient language. Or figuring out what the goblins are trying to tell you. You can’t speak back (that takes Tongues) but this is a great way to get the information you need.
Identify
The third part of the “solve the adventure clues” trifecta is Identify. This spell lets you figure out what that magical glowing object is/does. A single spell, cast as a ritual, will tell you everything you need to know about an object and the spells cast upon it. Or if you pick a creature, what spells, if any, are upon it. That way you can find out that the Baron has been under a Suggestion, Geas, or Dominate Person and this explains why they’re acting this way.
Speak with Animals
Speak with Animals is one of those spells that can be extremely useful in the right circumstances. Especially if you are trying to discover things without drawing a ton of attention. Speak with Animals can often get your information from an unorthodox angle. This lets you speak to animals, go figure. But when you start thinking about things like, “what does a squirrel see every day?” Or “what does that dog know?” That’s when you start to figure out more clues.
Divination
And then of course, we have the high-level spells that can help you figure out what’s going on in the world. Spells like Divination or Commune or any of the other ones can often let you ask questions to the DM directly to try and get an idea of what you’re supposed to do now. It’s one of the reasons that high level D&D tends to make mystery solving a little trickier to plan for, but hey, that’s what it’s all about.
Happy adventuring!
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