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I just DL'ed the latest Pathfinder, and one idea I had for potentially fixing find the path would be to write it so that it shows you the most direct path, but not necessarily the most expedient path. In other words, if you were in a labyrinth, or trying to climb a mountain pass, it'd show you the direction to the other side, but it wouldn't show you a trail or the way of solving the labyrinth to reach the exit.
I thought the whole point of find the path was to show the way out of labyrinths and counter maze spells.
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Surely the easiest way to fix this spell from being abused would be to create a spell which masks an item from find the path? or perhaps include some clause that states it cannot find a destination that is protected by spells like desecrate or protection from evil when cast by someone of the opposing alignment? I couldn't imagine a good character succeeding in finding the path to the temple of elemental evil for example, places like that would however attract evil creatures while remaining hidden from Good characters.
Interestingly, I think that Saberhagen had the best "find the path" approach in the Books of Swords/Lost Swords series' in the way the Sword of Wisdom "Wayfinder" worked: It doesn't take into consideration the risk of the route at all.
Who holds Wayfinder finds good roads
Its master's step is brisk.
The Sword of Wisdom lightens loads
But adds unto their risk.
All you'd have to do is make the duration "Concentration + 1 rd/level or something", that could work very well.
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I'd rewrite it such that it's a spell that's cast on an item, and then for the duration of the spell the caster has an implicit sense of the proper path to the item. That way the spell could still be used as a precautionary measure against mazes (by, say, leaving an enchanted pebble back in town) without ruining plot uses of hidden cities, etc.
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All you'd have to do is make the duration "Concentration + 1 rd/level or something", that could work very well.I think this might be a very workable solution.
I don't know that the problem is the duration. I'm under the impression that the problem lies in repetitive casting of the spell. It should be capable of getting a party out of a maze spell or a labyrinth, but it shouldn't be capable of finding very secret places. Limiting one's ability to successively cast the spell within a specified amount of time would prevent plot abuse.
"Planar Mask" Anyone? - Yet another option might also exist in the creation of a new spell (of the same level) which causes a location to be treated as if it were actually on another plane for purposes of divination spells targeting it. The new spell could have a variable area - so your level 20 caster can mask an island, while your lower level caster can only mask a logging camp. =)
I don't see why they can't do the same thing as with Identify, change the effect to a +X to Survival skill. Or the teleport limitation, take you only to places you can envision. And a paragraph of what it does if there IS no physical path (Like Tomb of Horrors).
