I haven't seen too many spells which are good for finding criminals. This may be intended, but for the fun of it I've made some that would seem to make sense in a sensible world in which law enforcement takes itself seriously. In a magical world with magical crimes, it would seem that some cities would spend the time to develop spells to help track down criminals. STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM! and all that. These are some ideas that seem plausible to me. They have other applications as well, but they are primarily designed to help solve trickier crimes.
Thoughts?
level 0-
Discern Cause of Death- Necromancy, Casting time 10 minutes, V/S/F (Requires 5GP worth of embalming or autopsy tools) Affects one corpse.
This spell determines the probable causes of death of a dead individual. During the casting time, the caster prods, examines or disects the body while under magical guidance. This spell points out any organ failures, diseases, broken bones, poisons, wounds or injection sites for closer analysis. This spell does not identify the particular diseases or poisons, but shows their presence and location. If the target does not wish to have his or her cause of death revealed, they recieve a will save equal to the save they had in life.
Find Fingerprints- Divination, Casting time 1 minute, duration Instantaneous/1 hour per level V/S Affects one object, a 20 foot area or one person.
This spell, a modification and specialization of prestidigitation, allows a caster to scan an object or person for fingerprints. If these fingerprints on an object match up with someone who the caster both knows and has used this spell on before, a mental image of the person appears to the caster. If the caster does not know the owner of the prints, the caster receives no mental image, but may cast this spell on a willing or helpless target to confirm whether the prints are theirs or not. This spell works as modern fingerprinting. If an object is wiped clean or otherwise washed, no fingerprints will appear. Some objects may have the fingerprints of many individuals. In this case, the caster learns of all of the fingerprints on the object. The mental image lasts one hour per caster level. The same object may be subject to this spell as many times as desired so long as the fingerprints remain.
1st level- When- Divination, Casting time 2 Minutes, V/S/M (A pinch of ash or dust) Affects a 100 foot area
This spell determines when a particular act took place. This spell requires a location and description of the event to determine the time. The more clear and accurate the description, the more exact the time given. A lack of evidence or clarity of the scene will result in a lack of clarity in the spell’s answer. The naming of specific tools in the act, such as murder weapons (such as knife or mace) or means of opening a door (such as lockpick or crowbar)
will improve the results, as will naming individuals involved. For each relevant piece of information named in the casting, add one point. If the caster meets or breaks three points, she determines the time within 24 hours. If the caster breaks 5 points, she determines the time within 12 hours. If the caster breaks 10 points, she learns the time within 1 hour. If the caster breaks 15 points, she learns the time within 5 seconds.
4th level- Manhunt, Divination, Casting time- 1 full round action. V/S/M (Requires a vial of powdered gold worth 250 GP, which is sprinkled on the desired area or object.) Affects one object, or a 10 foot area per caster level.
Determines the person or persons who committed a given act. While at a crime scene or location of another event, the caster brings to mind the events that took place. For example, if the mayor of a village was stabbed to death, the caster would meditate on the scene of the stabbing at the crime scene. Upon doing so, a mental image is granted to the caster of the person or persons who were in the room at the time and contributed to the act in question. The person or persons shown are in the same state they were when they were at the scene, including any magical or mundane disguises. The subject gains a will save to prevent being scried upon.
5th
Evidence Locker- Transmutation, Casting Time 1 hour, duration 1 month per caster level V/S/M
(500 GP of sapphire) Affects one 5 foot square.
This spell creates a semiphysical orb with hardness 5 and 60 hit points. It is slightly incorpreal and takes half damage from both spells and physical damage. It takes full damage from force effects ghost touch weapons and anything else that normally effects incorpreal objects. Up to 10 sentient beings per caster level may be attuned to this orb, and may be attuned to it at any time until all available spaces are filled. Any casting of the Find Fingerprints spell done by a person so attuned is stored in this orb rather than the caster’s mind, and lasts the full duration of the Evidence Locker spell. All people attuned to the orb are considered to know of any fingerprints held in the orb. Destroying this orb erases all of the information inside of it, as does the ending of the duration. Casting this spell on an existent orb renews the duration to 1 month per caster level and the orb retains all of its information.
9th
Page of History- Divination, Casting time 10 minutes, duration 1 minute per level. Affects a 20 foot area per caster level, and 1 willing participant per caster level. V/S/M (5,000 GP of ancient paper, cured in a bath of powerful magical oils, incense, gold powder and diamond dust)
This spell recreates a scene from the past, exactly as it occurred. The caster must know the time of the incident they wish to record, and some facts about the event. The caster must also be in the area at which the event took place. The caster enters into a meditative trance for the duration, becoming helpless. At the end of the casting time, the caster and his chosen participants become surrounded by the scene at the time the caster had chosen. To all other bystanders, they appear to vanish instantly. All things are exactly the same as they were in the original scene. All magic that was active then is active again- For example, a bridge held up by magic that has long since collapsed will stand again. The caster and all participants are immune to all damage that maybe caused by any form, be it magical or mundane. Therefore, the caster may observe the burning of a building safely from the inside. The caster and participants are also considered incorpreal, except that they are subject to gravity and cannot travel through the ground unless there is less than 20 feet of ground between them and a cave, but can move through walls.
The scene will play out for up to two hours in either direction of the arrival time (backwards or forwards in time) and the scene may be “fast forwarded”, “reversed” at a rate of up to 1 hour per minute, or stopped at the will of the caster as a free action.
The caster or participants may interact with anything in the scene while the scene is stopped. They can open doors or containers, move objects, and even remove disguises, clothing, or weapons from people in the scene. This shows the person underneath the clothing or weapons, and allows weapons to be examined more closely. Detect magic, identify, true seeing, detect poison, detect alignment function in the scene as normal, with the character being detected against receiving a save as though they were there. Artifact items are replicated only physically and appear mundane by all tests. The objects revert to their original positions when the scene starts again. At the end of the duration, the caster and participants are returned to where they vanished from.
Divination
Communion
Speak with Dead
Augury
Locate Creature
Summon Monster (anything that tracks by scent)
Clerics are already awesome whodunnits.
The ideas behind these spells are cool, though. I'd adjust the 0th level spell to give a +5 bonus to heal checks for determining CoD (cause of death).
I might use these sometime. No promises, but maybe.
Manhunt is too good. It might as well be called "Dispel plot"
Page of history feels like its treading on traditional divination, but as i cant think of another spell to scry the past, it is otherwise a plausible 9th level spell
"When" should be like using the tracking skill, a "true strike" or "Jump" in a way. Giving information that is helpfull, but not infallible.
Also: Magic Items may be more appropriate than spells in certain instances
Lens of +10 Perception anyone?
I would toss in the cost of casting these spells is prohibitively expensive for a city to do.
The cost to cast a spell as a service is 10 x Caster lvl x Spell lvl in gold pieces. I would reduce this by half because the caster is most likely on retainer or payroll.
Untrained labor gets 1 sp per day, and the top level professionals can at most, expect somewhere in the neighborhood of 25gp per week. (max die roll, +23 skill, +8 stat) Your basic professional can probably earn, on average, 8 gp/week (3 ranks, avg die roll, no stat bonus).
What are the min costs to cast spells?
To put into perspective, I calculated this cost in US dollars. I put 1 sp (days labor for untrained) equal to an 8 hour day at roughly minimum wage ($7/hr). This means 1 sp = $56 dollars, and 1 gp = 10 sp or $560.
lvl Price(gp) Price($USD)
0th 2.5 $1,400
1st 5 $2,800
2nd 30 $16,800
3rd 75 $42,000
4th 140 $78,400
5th 225 $126,000
6th 330 $184,800
7th 455 $254,800
8th 600 $336,000
9th 765 $428,400
@ Brambleman- I specifically included the fact that the spell reveals who was there as they looked at the time, including any magical or mundane disguises. Meaning, to a well written campaign that includes this, it goes from "Dispell Plot" to "Conjour Plot Hook" when it turns out Mr. Smartypants Criminal disguised himself as the loveable pastor Pelorson for his big heist. Well-prepared criminals should know of these spells just as modern criminals know of security cameras and infrared alarm systems. Manhunt is powerful against lowly, unprepared or stupid criminals, beause it is a 4th level spell. Likewise, scorching ray is effective against lowly goblins. It is a very easy spell to fool, with something as simple as a burlap sack over the face, and the evidence can be altered effectively by a criminal clever enough to disguise himself as the right person.
For Page of History, more or less I thought it would be a cool spell to be able to throw out there. Want to recreate the scene of a battle to the nay-saying diplomats? Want to see exactly how King Kenneden was killed? Want to see whether or not the Macguffin was lost in the burning building all those years ago, or if it miraculously escaped the flames? Want to simply rewind and replay that time you got the finishing blow on an ancient dragon with a crossbow as a wizard, over and over again?
@Robert- I notice several faults with your analysis. No offense.
First, the DnD and Pathfinder economy is way out of whack. Somehow a mundane iron sword is worth a whole small farmstead's worth of cattle?
Buildings and poison prices are another fine example, but I'm too tired to look those up.
Second, a middle earth economy can't be compared to modern day economies. Most workers in medieval times were serfs, who were paid next to nothing and didn't even own property. They were basically paid enough to eat and clothe themselves so they could work under their lord. This is likely the type of peasants that receive 1 SP per day. Basially, the disparity between rich and poor was far greater than it is today, so minimum wage is not a good measure of the working poor in middle earth.
Third, that is the standard price of a magic vendor. I am assuming that the types of people using these sorts of spells are more along the lines of detectives, or priviledged guards. Many smaller settlements won't have these or be able to afford them. But either way, they would likely perform their tasks with pay double or triple that of the standard guard, due to their greater value to the law enforcement team. They're kind of like the FBI of the town guard.
I feel the prices I listed in the descriptions are appropriate, and here's why. Manhunt is expensive for the average small town. Therefore, it would only be used in the investigation of serious crimes such as the cold-blooded murder of the leader. However, it is relatively cheap for aristocrats, and this is represented by the fact that it can be easily fooled or made useless with disguises. You get what you pay for, essentially.
Evidence Locker is designed more for metropolises with a greater need for beurocracy. In a small settlement, most people would likely know each other anyway. The cost is to prevent it from being constantly spammed, and to have it need to be upkept once every year or two, and also place a sense of "this thing should be kept protected" vibe.
As for Page of History, I put it at half the cost of a wish due to the sheer power it posesses. It can scry the past, not only with true seing but the ability to remove mundane disguises. It's a 9th level spell on par with creating a demiplane or sealing a being away at the center of the planet, but it comes at the cost of not being able to be spammed on every little question about a prior event.
As mentioned above, I find the DnD economies awkward, so I pretty much freeballed the prices. My goal was to make the spells with costs too expensive to be used on every trivial crime (even murder, barring the murder of someone of extreme importance to the community) but useful within reason when they were used. For example, a beggar gets whacked. The guard investigates with survival checks to try and track the killer. Maybe. If they feel like it. The teenaged child of a noble gets mugged. The town guard gets fingerprints from the kid's coin purse and robes, then casts When to see if they can figure out who was in the area at that time. The prince of the kingdom dies in his sleep. The guard brings in the detective to do an autopsy and discovers poison. An alchemy check confirms that it was an injected poison of whatever. The detective casts When to determine the time of the incident, and Manhunt only to find that the shadowy assassin was wearing a veil. The king calls in a specialist who knows Page of History and funds the spell to find out the face of the killer so he can be scried upon and brought to justice.
But yeah, if anyone can come up with better prices, please do. I'm not good with the Pathfinder economy math.
If anyone can come up with better prices to represent that sort of thing, please do.
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I'm not a fan of the fingerprint spell idea, because it feels a little too 'modern' for me. I'd prefer that magical means of CSI-ing an area not involve fingerprints or carpet fibers or shining a UV light around looking for protein stains, but do things that seem more magical, and less like 'magical cellphones' and 'magical railroads.'
Random example; a divination spell to view the past of a crime scene might be called Looking Glass and cause any mirror in the area (ideally) or pane of glass (less useful) to reflect images of things that occurred in the recent past. The angle of the item, the size of the item, the quality of the item (mirrors being best, obviously, with larger ones facing the crime scene being utterly perfect), all play into how useful the reflection is, putting the amount of information the GM makes available completely at his discretion. Additionally, the best thieves guilds will know of this sort of spell, and, despite misinformation spread by the authorities in an attempt to prevent it from being easily countered (just as some shows deliberately show ineffective ways of destroying evidence, so as not to give useful information to actual crooks), will warn their assassins, etc. to break all mirrors in the rooms where they commit crimes, so that the broken shards become extremely difficult to view for good images of the crooks.
On the other hand, finding a hair or some blood from the attacker could be useful not in a 'DNA evidence' sort of way, but because of magical laws of sympathy and contagion. A little bit of a person is great for both tracking them and even whipping up a voodoo doll and enspelling them or harming them from a range. The downside is that, in most crime scenes, you'll have no idea if the hair or blood you found is actually from the attacker, and tracking down every servant or ally or relative or ladyfriend who left a hair behind in a popular person's quarters could prove quite the wild goose chase!
I'd totally ignore the concept of spellcasting costs. Acolytes and apprentices don't actually charge their churches and mentors for casting low level spells (good way to get kicked out of said church or academy!), and I'd expect that most churches and wizard schools would donate apprentices to the local constabulary in exchange for tax considerations and whatnot. Just as a cleric doesn't charge his adventuring companions for every cure light wounds (well, not more than once, anyway...), a city should have plenty of access to free (or, at least, greatly reduced) spellcasting services, even if they have to go and train their own spellcasters, rather than pay for outside help!
I'm sure every spellcaster in the world would *love* if gold coins showered from the sky and paid them the market price every time they cast a spell, but, realistically, that's not gonna happen any more than a fighter is going to get paid every time he swings his sword.
Note: In Golarion, the church of Abadar may be an exception. Unlike every other church, that one is said, IIRC, to explicitly charge for just about everything, as a matter of principle (although, again, that doesn't apply to PC clerics, who are just crap out of luck and can't get away with charging their adventuring buddies). :)