Guidance

Summary

Guidance is a rote spell available to clerics in Dungeon World, which Vasso possesses but did not initially realize he could cast. When successfully invoked, the spell causes a symbol of the caster's deity to appear before them and gesture towards the direction or course of action the deity would have them take, then disappear. The communication is conveyed through gesture only, making it severely limited in scope and detail.

As a rote spell, Guidance is always available to the cleric without needing to be prepared or selected during communion, and does not count towards the cleric's allotment of prepared spells. However, rote spells still use the Cast a Spell move, meaning the caster can potentially lose access to them as a consequence of a failed roll (6 or below).

Details

To cast Guidance, the caster rolls 2d6 plus their Wisdom modifier. On a 10+, the spell succeeds fully with no complications. On a 7-9, the spell is cast successfully but the caster must choose one consequence:

• Drawing unwelcome attention to themselves, putting them in a spot
• Becoming distanced from their deity, taking minus-one ongoing to cast spells until communing
• Having the spell revoked until they commune with their god

The benefit of rote spells, as Shawn explains, is that "you don't have to prepare them, you always get them," but the caster "could still potentially lose them as a consequence of failure." Every time a cleric communes, they gain access to all their rotes without having to select them or count them towards their allotment of spells.

When cast, the spell creates physical sensations for the caster. The caster becomes very aware of where their holy symbol touches their skin, and may experience visual phenomena such as motes of light coalescing into their deity's symbol before the symbol gestures to indicate direction or action.

History

Session 7

Vasso cast Guidance for the first time in the Underground Drainage System beneath New Smoke when he knelt and prayed to Mother Earth for direction. As Dayna's player noted, Vasso "doesn't truly understand, like, that he's got magic powers, basically," and simply assumes that he can do things, believing his deity is speaking to him directly rather than recognizing he is performing magic.

When Vasso rolled to cast the spell, he achieved a partial success (7-9). Following the 7-9 result rules, the spell was cast but Vasso's player chose the consequence "your casting distances you from your deity. Take minus one ongoing to cast a spell until you commune." This meant that all future spell casting would be more difficult until Vasso spent an hour in communion with his god.

The casting manifested as a mystical vision. Vasso felt his body become very aware of where his circlet was touching his skin. As he knelt in prayer, he saw green motes of light begin to coalesce in front of him, forming into the symbol of a tree enclosed in a circle—the symbol of Mother Earth. The symbol then gestured, guiding him through the canal system to a ladder that led the party to their next destination.