How are people handling Celestial wizards and their cantrips? Especially the ones which allow the celestial wizard to see the future? We were playing Eye for an eye yesterday and my celestial wizard player found the forbidden books from the library. Instead of telling anyone about them he casted a cantrip to see in the future, who would pick up the books next.

I made it extremely hard (4d) check for him and made him throw behind my GM screen, so only I know the result. Still as I see it, seeing the future is really really complicated thing for a Gamemaster as it has a potential to be a game breaker.

In the rulebook it says that predicting the outcome of a coin flip or other random event just before it happens is Easy (1d) Spellcraft check. Ok, this is fine. There's only two options there and the wizard is trying to peek just few seconds forward. But what about card game? More options? What about the situation which we had earlier.

Do you allow your celestial wizards see the future and what kind of limitations do you have for that? And what kind of modifiers? I love the creative roleplaying that the cantrips encourage, but have to establish some kinds of rules for them.

Also, what is needed in order to cast a cantrip? I guess they are just cooler if it's more like a "jedi" power, which doesn't require loud chanting and big gestures.

Predictive powers have always been a problem in RPGs. The GM doesn't have predictive powers, and even if he can force the prediction to become true, doing so might hurt the game. What's more, players might want to go out of their way to prove the prediction wrong.

Best way to handle it is to keep the prediction vague and ambiguous, but try to formulate it in a way that it encourages exploration that will help the story along. Be sure to include some hint so the player doesn't feel screwed. Still, it's better to stay away from predictive powers altogether.

I'm not much into the "predifined destiny". It makes me feel fatalistic. So, predicting the future is at most uncertain (like Yoda told us : "Hard to see. Always in motion, the future is."). As a GM, you can answer what is most likely to happen, but that should never be a certitude and things can always change. However, if you already know the answer, I guess you can tell (while still keeping the "always in motion" philosophy). In all cases, use this as an opportunity, not as a game breaking. For example, if you intended the players to take that book, well just make the player see that it's one of the BBEG's henchman who takes the book. This will ensure the players to take it or else wait to face the henchman(men). You're using it to help move the story forward instead of making it halt or go in an unexpected direction.

One thing to keep in mind is that predicting the future is not an exact science. One of the fluff-stories in the magic book even mentions this. It's a song about a guy who thought that he would die soon because a celestial wizards predicted so. This made him spend all his money and act badly because he would be dead soon anyway, but the songs ends with him meeting the wizard again and then he said that he predicted wrongly and that he would live many more years.

Just because a celestial wizard tries to predict the future, the future need not be set in stone. As said earlier, make it vague and ambiguous.

Gaming wise...it seem to me that your player definitely played well the cantrip: he asked for something very focused, instead of forcing his wizard powers into something "i want to use that power to know who is the culprit".

Imho good plays like this should be rewarded: even whitout spoil the investigation, u could tell him vague evidence, or use that ability to steer back on trails the group if they are screwing the investigation. what about something vague like..."you dont see the face of the man, covered by a strage hood, but u notice that his hand have a strange scar or ring"? this way the players will have something to investigate on and will make the wizard feel usefull in story mode, maybe compensating the fact that during a combat encounter, he will not certanly bee the star of the show!

for the fluff part...using it like a jedi power to enter a "dream state" could be cool....and could play also well coz only the GM will know how long this stupor state can last... =D In warhammer setting could also be cool to have the celestial mage perform some strange/suspicious actions like...draw cards from a tarot deck, observe a small pendulum, throw a bunch of bird bones or make calculations on an astral map....

hope this could help!

Excellent suggestions and very helpful. I have luck to have a celestial wizard player, who acknowledges the game breaker potential of his cantrips and downplays them accordingly. I just have to make the predictions more vague and dreamlike. And I will keep on having him roll behind the screen so he doesn't know if he succeeded or not.

Predictions actually play a big part in our game and group dynamics as the centre person is a young noble (a gambler), whose brother died in a riding accident and the character was the next in succession. Being the lazy ass gambler he decided not to be tied in the boring life of responsibilities and fled.

His childhood friend celestial wizard has had a recurring dream, where this gambler character is in a vague situation of great importance "saving the world" and although the gambler doesn't fully believe in his friends dream/prediction, it gives him a perfect excuse not to step up and take on his noble responsibilities.