Recognize Spell is the edge-runner’s instinct—the half-second where a caster reads the neon afterimage of a sigil, the pitch of a chant, or the distortion in local Rift static and knows exactly what’s coming.
Guild countercasters track spellflows like ballistics; Chronologist auditors see the timeline of a spell coalesce; frontier exorcists feel the wrongness of a curse in their teeth before the glyph finishes burning. On crowded stations and war-lit hulls, this isn’t academic—it’s the difference between taking a glancing hit and being atomized.
Recognize Spell Feat 1
Source Player Core pg. 227
Prerequisites trained in Arcana, Nature, Occultism or Religion
Trigger A creature within line of sight casts a spell that you don’t have prepared or in your spell repertoire, or a trap or similar object casts such a spell. You must be aware of the casting.
If you are trained in the appropriate skill for the spell's tradition and it's a common spell of 2nd rank or lower, you automatically identify it (you still roll to attempt to get a critical success, but can't get a worse result than success). The highest rank of spell you automatically identify increases to 4 if you're an expert, 6 if you're a master, and 10 if you're legendary. If you're not trained in the skill, you can't get a result better than failure.
Critical Success You correctly recognize the spell and gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your saving throw or your AC against it.
Success You correctly recognize the spell.
Failure You fail to recognize the spell.
Critical Failure You misidentify the spell as another spell entirely, of the GM's choice.
Recognize Spell Leads To…
Quick Recognition
Who trains Recognize Spell in Starfall?
Guild countercasters: Reading hostile protocols in magitech shootouts and boardroom “demonstrations.”
Rift patrols: Spotting summoning patterns or planar breaches before they fully open.
Black-market adjudicators: Verifying whether a spellshard’s promise matches its actual encoded effect.
Non-Combat Applications
Calling out staged or falsified spellcasting during a trial, duel, or public ritual.
Rapidly sorting spellshards or relics by effect when time or security is tight.
Spotting when a “routine” maintenance script on a starship is actually a hidden curse or sabotage hex.
Societal Impact in Starfall
Characters with Recognize Spell are valued as live threat radars in any faction that deals with open spell use. Corporations and guilds hire them to sit in on negotiations, watch over ritual work crews, or accompany high-risk salvage teams.
On the streets, someone known for reading spells on sight can spoil ambushes, expose dirty tricks in arena fights, or ruin a con artist’s whole operation. The feat quietly shifts power: enemies lose the advantage of surprise, and spellcasting stops being “mysterious” and starts being audited.
Adventure Hooks
A guild hires the party’s Recognize Spell specialist to monitor a peace summit where both sides insist on using their own “protective” warding circles.
A smuggler ring wants the PC to pretend not to recognize a dangerous spell at a public demonstration, in exchange for serious favors.
An experimental Rift engine is about to go live; the only safeguard is a caster who can Recognize Spell fast enough to warn which of the test spells will cascade into catastrophe.
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