Find the Path is a 6th level divination spell for the Bard, Cleric, and Druid. It requires your concentration, and as long as your character is concentrating on it (for up to 24 hours), it basically compels the DM to tell you the shortest route to wherever you’re going.

This spell has a long and venerable history in D&D. In AD&D 2nd edition, Find the Path let you describe a location in general terms, and the DM would reveal what actions were required to get there.

The spell has been significantly reduced in scope in 5th edition. It now requires naming a specific location that is already known to the caster, and an object from the location as a material component. This makes it highly situational. It will be exceedingly useful in cases when:

  1. You’re lost or don’t know the way to where you’re going.
  2. You’re familiar with the destination. This means you’ve been there before or have seen it with a Scrying spell or similar.
  3. You have an object from that place in your possession.
  4. You’re at level 11 or 12, so you don’t have access to 7th-level spells that would let you teleport to the destination (or you’re at a lower level still, and you have a Find the Path scroll).
  5. You have time to take a long rest so you can prepare Find the Path, because let’s face it, you’re not going to have this spell prepared in advance.
  6. You’re a Cleric or Druid, because let’s face it, a Bard is never going to pick this spell.
  7. Transport via Plants is not an option because there are no plants at the destination.
  8. There may be things along the way that you don’t want to skip.

The overall power level of Find the Path is comparable to other 6th-level spells like Contingency, Druid Grove, Heroes’ Feast, Transport via Plants, and Wind Walk.

Conclusion

Find the Path is highly situational, but under specific circumstances it can be very useful. Since it’s a Cleric and Druid spell, it’s always available for when you need it, but for the Bard it’s mostly useless.