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I recently played in a game where we had no spellcaster in the party. There was a paladin and a couple of rogues, but the only spell effects were through abilities, UMD or potions - no large selection of arcane or divine spells. So I thought, maybe I should pick up a wand with detect magic on it at least - it's use is not opposed so CL1 should be effective enough.
But in every scenario I've played thus far, I haven't seen that this spell is really necessary. In PFS play, if you complete all of the encounters and defeat all the bad guys, in my experience you get all the magic items at the end on your chronicle. I've yet to see any of those items used during the scenario, nor have I seen items hidden to the point where you must have detect magic to obtain them in the end. Is this a spell that just doesn't fit with the organized play model?
Has anyone (without spoiling) really seen it used to good effect? As with the item creation feats, it seems like detect magic and identify spells just don't fit in a system where the rewards appear to be fixed "all or nothing" - you either complete the scenario or you die.
On a related note - has anyone seen a high mortality rate in PFS play? Seems like GMs pull punches a bit unless they know the players and everyone agrees the GM should not hold back, but make them earn it. Perhaps I was just a more cruel GM, but the system seems to favor having everyone survive the adventure and obtain every bit of treasure.
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Detect magic helped the PCs in a recent game find several magical wards. Of course thier lack of a Rogue to deactivate them and/or Dispel Magic hurt them in the long run. In effect they knew they were there but couldn't do anything about it.
There isn't a very high level of mortality. Everyone agrees that the GM shouldn't be gunning for PC deaths. I have seen several judges flat out say they will not kill PCs. For me, if there is no risk, there is no rewarding feeling of having completed the encounter. Granted I think we all know players who have or would 'flip out' over a character death. I don't want my judge to be gunning for a death, but I don't want him to coddle me either.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I've never really seen detect magic used for finding treasure - generally I've seen it used to look for potential magic traps, get info on a suspicious object, check to see if something's an illusion, etc. More investigation and precaution than treasure-hunting.
As for mortality rate, it really varies. Some GMs are terrified of killing a PC, while others are famous for their deadliness. Most are in between.
I've killed a grand total of 4 PCs (5 if you count the pregen used to make a legal table when you only have 3 players). One module kill and one scenario TPK. In the module, the fight was just that tough. In the scenario, the difficulty of a couple of encounters combined with a low level of player skill produced a TPK.
Deaths should generally be neither sought nor avoided. The difficulty of the situation, the skill of the players, and the luck of the dice work together to determine who lives and who dies.
Jiggy
Wouldn't using Detect Magic to determine if something is illusory require passing the Will save to avoid being duped?
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I see detect magic used all the time in identifying what an item or potion is during the game, so that it can be used or tossed aside by the players.
without detect magic + spellcraft you're left to guess as to what an item is by the trial and error method. you won't know what a wand is a wand of without a UMD to activate it blindly.
potions you can at least identify presently with perception checks as well as the detect magic + spellcraft route.
Detect magic as a treasure finder is a nice, because its a 3 round way of picking out what's the most valuable items on the fallen bodies for the caster's companions to loot and examine further.
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Detect Magic: Never had a party without it, one way or another. All my casters automatically take it, since that is the only way to know for sure what items are of significant value, and may be f use during the scenario/module.
If nothing else, identifying the potions of CLW and such can save the party money.
As to mortality rate, while I don't go out of my way to kill off PCs, I have killed several PCs, or was that one PC several times? Nah, a little of both.
We have a player with a dwarven staff magus who keeps getting into the way of melee attacks, and he doesn't have the AC or hit points to handle it. Then again, he also wound up in the heart of danger during a scenario when he was the only one able to actually see the BBEG due to his Darkvision in the area of a Darkness spell...
And, just this last Saturday, while completing a grandfathered session of The Ruby Phoenix Tournament we started in early March, I managed to TPK the party.
The dragon encounter was ugly. The Aspis Consortium encounter was also ugly, even without the dragon. The ninja/alchemist was a walkover, since the Cleric has invisibility Purge prepared. Because of the way the PCs moved, the Cleric wound up unconscious in the encounter with Gomwai, and I only gave Gomwai two Xun, since there were only 3 PCs.
And the sisters just rolled them up, what with the players not using their higher initiatives to spread out. The PCs were unable to make very many of the saves during this encounter, while the dice were fairly hot for the sisters at the same time.
At the beginning of the encounter, the Cleric is the only one who actually moved instead of delayed before the sisters went, so the one was able to cast Forcecage on the enlarged fighter and the sorcerer, who both failed their Reflex saves.
Unfortunately, the stats for a Forcecage are ugly. Hardness 30 and 260 hit points. Blasty into the cage, cleric channeling to heal, and things rapidly went downhill for our heroes.
I felt guilty because it rapidly started to feel like shooting fish in a barrel.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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I've never really seen detect magic used for finding treasure.
In our weekly tabletop game my ranger (a bit of a loner) has a one-level dip into wizard so that he can have detect magic (and identify) to find any concealed magical loot in a lair, and to identify anything that might be useful. He has also put points into appraise for a similar reason.
While the timeframe of a tabletop game is very different, I've seen similar use of "detect magic" in PFS games (in fact it was used earlier on tonight when we were playing "The Icebound Outpost").
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While it doesn't happen often, I once had a party completely miss a piece of treasure, and had to reduce the gold and cross the item off the sheet at the end of the scenario. Most of the time it's fairly easy to get the items, though(and if they're hidden, are usually required to complete the scenario, so players end up finding it anything).
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and to check rooms BEFORE you open the door, thru the door.Didn't know that would work. I would have thought that a wooden door would block a detect magic.
You must have really think doors from where you're from, then!
The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.
Nope, you could identify the object/effect/creature's aura as belonging to the illusion school with an K:Arcana check. Most illusion spells don't replicate auras. You'd only have to make a will save if magic aura or similar were involved.
So, it's your assertion that the illusion fails to cover its own aura?
See, to my mind, use of Detect Magic is a good reason to get a will save to pierce the illusion, because its "interacting with" said illusion. Not a poor man's version of True Seeing...