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This question came up in last night's game. It's been asked here before, but a fulfilling concensus or ruling has never been provided.
Let's say a Paladin uses his Detect Evil spell-like ability (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin#TOC-Detect-Evil-Sp-), focusing on a target Commoner. The Commoner has 1 HD, and is Neutral Evil.
The Paladin's Detect Evil Spell-Like ability states "At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell. A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range."
However, according to the actual spell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/d/detect-evil), creatures with 5 or less HD and are not Outsiders, Undead, [Anti]Paladins, or Clerics will not have an Aura of Evil. However, the spell itself does allow the caster to detect the "Presence or absence of evil" with no reference to auras.
So basically, here's what I want to know. If a Paladin targets a Neutral Evil Level 1 Commoner with 1 HD, does the Paladin see the Commoner is evil or not?
No.
To my knowledge they don't ping at all on the radar. To be fair, a level one commoner isn't quiet the threat to the world the cleric of urgothoa or 3 HD devil hanging around could be.
Nope, the ability says 'as if studying 3 rounds'. What does the spell give if you study 3 rounds? Strength of the auras. A 1st level commoner has no aura, so no alignment.
A Neutral cleric of an evil god, at 1st level, pings Evil due to his aura class ability.
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I agree that the lvl 1 commoner is not quite the threat, but that was not my question. And I need an answer for Organized Play, so even though the views on the way of the world will help me in my home game, it won't stand up for a GM rulig in PFSOP.
The ability says the paladin can "concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil". Not "determine if it is evil and quite the threat". That indicates that there is no HD minimum on evil, only on evil auras.
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mdt, i like the way you think, and your interpretation makes sense. However, having studied the target for three rounds also provides the information from having studied for two round and one round. The information gained for first round reads: "Presence or absence of evil". No mention of auras, just presence or absence of evil.
I take that to mean that besides the power of any potentially present aura, The Paladin can also detect if evil is present.
Nope. The presence or absence thing is still dependent on the things in the area and the auras they have. A level 1 commoner has no aura at all because they don't have an aura from a class and don't have enough hit dice, regardless of their alignment. However, a level 1 cleric of an evil god will radiate as evil. Put the cleric and the commoner standing next to one another and the paladin will detct evil in that area, but doesn't know which one is evil based solely on the Detect Evil ability. However, after 2 rounds the paladin knows there is only 1 evil aura. So he knows one of them isn't detecting as evil and the other is. After the 3rd round the paladin knows exactly which one is evil. Or the paladin can use a move action to know if one creature is specifically evil or not, but that is a special class ability version of Detect Evil, and is still dependent on the table in the Detect Evil spell to know if the creature radiates an aura or not. So, if the paladin detected evil on the level 1 commoner as a move action he would know directly (without waiting) that the commoner did not radiate an evil aura, however the commoner could still have an evil alignment.
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Entropi, you're going down the same rabbit hole that others have done with your reasoning about the first round. All this will do is start up an argument again. For PFS, I believe the best course of action is to take the more conservative interpretation, which is base the entire line of detect spells on auras.
Entropi,
It's actually very very simple, and you are making it way too complex.
You can sense the presence of evil. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.1st Round: Presence or absence of evil.
2nd Round: Number of evil auras (creatures, objects, or spells) in the area and the power of the most potent evil aura present.
If you are of good alignment, and the strongest evil aura's power is overwhelming (see below), and the HD or level of the aura's source is at least twice your character level, you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends.
3rd Round: The power and location of each aura. If an aura is outside your line of sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.
Aura Power: An evil aura's power depends on the type of evil creature or object that you're detecting and its HD, caster level, or (in the case of a cleric) class level; see the table below. If an aura falls into more than one strength category, the spell indicates the stronger of the two.
Lingering Aura: An evil aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in the case of a creature or magic item). If detect evil is cast and directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura). How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power:
Original Strength Duration of Lingering Aura
Faint 1d6 rounds
Moderate 1d6 minutes
Strong 1d6 × 10 minutes
Overwhelming 1d6 days
Animals, traps, poisons, and other potential perils are not evil, and as such this spell does not detect them. Creatures with actively evil intents count as evil creatures for the purpose of this spell.Each round, you can turn to detect evil in a new area. 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.
Aligned creature (except for Undead and Outsiders) of 4 or lower hit dice, have no aura.
The entry for 1st round says you detect if evil is in the area. This is exactly like detect magic. For you to detect magic is in the area, magic has to be in the area. By the same token, Evil has to be in the area. What can the spell detect as Evil? Auras. It can't detect actual alignment (note that there is a spell that actually detects alignment). This is a detect evil spell. It detects evil auras. For the 1st round to 'ping' positive to evil, there has to be an evil aura in the effect of the spell. If there isn't, it won't detect anything.
Example : Wizard casts detect evil and scans a hallway full of 1st level commoners. On the first round, he finds no evil in the hallway. Even if they are all LE slave owners. Why? Because they have 1 HD and no aura.
Example : Wizard casts detect evil and scans a hallway full of 1st level lawful neutral commoners led by a lawful neutral cleric of a Lawful Evil deity. First round, the wizard detects that there is evil in the hallway (Aura of the Cleric). Second round he narrows it down to 1 evil aura (the cleric's), and 3rd round he'd get that the one evil aura was faint (cleric's level = 1).
If you are wanting a dev to step in and lay down the law, good luck with that. Every thread this comes up in get's marked 'NO FAQ NEEDED' or 'ERRATAD'.
EDIT : Perhaps it would make more sense if you think of it like this. If someone casts Aura to hide a magic item's aura, then detect magic doesn't detect it right? Because it's aura has been suppressed. All the detect spells work off auras. If you want to know absolutely that 1st level commoner's alignment, you need the See Alignment spell.
