There's a separate spell that allows you to actually see magical auras, which is arcane sight. Detect magic simply lets you sense the magic if you concentrate. These two should not be confused because arcane sight is much more powerful than detect magic.
There's a separate spell that allows you to actually see magical auras, which is arcane sight. Detect magic simply lets you sense the magic if you concentrate. These two should not be confused because arcane sight is much more powerful than detect magic.
So detect magic is more like magical smellovision....
And I am not just being silly when I say that. You can detect the prescence, you can sense stronger ones much more easily than weaker ones (and they fade with time), it could theorically be used to play marco polo with invisible things, and if you have line of sight (the only immediate difference) you can identify things if you are knowledgeable enough to recognize them.
So how is that different from smell? Sure, some mechanical differences, but functionally, wouldn't that be the sense that it is closest too?
No, you're feeling it in your mind. One significant difference is that arcane sight does not require concentration over several rounds. Magical auras are visible to you. With arcane sight, you can identify spellcasters and see the aura of invisible creatures or illusions. You can't do that with detect magic because you have to stand there and concentrate for a few seconds.
I think magical smell is the best way to describe it.
You start smelling (activate the cantrip) and start sniffing around when you get close enough and in the right area (within the cone) you can pick up the scent, but it's faint. As you study it longer and focus on it you realize it is the delicious smell of bacon, I mean evocation magic.
You may describe me anyway you wish. A faint glow that only you can detect? Why not?
Somewhat analagous to looking through infrared goggles. You alter your own vision, not anyone else's.