He isn't trying to identify the power of a magic item. He wants to know the specific spell active on a creature. Detect magic doesn't do that. Neither does spellcraft. I'm not sure anything does. You can determine the school of magic involved, but that is it.
This, thank you. That's kind of cruddy, but good to know that I'm not just missing something.
You detect magical auras. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.
1st Round: Presence or absence of magical auras.
2nd Round: Number of different magical auras and the power of the most potent aura.
3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Knowledge (arcana) skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura: DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + 1/2 caster level for a nonspell effect.) If the aura emanates from a magic item, you can attempt to identify its properties (see Spellcraft).
I'm confused, it detects auras...period
But it doesn't give you more than the school of magic. I can look at someone and say "this is transmutation" but I can't say "this is reduce person" or "alarm".
It came to my attention recently (two minutes ago) that detect magic does not let you detect spells on things. How do you detect spells like enlarge person, permanency, what have you? Why is detect magic sad?
