Detect Evil


Advice


How does detect evil work on an an NPC, say an Neutral Evil Wizard?

I am working on an idea that involves the PC's encountering a person who extends an offer to join his "group", he tells them they can meet him and his "group" at this house. Once in the PC's become trapped and see 6 shadowy figures (not sure how to describe them, sorta translucent people) who tell them to sit and let them relive their lives in what they tell them. Sitting with the figures causes the PC listening to it to see the figure's memories, including their own encounter with the person who convinced the PC's to come to the house.

Ok all of that is simple enough. It just struck me that one of the shadows is a Paladin, and the person is a Neutral Evil Wizard, so if the paladin were to use detect evil on him would she detect anything? and if so is there anyway to shield from its effects or give a false reading?

Heck would it make sense for the paladin to not detect evil on this random person who is trying to get her to go to this random place (he wouldn't use the same approach as he used on the PCs)

Liberty's Edge

What level is the Wizard? If 5th or less, he doesn't detect as Evil (since he's not a Cleric, Undead, or Outsider). If 6th or above, and friendly with a Cleric or Bard, he can almost certainly have Undetectable Alignment cast on him for a situation like this.

So your only problem is if he's not going into this prepped, which doesn't sound like it's an issue in this case. Or, I guess, if he has no Cleric or Bard minions/allies. But that second one is easily solved...


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In my games, only creatures with alignment subtypes can be detected by alignment.

Contributor

The easiest cheap way to deal with detections is for the evil wizard to use a cat's paw. That is to say, the person who lures the victims to the house isn't the evil wizard himself, but a charmed dupe.

The paladin can Detect Evil all he wants, but the wizard's cat's paw is not evil, and the wizard will likely be keeping him in the dark about why he's luring people to this house.

Grand Lodge

Sub-Question: The spell detect evil has component: V,S,DF...however, for Paladins it's a special ability. Do they still need to follow through with waiving hands, speaking, etc.?


Justin Alcala wrote:
Sub-Question: The spell detect evil has component: V,S,DF...however, for Paladins it's a special ability. Do they still need to follow through with waiving hands, speaking, etc.?

Spell-like and supernatural abilities don't have components unless noted otherwise.

EDIT: However activating and maintaining the effect requires concentration which in itself is noticeable (because it provokes attacks of opportunity).


Of course, the Paladin can as a move action target one person and know if they're evil as if they had been concentrating three rounds.

Silver Crusade

According to the Actions In Combat table, concentrating to maintain an active spell does not provoke an AoO.


One of the classic questions: how noticeable is a paladin's detect evil? Is it merely a glance, or must he sit for a bit giving them the old evil eye? Plus, are there any visible effects (x-ray of glowy Justice!)?

I've never been quite sure about that really. Can you do it discretely, and must you make a conscious effort to do it discreetly (some disguise/sleight of hand/stealth/ etc check?)


Malachi Silverclaw wrote:
According to the Actions In Combat table, concentrating to maintain an active spell does not provoke an AoO.

Yeah, I rewrote part of the sentence during the edition but failed to remove "and maintaining" part.

Shadow Lodge

lemeres wrote:

One of the classic questions: how noticeable is a paladin's detect evil? Is it merely a glance, or must he sit for a bit giving them the old evil eye? Plus, are there any visible effects (x-ray of glowy Justice!)?

I've never been quite sure about that really. Can you do it discretely, and must you make a conscious effort to do it discreetly (some disguise/sleight of hand/stealth/ etc check?)

Tables treat this differently. Mine usually assumes it's subtle enough not to be immediately obvious but that it does require an intense, focused stare (due to provoking an AoO when activated and requiring concentration if you're scanning an area). Unless you're scanning someone from the other end of a crowded room they will know they're being sized up and might suspect they're being magically evaluated if they're aware of such things.

Silver Crusade

The only thing that is obvious to an observer is that he has let his guard down, giving you an opportunity to make him regret ignoring your threat.

He has let his guard down because he was concentrating on activating his SLA, unbeknownst to the observer, who doesn't know why he let his guard down, just that he did.

He should have activated it on the defensive!


lemeres wrote:

One of the classic questions: how noticeable is a paladin's detect evil? Is it merely a glance, or must he sit for a bit giving them the old evil eye? Plus, are there any visible effects (x-ray of glowy Justice!)?

I've never been quite sure about that really. Can you do it discretely, and must you make a conscious effort to do it discreetly (some disguise/sleight of hand/stealth/ etc check?)

The rules are silent on how or if spells without typical visual effects manifest.

I would say that the DC to notice spellcasting would be around 0 - the same as detecting smoke. A creature could make a Stealth check to cast unnoticed, taking a -4 penalty per component. Alternatively, you might require a Sleight of Hand check, keeping in mind that it can't be made untrained.


In games that I run, unless the NPC is a divine caster of an evil deity or has an 'evil aura' as a side effect (outsiders and such), Paladins must figure out who is evil and not the old fashioned way.

That said I would say that the actual ability of 'detect evil' executed by a Paladin is noticeable but not overtly identifiable. Basically the party notices that the Paladin is concentrating but on what and why is a mystery.


Ring of Mind Shielding


Conshey wrote:
That said I would say that the actual ability of 'detect evil' executed by a Paladin is noticeable but not overtly identifiable. Basically the party notices that the Paladin is concentrating but on what and why is a mystery.

So he is more likely to damage diplomacy by rudely staring at the other side than displaying distrust by checking if they are evil (and thus smitable)

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Viktyr Korimir wrote:
In my games, only creatures with alignment subtypes can be detected by alignment.

Which, of course isn't how the spell works, or the Paladin ability, so that's probably not much help for the OP.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Conshey wrote:
In games that I run, unless the NPC is a divine caster of an evil deity or has an 'evil aura' as a side effect (outsiders and such), Paladins must figure out who is evil and not the old fashioned way.

Which, of course isn't how the spell works, or the Paladin ability.


Thanis Kartaleon wrote:
Alternatively, you might require a Sleight of Hand check, keeping in mind that it can't be made untrained.

Putting some greater thought into this - as it would not make sense to use Sleight of Hand to conceal spells with only Verbal components (or no components at all, as with a spell-like ability)… I revise my statement - use Stealth if you want concealed casting to be something any caster can do, or Spellcraft if you want only trained casters to be able to hide their magic. Spellcraft actually makes a lot of sense. In the case of a Paladin, I might say that detect evil manifests as the paladin's eyes glowing with pure energy. A Spellcraft check could be used to control that leaking power so that only the highly observant would notice.

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