Lately there rose up some questions. I´m playing a ninja now who is pretty sneaky with skil focus sneak. The DM had a mage retrieve one of my handkerchiefs and scry on me this way, what always at least reveals where i am. Then i asked myself, in which ways he still could locate me or somehow pierce my invisibility. Of course there´s all the see invisibility stuff, but i can hide from that. But what if a mage has permament detect magic? Does he always see the magic auras of my stuff? Or a cleric with detect alignment?
|
Lately there rose up some questions. I´m playing a ninja now who is pretty sneaky with skil focus sneak. The DM had a mage retrieve one of my handkerchiefs and scry on me this way, what always at least reveals where i am. Then i asked myself, in which ways he still could locate me or somehow pierce my invisibility. Of course there´s all the see invisibility stuff, but i can hide from that. But what if a mage has permament detect magic? Does he always see the magic auras of my stuff? Or a cleric with detect alignment?
I would say yes, they would see the auras of the items or detect the presence of whatever alignment you have.
|
I play that Detect Magic requires line of sight and line of effect. So someone who is invisible gives off an aura and can be found with Detect Magic if they're just standing out in the open.
But a creature that is Stealth'd (and Invisible) doesn't give off the aura because there is no line of sight. The key being that someone who succeeds on their Stealth check is not only masking their physical location but also their magical aura.
The same applies to Death Watch and similar "detection" spells. Otherwise it's just too easy to thwart Invisibility with a 0-level Detect Magic and I don't like that.
(Note that Detect Magic can be blocked by a sufficient thickness of certain materials, so an invisible creature who is not stealthed can be around a corner and won't be detected. When they step into view the person with Detect Magic running will detect an aura although it would take two additional rounds of non-movement to pinpoint the invisible creature's location.)
The above makes Stealth a worthwhile investment for rogues, even with Invisibility available. And it means sneaking up on someone with Detect Magic is still possible.
I play that Detect Magic requires line of sight and line of effect.
Note that Detect Magic can be blocked by a sufficient thickness of certain materials.
That's not really consistent (with the implicit reading that without a sufficient thickness intervening materials DON'T block the spell), the second quote is RAW.
We had an issue with Scrying, so we had offensive slogans added to our armor just for them to enjoy. Hunting them down and killing them is about your only option, unless you can get your hands on an item that stops/protects you from Scrying.
And I have to disagree greatly with the detect magic option. It shouldn't work that way. A zero lvl spell should not be able to do be able to see though someones invisibility. And even if you did allow it, I would say they would need a perception vs stealth check. That adds all kinds of crazy power to that spell. Why get see invisible then?
As for the detect powers, that kind of works. As I recall you can either uses that spell to detect a specific person (if you see them and can concentrate on them), or for a general area. When your invisable they could uses it to get an idea of where you are in a 60' area. So it would be like, "There is someone over that way" And then they fireball the area clean. But they have to have an idea you are out there, and be using the correct detect power at the time.
I would suggest getting several ranks in spell craft so you can see what spells people are casting, and take appropriate action. Items of teleportation are very helpful too.
We had an issue with Scrying, so we had offensive slogans added to our armor just for them to enjoy. Hunting them down and killing them is about your only option, unless you can get your hands on an item that stops/protects you from Scrying.
And I have to disagree greatly with the detect magic option. It shouldn't work that way. A zero lvl spell should not be able to do be able to see though someones invisibility. And even if you did allow it, I would say they would need a perception vs stealth check. That adds all kinds of crazy power to that spell. Why get see invisible then?
As for the detect powers, that kind of works. As I recall you can either uses that spell to detect a specific person (if you see them and can concentrate on them), or for a general area. When your invisable they could uses it to get an idea of where you are in a 60' area. So it would be like, "There is someone over that way" And then they fireball the area clean. But they have to have an idea you are out there, and be using the correct detect power at the time.
I would suggest getting several ranks in spell craft so you can see what spells people are casting, and take appropriate action. Items of teleportation are very helpful too.
Detect Magic by itself as a 0 level spell is concentration, so even if you can detect what 5' square they are in, you can't really act beyond pointing the approximate location out to the rest of the party. It can be made Permanent, but by that level, you can just as easily have a true site and I don't think using a 0 lvl spell augmented by a 5th level permanency is a problem
We had an issue with Scrying, so we had offensive slogans added to our armor just for them to enjoy. Hunting them down and killing them is about your only option, unless you can get your hands on an item that stops/protects you from Scrying.
LOL, I like that :-)
And I have to disagree greatly with the detect magic option. It shouldn't work that way. A zero lvl spell should not be able to do be able to see though someones invisibility. And even if you did allow it, I would say they would need a perception vs stealth check. That adds all kinds of crazy power to that spell. Why get see invisible then? ...
I rule this differently. Detect magic can detect all kinds of magic within the limitations azhrei_fje already mentioned.
So you can detect someone that is invisible with detect magic. However, you require 3 full rounds of concentration and looking into the correct direction for it. So it's almost useless for battle, especially with a moving target. That's the big difference to see invisibility for me as well and leaves enough space for it IMO.
LOL, I like that :-)
We also had a banner.
I rule this differently. Detect magic can detect all kinds of magic within the limitations azhrei_fje already mentioned.
So you can detect someone that is invisible with detect magic. However, you require 3 full rounds of concentration and looking into the correct direction for it. So it's almost useless for battle, especially with a moving target. That's the big difference to see invisibility for me as well and leaves enough space for it IMO.
It would be difficult. And it becomes even more difficult if you take into account "lingering" magic. There would be several "ghosts" of the spell, so every time he moved it would leave more lingering areas. So it should be crazy difficult to actually uses detect magic to find an invisible person.
LOL, I like that :-)We also had a banner.
It would be difficult. And it becomes even more difficult if you take into account "lingering" magic. There would be several "ghosts" of the spell, so every time he moved it would leave more lingering areas. So it should be crazy difficult to actually uses detect magic to find an invisible person.
I rule this differently. Detect magic can detect all kinds of magic within the limitations azhrei_fje already mentioned.
So you can detect someone that is invisible with detect magic. However, you require 3 full rounds of concentration and looking into the correct direction for it. So it's almost useless for battle, especially with a moving target. That's the big difference to see invisibility for me as well and leaves enough space for it IMO.
"Lingering" requires pretty powerful effects to be actually detectable I believe. But in the end, yes, a moving person is quite difficult to detect this way. But a standing person or an invisible object can be detected, which feels right to me.
"Lingering" requires pretty powerful effects to be actually detectable I believe. But in the end, yes, a moving person is quite difficult to detect this way. But a standing person or an invisible object can be detected, which feels right to me.
According to detect magic, a lvl 3rd or lower spell cast can be detected for 1d6 rounds.