I'm running my first Pathfinder game in less than three days. I've noticed something that I can tell will already be trouble at the table.
When using detect magic and Knowledge (arcana) to determine the school of magic associated with the aura (be it an item or active spell or whatever), does it also reveal subschool and descriptors?
For the descriptors, I say it's an easy "No, it doesn't." For the subschool, I'm not so sure.
Unfortunately, the only thing I can find to support NOT revealing subschools is the complete absence of any mention of it.
I can already see my players arguing with me that they SHOULD be able to get the subschool as well, and I can see both sides of the argument.
Has this come up before? Has there been any official word on this?
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Taffer
Until there's evidence that a rule exists, there's no reason to believe that it does. There is an infinite number of possible things, many of them contradictory; as an up-and-coming GM, you should know that "The book doesn't say I can't" is to powergaming as "I'm not racist, but..." is to being racist.
The description of Detect Magic says you can determine the school of magic that an effect, aura, or magic item gives off. It does not say you know all the details of the spell type, such as subschool, descriptor, or even if it is arcane or divine.