|
Are Detect Magic/Good/Undead/etc spells constant effects while concentrating? Or do they pulse information when you spend your standard action concentrating?
I'll give an example:
You've just started your second round of Detect Undead. There are three (apparently invisible) undead auras in your vision, and you end your turn. During their turn one moves out of your 60ft cone. Do you learn this immediately (by sensing that there are now only 2 undead auras in your cone)? Or do you only find this out when you spend your action concentrating on your third round?
If it's a constant effect, does this mean that your entire turn is spent looking in one direction? Do you lose the ability to see anything happening in other directions?
If it's a constant effect, but you can see what's happening around you normally, shouldn't you be able to use this to do a 360 degree sweep and find out the direction (not the location) of every aura within range in the first round?
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
Are Detect Magic/Good/Undead/etc spells constant effects while concentrating? Or do they pulse information when you spend your standard action concentrating?
I'll give an example:
You've just started your second round of Detect Undead. There are three (apparently invisible) undead auras in your vision, and you end your turn. During their turn one moves out of your 60ft cone. Do you learn this immediately (by sensing that there are now only 2 undead auras in your cone)? Or do you only find this out when you spend your action concentrating on your third round?
Note the "duration" line in the spell description. Since the duration is "concentration", the effect continues uninterrupted until you stop concentrating. (If you look at some other Concentration spells, they'd get pretty silly if they were turning off and on all the time.)
If it's a constant effect, does this mean that your entire turn is spent looking in one direction? Do you lose the ability to see anything happening in other directions?
The casting time and the effort of concentrating are both standard actions. You can spend your other actions as you see fit.
There is no "facing" in Pathfinder. So you could spend your standard action to concentrate on your Detect spell, then spend your move action so something else. No one gets to take advantage of your back being turned. (However, I would note that if you spent your move action to make any kind of skill check, you probably couldn't Take 10 because you're pretty obviously distracted by concentrating on a spell.)
If it's a constant effect, but you can see what's happening around you normally, shouldn't you be able to use this to do a 360 degree sweep and find out the direction (not the location) of every aura within range in the first round?
The fact that you can pay attention in all directions doesn't change the spell's area of effect.
Roll a fortitude save per three rounds of spinning in a circle trying to pull off the Detect magic Sonar trick.