As Tinalles says.
Yes magic there but not what it does other than school and power.
Yea, and ditto for illusions and invisible things.
Hence why houserules. Who cares what RAW says. Run a game that's fun for your table.
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Yeah, but look at it this way: There is a DC 32 perception check needed to discover a magical trap on an altar that does for instance a lightning bolt damage.
But hey, the players can just cast a cantrip and know that this altar holds a strong evocation magic...
And with a spellcraft check they would know it's a lightning bolt...whats the DC on that one? 19 or so?
I kinda find that a bit unbalanced somehow..
Is my assumption here about right?
I think you're giving too much power to this cantrip.
The Alter hasn't been sprung or recently reset right? So why even give a chance to identify a spell that hasn't been cast yet via the trap?
Once it's sprung give them a free spellcraft check to identify the bright blue electrical bolt that hit them sure! They may not need it at that point though.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I think people are overvaluing the ability to identify a magical aura.
Okay, so you found evocation on the altar, and maybe even identified it as lightning bolt. Great. So... now what? Presumably you needed to do something with that altar, right? Do you blow a third-level spell in an attempt to dispel magic the assumed trap, potentially failing and being no closer to doing what you need to with the alter but being down a third level spell? Maybe you could just work around it, but you don't know what or where the trigger is. Maybe you try not to touch the altar, but it turns out to be a proximity trigger.
Okay, so you've determined that there's an illusion spell on the door. So... now what? Is the door itself an illusion, with a gelatinous cube waiting to suck you up by your arm? Is it actually a wall with contact poison on it, waiting for you to try to grab the knob? Is the door real, but the illusion aura is from something invisible on the door?
In a world where even a 61-person village will have access to 3rd-level spellcasting, it would seem pretty immersion-breaking to think magic would not be regularly and intelligently employed against traps and other hazards.
Let the PCs use Detect Magic to find traps. Then after a few dungeons, have the next trap be warded with Magic Aura.
Also, to those who say the trap has no aura:
Traps are a kind of magic item, and magic items have auras. Also, the trap needs to have a magical sensor to allow for proximity triggers.
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Let the PCs use Detect Magic to find traps. Then after a few dungeons, have the next trap be warded with Magic Aura.
Also, to those who say the trap has no aura:
Traps are a kind of magic item, and magic items have auras. Also, the trap needs to have a magical sensor to allow for proximity triggers.
Magic traps are further divided into spell traps and magic device traps. Magic device traps initiate spell effects when activated, just as wands, rods, rings, and other magic items do. Creating a magic device trap requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat.
Magic traps are further divided into spell traps and magic device traps. Magic device traps initiate spell effects when activated, just as wands, rods, rings, and other magic items do. Creating a magic device trap requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat.
Spell traps are simply spells that themselves function as traps. Creating a spell trap requires the services of a character who can cast the needed spell or spells, who is usually either the character creating the trap or an NPC spellcaster hired for that purpose.
I fail to see the text to support they are a type of magic item, or always have auras. Can you point that out to me where so I can check it out. I'm no trap master but that was not my understanding of them.
I also think letting them find traps via a cantrip is not a good idea as a general rule.
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Finding traps with a cantrip is worse for the game than finding traps with the Perception skill? That's just nonsense.
Why is it nonsense? Traps state what the Per. DC should be, and makes no mention of being detected via detect magic spell, nor does Detect Magic specifically say it can be used to detect Traps (magical or not).
If someone is skilled in Perception that matters more to me than any bloke with the cantrip.
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Here's the thing with detect magic. You only get aura strength and school and only when you study for 3 rounds within 60 feet. Some could easily trigger at that range and some would be hard to tell was a trap at all. I mean it could be a magic item. Or a magic lizard :-P
Really as a gm you need to run smart with it. Can it work some? Yeah but sometimes the trap explodes on them. Sometimes put a nonmagical trap in front of it. Or the evil druids gorilla is hiding in the shadows to bullrush the squishy party member into the trap.
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I fail to see the text to support they are a type of magic item or always have auras.That would be the part in your rules quote that says "Magic device traps initiate spell effects when activated, just as wands, rods, rings, and other magic items do. Creating a magic device trap requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat."
1) You have to have the Craft Wondrous Item feat to make a magic device trap;
2) and it works "just as ... other magic items do".Ergo, it's a magic item. And magic items always have auras (unless they have explicitly been made to lack one with the "magic aura" spell). So a successful Detect Magic + Spellcraft check should identify the spell it triggers, in the same way that a successful Detect Magic + Spellcraft check could identify a Wand of Shocking Grasp without zapping yourself with it.
It wouldn't necessarily reveal WHAT triggers it, though.
Sure, I can dig that.
But not for the spell trap variety I suppose.