I've got a baddy with a huge stealth rating, but who cast prestidigitation. The party is trying to hunt him down using 'detect magic', under the theory that prestidigitation is a buff, and should show as an active spell effect. Looking at the spell in detail, it has a non-dismissable duration, but the effect is not 'self', but instead is defined by where the effects can occur - even though the spell allows the caster to create new effects throughout the (long) duration.
So... can the party find the critter with detect magic? I'm currently inclined to credit the party with a clever solution and move on. But I'd like to get some broader feedback.
First, I think you ought to give the handsome bard in your game extra gold and XP for classing up the joint.
Second, although your players are indeed clever and well-featured, I don't think this is the solution they think it is. Prestidigitation merely creates effects that can last up to an hour.
So if the caster used prestidigitation to chill a drink, that drink would return to its normal temperature after the hour's expiration. During that hour, the drink would radiate magic, but not the caster. Notice that the effect is not dismissable - the caster no longer has control over the magic once the affect has taken place.
So no, I don't think your perceptive and no doubt quite virile players can use their foe's prestidigitation to locate him unless he cast it on himself.
If your bad guy doesn't have the metamagic feat Silent spell they can hear him cast it.
My baddy's a cunning little blighter. Waited till they were all off galavanting before casting, lured one (he was hoping for more) into a pit trap, and now he's lurking. It's a complex, multi-layer environment. He's got a climb speed, and a big stealth bonus.
If he were stupid, uncunning, and without an instinct for self-preservation, he'd present himself and get slaughtered in short order. Unfortunately he's a cunning fey with an acute sense of self-preservation, and is armed, magical, and murderous. Come to think of it, they shouldn't let me GM (dark) fey - they're too dangerous, and I can't bring myself to playing them short of their crafty, nasty, underhanded little selves.
And this is indeed a clever, handsome, virile, wise, and above all, modest party of adventurers. Particularly the bard. :)
The detect magic spell doesn't really work well for locating creatures even if they do have a magic aura.
You detect magical auras. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.
1st Round: Presence or absence of magical auras.
2nd Round: Number of different magical auras and the power of the most potent aura.
3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Knowledge (arcana) skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura: DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + 1/2 caster level for a nonspell effect.) If the aura emanates from a magic item, you can attempt to identify its properties (see Spellcraft).
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Outsiders and elementals are not magical in themselves, but if they are summoned, the conjuration spell registers. Each round, you can turn to detect magic in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.
So a character would have to study an area for 3 rounds to locate your bad guy. They can't even use it like a flashlight to scan since they have to study an area for a round even to get the presence of a magic aura. If your bad guy is as clever as you say, all he has to do is see what they're doing and move around.
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I agree with Speaker. If they where casting Detect Magic, they would need first to see the aura's square(s), then on the second round study that square to sense the feint aura, and in the final round, still focusing on the square your guy is in have a chance to figure it out. If your fey moves out of the cone at any point, then the Detect Magic needs to start all over. Additionally, since you need cover or concealment to use stealth, simply moving behind appropriate cover (not concealment) could block it, such as a thick wall.
It also depends on how the fey used the spell. If it was a permanent effect, like cleaning his clothing, than the spell only radiates magic for a d6 rounds, not forever. If he did something else, than the magic would radiate for an hour, as long as the spell's duration would last.
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This doesn't seem like a PFS question to me.
Regarding topic; I would grant PC's chance to try and catch him but instead of trying to locate him via detect magic which might be a little complicated (it does take 3 rounds to find the target's real position), simply grant the PC using detect magic +8 (or +4) bonus or such on Perception checks to locate the enemy. It makes things more simple and players should benefit enough from it.
It would also depend what kind of prestidigitation effect it was (whether on object or himself).
Adam
Arright folks - here's my resolution as I presented it out to players. Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.
GM Mechanics Ruling: I've been doing some research, and consulting some folks, because I think this is a close thing, and I hear and understand the discussion that has gone on here. Your characters would have enough familiarity with the effects in play to know how they interact. So I'm ruling that prestidigitation does not create an ongoing detectable magical aura on the caster. When the caster is actively creating an effect they do have an aura, as a caster would when summoning (for example), or throughout continuously applied effects (such as 'moving an object'). The effects (created objects, for example) do detect as magical (and weak and 'universal' - pretty generally recognizable as prestidigitation). The rationale is that the spell area of effect/range is not 'self'. In-game rationale is that the caster is putting themselves in a mental state to exercise magical energies, but the connection to those magical energies is only active when the caster is making use of them - creating or manipulating things - and the primary effect is in the target area, not on the caster.
So - I'm not out to mess with a clever resolution to hunting the baddy, but this is a PFS game, and I'm doing my best to resolve according to rules as written (RAW). So there's some clarity, and also something your characters (particularly those with both prestidigitation and detect magic in their personal arsenals) would know.
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Arright folks - here's my resolution as I presented it out to players. Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.
GM Mechanics Ruling: I've been doing some research, and consulting some folks, because I think this is a close thing, and I hear and understand the discussion that has gone on here. Your characters would have enough familiarity with the effects in play to know how they interact. So I'm ruling that prestidigitation does not create an ongoing detectable magical aura on the caster. When the caster is actively creating an effect they do have an aura, as a caster would when summoning (for example), or throughout continuously applied effects (such as 'moving an object'). The effects (created objects, for example) do detect as magical (and weak and 'universal' - pretty generally recognizable as prestidigitation). The rationale is that the spell area of effect/range is not 'self'. In-game rationale is that the caster is putting themselves in a mental state to exercise magical energies, but the connection to those magical energies is only active when the caster is making use of them - creating or manipulating things - and the primary effect is in the target area, not on the caster.
So - I'm not out to mess with a clever resolution to hunting the baddy, but this is a PFS game, and I'm doing my best to resolve according to rules as written (RAW). So there's some clarity, and also something your characters (particularly those with both prestidigitation and detect magic in their personal arsenals) would know.
Well now that brings up a whole new question. I understand a wizard and others take a full round to summon said monster and you can detect magic during that time frame, however, is the wizard himself emminating magic or the spot where he's summoning the critter (which is usually beside some PC and not the summoner)? I know for a fact there are scenarios out there (1 at least) that has a summoner summoning critters while invisible as the printed tactic. Our group actually used 'create water' and dowsing 'areas' (liberal GM let us spread the water thin enough to blanket about 6 squares at a time). Even though she was changing locations we were creating a lot of wet floor that began leaving prints to find. Scratch that, he(she) was a true summoner and using standard action SLA to summon critters. But assuming it was a wizard or cleric would Detect magic locate the caster or the spot the portal is being created in?
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I agree with Speaker. If they where casting Detect Magic, they would need first to see the aura's square(s), then on the second round study that square to sense the feint aura, and in the final round, still focusing on the square your guy is in have a chance to figure it out. If your fey moves out of the cone at any point, then the Detect Magic needs to start all over. Additionally, since you need cover or concealment to use stealth, simply moving behind appropriate cover (not concealment) could block it, such as a thick wall.
It also depends on how the fey used the spell. If it was a permanent effect, like cleaning his clothing, than the spell only radiates magic for a d6 rounds, not forever. If he did something else, than the magic would radiate for an hour, as long as the spell's duration would last.
Becket, you get the square in which the aura is located only during the 3rd round of scanning it, not during the first.
Area cone-shaped emanation
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1st Round: Presence or absence of magical auras.2nd Round: Number of different magical auras and the power of the most potent aura.
3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura.
You scan a cone area, first round you know if there are magi auras, the second the number of aura in the area and the power of the most potent and only during the third round you get to pinpoint the squares in which the auras are.
It is very hard to locate something moving this way.
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@utopia27
Detect magic is blocked by barriers:
The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.
If the creature is hiding behind something he could be undetectable.
Doesn't the fey have some magic item on him/her?
Anything?
Wouldn't the invisibility effect show up as magical anyway?
A more useful spell would be Arcane Sight. Finding creatures with Detect Magic is next to impossible with the 3 rounds it requires in order to work. You can locate any magic aura in sight by jumping straight to the final effect of detect magic... including Illusion auras(Invisibility). If the creature is not invisibile but using stealth, but is carrying any magic items (including potions and scrolls, weapons and armor) then you instantly know they are there.