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I was trying to figure out what the value of Greater Arcane sight was the other day.
Currently, one of the players in my campaign is a 13th level wizard, who has seen to it that he has arcane sight on permanently.
Also, thanks to intelligence bonuses and a headband of vast intelligence +6, he's currently cooking with something around a +24 (+5 intelligence, +3 more from the headband, +13 ranks, +3 class skill) spellcraft and knowledge(arcana) check.
Knowledge arcana requires only a DC 15+ spell level check for determining on going magical effects while under detect magic, it is literally impossible for him to fail an identification check while just looking at things with arcane sight (the lowest he can roll is a 1).
As this is not an unreasonable situation for a 13th level caster to be in (18,000 (headband) and 7,500 (Permanent arcane sight)'s not much on the WBL budget) this makes me wonder why you would ever waste a spell on Greater Arcane Sight when by that point you should basically be able to spot identify every on-going spell or aura you run into (id'ing active spells is a free action) just based on your skill ranks.
I was trying to figure out what the value of Greater Arcane sight was the other day.
Currently, one of the players in my campaign is a 13th level wizard, who has seen to it that he has arcane sight on permanently.
Also, thanks to intelligence bonuses and a headband of vast intelligence +6, he's currently cooking with something around a +24 (+5 intelligence, +3 more from the headband, +13 ranks, +3 class skill) spellcraft and knowledge(arcana) check.
Knowledge arcana requires only a DC 15+ spell level check for determining on going magical effects while under detect magic, it is literally impossible for him to fail an identification check while just looking at things with arcane sight (the lowest he can roll is a 1).
As this is not an unreasonable situation for a 13th level caster to be in (18,000 (headband) and 7,500 (Permanent arcane sight)'s not much on the WBL budget) this makes me wonder why you would ever waste a spell on Greater Arcane Sight when by that point you should basically be able to spot identify every on-going spell or aura you run into (id'ing active spells is a free action) just based on your skill ranks.
I don't recall seeing anything under Knowledge (arcana) that specifies using an aura to identify a spell effect.
I think you're confusing Knowledge (arcana)'s ability to identify an active spell based on its effect with the ability to identify an aura's school with detect magic. The two are not the same. I believe the intention is for it to general be nearly impossible to determine what an active spell without seeing its effects (or observing it being cast), regardless of whether or not you detect the aura. As an example, you might identify a powerful abjuration aura around a creature, but I don't think you can use Knowledge (arcana) to identify it as repulsion until you see it actively affect another creature (or unless you see the spell cast).
Detect Magic & Arcane Sight allow you to determine the aura and strength of a given active spell effect with a successful Spellcraft check (which may be an auto-pass for a high level wizard), not to determine the active spell itself. You can use the information you receive to infer what a spell is, but not to determine exactly what it is. For example, I might assume if I detected a faint aura of conjuration around another wizard that he had mage armor, but I would not know until I could observe someone attacking him. Similarly, I could infer the presence of endure elements based on a fair aura of abjuration, but would not know until the character was exposed to the elements and showed no reaction.
Greater arcane sight, in contrast, provides far more detailed information in the ability to identify active spells without actually seeing their effects. That's a significantly more powerful and unique ability, and one befitting a higher level spell.
Hope this helps.