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Ahoy, fellow Pathfinders!
I'm planning an Investigator for my new character, and need some way of casting detect magic at will to get around the annoying fact that I have the Spellcraft skill but no way to ID magic items etc. without the spell.
Current plan is to pay 2000 gp for the lantern of auras[/i].
My question: is there any cheaper item out there that grants the ability? (It has to be an item, all my character choices are locked up already.)
I suppose I could just UMD wands of detect magic, but I'd rather pay once for an item that allows me to cast it at-will.
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A cloak of the hedge wizard may be a touch more expensive (2500 gp) but gives a bunch more handy spells.
Page 29 of the Pathfinder Society Primer.
Discerning (5 PP): This wayfinder functions as normal, except the user can cast detect magic at will in place of light.
If you wanna keep the light spell, there's:
Inherited (3 PP): A mentor or older relative who was a Pathfinder passed this wayfinder down to you, and it keeps a minor enchantment from its previous owner.
When purchasing a wayfinder enhancement that would normally replace the wayfinder’s ability to cast light with the ability to cast a different spell, the wayfinder retains the ability to cast light, allowing it to cast two different 0-level spells.
Granted, if this is for a non-PFS game, then the GM/player is gonna have to figure out an equivalent pricing for prestige points/gold pieces.
Or write some sort of an organsation membership into your characters backstory and talk the GM into giving you ways to ear prestige in that. Might even be a pathfinder lodge.
Cheapest way: Take a level in Sorcerer/Wizard, and cast the spell yourself.
Next way: Get someone in the party to do it.
Next way: Hire a Trained Hiring for 3 silver per day, to follow you around, and then cast the Detect Magic spell ( 1 x 1 x 10 ) per casting for you.
Next way: Buy a wand of detect magic = 375 gold per 50 uses, and Use magic device skill.
If it was only for identifying items a 1/day cast of detect magic should actually be enough.
Other than that Id say goldwise the cheapest you can do is to have an item crafted that lets you cast detect magic at will, uses up a slot and is limited to both a specific class and alignment.
Using up a slot doesn't double the cost making that 1000 like JRutterbush mentionned near the begining, restrictions on class and alignment cut the price by 30% and 10% (cant remember the order but that probably doesnt matter) getting us down to a grand 600 gold.
Might get even that halved by crafting, but you'd probably need to bother a party member for that and wait for the level whenhe can take craft wondrous items. At that point it would probably mean you've already got someone to cast the spel at will and id stuff in your team, so Id guess 600 is it
What about the Investigator talent specifically for this purpose: Item Lore?
Good point, but that can't be taken until 7th level.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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There is also Nature Magic. Always on Know Direction, and any other druid orison as a SLA.
But that's only 1/day.
Also, I could have sworn there was some kind of ioun stone somewhere which could be slotted into a normal wayfinder to switch from light to detect magic. But maybe I was just misremembering the discerning wayfinder...?
get a wand and then later get the talent.
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Lots of helpful suggestions here. Thanks folks! :-)
For my particular situation, I'm playing PFS (so no custom items) and my character-build resources are all locked up (making an archer Investigator is pretty feat & talent intensive!, no room for dipping another class or spending an extra talent or feat), but I'd like to be able to ID items since I don't always know the party I'll be running with.
So the wand, the lantern, or the wayfinder are my best bets. I'll probably grab a wand for now and see how that lasts me, maybe get the lantern or wayfinder if I get enough gold/prestige earned up later.
Look at the Cloak of the Hedge wizard if you can afford it
The cheapest way to get this is a by using the Magical Talent Trait.
from PRD: "Magical Talent: Either from inborn talent, the whimsy of the gods, or obsessive study of strange tomes, you have mastered the use of a cantrip. Choose a 0-level spell. You may cast that spell once per day as a spell-like ability. This spell-like ability is cast at your highest caster level gained; if you have no caster level, it functions at CL 1st. The spell-like ability's save DC is Charisma-based."
Detect Magic is a 0-level spell. The spell function at that Investigators caster level. It's only once per day though.
Be an elf with the Envoy alterntate racial trait:
for PFS, I would just use UMD and get scrolls of it. 12.5 gold per use, carry 4 of them with you in a waterproof scroll tube.
That way if you need to ID something and no one else can do it then you use one.
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If it's for PFS, my vote is either for the Discerning Wayfinder, which would probably be the item you can get earliest (4th scenario, assuming a 2 prestige wand or a composite bow after 1, or 3rd scenario if no wand), or the Cloak of the Hedge Wizard, if you want to wait. True strike 1/day will help when you really need to land that studied strike, multi shot arrow. Prestidigitation at will is a nice bonus. But, if all you care about is Detect Magic, just go for the wayfinder.
I did the Sleepless Detective dip with my Investigator, but he's heavily skill focused. Int to Perception, Sense Motive, and Diplomacy (Gather Information only), plus the Detect Magic at will, and the 1D6 Sneak Attack are all good for an Investigator. I know how demanding archery builds can be, though.
From what i can tell, the problem with a wand is that it isn't a continuous cast, each caste is aroundand you have to study continuously for several rounds to identify the item. That was the understanding i got from discussing with my PFS group. Im pretty new so i may be wrong, but if anyone can clear this up because i too want my investigator to be able to detect magic
A minute is plenty of time.
/cevah