Hiya Paizo Forum,
So, my sorcerer has permanent Arcane Sight and very high Spellcraft (enough to auto-succeed an identify check). So, basically whenever she sees a baddie, I tell her all the magic items they have.
I just re-read Spellcraft, and under Determine properties of Magic Item, it says "Attempting to ascertain the properties of a magic item takes 3 rounds per item to be identified and you must be able to thoroughly examine the object." Now, I know Arcane Sight accelerates it, so the 3 rounds aren't relevant. But, I'm more interested in "thoroughly examine" as a word choice. Does this mean it only works for items you loot and can look over? Since everyone's a seasoned adventurer, can she thoroughly examine an item that the enemy is wearing during combat? It would be nice to put some mystery back into the encounters.
Thanks in advance!
As you note, the 3 rounds is a feature of Spellcraft, not of detect magic. Because arcane sight does not call out a difference there, it uses the rules from the Spellcraft skill. You can identify that the belt over there is moderate transmutation, but you can't tell it's a +4 strength belt without time to examine it.