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The description of detect magic spell says Quote: Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort or conceal weaker auras. The description of arcane sight spell says
Quote: The effect is similar to that of a detect magic spell, but arcane sight does not require concentration and discerns aura location and power more quickly. You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight. An aura’s power depends on a spell’s functioning level or an item’s caster level, as noted in the description of the detect magic spell. Does arcane sight allow the user to see weaker magical auras, the kind that are concealed or distorted by the presence of stronger auras?
Humm... this is a good question. Given that Arcane Sight says "You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight"
Would like an answer on this.
Well, specific trumps general. It establishes that it is based on Detect Magic, but then gives the specific "You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight." which would seem to trump the general rule of Detect Magic that weaker auras can ben distorted or concealed.
I'd say you can, as Arcane Sight says, know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight, including weaker auras.
You could also read it the other way around: you generally see all auras, unless some of them are distorted or concealed.
I'll have to have you parse out how you can read "You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight" as meaning that you can't see some magical auras that are in your sight. Becaus eI don't see a way to read it that way.
If you are, instead, suggesting that the above is the general and that Detect Magic is the specific, it clearly isn't; referring to another spell and saying the current spell acts like that is always the general reading; anything in the specific spell is the specific portion, inhernetly, because it only affects that spell, not both.
When you use detect magic and detect magic auras, you allso detect all visible auras, right? I read 'all auras' as being able to distinguish between different sources immediately, as opposed to just sensing the presence of magic on the first turn of detect magic.
I imagine that whether the aura is distorted or concealed is independent of observer, it only depends on the relative strength of the sources. Arcane sight allows to see all auras that can be detected - but if an aura has been concealed I would treat it as undetectable, at least from a distance.
In a way, I imagine a strong aura as some kind of fog that makes it impossible to see a weaker aura behind it. That's what I understand as concealment of an aura.
Arcane Sight is just badly written. You can read it to mean you always notice the strongest aura, or that you notice every aura every time. You can interpret it to require a perception check to notice the "weaker" auras but that is very clearly not what the spell says at all.
It gets more confusing when you realize to a certain extent that Arcane Sight relys on regular vision rather than some mystic sensor. Anything that blocks line of sight should block Arcane Sight, even if Detect Magic would pierce that barrier.
An example would be if you threw a blanket over a magic item. Detect Magic would absolutely work unless the blanket was made of lead. Arcane Sight? As written, it shouldn't work. Or should it? It is ambiguous. Arguments made for either side are going to be valid.
Considering that the (permanent) spell could lead to a lot of stuff becoming trivialized I prefer a more conservative approach. If you can't physically see the source of the aura, Arcane Sight shouldn't pick it up. Otherwise no Wizard with 7,500gp to burn should ever fall into a magic trap ever again.
It pretty clearly requires line of sight, unlike Detect Magic.
As for the weak/strong aura, I can almost see your point until I read back through the full description of Arcane Sight; it not only says "all" but then it goes on to say that you can, essentially, get details from each and every aura (still no exceptions about weak, distorted, whatever) by making a Spellcraft check for each aura. I think it is pretty clear both RAW and RAI; this is really meant to allow you to see all magical auras within your line of sight and within 120 feet.
And it should not be a huge surprise that a 3rd level spell is significantly more impressive at doing the same thing than a 0-level cantrip.
It is a bit of interpretation, but I believe this is further reinforced by the differences between Analyze Dweomer (6th level) and Greater Arcane Sight (7th level). With your reading Analyze Dweomer would give significantly better information (sinc eit clearly gives everything) on a single target, with Greater Arcane Sight sacrificing better information (and an additional spell level) for the ability to see more than one. With my reading it is a more direct improvement; that additional spell level gets you multiple targets, rather than just 1, but the information is the same.
If your table wishes to play a different way, that is absolutely your prerogative. Rule 0 says so.
I've always run it as a sight-based detect magic that worked faster and included spellcasting ability detection. With respect to aura differentiation, it never occurred to me to change it from how detect magic works, as the paragraph in arcane sight largely mimics that in detect magic with minor differences. IOW, it inherits the limitations of detect magic except inasmuch as it specifically improves upon it.
Not saying that I'm running it correctly, but that's how I've run it so far, and I'm not yet convinced it's incorrect.
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