Locate Creature - a few questions

[RJ Dalton 89]

So, last session, a player used locate creature to find out where the most dangerous monster in the dungeon had gone. At the time, in favor of keeping up game flow, I didn't check exactly how it worked and treated it as detect magic (silly me).
Well, in an upcoming session, the players are going to be trying to hunt down some aranea who have infiltrated a foreign government for main quest reasons. The player specifically took locate creature because he knew he needed it for his plan and didn't want to buy lots of scrolls or wands for it.

Now that I've read the description, I know a couple of things. I know they can have trouble detecting a specific aranea because they have to see the individual creature up close, and even if they do see the one they're looking for up close, he'll be in his human guise at the time. Polymorphs fool locate creature, so when he reverts to his true form, it won't find the specific one.
However, the fortress where the aranea are based from has about 20 of them in it. The spell says that you can detect a kind of creature (but not type, which I interpret as "creature type" like aberation, animal, etc.). So, I figure that the spell can detect araneas if he specifies that creature kind.

But a few things come up.
1). the spell is apparently directional. You turn around and know when you're facing the creature you're trying to locate. Soooooo, the aranea they need specifically to find has a secret room where he hides in an alcove above the entrance to it, using illusions to draw enemies in (making them think he's at the back of the room) and then raining some spells down on them from above. So, if they're walking down the hall towards this room and the mage is using locate creature, will the fact that it's above mean he won't detect it? Or will it just detect as straight ahead until he passes it? Or will he know it's ahead and slightly above?

2). If he's detecting all araneas in the area, does he then get readings in every direction?

3). The spell is not concentration, but minutes per level, so my reading is that he can keep rechecking the position of what he's searching for as long as the duration lasts. But what kind of action is it to check? It does not say in the spell description that I've got pulled up. I would assume that it's either a swift action or a move action, but that's a huge difference in what you're able to do in the round you check.

Or is there something about this that I'm just completely getting wrong?

[RJ Dalton 89]

Now that I think about it, there's probably a "rules questions" board I should have put this in.
>.>

[Ryze Kuja]

Yeah, this should be in the Rules Forum-- I flagged it. Anywho,

1) The spell is not directional per se, it is a circular shape and has a radius of 400ft + 40ft/lvl. But like the spell description says, the spell can turn you and you know when you are in fact facing the creature and which direction the creature is going. The locate creature spell can be fooled by mislead, nondetection, and polymorph, but makes no mention of illusions-- which I think is by design. If the creature is above the party, but within range of the spell, then yes it should detect him normally; the caster would know the direction that the creature is and where it is going, even if he's not physically on the ground or simply climbing above them.

2) If he's detecting for all araneas in the area, then yes, he gets readings for all. If he's detecting for one specific aranea, then he would not receive readings for the other araneas.

3) That is correct, the spell constantly checks the position of the creature automatically as long as the spell duration lasts. The kind of action required to check is not enumerated in the spell description, but I would imagine that this is a Free Action or simply No Action at all.

Hope that helps.

[RJ Dalton 89]

Ryze Kuja wrote:

Stuff

Yeah, that does.