Spells can help a detective just as much as they help any criminal.
Imagine that you don't ever need a translator to talk to any witnesses. You can safely surveil anyone you want from a distance with no risk, thanks to scrying spells. Murder victims can be spoken to after death. People can be compelled to only speak the truth - or to follow direct commands. Those who commit enough Evil acts have an aura that can be magically seen. You can turn invisible. You can teleport. You can put a geas on someone.
Absalom's police, Chelish authorities, all manner of Hellknights, and probably no few number of Nexian private eyes are using boatloads of magic for what they do.
Starfinder Senior Developer
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There are some fun resources that might appeal to you.
Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue: This provides some really cool insights into how spells of any level—especially divination spells—might work with an investigation or intrigue campaign. It does a great job in presenting ways that the spells can enable an adventure, not ruin it; it's a common mistake for GMs to balk at divination spells, declare the divinations don't work, or just have divinations circumvent a fun investigation, whereas ideally, divinations should help speed an investigation without providing all the answers. This is a first edition book, so the spells operate a little differently in the second edition. However, it's still a great resource.
Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide: This second edition version includes some information about running investigations, as well as subsystems for NPC influence, chases, heists, and research—all of which might play into a fun investigation.
Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide: There's a whole class called the investigator! They have all sorts of great discovery abilities that augment a character's detective work. However, it's important to know that just because an investigator excels at investigations, they're not the only option. Rogues, bards, alchemists, thaumaturges, witches, rangers, and inventors are all fun starting points for investigation PCs, and you can turn almost any class into a memorable detective. I mean, who isn't excited to play Shearlock Holmes (a barbarian mage-hunter with a nose for the truth) or Sherlock Bones (a necromancer whose magic tears secrets from the dead)?
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Importantly, though, no one character will get all of the facts right every time. Pathfinder's partly a team game, so your companions back you up. The luck of the dice mean there's always room for failure. And even when one misses a clue or misinterprets a fact, there's the joy of failing forward and seeing where the story goes.
From the Edgewatch Detective it seems they adapt.
Fall of Plaguestone too.
But since magic tends to be costlier and more difficult than comparably mundane techniques, the very fact that magic was used to obscure a crime is often a significant clue in itself. It definitely shifts the list of suspects from nearly anyone to a limited number of spellcasters.
But since magic tends to be costlier and more difficult than comparably mundane techniques, the very fact that magic was used to obscure a crime is often a significant clue in itself. It definitely shifts the list of suspects from nearly anyone to a limited number of spellcasters.
Though the existence of spellcasting magic items and the UMD Skill in 1E and the Trick Magic Item feat in 2E complicates things.
Though the existence of spellcasting magic items and the UMD Skill in 1E and the Trick Magic Item feat in 2E complicates things.
The list of suspects in a magic-crime isn't strictly magic users... but I would suggest that it is still limited to the people with the resources and authority to either:
* Employ a spellcaster
* Purchase and use a magic item
* Learn spellcraft and wield magic
* (here's a bit of a niche one) Employ or command a magical creature capable of performing a supernatural feat
Of course, the odds of an investigator actually themselves being able (or willing) to take down someone who can either wield magic or has the resources to have magic wielded on their behalf would make for an interesting PI series in the mean streets of Egorian. When the dottari are corrupt, complicit, or both, and those who rule have the tacit approval of hell to treat their subjects however they like, to whom does it fall to get to the bottom of the latest in a rash of murders covered up by magic?
One of the key things about Pathfinder is that all spells technically do have a signature and their aura lingers based on strength.
Do they still, or was that an artefact of 1st edition? My brother and I were talking about that as a magical investigative technique but we thought it didn't make the transition to 2e. A reference would be helpful if you know one!
Lost Omens: Travel Guide has a whole section on spellcasting signatures.One of the key things about Pathfinder is that all spells technically do have a signature and their aura lingers based on strength.Do they still, or was that an artefact of 1st edition? My brother and I were talking about that as a magical investigative technique but we thought it didn't make the transition to 2e. A reference would be helpful if you know one!
Oh, I didn't realize that was already coming out! Though I should have clarified, I meant to ask about the notion of lingering, detectable auras. Is this said to be part of spell signatures now? If so, I need to get my hands on this book even more than I already did!
Oh, I didn't realize that was already coming out! Though I should have clarified, I meant to ask about the notion of lingering, detectable auras. Is this said to be part of spell signatures now? If so, I need to get my hands on this book even more than I already did!Lost Omens: Travel Guide has a whole section on spellcasting signatures.One of the key things about Pathfinder is that all spells technically do have a signature and their aura lingers based on strength.Do they still, or was that an artefact of 1st edition? My brother and I were talking about that as a magical investigative technique but we thought it didn't make the transition to 2e. A reference would be helpful if you know one!
Spell signatures may allow someone to identify a caster they are already familiar with via the magical emenations of their spellcasting (their spell signature) even if they are otherwise hidden, but I saw nothing implying any lingering evidence (such as auras) like in 1st Edition.
So you'd have to witness the spell being cast AND be familiar with the spell signature.
It's like finding out that the arm with the skull tattoo that reached through the broken fence and stabbed your date in the dark alley belonged to your friend, Jack, because Jack had an identical arm tattoo.
You kind of had to be there.