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Post by alcyone on Sept 26, 2012 16:04:37 GMT -6
Should Detect Magic work for finding a magic item hidden on a person?
My reading of the text leads me to believe that if you cast it on a person, you'd see any spells cast on the person, but not necessarily on any things he possessed. If you cast it on a visible ring in particular, and wanted to know if it was magic, that would work, but if he had a ring in his pocket, casting on the person wouldn't help you, casting on an object wouldn't work because you couldn't see the object, and casting on a place doesn't help because that is really for seeing an effect cast on an area.
Does that sound right?
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Post by talysman on Sept 26, 2012 18:43:14 GMT -6
You could rule it that way, but I don't see that in the original.
"It is useful, for example, to discover if some item is magical, a door has been "held" or "wizard locked", etc."
I take the words "for example" to indicate that these are just possible uses and not an exhaustive list of ways the spell may be used. There's no indication that you have to specify whether you are trying to detect magic on a person (and would therefore miss an enchantment on an object in the person's pocket.)
Instaed, if a player says "I cast Detect Magic and target that person," any enchantments that are currently in effect would glow or otherwise be detectable. You might not know what specifically is enchanted, if the magic item is hidden from view; for example, if a person's pocket glowed, you wouldn't know which item in their pocket was magical, or if all items were magical.
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paulg
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 75
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Post by paulg on Sept 26, 2012 20:16:49 GMT -6
I run Detect Magic as if it gives the caster an extra sense that perceives any magic effect within about 30', so it isn't necessary to cast it on a particular item. For your ring-in-pocket example, the caster would know that something in the pocket was magical but nothing more specific.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Sept 26, 2012 20:31:15 GMT -6
I run Detect Magic as if it gives the caster an extra sense that perceives any magic effect within about 30', so it isn't necessary to cast it on a particular item. That's my reading, too. When not cast by the M-U to scope out a room or some specific thing, we've always used detect magic during a safe point by spreading out all the loot within 30' and then picking out everything that pings.
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