Detect Magic

Detect Magic Functionality

A caster can detect the magical auras of objects within a spellcone. Objects that will report include certain FX, Doors, Items, Placeables and their inventory, Triggers, Waypoints, Spell Traps, and finally Creatures and their effects and inventory.

Concentration Check

The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject. Caster rolls a Concentration Check to determine rounds of study. Checks include Concentration modifiers and buffs.

Roll	Rounds	Result
1	0 Rounds	Failure
2-6	1 Round	There is magic within range.
7-13	2 Rounds	Number of auras and the power of the strongest aura.
14+	3 Rounds	Location of auras, and a Spellcraft Check vs. power of item to learn its school of magic.

Round 1: There is Magic Within Range

A roll of 2 to 6 earns one round of information that tells the caster simply that there is magic within range.

Round 2: Power of Magic

A roll of 7 to 13 earns Round 2 of information: generalized number of auras within range and the strength of the strongest aura.

Round 3: Location, Individual Power and Possibly School of Magic

A roll of 14+ earns Round 3 of information: the power and location of each aura in range. Also, at this time the caster rolls Spellcraft against the power of each aura to discover the school of the aura.

Building for Detect Magic

Some VFX, Creatures, Doors, Items, Placeables, Triggers and Waypoints (including spell traps) either automatically report or can be set up to report their magical auras to a caster of Detect Magic.

SpellSchool Variables

A builder can add up to three pairs of ACR_SPELLSCHOOL and ACR_SPELLPOWER variables to Doors, Placeables, Triggers, and Waypoints to place an aura of any school and power. A builder can add only one pair of variables to Items, because they have other configuration options, explained later in this page.

Sample versions of Doors, Placeables, Triggers, Traps and Waypoints, with the variable slots on them but zeroed out, exist in toolset under the category ALFA_DetectMagic (or ALFA_Traps_Spawn). Builders can change the name, tag, resref, appearance, description of these sample objects to anything. Only the variables are checked by the spell.

To place an aura, only ACR_SPELLSCHOOL and ACR_SPELLPOWER are required. The others are optional and can be left as 0s or empty fields.

School of Magic

For instance, if you wish to suggest that a catapult has an ability to hurl fireballs, set ACR_SPELLSCHOOL to 5, for Evocation. If you want to suggest those fireballs are Transmuted magically from some solid fuel, set ACR_SPELLSCHOOL2 to 8, for Transmutation. A further suggestion that the whole thing is protected against good could use ACR_SPELLSCHOOL3 set to 1, for Abjuration.

Variables (and the way they report to the caster) include:

• ACR_SPELLSCHOOL (integer) -- "This catapult has an aura of Evocation"
• ACR_SPELLSCHOOL2 (integer) -- "This catapult has an aura of Evocation and Transmutation."
• ACR_SPELLSCHOOL3 (integer) -- "This catapult has an aura of Evocation and Transmutation around a central core of stored Abjuration."

Integer	School of Magic
1	Abjuration
2	Conjuration
3	Divination
4	Enchantment
5	Evocation
6	Illusion
7	Necromancy
8	Transmutation
9	General/Universal Magic

SubSchool strings are optional. A builder can enter classifications such as "Sonic" or "Mind-Affecting", or any subcategory or descriptor of spells. For instance, the hypothetical Catapult of Fireballs could be "Fire" or "Elemental". Or blank, if you don't want the PC to get that hint.

• ACR_SUBSCHOOL (string) -- "This catapult has an aura of Evocation (Fire)."
• ACR_SUBSCHOOL2 (string) -- "This catapult has an aura of Evocation (Fire) and Transmutation (Earth)."
• ACR_SUBSCHOOL3 (string) -- "This catapult has an aura of Evocation (Fire) and Transmutation (Earth) around a central core of stored Abjuration (Evil)."

Power of Magic

ACR_SPELLPOWER is required. The other two are only needed if you want multiple schools of magic. Enter the spell level of the spell being represented. For instance, our Catapult of Fireballs would be ACR_SPELLPOWER 3 for Fireball, ACR_SPELLPOWER2 5 for Transmute Rock to Mud (for loading in coal and getting out napalm) and ACR_SPELLPOWER3 8 for Unholy Aura.

• ACR_SPELLPOWER (integer) -- "This catapult has a Faint aura of Evocation (Fire)."
• ACR_SPELLPOWER2 (integer) -- "This catapult has a Faint aura of Evocation (Fire) and a Moderate aura of Transmutation."
• ACR_SPELLPOWER3 (integer) -- -- "This widget has a Faint aura of Evocation and Moderate Transmutation around a central core of stored Powerful Abjuration (Evil)."

Spell Level	Power of Magic
1-3	Faint
4-6	Moderate
7-9	Strong
10+	Overwhelming

Object Automatically Detected By Detect Magic

Portals, Glyphs and Symbol Traps, Walls of Force, magical Creatures and Creatures with active spell effects, and Items with standard magical properties will be automatically found by Detect Magic, whether the object is placed in toolset or created on the fly ingame.

Portals

Portals can be triggers or placeables. If they have "_portal" in the tag, they will report to the caster as Strong Conjuration.

Glyphs and Symbol Traps

Glyphs of Warding and Symbol Traps can be triggers or placeables. If they contain certain words in their tags they will report as follows:

Type	Anywhere in Tag	Report
Glyph of Warding	_glyph_ward	Faint Abjuration
Symbol of Pain	_symbol_pain	Moderate Necromancy
Symbol of Sleep	_symbol_sleep	Moderate Enchantment
Symbol of Fear	_symbol_fear	Moderate Necromancy
Symbol of Persuasion	_symbol_pers	Moderate Enchantment
Symbol of Weakness	_symbol_weakness	Strong Necromancy
Symbol of Stunning	_symbol_stun	Strong Enchantment
Symbol of Death	_symbol_death	Strong Necromancy
Symbol of Insanity	_symbol_insanity	Strong Enchantment

Walls of Force

Forcefields with "Forcefield" in their names or "forcefield" in their tags are Walls of Force. They will report as Moderate Evocation.

Spell Traps

More information on tooling traps can be found on the ACR_Traps page.

Spell Traps, not mechanical traps, will report school and power to the caster based on the spell they cast.

ACR_TRAP_SPELL_ID

If tooled up and placed in toolset, they already have the required spell ID on them. If spawned, they do not. To have a spawning trap report to the caster, its spawnpoint also needs to have the spell ID on it. (Mechanically, even though the tooled up trap has the trap integer on it in toolset and if placed, when it is *spawned* that trap integer disappears so it has to be on the spawnpoint, to register.)

• ACR_TRAP_SPELL_ID (integer) -- Add this to the spawnpoint. Value is the row number of the spell from the Spells 2DA.

TRAP ORIGIN

Spell Traps also require a nearby origin point, a Placeable tagged as TRAP_ORIGIN. It can have any appearance.

Spell Traps report auras on both the origin and the location of the trap, which is not always at the origin point.

For instance, a spawned or placed Fireball Trap originating from a burning torch where the flame is a placeable tagged TRAP_ORIGIN would have the ACR_TRAP_SPELL_ID of integer 58. If proximity to the torch itself is the trigger, that radius is already set on a correctly tooled or spawned trap. Origin and trap or trap spawnpoint are put on top of each other. It will report as "Torch Flame 2m to the Southeast gives off an aura of Faint Evocation."

If the trigger is a nearby stone pressure plate, then the origin is the placeable flame and the trap or spawnpoint are placed on the pressure plate. This would report as "Torch Flame 2m to the Southeast and a circle centered on a point 4m West of Torch Flame give off an aura of Faint Evocation."

Racial Auras

Some Creatures will register automatically. For instance: "Pegasus has a lingering aura of Innate Magic."

Race	School
Construct	Transmutation
Elemental	Conjuration
Fey	Enchantment
Magical Beast	Innate Magic
Outsider	Conjuration
Shapechanger	Transmutation
Undead	Necromancy

Their power is based on 1/2 their CR.

CR	Power of Magic
1-6	Faint
7-12	Moderate
13-20	Strong
20+	Overwhelming

Creatures with Active Spell Effects

PCs or NPCs with active spells will report their aura by cross-referencing the spell effect with the school and level from the Spells 2DA.

Any active spell will register. Examples:

Spell	School	Power
Death Ward	Necromancy	Moderate
Protection from Evil	Aburation	Faint
Invisibility*	Illusion	Faint/Moderate/Strong
Detect Scrying	Divination	Moderate
See Invisibility	Divination	Faint
Wildshape	Transmutation	Faint

Note: Invisible creatures report only location of auras, not that they are on a creature or that creature's name.

Items

Item auras are based on their item properties.

Spell Casting Properties

These are cross-referenced against the Item Property Spells 2DA and the Spells 2DA to get school and power.

Enhancement Properties

The SRD under Magic Items and Detect Magic says:

Item	School
Armor and protection items	Abjuration
Weapons or offensive items	Evocation
Bonus to ability score, on skill check, etc.	Transmutation

Power is based on amount of enhancement:

Enhancement	Power
+1	Faint
+2	Moderate
+3	Strong
+4	Overwhelming

Miscellaneous Properties

Property	School	Power
Bonus Feat	Transmutation	Faint
Bonus HP	Transmutation	Faint
Darkvision	Transmutation	Faint
Freedom of Movement	Transmutation	Moderate
Haste	Transmutation	Faint
Immunity Damage Type	Abjuration	Strong
Immunity Misc	Abjuration	Strong
Immunity Spell Level	Abjuration	Strong
Improved Evasion	Transmutation	Strong
Light	Evocation	Faint
Regeneration	Transmutation	Strong
Spell Resistance	Abjuration	Moderate
True Seeing	Transmutation	Moderate