Detect Evil

[silentspace]

Here's the situation: A character (not a paladin) is using detect evil in a city setting. His target doesn't see him initially casting the spell, but sees him later, when the character is concentrating on him.

I ruled that the target, who is an arcanist, can tell that the character is concentrating on a spell in his direction, and allowed him a Spellcraft check to determine what it was.

What do you think?

 

[sithramir]

Here's the situation: A character (not a paladin) is using detect evil in a city setting. His target doesn't see him initially casting the spell, but sees him later, when the character is concentrating on him.

I ruled that the target, who is an arcanist, can tell that the character is concentrating on a spell in his direction, and allowed him a Spellcraft check to determine what it was.

What do you think?

Wouldn't work. He can't see the actual casting so can't spellcraft it. The guy is only "staring at him" now. If for some reason you wanted to i'd have a tleast a -10 if not great penalty on the check.

 

[silentspace]

I'm not used to the spell, I'm used to Paladins' supernatural abilities. So once the casting is done, all he's doing is staring at him? Wouldn't a spellcaster be suspicious if he sees someone staring at him?

I gave the character a chance to immediately drop the spell and act like he was doing something else as a Bluff Check. The target succeeded a Sense Motive Check, and then a Spellcraft Check.

The character was an employee of the target, and the target was already a little suspicious of the employee for other reasons, so I figured he would pay a little closer attention to him then just a passer-by on the street. Hence he suspected something was up when the character was staring at him.

The net result was that the character, who was employed by the target, was fired. Not really an earth-shattering result, but still, I want to make sure I understand how the spell was intended to work.

So... how long can someone stare at someone else before they get suspicious?

 

[Hypersmurf]

DC 20 + spell level: Identify a spell that’s already in place and in effect. You must be able to see or detect the effects of the spell. No action required. No retry.

-Hyp.

 

[Brian Chalian]

Wouldn't a spellcaster be suspicious if he sees someone staring at him?

It depends on how cute the paladin is.

So... how long can someone stare at someone else before they get suspicious?

Go into a bar with a stopwatch and find out. Let us know how it goes. I'm not entirely kidding: for the first 12 seconds, the paladin is just sort of standing around, like she's trying to remember where she parked her mount. Only in the last 6 would she be able to pinpoint the evil to any particular source.

IMO, there's no way to determine if someone is concentrating on a magic power as opposed to concentrating on a shopping list.

 

[Thanee]

Yep, it's just concentration, not some intense staring at someone.

I don't think you would be able to identify that as concentrating on a spell, unless you would suspect the one to be a spellcaster or have some means to detect the actual magic in the works.

Bye
Thanee

 

[jgsugden]

Go into a bar with a stopwatch and find out. Let us know how it goes. I'm not entirely kidding.

6 seconds: target noticed.
11 seconds: target notified boyfriend.
15 seconds: boyfriend asks me to stop.
19 seconds: boyfriend tells me to stop.
24 seconds: everything goes black.
58 minutes, 14 seconds: wake up in hospital.

 

[silentspace]

6 seconds: target noticed.
11 seconds: target notified boyfriend.
15 seconds: boyfriend asks me to stop.
19 seconds: boyfriend tells me to stop.
24 seconds: everything goes black.
58 minutes, 14 seconds: wake up in hospital.

LOL! OK. No chance of anyone figuring out what's going on. I was hoping on making it a little bit more interesting but oh well.

 

[Hypersmurf]

15 seconds: boyfriend asks me to stop.

"Oh, no, you've got it all wrong - I wasn't 'checking her out'. I was just trying to figure out if she's evil..."

19 seconds: boyfriend tells me to stop.

"Hey, it's my duty to protect the innoOOF!"

-Hyp.

 

[coyote6]

You might give the target a Sense Motive check to notice the caster is concentrating unusually intently on something.