Detect magic

[PeelSeel2]

Does a silver dragon in alternate form or Doppleganger that is changed have an aura that can be seen with detect magic? I would rule no, because it is a supernatural ability. The magic aura of transformation fades after the change in form.

Does detect magic allow invisible creatures to be seen (assuming they stay in the cone of concentration)?

 

[javcs]

1 It depends on how the DM reads it, I think.

2 Not exactly - you can't see them, however, you know that there is something there, and if they remain stationary within the cone long enough, you know what square they're in, but still have a 50% miss chance when attacking them.

 

[Vegepygmy]

You might find these archives helpful:

http://secure.paizo.com/paizo/messa...hives/onUsingDetectMagicToRevealDoppelgangers

http://www.enworld.org/archive/index.php/t-183727.html

 

[Zace66]

IAs its an innate ability no... you would however see the aura given off should it have cast any protection spells (or other types) upon it.

As for the invisibility.. the otehr way to look at it would be to say, why have a see ivisibility spell - just wander round with detect magic all the time...

 

[MarkB]

Does a silver dragon in alternate form or Doppleganger that is changed have an aura that can be seen with detect magic? I would rule no, because it is a supernatural ability. The magic aura of transformation fades after the change in form.

The 'supernatural' part isn't relevant, as it's still magic, but you're right on the rest of it - since the change in form can be maintained indefinitely, the transmutation can be considered instantaneous, and will thus only show up to Detect Magic while it's occurring, not afterwards.

Does detect magic allow invisible creatures to be seen (assuming they stay in the cone of concentration)?

Yes, you can see their magical Illusion aura, but since it takes 3 rounds to see an aura's location and have a chance of identifying the school of magic involved, the invisible creature would have to be particularly incompetent to just stand there all that time after you spellcast and start staring in their general direction.

Even if they do stay still, bear in mind that you can only see the aura, not the creature, and most forms of attack you could make against the creature would require you to cease concentrating on the spell, so at best, you get to narrow down which square the creature is in - you'll still have a 50% miss chance when attacking it.