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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KesselZero" data-source="post: 5937282" data-attributes="member: 6689976">I generally don't come down on the side of more rules, but in this case I do have to agree that the Detect Magic description seemed overly vague to me, especially the bits that have already been called out such as "determining the nature," "study," "magic that has been designed to be hidden." I took that to mean magical traps and the like, since you'd assume somebody making a magical trap would put some time into hiding the big glowy magical aura, but it definitely needs clarification re: illusions. (Illusions aren't meant to be hidden, after all-- the magic is meant to be seen and heard and smelled! Something else is being hidden by the illusion.) I understand the appeal of letting the spell work how the DM needs it to work in the moment, but I think this is overall a risky stance. It's pretty well agreed that even the most fantastical systems need to have internal consistency, especially in a rules-light system that encourages player creativity. The players should know that Detect Magic will work more or less the same way every time, and as a DM I would hate to have to come up with a new excuse for why it does or doesn't work in every situation based on what I want to happen. And anyway, the point of roleplaying games is that the players will come up with creative uses of their abilities that will surprise the DM. You shouldn't be shuffling the laws of reality around behind the screen to make things work how you planned. Of course I don't mean to say that the DM doesn't have the power to make reasonable rulings (the BBEG would protect his treasured artifact behind a non-detection field or whatnot), and I thought the example about differences in what "study" can mean was very clever, logical and fair. But no ability, especially not a player ability, should work on the power of plot. Although as a cone, the spell needs line of sight, meaning it can't detect anything hidden in a shoebox. So: shoeboxes?</blockquote>

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