Hide and detect evil

[sierzadon]

From the SRD, 3 rounds of detect evil (as per the spell description) are required to fully pinpoint evil auras.

Now - if a creature is using hide, and a spotters spot check fails against the hide - does detectevil still show something or not? Does it show presence during detect evil round 1, for instance?

My first guess would be that it is only the #3 round of detect evil (the pinpointing location stage) that is completely foiled by hide.

Any rules quotes?

Thanks!

 

[Pinotage]

From the SRD, 3 rounds of detect evil (as per the spell description) are required to fully pinpoint evil auras.

Now - if a creature is using hide, and a spotters spot check fails against the hide - does detectevil still show something or not? Does it show presence during detect evil round 1, for instance?

My first guess would be that it is only the #3 round of detect evil (the pinpointing location stage) that is completely foiled by hide.

Any rules quotes?

Thanks!

I think you only need to look at the description of the Detect Evil spell for this. First round detects the presence of evil creatures within 60 ft, unless the evil creature is hiding behind some solid object that encloses the creature and Detect Evil can't penetrate it. If the creature is merely using concealment to hide, then Detect Evil detects the presence but not the location. So you'd know there was something there, but not where it is.

Only on the third round can you detect exactly where the aura is coming from, hence foiling the hiding.

Pinotage

 

[Henrix]

unless the evil creature is hiding behind some solid object that encloses the creature

It doesn't really have to enclose the creature, emanations (such as Detect Evil) don't go around corners. Hiding behind a stone wall will stop Detect Evil from detecting you.

 

[hong]

It doesn't really have to enclose the creature, emanations (such as Detect Evil) don't go around corners. Hiding behind a stone wall will stop Detect Evil from detecting you.

Well, that would depend....

Each round, you can turn to detect evil in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.

 

[Henrix]

Most stone walls are thicker than one foot, Hong. Try building one

 

[Voodoo]

Dry stone walls separating fields can easily be under a foot thick, but most importantly walls created with Wall of Stone are only inches thick.

 

[Henrix]

True, I wasn't thinking about the spell.
Most dry stone walls aroound here, though, are more than a foot thick. (Unless you go a little bit north or out to the islands where they were designed to fall down and scare the sheep if they tried jumping them.)

 

[Pinotage]

Dry stone walls separating fields can easily be under a foot thick, but most importantly walls created with Wall of Stone are only inches thick.

Well, actually, almost all masonry walls in the DMG are 1 ft thick, so technically Detect Evil would see straight through it. I'd imagine most DMs would put the wall just larger than that otherwise Detect Evil would be rampantly used!

Pinotage

 

[William_2]

I don’t think a failed spot check has any effect on the effective use of Detect Evil; that may be implicit in the above posts, but I thought I’d say it.
The questions asked if the third round of detect evil is foiled by the hiding, while the first answer says that the third round of detect foils the hiding. I think this answer is correct- successfully hiding from conventional visual detection does not prevent the spell revealing a creature’s location magically.

 

[mikebr99]

I don’t think a failed spot check has any effect on the effective use of Detect Evil; that may be implicit in the above posts, but I thought I’d say it.
The questions asked if the third round of detect evil is foiled by the hiding, while the first answer says that the third round of detect foils the hiding. I think this answer is correct- successfully hiding from conventional visual detection does not prevent the spell revealing a creature’s location magically.

The 3rd round of detect evil will only get you the knowledge of the square the Rogue is standing in... he is still hidden there and you would have a 50% miss chance if you attacked him... plus whatever to his AC due the the cover he is hiding behind.

Mike