How noticable is a Paladin using "Detect Evil"

[Maitre Du Donjon]

Don't forget the three-round progression, either.

First round only tells him if there's any evil in the 60 foot quarter-circle in front of him.

Second round only tells him how many evil auras there are.

If he wants to know which of those nobles are evil, it's not until the third round that he can match auras to people... that's 18 seconds of "zoning out".

It's not the most subtle trick in town.

-Hyp.

I have a question: Lets say there are 3 evil auras in the area the paladin is scanning.

round 1: the paladin detects evil in the area
round 2: the paladin detects 3 evil auras in the area
round 3: the paladin starts scanning the 1st aura.

what happens on round 4?

round 4a: the paladin has to start all over
or
round 4b: the paladin starts scanning the 2nd evil aura?

maitre D

 

[Skaros]

Maitre Du Donjon,

Actually, its "Round 3: The Paladin knows the strength and location of all auras in his area of effect"

From the SRD:

3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If an aura is outside the character's line of sight, then the character discerns its direction but not its exact location

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Knowing that people have the ability to look into your soul and tell what's in there, I'd think that quite a few people with the money available would take steps to mask it-- and not just evil nobles, but good and neutral ones, as well.

In Dragonstar, there's a piece of spellware available that masks your alignment from detection spells. I've taken that with each and every character I've played in Dragonstar-- especially my Paladins.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I tend to play a little loose with the paladin's detect evil ability. While generally rules-friendly, there may be a bit of House in there too.

I interpret a paladin's detect evil as similar to giving someone the "evil eye"--as in a baleful stare. In combat it's a standard action that provokes an AoO, but outside of combat I just give the paladin a general impression of the person's soul: a little evil, somewhat evil, evil, or very (read: supernaturally) evil.

In all honesty, I don't have a problem with it. I've explained to my pally that his detect evil doesn't hold up in a court of law without corroborating evidence. So he learns that Duke Dastardly is evil at the royal ball. The tricky part is finding something to do about it, because drawing his sword at the King's Birthday Party could mean his life.

 

[DM with a vengence]

Detect Evil should be pretty obvious when interacting or against someone who should have experience with alignment detecting magics. It does take 18 seconds, so it's a major social faux pass, but if the Paladin just wants to stand against the wall and scan everybody who goes by, that's okay.

 

[LostSoul]

I don't think it would be very obvious. I'd say that it would take a DC 20 Sense Motive check (or a Spellcraft check, whatever the DC is) to realize that the Paladin is doing something mystical.

Sit with a group of friends some time and scan the crowd for 18 seconds. Not many people are going to notice.

edit: which is to say, make it a Sense Motive check with a DC of 15.

 

[Spatzimaus]

The typical alignment for humans is neutral. So a good human is just as unusual as an evil one.

A while back there was a great discussion of "evil vs. Evil". That is, an evil person is just evil. He's taken evil actions, he's got an evil viewpoint, but there's nothing inherently evil about him; he can be redeemed, after all. His aura might show a bit of evil to it, but it's not really his defining characteristic. Even if you figure out he's evil, it's not grounds to go all Smite-y on him.

On the other hand, a creature from the lower planes is Evil. Note the capital letter. There's an inherent taint, something they have to fight against very hard if they want to change. True redemption is impossible, because it's just part of their nature. ("Don't touch it! It's concentrated evil!") If a Paladin sees it, he kills it; there's no reason to hold back.

The two shouldn't be equated. A guy who robs houses and slits a few throats along the way isn't the same as a creature from the Abyss. It's annoying, in a way, and it also makes certain spells/abilities too powerful. Paladins Detect Evil at will? If this finds evil people, then it becomes really difficult to have your bad guy be the King's advisor or something.
Protection from Evil? How many enemies DON'T qualify as evil in a normal D&D campaign?

***HOUSE RULE ALERT***
So, a house rule some people liked is, have the anti-Evil spells (Detect Evil, Dispel Evil, Protection from Evil) or abilities (Smite Evil, the Sunblade's extra damage) only work against Evil, not evil. That is, they work against:
> Creatures with the Evil subtype (Outsiders from lower planes, most Undead, some Aberrations)
> Spells with the Evil descriptor (most Necromancy spells, for example), or those cast by a creature with the Evil subtype
> Certain items, usually those made by the above creatures or using the above spells.

To make some of the abilities more useful, you could modify them; for example, make Detect Evil detect Evil in rounds 1-3 as listed, and evil in rounds 4-6. Make Protection from Evil be half as effective against evil. Stuff like that.
Or, one suggestion someone had was to make someone performing an evil action actually register as Evil while the action was taking place. So, even if you're one of the good guys, if you go and mindlessly slaughter those Orcs you'll register on a Detect Evil spell for a little while, long before your alignment would actually change.

 

[jasper]

Spell Like abilities are spells and magical abilities, which are very much like spell. They are subject to spell resistance and dispel magic. Default is standard action and have caster levels and require concentration checks as if were spells.

Detect Evil cast time 1 action then at least 3 rounds of concentration.

Counter spelling requires a spell craft check of DC 16 (Dc 15 + spell level), which is a free action.
Ok spell abilities are notice when being cast. So when the Paladin goes bibbed bobbit boo the first round most people will notice he casting.

Think about the unknown Paladin arrives at the party and starts casting spells. Hmm bad show. Think about the unknown wizard arrives at the party and starts casting spells. Hmm don’t you think the guards will be targeting and preparing to fire to make sure the beginning of fireball is stop short.

Go to party where you know people are carrying Uzi’s, 45s, hand grenades, with gang bangers from opposite sides and scan the crowd and most people are ready to rumble.

 

[The Souljourner]

Spellcraft wouldn't work, since you need to be able to see somatic or hear verbal components or see the effects of the spell. Sense motive I'd say DC20 you'd realize he wasn't just distracted... more than that... I don't know. Maybe a really good sense motive would allow you to figure out he's concentrating on something. Concentration being a purely mental thing, there are no external signs of it, except lack of doing anything distracting. The thing is, the paladin doesn't have to study one person intently, he doesn't have to stare at them to figure out of they're evil, all he has to do is be facing in their general direction. If you're in the corner of a room you only need to turn 30 degrees to scan the entire room. That's not even going to be noticible.

-The Souljourner

 

[Ringmaster]

What about a Scry check?