D&D 5E Making Divine Sense at-will OR last longer?

[Yaarel]

Hmmm, I am just now realizing that this may be a holdover from previous editions, but we play that when you use Divine Sense it is obvious to everyone who sees you that you are calling on your god or whatever to grant you this sight - so - for example - it is gauche to do this at an audience with the king or at a noble ball or other social situations or negotiations requiring trust. So the passive thing won't work for us.

But I get what you're saying about it potentially being annoying if someone does it all the time - but taking actions of this kind all the time does have potential in-game consequences.

Maybe make it obvious to Paladins when other planar creature types are present ... and just as obvious to these extraplanars that the person radiating a Paladin aura is a Paladin.

The Paladin too would have an Astral aura, namely the divine power source, and actually similar to the auras of Celestials and Fiends.

The Paladin, depending on planar affinity (rather than alignment, per se) might actually have a Celestial aura or a Fiend aura, or whatever aura it is that Neutral Astral Planes have (LN, TN, CN, are they Elemental?).

 

[DrJawaPhD]

I don't see anything wrong with Divine Sense as it is written, but then on the other hand I've never seen a DM (myself or others) who was keeping time strictly enough to tell the difference between 1 minute vs 10 minutes. So I suppose in practice I've generally always played with your House Rule B, and that works out fine.

 

[mellored]

Divine Sense: You can sense the presence of celestials, fiends, fey, elementals, aberrations or undead within 1 mile. This is a very vague sense, just a feeling of something super natural somewhere.
You can expend a spell slot, no action needed, to focus on your divine sense and gain more information for 1 minute. If you do, you learn the type and the general direction, but not the distance. You may also select a creature of one of those types that you can see. For the duration, you know exactly where the creature is and it can not hide from you.

 

[Laurefindel]

I quickly got tired of the constant “is it evil?” from 3e paladins who could do it at will without resource or opportunity cost, so having limited uses is certainly a plus for me. Making divine sense last a bit longer is a sensible solution IMO.

 

[el-remmen]

I've never seen a DM (myself or others) who was keeping time strictly enough to tell the difference between 1 minute vs 10 minutes

Oh wow. I see doing that as a crucial part of my job as DM. Then again, I am a proponent of Gygax’s admittedly hyperbolic claim that “YOU CAN NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAMPAIGN IF STRICT TIME RECORDS ARE NOT KEPT.” (All caps his).

 

[bedir than]

I'm tempted to make it a shorter range radar-ish concentration cantrip as an option for Paladins to have as one of two cantrips.

1 - I want Paladins and Rangers to have cantrips.
2 - I like the 'general' direction but not precise nature of 1940s radar for it.
3 - Concentration to mitigate stacking

 

[Swarmkeeper]

This immediately made me think of how Danger Sense for Barbs or Primeval/Primal Awareness for Rangers might be analogs to consider.

So...

Maybe something simpler along the lines of Danger Sense... the Paladin can never be surprised by celestials, fiends, or undead. And, when encountering a celestial, fiend, or undead, the Paladin can immediately know that the creature is of that type (perhaps as long as they are in their true form).

Or, for something similar to Primeval Awareness, it is possible for the Paladin to burn a spell slot to extend the duration.

Or, an idea similar to Primal Awareness... let's call it Divine Awareness and the Paladin gains:
3rd: Detect Evil and Good
5th: Protection from Evil and Good
9th: Beacon of Hope
13th: Guardian of Faith
17th: Dispel Evil and Good
And can cast them once/day without expending a spell slot.


Or, yeah, after performing that exercise I really like keeping it simple and just going with your idea B. I like 10 minutes as a duration b/c this seems like a power quite suited for Exploration and, at our table, we typically run Exploration turns for... wait for it... 10 minutes.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

It's worth noting that paladins also have detect good and evil on their spell list, which has similar functionality and a 10 minute duration. So Divine Sense is sort of intended to be extra uses of an instantaneous burst capability, while they can use the spell for a more ongoing investigation or combat tracking thing.

 

[cbwjm]

I'd make it a passive ability using the Paladin's spell DC opposed by the fiend's charisma if disguised, otherwise they automatically sense the presence of fiends.

This way, a paladin walking into a desecrated temple immediately knows that there are fiends about, but when meeting the new fiance of the baron, the DM compares the paladin's save DC vs the succubus' passive ability (8+prof.+Cha adj).

In this scenario, the paladin retains the ability to activate divine sense. Either let them immediately see through disguises or have them roll a spell attack. In the previous example, if it exceeds the Succubus' disguise DC then they detect it.

 

[el-remmen]

It's worth noting that paladins also have detect good and evil on their spell list, which has similar functionality and a 10 minute duration. So Divine Sense is sort of intended to be extra uses of an instantaneous burst capability, while they can use the spell for a more ongoing investigation or combat tracking thing.

Yeah, but it seems like a core paladin ability to me that should not cost an already limited resource. I want it to be more like Detect Evil in previous editions.