SMDVogrin said:
No, Nondetection would not work vs True Seeing, at least not in my game.
"If a divination is attempted against the warded creature or item, the caster of the divination must succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against a DC of 11 + the caster level of the spellcaster who cast nondetection."
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Locate Object, Scrying, Detect Evil, etc, etc, all target YOU, thus a Nondetection spell on you would affect them.
True Seeing targets THE PERSON LOOKING FOR YOU, thus a Nondetection spell on you has no effect. The divination is not being attempted against you, it's being attempted on them.
Right, in the case of
detect evil and the like, the creature under the effect of
nondetection, or area occupied by the creature, is targeted by the caster, who must make a caster level check. In the case of
true seeing, the target is the seer, not the creature protected by
nondetection; no caster level check applies, in my reading of it, just as no spell resistance or saving throw applies. The wording of the various spells is imprecise enough to create some latitude for an alternate interpretation, but it's far from obvious that it's the "correct" one. To me, such an interpretation seems like wishful thinking meant to compensate for the unfortunately absolutist nature of
true seeing in the RAW.
blargney the second said:
Bingo, Salthorae. If nondetection works against detect evil, then it would work against true seeing.
As explained above,
detect evil and
true seeing work totally differently. One targets the object of divination, the other targets the recipient of divinatory power. I wish it didn't work that way, but it does.
Wish said:
The name of the spell notwithstanding, Mind Blank should work. Mind Blank blocks divinations*, True Seeing is a divination**, ergo Mind Blank blocks True Seeing.
The wording of
mind blank makes pretty clear that it's meant to protect only one's mind (thoughts and emotions), not one's appearance. Again, the language leaves wiggle room, but I think it's stretching to say that it protects against
true seeing.
Victim said:
Because True Seeing is a 5th level spell that lasts minutes and costs money to cast? Chances are good that most people aren't going to use it in front of you. It's not like it's the only way to burn their disguise either - shapechanging magic only grants a +10 bonus to disguise so perceptive characters can detect those creatures through entirely mundane means.
There's a qualitative difference between a +10 bonus to Disguise checks, and an effect that appears to change your basic form (including type). The latter makes scenarios possible that the former doesn't.
And the expense of
true seeing's material component, plus its obviousness while casting, doesn't make a difference when the emperor is willing to pay for a scan of those entering his audience chamber, even on a random basis.
If you accept the reading of the spells as described above, that makes the installation of shapechanged (and otherwise) agents close to the emperor or other such personage effectively impossible, thus cutting out an important type of scenario (which has even been used in published products).
Unfortunately, there is
no unambiguous way to block
true seeing that's contained in the core rules. Compensating with an appropriately designed magic item (which has apparently already been done in Eberron), even one that doesn't grant absolute protection, seems like an obvious measure. It makes sense within the game world, too; if your livelihood, and your life, depended on your true nature remaining undiscovered, wouldn't you spend whatever resources were necessary researching the development of such an item, if one didn't already exist?
