Sensing the presence of magic - isn't the mechanic backward?

[yu gnomi]

The PHB lumps spells, magic items and other phenomena (e.g. traps) together in one category for sensing the presence of magic. A Dm could House rule that some magical effects are "vulgar" and use an inverse scaling system that makes them easier to detect when they are more powerful, while others are "subtle", meaning RAW applies.

In this scheme Conjurations and Zones would be vulgar, and magical traps would definitely be subtle. I am up in the air on rituals and magic items.

 

[DracoSuave]

The PHB lumps spells, magic items and other phenomena (e.g. traps) together in one category for sensing the presence of magic. A Dm could House rule that some magical effects are "vulgar" and use an inverse scaling system that makes them easier to detect when they are more powerful, while others are "subtle", meaning RAW applies.

In this scheme Conjurations and Zones would be vulgar, and magical traps would definitely be subtle. I am up in the air on rituals and magic items.

Well it all depends. It doesn't take a genius to go 'that blazing wall that looks of fire there, must be some sort of wall of fire!' 'wow, this terrain is suddenly icy... like icy terrain!' but enchantments on items are a lot more subtle. The system's fine as is.

 

[yu gnomi]

Sensing with the Arcana skill ignores barriers that block vision. By vulgar I didn't mean obvious.

 

[Ninja-to]

Granted, the big "ritual of evil at the top of the hill" will make every magic user around go "WTF is going on up there".

Hahahhaha!

 

[Ninja-to]

Well it all depends. It doesn't take a genius to go 'that blazing wall that looks of fire there, must be some sort of wall of fire!' 'wow, this terrain is suddenly icy... like icy terrain!' .

Omg wtf is going on tonight. This is the third post I've read in the past 10 minutes that made me laugh my ass off. En world ! What's going on??

 

[bardolph]

The arcana skill allows you to sense the presence of magic.

The DC to sense magic is 20 + 1/2 the level of the magical effect. This makes me scratch my head because it means the stronger the effect the less chance the wizard has of detecting it. If you're going to distinguish between power level of effects shouldn't it be the other way around?

I'm not talking about identifying the effect - I have no problem with higher/level rarer effects being harder to identify. But shouldn't stronger magic be easier to detect?

It depends on what you're talking about. A Wall of Fire needs no roll in order to detect it.

It's perfectly reasonable to assume that powerful magic is also more subtle.

 

[jaelis]

If it really bothers you, the easy solution is to say that anyone trained in arcana can detect any magical effect, regardless of level. No need to fool around with inverting the scale.

 

[AtomicPope]

since the OP wants to turn everything into a logical exercise why not use a technological explanation:
The more complex the technology, the harder it is to indentify.

A low tech Steam Train leaves a footprint before it arrives and after it passes. A stable rotor military helicopter is both hard to hear and see. Could the average person tell what car is electric and what car is gasoline? Not without proper labeling and inspections. They'd think, "Wow! That's a quiet car."

To quote Robert L. Forward, "High technology is indistinguishable from magic."

 

[Ahglock]

If it really bothers you, the easy solution is to say that anyone trained in arcana can detect any magical effect, regardless of level. No need to fool around with inverting the scale.

I'd probably go with this.

Then I may add a ritual to conceal magical auras or create fake ones. A ritual for nystals magical aura. With the ritual it would create the normal difficulty results, and I'd explain it the ritual is powered by the magic in the item and so gains strength from it.

 

[questing gm]

You could also make supressing magical auras as an artform. Call it something like magical/aura sculpting.

Being able to hide a powerful magical aura shows the refinement and elegance of the crafter while letting magical auras blare out from a magical item is outright 'tasteless'.

So a high powered magical item or aura not only takes a powerful wizard to create but also someone with high artistic skills.

While the lower level magical items are more likely created by 'crude' (read; low leveled) wizards.