Topic: Why are Detection spells so difficult?

[Warl]

This was a question posed by one of my players, and I had never really considered it, but may also explain why over the years my players have rarely used the detection spells except out of combat.

Both RM2 and RMSS define the spells basically the same way. It doesn't matter what your detecting, from Essence magic to Invisibility, you have to Spend a whole round Concentrating in order to "see" the thing being detected.

Now, I suppose it isn't much of an Issue for the magic Detection spells, But this Makes Detecting Invisibility rather useless. A Immobile invisible object may eventual be detected, after an amount of time spent looking from one area to the next, but for a mobile foe, Unless you have some Idea where they are, and they don't move, you may never actually "See" the invisible foe. (I understand that even if you do see them, you aren't removing the invisibility, just creating, perhaps, some sort of Blur or aura about the area where they are. Which is why you get a penalty to attack them still)

And perhaps that is fine for lower level spells, But there is never a More powerful version that allows a better ability to detect. Just seems off.

How have other GMs felt about this, and how would you feel about adding higher level Detection spells that are more "efficient"?

As an Aside, Since all of the detection spells for magic are defined by realm, why are not magic Items each given a Realm definition?

[Ecthelion]

Both RM2 and RMSS define the spells basically the same way. It doesn't matter what your detecting, from Essence magic to Invisibility, you have to Spend a whole round Concentrating in order to "see" the thing being detected.

I think the main purpose of most of the Detection spell is rather detecting static objects and not moving persons. For these targets it's IMO perfectly ok to have a round of concentration.

And perhaps that is fine for lower level spells, But there is never a More powerful version that allows a better ability to detect. Just seems off.

There are some such spells. The Mentalism Detection spell list contains a See Invisible spell, just like one of the Monk's base lists. It seems strange to me that not all of the Detection lists have a See Invisible spell, though.

As an Aside, Since all of the detection spells for magic are defined by realm, why are not magic Items each given a Realm definition?

Good question. You may decide for your group that e.g. a +5 magic sword can be detected through any of the Detect realm spells or perhaps only through Detect Essence, since Alchemists usually are from that realm. There are some Detect Magic spells available, e.g. on one of the Priest lists in Channeling Companion, and we allow these spell to detect all kinds of magic items.

[arakish]

And that is why I rewrote all the Detect spells.

Basically, in my House Rules, ALL detect spells are centered on the caster and have an Area of Effect of a 10ftR at the basic level.  A Detect <whatever> II spell has a 25ftR, a Detect <whatever> III has a 50ftR, etc.

I also used a "scaling" method where the caster could increase the radius by spending extra Power Points.

The part of the description I also re-wrote was: "Detect spells only tell you that <whatever> is present within the radius, but not its location nor direction."  In other words, the detect spell detected <whatever> is there, but not where.

rmfr

P.S. - Then there were the "locate" spells which worked like the "detect" spells, but did give the location.