Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 24th episode of our first level spell series. Today we’re taking a look at yet another iconic dnd 5e spell. Today we’re taking a look at detect magic spell dnd 5e also consequently the go-to magic spell for that loot thirsty character in your party.
It is usable by almost all of the caster classes a bard, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, wizard and the artificer and it is found in the good old trusty players handbook. With that introduction out of the way let’s take a quick look at some mechanics here. So we get the gist of how the spell works.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 1st
- Casting Time: 1 Action (Ritual)
- Range/Area: Self (30 ft)
- Components: V, S
- Duration: 10 Minutes (Concentration)
- School: Divination
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Detection
Your cast time is the standard one action and it can be ritual casted for an additional 10 minutes. The range is self but it extends 30 feet from you in all directions forming a 30 foot radius. Duration is 10 minutes and it is a concentration spell so if you are hit at any point and you need to make constitution saving throw, you also can’t have more than one concentration spell at the same time. You can also check out this detect magic vs invisibility.
The effect at a glance is as followed: You can sense magic within range. You can see the aura of magic around visible creatures and objects. You also have the ability to learn the schools of magic 5e.
The components are somatic and verbal meaning you have to gesture with one hand and speak forth an incantation and the school unsurprisingly is a divination. Fantastic let’s take a look at the full description so we are all on the same page here and will get to know how does detect magic work 5e. You may also like to read this can detect magic see polymorph.
Description
For the duration, you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way, you can use your action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic, and you learn its school of magic, if any. The spell can penetrate most barriers, but it is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.
Very cool stuff! So something i would like to point out…this spell as listed doesn’t give the colors and what they mean so i went ahead just put it in the below list for you guys. In case if you’d like to check out the difference betwen detect magic vs identify 5e then proceed with this article.
- Abjuration: Gold(Yellow)
- Conjuration: Green
- Divination: White
- Enchantment: Silver(Teal)
- Evocation: Red
- Illusion: *Rainbow
- Necromancy: Black
- Transmutation: Blue
Another thing worth pointing out here, it doesn’t actually work on anything and invisible or anything it hidden that at least not technically. DnD 5E can detect magic, see invisibility…..!So let’s say there is a invisible person around you. You can sense the presence of a magic but you can’t see the aura and as a result you can’t learn the school of magic.
Okay so it’s a hard thing to DM. So they’d essentially cast it you tell them yeah know there is a magical presence within 30 feet of you like okay well i’d like to see the aura and the terminal kind of magic it is and they just have to say no you can’t. You may also like to read dnd detect magic curse article now.
Same is true if there’s like a magical sword locked in a box or locked behind a wall or however you want to do it DMs, you can tell them that there’s magic within 30 feet of them, you can’t tell them exactly where it is and you can’t tell them what’s cool and you can’t have them see the aura. You can also check out this psionic detect magic dnd.
So it’s kind of kinda weird you know and maybe you define visible as something else than me but in my games that’s how i’ve had to run. Fantastic that being said, super cool, super useful. And let’s get into some of those alternative uses right now. Also read this dnd detect magic item.
Alternative Uses
Let’s check out the detect magic uses now. So it’d be super useful to be able to determine whether or not a player’s being possessed right! Necrotic magic would definitely give off or mentally dominate it or however you want to whichever spells being affected. It would be great way of picking out magical items in a store….that’s an another fantastic use for this spell.
It would save your players a ton of time dating through worthless garbage or just covers to the chase ago for the best thing there and i can also prevent them from being scammed.
And the third use is kind of along that same school of thought. It’d be a great way to determine whether or not someone is cheating you or manipulating you or whether or not the world around was unbelievable.
If a person hands you something and tells you that it can be trusted and then when you look at it it’s giving off waves of necrotic or illusion magic then you know what maybe it’s not that great for you maybe you should look at that person with a little bit more scrutiny. Also check out the better answer to can detect magic detect charm?
Conclusion
In any case if you have any crazy alternative uses or cool stories involving detect magic 5e i’d really love to hear them down in the comments, i know everyone else checking out would as well. There’s a great sense of community let’s keep it going guys and you know what it is a great group to be a part of everyone’s super kind to each other and super supportive. In any case i hope you have a wonderful day and as always happy casting everyone.You can also read these articles such as identify 5e | detect poison and disease 5e | detect thoughts 5e | dispel magic 5e |