Would you know you're in an anti-magic field, before you cast something?

[RPGaddict28]

There's going to be an NPC in my campaign that has a command word activated anti-magic field on him. It would be activated by the time the PCs see him. Would they know he has a field up before the cast anything?

[Calimehter]

They would probably notice when all of their in-place spells and items stopped functioning.

[Crake]

They would probably notice when all of their in-place spells and items stopped functioning.

except not all your spells and items are immediately apparent that they've stopped working.

Unless the caster has some kind of obvious magic that would noticeably disappear in an AMF, then no, you would not know until you tried to cast. That said, I don't think you can even expend the spell slot in the AMF, as you are completely unable to cast spells, not that spells fizzle. As to whether this is clear before or after you spend your standard action, I don't think that is spelled out clearly, although I would lean toward before the standard action is used up.

[Mnemnosyne]

I think anyone capable of actually casting spells would notice. A spellcaster is intimately connected to magic; a memorization-based caster has active magical patterns locked in their mind which they would feel being dampened or suppressed. A spontaneous spellcaster probably just has a wellspring of 'magical energy' in him, and again, would feel that being suppressed.

Anyone who isn't a caster, however, would probably only notice if they actually noticed magical items or constant spell effects disappearing.

Edit: I do not think there is an official RAW one way or another on this issue, so ultimately it will come down to DM judgement.

[Deophaun]

except not all your spells and items are immediately apparent that they've stopped working.
But 30% of magical weapons are.

[jedipotter]

By the rules, there is no way to detect an anti-magic field, other then if you see magic interact with it. And even if you saw a bolt of flame arc across the area and then 'wink out', you'd still need a Spellcraft roll to know it was an anti-magic field.

There is nothing in the rules about an anti-magic field making anyone, caster or not, feel anything at all.

[HaikenEdge]

I thought all spellcasters wore shrunken lead cones for hats?

Edit: Thanks for catching that typo.

[A Tad Insane]

I thought all spellcasters work shrunken lead cones for hats?

You accidentally a verb.

In all seriousness, I doubt spellcasters would notice by RAW. Although you could say sorcerers notice the lack of connection to their magic, like Xycon when he got blasted by the elf, and divine casters should definitely feel it. You could just make a binder, they would definitely notice it.

[Deophaun]

I thought all spellcasters work shrunken lead cones for hats?
Actually, everyone kind of does. The rules for wondrous items says that they resize to fit the wearer. That should mean that once you enter an AMF, your capes, cloaks, gloves, hats and such should revert back to their original sizes, which is likely to be uncomfortable and, in the case of belts, potentially embarrassing.

[ZeroNumerous]

except not all your spells and items are immediately apparent that they've stopped working.

Do you notice when you've gotten dizzy? When you stand up when your muscles are sore? How about when you have a fever and can't think straight?

I think that it's plainly obvious that you've lost part of your Strength, Constitution, or Intelligence score. This should make an antimagic field plainly obvious when your enhancement bonuses from your magical items wear off and you literally feel weaker, dumber, clumsier, etc.

[ericgrau]

An AMF is invisible so you wouldn't notice by default and the rules don't give any innate way to detect that any magic you have is lost. But as pointed out there are about 50 indirect ways that you might notice it. Many buffs and magic weapons have a visible manifestation, some items are different once their magic is lost, or you may feel different from losing an effect. Look through the players' sheets ahead of time and note what they are to describe those to them.

[NotScaryBats]

The difference between "huh, I feel a little clumsier" and "hey, my Gloves of Dexterity stopped working" in 6 seconds or less is maybe a difficult Spellcraft Check, but probably not even then. You don't see any cause and effect, you just maybe feel a little less dextrous. I think that's a stretch to say it is obvious.

[Jack_Simth]

There's going to be an NPC in my campaign that has a command word activated anti-magic field on him. It would be activated by the time the PCs see him. Would they know he has a field up before the cast anything?
I generally keep around a (masterwork) dagger with Continual Flame on the blade for when I want the odd bit of light, so...

Additionally, by RAW, as noted, 30% of magical weapons give off light like a torch (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#lightGeneration). That'd make it pretty obvious. Most mages run around with Mage Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mageArmor.htm) up - which provides a tangible field around you that you can touch. Suddenly it goes away? Yeah, you'll notice. There's actually a rather lot of spells with obvious visible effects, plus you'll notice when you're suddenly weaker, can't think straight, clumsy, et cetera. Lots of people endorse getting the energy properties on weapons for anyone who does melee... and those don't hurt the wielder, so they're generally left running. There's a lot of magic items that would likewise cause blatantly obvious effects - Goggles of Night, for instance, are natively opaque.

So... yeah, they should notice something is up. They may need a Spellcraft check to know specifically that it's an antimagic field, but there's going to be a lot of highly visible effects that say "Something about this guy is zapping our magic items" even to a layman.

[Captnq]

By RAW?

Who Knows.

Although You do know if any spell you cast with a personal range stops working. Why? Because dismissing them is a free action. If you suddenly noticed that you couldn't use a particular action, you might begin to wonder.

It may also be why Wizards tend to be so flashy. Prestigitation is rather cheap. If you have little sparkles flowing off your fingers all the time, you know something is up when it stops.

Anything that gives an enhancement bonus would stand out. I'm weaker,, clumsy, I feel less confidant. It's harder to think or... be wise? Wisdom, I'll give you.

But what about the spellcaster who's on stealth mode? He's cast no spells and has no magical equipment because he's trying to pass as a commoner as he sneaks into the slave camp.

Does he notice that the entire slave camp is under an antimagic field?

This is one of those cases where I have to say, "No." But simply because the rules don't allow you to notice. However, he does notice his empathic link with his familiar just died. So let's move onto a wizard who exchanged his familiar for the ability to write his spells in his head.

Oh, wait, he just noticed his spells in his head are no longer accessable.

So lets go with a cleric.

Oh wait, Aura ability just died.

ALRIGHT! Sorcerer who NEVER PICKED UP A FAMILIAR. First Level! He has NOTHING MAGICAL and never cast a spell, EVER.

Okay, THEN the guy wouldn't notice walking into an antimagic field.

However, as a DM, I would give him a Spellcraft roll at DC 20+the level of the antimagic fiend (including adjustments for being heightened). Why? Because you can identify spells with spellcraft and gosh darn it, you are walking into a spell. I'd roll without his knowledge, of course. And if he failed, sucks to be you.

Now does it say anywhere you get a spellcraft check? Not exactly. It does say:

"Identify a spell that’s already in place and in effect. You must be able to see or detect the effects of the spell. No action required. No retry."

The question being, see or detect. If I have any reason to suspect that the player has even an INKLING of an idea he's in an anti-magic field, I'd give him the roll. Why? Because it's the complete absence of anything magical. Think of it this way.

I'm a cook. Suddenly, I can't smell anything. Most people might never think of it, but I have a skill that lets me specifically deal with taste and smells and I just noticed that there is a complete absence of smells. Even if it's in the back of my mind, I'm going to notice.

So he gets a hidden roll. One try. You blow it, you are going to find out the hard way.

[SinsI]

Actually, everyone kind of does. The rules for wondrous items says that they resize to fit the wearer. That should mean that once you enter an AMF, your capes, cloaks, gloves, hats and such should revert back to their original sizes, which is likely to be uncomfortable and, in the case of belts, potentially embarrassing.

Not necessarily. It's like adjusting buckles on your backpack - adjustment is magical, the end result is not.

[Deophaun]

Not necessarily. It's like adjusting buckles on your backpack - adjustment is magical, the end result is not.
For those items that are "made to be easily adjustable," sure. But for those that "magically resize themselves," you will need some RAW to show that the results of this function of a magic item is not suppressed in an AMF.

[HaikenEdge]

For those items that are "made to be easily adjustable," sure. But for those that "magically resize themselves," you will need some RAW to show that the results of this function of a magic item is not suppressed in an AMF.

Great, and now I'm getting mental images of the fighter who is getting strangled by his plate mail armor, which resized up from small.

[Jack_Simth]

Great, and now I'm getting mental images of the fighter who is getting strangled by his plate mail armor, which resized up from small.
Armor and weapons are not included in that (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#sizeAndMagicItems).
When an article of magic clothing or jewelry is discovered, most of the time size shouldn’t be an issue. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they adjust themselves magically to the wearer. Size should not keep characters of various kinds from using magic items.

There may be rare exceptions, especially with racial specific items.

Armor and Weapon Sizes

Armor and weapons that are found at random have a 30% chance of being Small (01-30), a 60% chance of being Medium (31-90), and a 10% chance of being any other size (91-100). (emphasis added)

Your necklace might suddenly start choking you, though.

[HaikenEdge]

Armor and weapons are not included in that (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#sizeAndMagicItems). (emphasis added)

Your necklace might suddenly start choking you, though.

Strangled by a necklace... that is just awesome.

[zlefin]

looking at spellcraft, it says you get a roll to identify a spell already in effect as a not an action (no retry); if you have some way to observe or detect effects of it.
So i'd say if you're in it, and any of your equipment is effected, or you're a spellcaster, i'd rule that's sufficient to get the roll to identify it.

As a house rule, I'd add that in certain groups of people, the risk of anti-magic fields is so important that they really drill the possibility of it, which would give some strong bonus to noticing that one specific effect.


If you want extra insurance, design a custom magic item AMF detector.
I'd probably design something akin to a whistle, which stores up compressed air in it, and if the air is released it will make a distinct whistle; it also makes another distinct whistle when it's drawing in the air. And there's no command to tell it not to compress or anything.
So if you enter an AMF (or anything that shuts it off) it will automatically whistle as the magic holding the air in stops; and as soon as you leave an AMF you get a different whistle.

[Maquise]

Wouldn't the edge of the field produce one of those weird shimmering effects if it bumped up with another abjuration?

[ZeroNumerous]

The difference between "huh, I feel a little clumsier" and "hey, my Gloves of Dexterity stopped working" in 6 seconds or less is maybe a difficult Spellcraft Check, but probably not even then. You don't see any cause and effect, you just maybe feel a little less dextrous. I think that's a stretch to say it is obvious.

If you suddenly, spontaneously, became weaker, clumsier, less intelligent, etc: Anyone with a sense of self-preservation would immediately ask: "Why?", and anyone with a non-0 Wisdom score would note that they were not injured, no one shouted funny sounding words at them, don't feel any symptoms of disease, and nothing other than "I walked X distance" happened.

Logic removes Poison, Disease, and visible spell effects.

It's plainly obvious to me what happened, and there is no way I'm anything more than 10 INT.

If you walk into an AMF, and you have items on you that increase your base statistics, then you should immediately become aware that they have stopped functioning.

From there, it is hardly a leap of logic to rule out all the potential causes, and thus conclude that you have stepped into some effect that disabled your magic items. From there, it's a question of "Ask the party wizard" and get the response that it's an AMF.

[Deophaun]

Wouldn't the edge of the field produce one of those weird shimmering effects if it bumped up with another abjuration?
It's not an immediate thing. It has to be within 10 feet of the other abjuration for 24 hours. And then it's only dropping the Search DC by 4.

[NotScaryBats]

If you suddenly, spontaneously, became weaker, clumsier, less intelligent, etc: Anyone with a sense of self-preservation would immediately ask: "Why?", and anyone with a non-0 Wisdom score would note that they were not injured, no one shouted funny sounding words at them, don't feel any symptoms of disease, and nothing other than "I walked X distance" happened.

Logic removes Poison, Disease, and visible spell effects.

It's plainly obvious to me what happened, and there is no way I'm anything more than 10 INT.

If you walk into an AMF, and you have items on you that increase your base statistics, then you should immediately become aware that they have stopped functioning.

From there, it is hardly a leap of logic to rule out all the potential causes, and thus conclude that you have stepped into some effect that disabled your magic items. From there, it's a question of "Ask the party wizard" and get the response that it's an AMF.

I guess we'll agree to disagree. You can parse it out because you know the answer ahead of time; it is called Hindsight Bias.

[Mnemnosyne]

I do not know if a change of ability scores would be instantly noticeable. At least not physical ones. I am rarely using my full strength or anywhere near it, therefore I would not really notice if my maximum strength went up or down, unless I was carrying enough stuff that the difference would be noticeable. If all I'm wearing is normal clothes and a five pound haversack, and my strength dropped from 14 to 10, I may well not notice, because the weight I'm carrying is very easy for both of those scores to lift. Only if what I was carrying was suddenly pretty close to or over a medium load would I think I would notice the difference. Then I would notice what I am carrying suddenly got noticeably harder to carry.

It is much harder to make comparisons with mental scores, since we have no comparison to make in reality, but I am not sure it would be immediately obvious either, unless you were engaged in a task or thought process that was dependent upon that score. That said, if you're a spellcaster and your key ability score drops, you would lose access to some of your bonus spells per day, unless they had already been expended, and that would absolutely be noticeable.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Antimagic fields are kinda obvious; they got a creature right in the middle. :smalltongue:

[KillianHawkeye]

Strangled by a necklace... that is just awesome.

That actually happened to my second ever D&D character. It's an actual cursed item, Necklace of Strangulation. :smalleek:


Heh, it's funny, that guy really had a problem with things interacting with his neck. He also had his head cut off (twice). :smallamused: