Noticing an AMF

[ivanbin]

If you are a caster, and use magic on someone in an AMF, would you be immediately be able to tell it's an AMF, or do you get totally Co fused why the spell fizzles?

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I rule that, barring special circumstances, the presence of an AMF is immediately noticeable to anyone capable of casting spells.

[Flickerdart]

If you are a caster, and use magic on someone in an AMF, would you be immediately be able to tell it's an AMF, or do you get totally Co fused why the spell fizzles?
RAW, the spell does not provide any hints to the caster about why their spell failed. However, as someone who has just detected the AMF's effect first-hand, the caster is entitled to a Spellcraft check (DC 26, or 28 if cast by a cleric) to understand what spell he is affected by.

[Extra Anchovies]

If you're high enough level to encounter AMFs a lot, you'll probably have Arcane Sight active much/most of the time, or at least have an item of continuous Detect Magic. With one or both of those, you'll either notice the AMF because you can see magical effects, or you'll notice it because the area of the AMF will block your detect magic effect (and if you're in the area already, your detect magic will shut off entirely).

[icefractal]

In one campaign, I crafted a "Dimensional Canary" to test for such things. It was just a minor magic item that did two things:
1) Telepathically project unobtrusive background music to the wearer.
2) Have a ball continually roll down a tube and get teleported to the top right before reaching the bottom. If it ever reached the bottom, an Alarm spell would ping the wearer telepathically.

So if the music ever stops, you know you've hit an AMF or dead magic zone. If the alarm goes off, you know you've entered an anti-teleport area. You could easily build more test protocols into it, but those were the ones the character in question was worried about.

[Curmudgeon]

Using Arcane Sight to "see" Antimagic Field is like using normal sight to see dark spaces. Yes, in both cases there's an area where you don't detect anything. But failing to detect something isn't itself a detection. There are plenty of times, even around characters, when you won't detect any magic. It could be a character with Vow of Poverty who chose [Exalted] feats that don't make them show up as magical (example: Exalted Companion). Or someone like my Rogue characters, who are paranoid careful and use Nystul's Magic Aura (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicAura.htm) on all their magical gear to be stealthier. :smallwink:

I don't see any game rules which would let your spellcaster know that it's specifically an Antimagic Field — as opposed to SR, a Pale lavender Ioun Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#iounStones), a Spellsword, or something else — that caused your spell to fail.

[Extra Anchovies]

Curmudgeon's post reminded me: wouldn't an Ioun Stone stop orbiting and fall to the ground if you entered an AMF with one active?


In one campaign, I crafted a "Dimensional Canary" to test for such things. It was just a minor magic item that did two things:
1) Telepathically project unobtrusive background music to the wearer.
2) Have a ball continually roll down a tube and get teleported to the top right before reaching the bottom. If it ever reached the bottom, an Alarm spell would ping the wearer telepathically.

So if the music ever stops, you know you've hit an AMF or dead magic zone. If the alarm goes off, you know you've entered an anti-teleport area. You could easily build more test protocols into it, but those were the ones the character in question was worried about.

Clever. What spell effects did you use, and how much did it end up costing?

[icefractal]

Clever. What spell effects did you use, and how much did it end up costing?It's been a while, but IIRC:
1) Alarm for the music, since it has established telepathic capacity. And for the actual alarm, of course.
2) Benign Transposition for the teleportation. Not the same as what it does normally, but for something with that small a magnitude it seemed an appropriate effect.

So around 4K. I think there was a discount for only performing a subset of their normal effects, but this was at 11th level or so, so cheap either way.

[heavyfuel]

I rule that, barring special circumstances, the presence of an AMF is immediately noticeable to anyone capable of casting spells.

Wouldn't the fighter realize his sword is no longer as wieldy or the rogue with a Nimbleness armor (MIC) notice his armor just got a lot more clunky?

I rule that anyone with any magical effect on them notices AMFs. This always includes stat boosting items that are worn (armor, cloak of charisma, etc), and may include weapons if they are currently being wielded.


Curmudgeon's post reminded me: wouldn't an Ioun Stone stop orbiting and fall to the ground if you entered an AMF with one active?

Yes, they would. Hence why you shouldn't be a spellcaster to notice AMFs

[nedz]

DC 60 Search check (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#search) perhaps ?

[Curmudgeon]

Curmudgeon's post reminded me: wouldn't an Ioun Stone stop orbiting and fall to the ground if you entered an AMF with one active?
Yes, it would. However, a spellcaster normally wouldn't get within 10' of an enemy unless they're a gish. So that's more of a detection mechanism for non-spellcasters than casters.