Continuing Q&A query: Polong and Detect Magic interaction.

[Nibbens]

Okay, so I just got done posting to the Q&A and receiving some rather useful information. However I've a few follow-ups that seem to fall into the realm of DM discretion, and I was wondering how other DMs would play through this situation.

First, the situation:

Player finds a polong (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/polong)bottle - stoppered - so I'm ruling it as the little beasty can't get out (even though there's no specific statement in the entry that It can't). Detect magic will be running from my PCs, as it always is when a character finds an item.

The post:

So I went ahead and posted this to the Q&A forum:


Q463

If a player casts detect magic on a Polong's bottle, does it radiate magic? It seems like it would, but I'm not seeing where it is specifically stated.

Then I received these two replies:


A463: I'm pretty sure there is no RAW on detection of supernatural abilities. They often don't have equivalents of spell levels or schools of magic that interact with Detect Magic. On the other hand you'd certainly expect them to detect something, especially if it's something like a Su version of Dominate Monster.

and


A463 addendum: The text does provide a formula for "non-spell effects" so I would use that for supernaturals personally. It also mentions "magical areas," which are neither spells nor items. I agree that it's not clear though.

THE PSYREN HAS SPOKEN! (Bolded enlarged and underlined text added by me.)

So, after all of this, it seems that yes, the polong bottle would radiate magic of some kind. The questions that I will receive from my players will be:

"Which kind?"

and

"What are it's properties?"

Using a simple spellcraft check would bring a bevvy of information to them... or would it. Would you tell them immediately it's a creature and all its nasty details, or would you not let them identify it because it technically doesn't have any properties in the traditional sense of magic items? Or would you do something else?

I'm just wondering how you guys would rule on this? Because I'm pretty sure my ideas are just boring, and I would like to breathe some life into this really unique and interesting creature. lol.

[Gallowglass]

Wow, I wish I would've known about Polong before last weekend. This would've been a way better thing to insert into a particular encounter than the generic shadow thing that I used.

So, you are saying the PCs are going to find a bottle and cast detect magic on it. what happens.

Well first - does it look magical at all. From the text of Polong: "Polongs are the spirits of murderers who have been magically bound to a bottle."

Magically bound. That sounds like an ongoing enchantment to me. Probably necromantic (soul bind or something similar) as well as enchantment (dominate monster)

What about the beastie? : undead, incorporeal. Well, in my games detect magic doesn't duplicate detect undead so the beastie isn't going to glow.

Is the bottle magical? From the text: "polong's bottle (AC 11, hardness 1, hp 1) " No, that sounds like a normal non magical bottle. Pepsi Lite, probably given the evil contents.

So I would say "there is a glow around the bottle when you cast detect magic and look at it"

And they would say "what kind? What are its properties?". And I would say "Make your spellcraft roll."

Now lets figure out what they have to roll. 15+the item's caster level for a magic item. What CL is this bottle? Hmmm. Well, for some reason the monster stat has this line: bottle-bound (DC 22). Even though the DC for the dominate monster is 20... so I guess I would take this to be a 12th level caster level so I would set the target as 27. That's just guesswork.

What would they get with a 27? "There is a strong Necromantic aura and a strong Enchantment aura surrounding the bottle." What would they get with a 33? "The aura seems to surround and penetrate the bottle, but the bottle itself doesn't appear to be magical." What would they get with a 38? "You know that with genie bottles that a creature bound within the bottle would glow magical as well. The contents of this bottle do not glow."

now at least one of my players would whine at this point "You are just supposed to tell us what the magic item does!" and I would reply "Yes, that's how identifying magic items works." Let them figure out the subtext of that response, that this ISN'T a magic item.

Now here's the tricky part. With some players I might make a secret Knowledge Religion check for them to see if they know what a Polong is. (Undead is knowledge religion, not arcana) With others, I would wait to see if anyone wants to make a Knowledge Religion check. But if someone wanted to make a Knowledge Arcana check, I'd let them. A really good check and they could know "this isn't a genie bottle". A really bad check and maybe they get "you know some extraplanar creatures are sometimes bound to bottles this way to entrap them and give the bearer of the bottle control over the creature."


In fairness, with most of my players at this point one of them would just open the bottle. :)

[Nibbens]

Wow, I wish I would've known about Polong before last weekend. This would've been a way better thing to insert into a particular encounter than the generic shadow thing that I used.

Yeah! They are really neat! lol.


Snip

That's a really well thought out way to handle it! haha. I hope you don't mind if I take some notes! :D



In fairness, with most of my players at this point one of them would just open the bottle. :)

I'm counting on it! Except... well... in the game I'm running they're not going to find just one bottle. lol.

[Gallowglass]

I'm counting on it! Except... well... in the game I'm running they're not going to find just one bottle. lol.

Just remember, after they deal with the six-pack of polongs to snip the plastic rings that connected the bottles so they don't kill any birds.

[Psyren]

THE PSYREN HAS SPOKEN!

:smalleek:



So, after all of this, it seems that yes, the polong bottle would radiate magic of some kind. The questions that I will receive from my players will be:

"Which kind?"

No school/universal. (It's supernatural, so it has no school of magic for them to read.)



and

"What are it's properties?"

At this point they are actually (if unknowingly) trying to identify the creature. So I would call for a Knowledge (Religion) check (since it's undead) right here. If they fail that, they get no info other than "strange magic bottle," because their cleric skipped that class in the seminary.

[Nibbens]

:smalleek:

:smallbiggrin: