Detect magic radar

[ogbendog]

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 is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.

Dumb quesiton. Can I tell how many magic sources there are? I mean, if my buddy had a magic sword, and we are walking and now a magic whatever is with 30' of me, do I detect that there is now an additional magic source?

[DMThac0]

From my understanding each magical item his it's own signature, so much like your title, yes it's a radar. I do believe some DMs go so far as to indicate the hue of the glow to match the type of magical property the item may have. Purple hue for transmutation, blue for conjuration, white/gold for divination, etc.

[ogbendog]

From my understanding each magical item his it's own signature, so much like your title, yes it's a radar. I do believe some DMs go so far as to indicate the hue of the glow to match the type of magical property the item may have. Purple hue for transmutation, blue for conjuration, white/gold for divination, etc.

I like the color idea, when they take the action. Good flavor.

[hymer]

Can I tell how many magic sources there are?
No. You can tell whether there's magic in the area, and your buddy's sword makes the answer 'yes'. Then you can focus with an Action on other stuff to see if it has an aura.

[Lord8Ball]

This thread made me imagine a wizard spinning around and saying "boop" whenever he/she pinged something magical.

[Avigor]

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.

As it specifies you use your action to see the auras, you'll can only see the magical auras of the specific objects or creatures that you look at. Yes, you get a yes/no to "is there any magic within 30 feet" but you don't learn how many just from that, you have to take an action to look around and basically count them.

[DMThac0]

This thread made me imagine a wizard spinning around and saying "boop" whenever he/she pinged something magical.

I will make this a thing...I must make this a thing...and I'll have yet another wizard my party members want to punch for being obnoxious!

[Emay Ecks]

As long as you're using your action to keep the radar active, yes you can get a number of sources. If you're letting the detect magic run passively in the background (such as during a fight), you're just going to get "there is magic nearby."

"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."

I'm going to use the combat rules of vision saying that you effectively see everything nearby unless it is hiding or completely obscured. So you would see auras around every creature or object that bears magic, and count them yourself.