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Fiery Diamond
2008-10-22, 03:57 PM
Hello folks. I, as a DM, have multiple queries and conundrums related to magic.

1) Monsters. Do monsters ever detect as magical with detect magic (not talking about their equipment, the monsters themselves). Along the same lines, do monks' bodies detect as magical if they have the ki strike (magic) ability?

2) Items/locales. I have a character whom I allowed a magic item of detect magic at will (though I made him shell out cash for it). This doesn't seem too bad, but lately he's been using detect magic on everything. Apart from using Magic Aura (which has a time limit unless permanencied) is there any way of making it more difficult for him to find secrets (locations, switches, magic on yet unseen things/monsters in the dark) with detect magic?

3) My own stupidity. As part of a way of railroading guiding the party to make a certain choice (because I had lots prepared for it but nothing for the other choice they could have made -- I don't railroad that often, they usually willingly follow plot hooks) I ended up giving the party a magic coin which amounts to a minor artifact. It answers certain yes/no questions about the present or the future (and "certain" means "most" in this case) and seems to clearly be permanently magical. It looks like an ordinary coin. I need a way of making the party lose the coin (which is not well known, at least that the party is aware of, and its former owner seems to have just lost it in the mountains where they found it) without seeming very contrived, and I'd like to do it entirely in game, because my players don't know that it's a railroading guiding item.

4) I need clever traps/puzzles, focused on illusion, thinking, and/or motion for inside a series of trial towers owned by an evil wizard/mindbender. Already I've got several, including a maze of mirrors that culminates in a mirror of opposition. I need more.

Thanks a bunch for your consideration in looking at my questions/problems and thanks even more if you actually give answers/helpful responses to them. And even more thanks even more if your shower me with compliments for being such a wonderful guy. :smallcool: just kidding :smallbiggrin:


-Fiery Diamond

Keld Denar
2008-10-22, 04:16 PM
1. No, unless the character also had ongoing spells running on him. Detect Magic is clear about what it picks up, and unless the creature is summoned or has ongoing magical effects on it, it wouldn't show up.

2. Mask the scent. If everything in the room detects as magic, maybe there are more overpowering auras that mask it unless you focus directly on the spot where the switch/mechanism/item/whatever is. Maybe the mage in question has a permanent Guards and Wards spell running, or has his entire castle enchanted with what is effectively an air conditioning system, such that the castle is constantly probing the environment with magic to determine the temperature and whether or not the magical room heating/cooling coils need to activate. Alternately, use purely or nearly purely mechanical traps. Maybe there is a a magical trap that casts a Cloud Kill spell way up above the room the PCs are in. The magical trap is triggered by a mechanical trap on a pressure plate near a locked door. The PCs trip the pressure plate, the magical trap triggers and fills an area way above the PCs with Cloudy Killy fog, which is heavier than air and tends to sink if it has a place to go. The Cloud then syphons down through non-magical holes shaped into the stone to the ceiling where the PCs are standing. Badda bing, non-magical detecting magical trap. The thickness of stone protects the room where the magical trap is set from divinations, but the PCs still feel the full burdon of the magical spell effect.

3. Have the owner show up. Maybe he Arcane Marked it (permanent and invisible), and just noticed it was missing, scryed on it, and wants it back. He might be willing to trade something different, or just knocks out the party and takes it. If they ask the coin whether or not they should give it back, have it litterally shake in their hands with a yes answer.

4. See above, but tie it to a riddle. Right answer opens the door, wrong answer gets you gassed. Google riddles for some good ones.

Randel
2008-10-22, 11:34 PM
3. Have the coin lead the group to an ancient sealed door to a chamber, with a small slot nearbye that is just big enough to put the coin into. The coin should be inserted into the slot (like putting it into a vending machine slot) in order to open the door. Or do something similar in which it is sacrificed to further the plot. The coin is essentially a key that helps out its holder and will try to lead them to the lock it is used in.

Mewtarthio
2008-10-23, 12:06 AM
Alternatively, the coin is sentient and actually acts to guide its users to further its own ends. Eventually, the coin leads them into a trap, and the Master of the Coin arrives to reclaim his artifact. You can take it a couple of ways from there:

The coin is designed to lure adventurers to its Master (probably a Dragon or evil Wizard who'd like to claim the adventurers' shinies), or else it only answers truly for its Master and only responded to the PCs in order to get back (since it had been accidentally lost). Either way, the coin has no "will to live" after the death of its Master, and it will cease to function entirely unless someone happens to ask it if they should resurrect the guy.

The coin is actually the Master's apprentice under a (unique) polymorph curse. He was transformed into a coin and deposited in the mountains as a test to see if he could get back via flipping properly (to make this a bit more plausible, you could make the apprentice a Diviner, or else claim that his spirit had access to a library). The Master restores the apprentice to normal, and the two either gang up on the PCs or thank them for their time and send them off with a nice gift, depending on what mood you're in. Either way, the apprentice won't be offering his divinatory services to the PCs anymore.

Devils_Advocate
2008-10-23, 02:09 AM
That coin was deliberately planted there for the PCs to find, to lead them to where whoever planted it wanted them to go. Now that its job is done, it's time to retrieve it, because it would be unwise to leave such powerful magic in their hands.

Heck, that already describes the situation, I'm just suggesting that events be orchestrated by an NPC and not just you. :smallamused:

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-10-23, 02:33 AM
2: Detect Magic at-will isn't that powerful. Knowing something is magical isn't the same as knowing what it does. Just don't use magical traps when mundane ones will do, and make sure they know Magic Aura is a possibility. Remember, the Warlock gets that for free at level 2.

3: If they mention the item to someone, you have an excuse for various groups that want it to come after it. Eventually, the PCs may decide to donate it to someone rather than deal with the trouble.

4: You haven't lived until you've made PCs run through a tower designed by a psychotic CE Gnome Sorcerer. Go with permanent illusions of walls, permanently invisible walls, Walls of Force, and Illusions of walls over a Wall of Force. Fill the area with Chaos Beasts. Make a hallway. Now make an image of a hole in the floor. Now make an actual hole in the floor. Now make a pit with a wall of Force over it, with an illusion of a pit. And an actual pit next to it, with a Magic Aura'd illusion of a hole. Use Pixies that fight like Kobolds, and Kobolds that fight like bastards. Watch the players cry.

arguskos
2008-10-23, 02:50 AM
4: You haven't lived until you've made PCs run through a tower designed by a psychotic CE Gnome Sorcerer. Go with permanent illusions of walls, permanently invisible walls, Walls of Force, and Illusions of walls over a Wall of Force. Fill the area with Chaos Beasts. Make a hallway. Now make an image of a hole in the floor. Now make an actual hole in the floor. Now make a pit with a wall of Force over it, with an illusion of a pit. And an actual pit next to it, with a Magic Aura'd illusion of a hole. Use Pixies that fight like Kobolds, and Kobolds that fight like bastards. Watch the players cry.
This is... simply beautiful. I... I think I love you for this. :smallredface:

-argus

DigoDragon
2008-10-23, 10:15 AM
Go with permanent illusions of walls, permanently invisible walls, Walls of Force, and Illusions of walls over a Wall of Force.

I once had a dungeon with stupidly simple traps that somehow twarted the players because they over analyzed them. The opener was a hidden pit trap right after an obviously not-so-hidden pit trap. The rogue jumped the obvious one and fell into the hidden one.

Kalirren
2008-10-23, 02:10 PM
3) getting rid of the coin: Have a very good but clueless rogue pickpocket it off the party next time they're in town. Watch them fuss over it. Maybe they'll try to track the guy down and you'll have yourself a plot hook.

Fiery Diamond
2008-10-23, 02:59 PM
Ooh, thanks for these ideas. I like the slot idea for the coin. I think that's a good one, as it guarantees success without getting player complaints that "oh, they couldn't have stolen it because it was in a bag of holding" or similar issues.

Also, on #1, what about constructs?

Please keep up the suggestions!
Thankies.

-Fiery Diamond

Keld Denar
2008-10-23, 03:25 PM
Constructs should radiate magic, since they are animated via magic. I've never seen anything that specifies either way.

If you are really worried about stuff detecting as magic, magic items can be crafted with Nystul's Magic Aura (or whatever they call it now) for only a bit of extra cash. Now they won't radiate as magic. You could even instill it into a construct as part of the animation process.