Read Magic/Detect Magic Spells???

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:13 pm

In the PHB I can only find Read Magic as an arcane spell also it appears the Druid lacks Detect Magic.

Some spells are just standard daily fare & yet are not in the spell lists.

Is this intentional or no?

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:23 am

The assumption is this, regarding read magic:

Clerics and druids do not need the spell. 1) they do not have spellbooks and so cannot use a spell to learn from another, and 2) the magic contained in a "divine scroll" can be clearly read by anyone (ie, it takes the form of a "holy ritual" but the power can only be invoked by one the gods (or nature, or whatever) have elected to do so - this is why rogues cannot use decipher script on it.

I forget the logic behind the druid and lack of detect magic, but I think its got something to do with druids having more "mundane detection" (things like poisons, pits, and things related to nature as opposed to things magical) but it could be an oversight. I wasn't around at this point in the development.

Post by **Fiffergrund** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:43 pm

I believe Detect Magic was considered a peripheral spell for Druids, and to make sure that the essential spells made it into the book, it was cut.

For an expanded spell list, I'd add it back and make it one level higher than the cleric version.
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