Arcanist’s Magic Aura: Divine Declined

Usable By: Wizard

Spell Level: 2

School: Illusion

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Duration: 24 hours (see below)

Components: V, S, M (a small square of silk)

You place an illusion on a creature or an object you touch so that divination spells reveal false information about it. The target can be a willing creature or an object that isn’t being carried or worn by another creature. When you cast the spell, choose one or both of the following effects. The effect lasts for the duration. If you cast this spell on the same creature or object every day for 30 days, placing the same effect on it each time, the illusion lasts until it is dispelled.

False Aura. You change the way the target appears to spells and magical effects, such as detect magic, that detect magical auras. You can make a nonmagical object appear magical, a magical object appear nonmagical, or change the object’s magical aura so that it appears to belong to a specific school of magic that you choose. When you use this effect on an object, you can make the false magic apparent to any creature that handles the item.

Mask. You change the way the target appears to spells and magical effects that detect creature types, such as a paladin’s Divine Sense or the trigger of a symbol spell. You choose a creature type and other spells and magical effects treat the target as if it were a creature of that type or of that alignment.

Review by Sam West, @CrierKobold

“As the dragon collapses defeated, you gaze out upon its hoard. Atop the mountains of coins, jewels, and rare treasures from throughout history rests an ornate, massive wooden chest embellished with angelic decor,” says the DM.

“I approach the chest, but before the rogue has a chance to touch it, I cast Detect Magic!”

“Clever, wizard, clever. It would appear the chest is mundane.”

“Oh, cool! I open the chest then!”

“Ha, IDIOT! It explodes! Make a dexterity saving throw!”

Honestly, unless you’re going through magic customs and are smuggling in magic items, Arcanist’s Magic Aura is horrendous. Its two effects are given as DM tools to help maintain suspense and mystery, and end up leading to polarized outcomes and grievances across the board. It’ll end up feeling like the DM is lying to you, and you can’t trust any of the information they give out. That’s the end outcome of Arcanist’s Magic Aura.

When a spell does one specific thing, especially when it's a niche, you expect it to function in that niche environment. There is an amount of security in knowing Protection from Evil and Good will protect the target from a ghost’s possession; it's what the spell is supposed to do. It feels pretty horrendous when somebody just goes “Actually, THIS ghost has Arcanist’s Magic Aura on it, so get wrecked! You’re still getting possessed, because the ghost’s type is considered to be dragon as far as Protection’s concerned!” It's a vindictive way to get one over on a player. That isn’t what the game is about.

Most games will never touch Arcanist’s Magic Aura. If you’re a player, the only real cases where you’ll get meaningful use out of it is if you’re going against a monster you know has Hold Person kind of effects in bulk, or otherwise need to hide your own magic items from detection. As a DM, there are next to no use cases where Arcanist’s Magic Aura is going to feel good from the player’s perspective. They use information gathering tools to detect and learn; this is a way you can just lie to them in the rules. Don’t do it. If you don’t want to give something away, alert the players that something is shrouded or mysterious, use magic as a tool to alert them to something more powerful going on here that they can’t quite understand yet. Let the tools do something by alerting players that something is out of the ordinary; don’t just lie to them. If you want a monster to be immune to an effect, make it clear to the player’s that this monster appears different, that it clearly has protective measures against something they intended to use or use frequently. The player’s skipping over a McGuffin because rules as written you had somebody disguise it with Arcanist’s Magic Aura will create major trust issues moving forward, and grow disdain more often than not. Having the devil walk into the Hallow will leave the players going “What was the point of even casting this if it just doesn’t work”.

This all is to say don’t cast Arcanist’s Magic Aura as a DM, and if you’re looking to cast it as a player, it’ll only really be in extremely specific environments. This spell shouldn’t exist as written, and actively hurts more games than it helps.

5e Spells

Arcanist’s Magic Aura: Divine Declined