[RPM] Detecting a ritual

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Yes. Or include Duration + Range. So you can use the spell again to detect another subject, but that requires another Path roll that is resisted normally.

That's an interesting option - if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying that Range (when combined with Duration) can potentially function as a sort of "poor man's Area Effect" - it detects the nearest subject, then can detect the next one, so long as you succeed again at the initial casting roll (and the target fails their resistance). Is this outlined in a book or Pyramid article? If not (or if the published source doesn't delve into the nuances), if you fail or the target resists does the spell move on to the next target or just fizzle out prematurely? Or is it more something that just detects the nearest subject, then if something else becomes "nearest" you wind up with the Path vs Resistance rolls, and if that succeeds it switches to detecting that target only?

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Presumably if the witch is the target of the ritual there may be a few more options - their familiar and/or patron might simply point it out to them, medium might notice unusual spirits hanging about (if that's how magic works in your setting), danger sense might start going off for no apparent reason and other forms of divination might reveal bad omens. Perhaps even fortune telling might work...

If you're looking to detect rituals cast specifically on you (or perhaps near you, say if someone is trying to track you through your sword), I think Lesser Sense Magic + Area Effect (2 yards) + Duration (1 day) would be an affordable, easily-renewable option; it would basically tell you anytime you or something within 2 yards of you is the target of a ritual. I think upgrading to Greater Sense Magic would tell you what ritual it was, but I'm not certain on that. Personally, I'd be inclined to let you toss Range onto it, using the improved range bands of informational spells; if a ritual is cast within this range, you also know where the spell originated from.