What good is the paladin's Divine Sense?

[everybe2]

Would it be useful so far in ACT 1 ?

[BigAlzBub]

It is super situational even in the pen and paper game. If you knew that someone in a room was an outsider or undead, you could potentially use it to detect them, however since it has limited uses (Charisma + 1 per long rest) you kind of have to know when it is applicable to use it, and there are some easy ways to defeat it, it doesn't explicitly say it is divination, so it is hard to say if a spell like non-detection would work, but as a player I wouldn't try and call the toss, if my GM said that was the reason why the detect failed (once we routed the evil out).

In BG3, the only time I can think of that you might be able to use it, is in the Chapel to Jergal just before you find Withers, you can't use it in the area where you find Shovel and the magic mirror, because all the undead are in coffins and have total cover. With the undead in the Jergal Chapel, it doesn't really help, you can't get them to react in any way other than by pressing the button, so what good does it really do?

[everybe2]

You can detect Hag :D

[GrandMajora]

Divine Sense is effectively 'racial profiling' for religious zealots!

Prove me wrong...

[BigAlzBub]

Originally posted by everybe2:

You can detect Hag :D

I think Warlocks and Sorcerers get something when in conversation with her, so it is entirely possible that a future Paladin might also, but Rules As Written, it would not work on the Hag because Hags are generally Fey (apart from the Night Hag), and Divine Sense only works on Celestials, Fiends or Undead. If the Hag were a Night Hag (which is a Fiend), then it would certainly work, providing you knew to use the ability.

[BigAlzBub]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Divine Sense is effectively 'racial profiling' for religious zealots!

Prove me wrong...

Lol, well kind of, except that it does detect wrong uns...

[Hex]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Divine Sense is effectively 'racial profiling' for religious zealots!

Prove me wrong...

Sure.

Except that it has nothing to do with race, or profile, and it actually works.

So not at all.

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by Hex:

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Divine Sense is effectively 'racial profiling' for religious zealots!

Prove me wrong...

Sure.

Except that it has nothing to do with race, or profile, and it actually works.

So not at all.

I feel like you don't grasp the nuances of satirical humor.

[Dragon Master]

Well, based on what we've got so far....

Astarion would NOT be able to hide his secret. You'd know he's undead from the moment you meet him.

You could MAYBE detect the hag, if she's a night hag.

You'd know all the scribes in the ruins are undead and not just dead.

Probably some unique dialogue with skeleton who will resurrect party members.

[Hex]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by Hex:

Sure.

Except that it has nothing to do with race, or profile, and it actually works.

So not at all.

I feel like you don't grasp the nuances of satirical humor.

Maybe try being funny next time.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Divine Sense is effectively 'racial profiling' for religious zealots!

Prove me wrong...

I laughed way too hard at that.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

You'd know all the scribes in the ruins are undead and not just dead.

Unless the button activates some kind of magic that reanimates them at that moment...in that case they'd just be normal dead until the button is pressed...
not saying that is what's happening, just covering the bases here...^^

[BigAlzBub]

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Well, based on what we've got so far....

Astarion would NOT be able to hide his secret. You'd know he's undead from the moment you meet him.

You could MAYBE detect the hag, if she's a night hag.

You'd know all the scribes in the ruins are undead and not just dead.

Probably some unique dialogue with skeleton who will resurrect party members.

You would know that Astarion is undead, but not specifically a Vampire Spawn, and given that "everyone" knows vampires can't be in sunlight, you would probably conclude he was some other form of undead. Personally I would probably assume he was being possessed by a ghost or some such, since Ghouls and Ghasts tend to come with a noxious smell, other choices include A Bodak, Mummy or Lich, none of which fit particualrly well. The drained Boar is a bit of a give away, but the sunlight angle would be a strong negative indicator (at least until you know more about the tadpoles)

I'm pretty sure Aunty Ethel is a green hag, on the grounds that she is...green, but she also has vicious mockery (which is a green hag spell) and doesn't cast magic missile (which is a night hag spell). Night Hags are usually a purply colour, somewhat skeletal and often have backward facing horns.

Withers (the intelligent undead which can raise your party members) is probably the chosen of Jergal, as Clerics get some special dialogue which kind of hints towards this, Paladins would probably get the same.

[everybe2]

I thought that Paladins can sense presence of strong evil, so presence of hag should arise some suspicion.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by BigAlzBub:

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Well, based on what we've got so far....

Astarion would NOT be able to hide his secret. You'd know he's undead from the moment you meet him.

You could MAYBE detect the hag, if she's a night hag.

You'd know all the scribes in the ruins are undead and not just dead.

Probably some unique dialogue with skeleton who will resurrect party members.

I'm pretty sure Aunty Ethel is a green hag, on the grounds that she is...green, but she also has vicious mockery (which is a green hag spell) and doesn't cast magic missile (which is a night hag spell). Night Hags are usually a purply colour, somewhat skeletal and often have backward facing horns.

Ethel is definitely a Green Hag, but she's not a normal Hag. She's an Auntie (the only Hag more powerful than that is a Granny).

[Brady4444]

Even in 2e, there was ambiguous language around Paladins' sense evil which seems to have been renamed since there is no official alignment in 5e. Back when it was called 2e, some players/DM's would rule that sense evil only senses evil intent as well as things connected to the lower planes (and undead). But other DM's/players would rule that sense evil senses those of evil alignment, if they have committed many acts of evil (more than minor things like larceny, etc). It's an interesting ability that should be in the game, I just wish it were clearer (both for tabletop and video games).