Why would they have it? To detect magic things that could hurt it. How would a pit fiend use it? By casting the spell. Why would they use it? To detect the magic stuff.
The thing is, I cant see this being used in either roleplay or combat.
It still takes the fiend 6 seconds to cast it as an action and to think that they would stop every 10 minutes to see to this trait and make sure its active seems kind of dumb to me. I know what detect magic is used for but I don't think a pit fiend would bother casting it most of the time.
You don't think a pit fiend would cast it before it makes some deal to make sure the deal is on the level? The pit fiend, while having magic resistance is not resistant to a lot of enchantment type magics that would seriously hinder its ability to make contracts.
It can also be used for threat assessment or choosing targets. It is resistant to non-magic weapons (sans silver). And adventurers with lots of magic items are obviously seasoned and may be most useful.
The thing is, I cant see this being used in either roleplay or combat.
It still takes the fiend 6 seconds to cast it as an action and to think that they would stop every 10 minutes to see to this trait and make sure its active seems kind of dumb to me. I know what detect magic is used for but I don't think a pit fiend would bother casting it most of the time.
That's a pretty weird argument to make. Do your players that have the spell stop every ten minutes to cast it? If no, why must the Pit Fiends do it for the spell to be useful for them? The same could be said for every skill or ability that needs an action to be used. "Why would a monster be able to stealth? I don't think it would bother to stealth most of the time." or "Why would a city guard have a spear. it's not going to be attacking people "most of the time"".
The point is that you don't need it "most of the time" (you basically don't need anything "most of the time") for it to be useful in the "some of the times" when you actually need it.
...and here I thought I was going to read a punchline. ;)
At will, 1 action. This is something they'd probably use once out of combat to size up the people they face, not something they'd do every 10 minutes. Nobody would do that. Why would a Pit Fiend do that?
It would be acceptable to assume that a PF is detecting magic for the first 10 minutes of any encounter with it if the whole party hasn't managed to sneak up on it. (Passive Perception (WIS): 14 for a standard PF) After things kick off into battle, it would already know what magic stuff is going on and not really need it further. It's a Devil. It'll always want to make sure it has an advantage. If Initiative starts before the PF is aware, it'll be up to the DM if the PF wants to bother with Detect Magic or just play defensively until the PF is confident it know the magic situation of the opponents through observation.
That's one possible RP and combat usage.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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Dear people,
.... well.... Why does a Pit fiend have Detect magic?
how would a Pit fiend use this? why would they use this?
I just don't understand...
- Thanks!
You don't understand why one of the strongest devils would want/have the ability to detect spells and magic items?
Why would they have it? To detect magic things that could hurt it.
How would a pit fiend use it? By casting the spell.
Why would they use it? To detect the magic stuff.
The thing is, I cant see this being used in either roleplay or combat.
It still takes the fiend 6 seconds to cast it as an action and to think that they would stop every 10 minutes to see to this trait and make sure its active seems kind of dumb to me.
I know what detect magic is used for but I don't think a pit fiend would bother casting it most of the time.
You don't think a pit fiend would cast it before it makes some deal to make sure the deal is on the level? The pit fiend, while having magic resistance is not resistant to a lot of enchantment type magics that would seriously hinder its ability to make contracts.
It can also be used for threat assessment or choosing targets. It is resistant to non-magic weapons (sans silver). And adventurers with lots of magic items are obviously seasoned and may be most useful.
That's a pretty weird argument to make. Do your players that have the spell stop every ten minutes to cast it? If no, why must the Pit Fiends do it for the spell to be useful for them? The same could be said for every skill or ability that needs an action to be used. "Why would a monster be able to stealth? I don't think it would bother to stealth most of the time." or "Why would a city guard have a spear. it's not going to be attacking people "most of the time"".
The point is that you don't need it "most of the time" (you basically don't need anything "most of the time") for it to be useful in the "some of the times" when you actually need it.
...and here I thought I was going to read a punchline. ;)
At will, 1 action. This is something they'd probably use once out of combat to size up the people they face, not something they'd do every 10 minutes. Nobody would do that. Why would a Pit Fiend do that?
It would be acceptable to assume that a PF is detecting magic for the first 10 minutes of any encounter with it if the whole party hasn't managed to sneak up on it. (Passive Perception (WIS): 14 for a standard PF) After things kick off into battle, it would already know what magic stuff is going on and not really need it further. It's a Devil. It'll always want to make sure it has an advantage. If Initiative starts before the PF is aware, it'll be up to the DM if the PF wants to bother with Detect Magic or just play defensively until the PF is confident it know the magic situation of the opponents through observation.
That's one possible RP and combat usage.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.