Please, please help settle a rules clarification for our group. I am the DM and we have a Paladin in the group.
Here is the Divine Sense ability under contention:
Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or Undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the Vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance).
Also Jeremy Crawford has tweeted: "Divine Sense tells you if something is a celestial, fiend, or undead and tells you which of those it is, but nothing else."
Lets say there is a disguised vampire named Steve. The Paladin can see it.
Q: Can a Paladin's Divine Sense specifically tell that it is a Vampire? Or will they only for sure ‘know’ it’s an Undead creature.
We are both reading the same line and coming to different interpretations. It seems pretty clear to me. My understanding is that he only knows if it is a celestial, fiend, or undead(type). Therefore he would know an undead stands before him and nothing else. He is making the argument that he would also know that it is a vampire(which I believe is race) but not his name(Steve). He is reading "tells you which of those it is" as what kind of undead it is. I am reading it as literally which of those(Celestial, Fiend, Undead) it is.
You're 100% right and there is nothing unclear about the rule. The bracketed example perfectly illustrates what the character does not know, and this has been further clarified by Crawford's tweet. There really isn't any argument to be had here.
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"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
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Please, please help settle a rules clarification for our group. I am the DM and we have a Paladin in the group.
Here is the Divine Sense ability under contention:
Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or Undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the Vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance).
Also Jeremy Crawford has tweeted: "Divine Sense tells you if something is a celestial, fiend, or undead and tells you which of those it is, but nothing else."
Lets say there is a disguised vampire named Steve. The Paladin can see it.
Q: Can a Paladin's Divine Sense specifically tell that it is a Vampire? Or will they only for sure ‘know’ it’s an Undead creature.
We are both reading the same line and coming to different interpretations. It seems pretty clear to me. My understanding is that he only knows if it is a celestial, fiend, or undead(type). Therefore he would know an undead stands before him and nothing else. He is making the argument that he would also know that it is a vampire(which I believe is race) but not his name(Steve). He is reading "tells you which of those it is" as what kind of undead it is. I am reading it as literally which of those(Celestial, Fiend, Undead) it is.
Please help.
Yes, I am inclined to say that Divine Sense does not reveal what kind of undead is being detected.
I might hint at the power of the creature being detected using a colourful description, though.
You're 100% right and there is nothing unclear about the rule. The bracketed example perfectly illustrates what the character does not know, and this has been further clarified by Crawford's tweet. There really isn't any argument to be had here.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.