Level
2nd
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
120 ft
Components
V, S
Duration
Instantaneous
School
Divination
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Detection
You sense the presence of any trap within range that is within line of sight. A trap, for the purpose of this spell, includes anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect you consider harmful or undesirable, which was specifically intended as such by its creator. Thus, the spell would sense an area affected by the alarm spell, a glyph of warding, or a mechanical pit trap, but it would not reveal a natural weakness in the floor, an unstable ceiling, or a hidden sinkhole.
This spell merely reveals that a trap is present. You don't learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense.
This should at the very least be a concentration spell. I'd say probably 10 minutes per cast. 1 minute if you turn it into a 1st level spell instead of second.
I don't think this spell is meant to be used to find orthodox "traps"
It seems more useful in detecting the presence of unfavorable legal documents, ambushes, and scams.
In my opinion, this should work like Detect Magic. Concentration for 10 minutes with the same basic wording. Right now it is a crapshoot to use at low levels...do I want to waste a spell slot just in the minor chance there are traps in my line of sight; which may just be one room or a long hallway.
This is in the same vein of spells as TrueStrike, but it is level 2.
does this spell target self?
lmao even without homebrew this is "screw you dm, thought you could be cool" the spell.
In the video game Baldur's Gate, the spell lasted 3 turns (gamespeak for 30 rounds) and actually showed you where the traps were every round. This spell is garbage.
Player: "I cast find traps"
DM: Gets up, walks over to the player, points at this spell on their character sheet "This, right there."
Funnily enough this spell is actually incredibly useful, just not for what most people would think. RAW, legal traps in a contract would count. This wouldn't tell you where they are exactly, but it would tell you the general nature of them. As long as the writer of the contract intended for it to be harmful to you, it works.
This spell is fascinating. I could talk about the implications of this spell for hours. The way I see it, the definition of a trap for this spell can be broken up into three clauses:
1. Anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect
2. you consider harmful or undesirable
3. which was specifically intended as such by its creator.
There's tons of weird edge cases here; for example, since the effect only has to be sudden OR unexpected (not both), all weapons are traps. But it goes further: if your world has creator gods, all poisonous plants are traps.
Things get really interesting when we consider the implications of clause 3: how is the creator (provided they're not a god) supposed to know what you consider undesirable? If someone breeds a Very Spicy Pepper, that would certainly be something which inflicts a sudden effect some would consider undesirable. The sudden effect is intentional; the disagreement is over desirability. Is the Very Spicy Pepper a trap?
Last thing; somebody questioned a bit back whether an ambush is a trap, because it's unclear who the creator is. I would say an ambush is definitely a trap for the purpose of this spell, because it's an arrangement of components (ambushers) meant to create an unexpected effect. Compare the ambush to a hedge with poisonous thorns; the hedge is merely an arrangement of plants, but I think we would definitely consider that a trap created by the arranger, even if the arranger did not personally create the individual plants.
Anyway this spell is wild and it's a great way to waste time rules lawyering at your table
I use generous interpretation of this spell. You can give a lot of hints in the "you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense"
I think the sentence "Thus, the spell would sense an area affected by the alarm spell, a glyph of warding, or a mechanical pit trap", is using poor grammar. I think that the phrase "the spell would sense an area affected by" is not excessive to only the alarm spell. If we break down this part of the sentence we could get this interpretation.
The spell would sense an area affected by the alarm spell.
The spell would sense an area affected by a glyph of warding.
The spell would sense the area affected by a mechanical pit trap.
All three of these example would be either hidden or invisible to the player's character using this spell. However the spell would sense them if the area affected by the traps were in line of sight. So you can have a well hidden trap set up but the spell would still sense the trap if the character can see the area affected by the trap.
Either make this a cantrip, or beef up the spell. It shouldn't depend on line of sight, or if it does, then it should additionally reveal exactly how to disarm it.