Magic · Illusion · Spell Reference
Magic Aura
Magic Aura falsifies what magic appears to be. It can make an enchanted object seem mundane, make an ordinary object radiate magic, or disguise the school of an aura. In D&D 5.5e / 2024, the spell goes further: it can also make a willing creature count as a different creature type when spells and other magical effects interact with it.
| Current rules | 2nd-level Illusion |
|---|---|
| Legacy rules | 1st-level Illusion (Glamer) |
| Core use | False magical information |
| Component | A small square of silk |
Edition-native rules
Game Statistics
Use the rules panel for the edition being played. Both fifth-edition versions include creature masking, but their wording and effect boundaries differ. The Pathfinder and 3.5e base spell targets objects.
Arcanist’s Magic Aura — D&D 5.5e / 2024
| Level | 2nd |
|---|---|
| School | Illusion |
| Class | Wizard |
| Casting Time | Action |
| Range | Touch |
| Duration | 24 hours |
| Components | V, S, M |
| Material | Small square of silk |
| Concentration | No |
Mask (Creature). A willing creature gains the Mask effect. Choose a creature type other than its actual type. For the duration, spells and other magical effects treat the target as though it were a creature of the chosen type.
False Aura (Object). An object that is not being worn or carried gains the False Aura effect. You can make a nonmagical object appear magical, make a magic item appear nonmagical, or make the object’s aura appear to belong to a school of magic you choose.
Long-term use. Cast the spell on the same target every day for 30 days and the illusion thereafter lasts until dispelled.
Arcanist’s Magic Aura — D&D 5e / 2014
Level: 2nd-level Illusion. Class: Wizard. Casting Time: 1 action. Range: Touch. Components: V, S, M (a small square of silk). Duration: 24 hours; no concentration.
Touch a willing creature or an object that is not being worn or carried by another creature. Place an illusion on it so that divination reveals false information. Choose False Aura, Mask, or both.
False Aura. Alter how aura-detecting spells and magical effects read the target. A mundane object can appear magical, a magic object can appear mundane, or an aura can appear to belong to a chosen school. When applying this effect to an object, you can make the false magic apparent to a creature handling it.
Mask. Alter the target’s reading to magic that detects creature types, including Divine Sense and the trigger of Symbol. Choose a creature type; the spell’s wording makes such magic treat the target as that type or alignment. This is the 2014 wording: do not substitute the broader 2024 creature-type interaction.
Long-term use. Cast on the same target every day for 30 days, placing the same effect each time, and the illusion lasts until dispelled.
SRD 5.1 source (Arcanist’s Magic Aura; named Nystul’s Magic Aura in the Player’s Handbook).
Magic Aura — Pathfinder 1e
| School | Illusion (Glamer) |
|---|---|
| Core Level | Bard 1; Sorcerer/Wizard 1 |
| Casting Time | 1 standard action |
| Range | Touch |
| Target | One object, up to 5 lb./level |
| Duration | 1 day/level (D) |
| Saving Throw | None; see identification |
| Spell Resistance | No |
| Focus | Small square of silk |
You alter an object’s magical aura. The object can register as nonmagical, as a kind of magic item you specify, or as though it bears a spell you specify.
Detailed magical examination can expose the deception. The legacy spell also fails against exceptionally powerful auras such as artefacts. It changes the aura, not the object’s actual workmanship, powers or physical condition.
Physical plausibility still matters. A weapon, shield or suit of armour that radiates impressive magic but is not even masterwork quality is immediately suspicious. Magic Aura can falsify divination; it cannot make poor workmanship convincing.
Later PF1e class lists. Additional Pathfinder classes published after the Core Rulebook also gain access to Magic Aura. Use the relevant class source when those classes are in play rather than changing the core spell entry.
Identifying the deception. If Identify or a comparable examination is used, the examiner attempts a Will saving throw against the spell’s save DC. Success reveals the false aura and the object’s actual qualities. Failure leaves the examiner believing the false aura, and further testing does not reveal the true magic while the deception holds.
Components: V, S, F. The silk is a focus passed over the object.
Magic Aura — D&D 3.5e
| School | Illusion (Glamer) |
|---|---|
| Level | Bard 1; Magic 1; Sorcerer/Wizard 1 |
| Casting Time | 1 standard action |
| Range | Touch |
| Target | One object, up to 5 lb./level |
| Duration | 1 day/level (D) |
| Saving Throw | None; see identification |
| Spell Resistance | No |
| Focus | Small square of silk |
The 3.5e spell changes an object’s apparent magical aura. It can conceal magic, create a false magical reading, or make the object appear to bear a chosen magical effect.
Identify or comparable scrutiny can reveal the false aura under the spell’s legacy saving-throw procedure. Exceptionally powerful auras, including artefacts, are beyond the spell.
Physical plausibility still matters. The original spell specifically warns that ordinary-quality arms and armour can betray the deception even when their aura claims they are magical.
Identifying the deception. If Identify or a comparable examination is used, the examiner attempts a Will saving throw against the spell’s save DC. Success reveals the false aura and the object’s actual qualities. Failure leaves the examiner believing the false aura, and further testing does not reveal the true magic while the deception holds.
Components: V, S, F. The silk is a focus passed over the object.
Rules boundaries
What Magic Aura Does — and Does Not Do
| Question | 5.5e / 2024 | 5e / 2014 | PF1e / 3.5e |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can it target a creature? | Yes, if willing. Mask changes how spells and magical effects treat its creature type. | Yes, if willing; Mask alters creature-type detection. | No. The base spell targets an object. |
| Can it target a worn or carried object? | No. The object must not be worn or carried. | The target cannot be worn or carried by another creature. | The legacy target line does not contain the 2024 restriction. |
| Can it make a mundane object truly magical? | No. | No. | No. |
| Can it hide a magic item from Detect Magic? | Yes; False Aura can make it appear nonmagical. | Yes; False Aura changes the reading. | Yes; falsifying magical detection is the spell’s central purpose. |
| Does it automatically defeat Identify? | The 2024 spell gives no special Identify override. Resolve each spell by its own wording. | No special Identify exception is stated. | Legacy Magic Aura explicitly provides a procedure by which detailed examination can expose the false aura. |
| Can it disguise the school of magic? | Yes, for an object’s aura. | Yes; False Aura can change the apparent school. | Yes, through the false aura chosen for the object. |
| Can it fool mundane inspection? | No. It does not alter craftsmanship, weight, inscriptions, wear, materials or physical evidence. | No. | No. |
| Can it become long-lasting? | Yes. Casting on the same target daily for 30 days makes the illusion last until dispelled. | Yes; repeat the same effect daily for 30 days. | No equivalent built-in 30-day permanence rule. |
| Does an artefact automatically resist it? | The 2024 spell does not include the legacy artefact restriction. | No automatic artefact exception is stated. | Yes; exceptionally powerful auras are specifically beyond the legacy spell. |
Creature masking in fifth edition
In 2024, Mask makes spells and magical effects treat a willing creature as a chosen different creature type. The 2014 wording addresses creature-type detection, such as Divine Sense and Symbol triggers. Neither version changes the creature’s body or grants another creature type’s traits.
It still does not turn a Human into an Elf, an Undead creature into a living being, or a Fiend into a Celestial in any physical sense. It grants no darkvision, resistances, languages, movement modes, immunities, anatomy or cultural identity. Only spells and magical effects receive the false classification.
Play and tactics
How to Use Magic Aura
Hide the important object
Make the enchanted key, sealed letter, relic or weapon appear mundane before anyone sweeps a room with Detect Magic. The object still looks like itself, so choose something whose physical appearance will not betray the trick.
Create a false lead
Place an aura on an ordinary object so magical investigators spend time on the wrong chest, ledger, dagger or ring. This is especially effective when the false item is physically plausible.
Misstate the school
Make an object’s aura look like harmless Divination when it is really Necromancy, or make a defensive ward appear to be something else. The deception changes magical readings, not the effect itself.
Mask a creature in 5.5e
For current rules, use Mask when magical security, divinations or spell targeting depend on creature type. This is a 2024 capability and must not be imported into Pathfinder 1e or D&D 3.5e.
Counterplay
Magic Aura is strongest against people who trust a single magical reading. Good investigators combine Detect Magic, Identify, mundane examination, provenance, witnesses and specialist analysis. Where the false aura itself is known or suspected, Dispel Magic may end the ongoing spell according to the active edition’s dispelling rules.
Practice and tradition
Magic Aura in the World
Magic Aura is magical counter-intelligence. Where learned spellcraft is taught through universities, court scholars, guild masters, private circles and master–apprentice traditions, the spell is valued anywhere magical inspection has become routine.
Guilds and customs houses
Merchants moving enchanted goods may face appraisal, tariffs, seizure or licensing. A false aura can conceal a valuable item or make contraband look harmless, but the physical object still has to survive ordinary scrutiny.
Courts and treasuries
Princes, city councils and wealthy houses use magical examination to protect seals, regalia, contracts and inherited relics. Magic Aura therefore creates a constant contest between magical security and magical deception.
Universities and collectors
Scholars who buy grimoires, ritual tools and excavated artefacts know that an aura is evidence, not proof. Reputable examiners record provenance, materials, script, workmanship and prior owners alongside divination results.
Smugglers, spies and thieves
For covert work, the spell can make the wrong object look important or the important object look unremarkable. In current 5.5e rules, Mask also opens more dangerous uses against magical wards keyed to creature type.
The material component is a small square of silk. It is not consumed, but it suits the spell’s character perfectly: a thin imported fabric drawn across an object while its magical identity is rewritten for anyone who looks with the wrong kind of sight.
Historical & Mythic Context
False Appearances, Hidden Virtues & Deceptive Magic
There is no known medieval spell that maps neatly onto the game mechanics of Magic Aura. The closest historical and mythic parallels concern a different idea: that an object or person can possess hidden qualities which ordinary sight does not reveal, and that specialised knowledge, ritual or supernatural power may conceal, expose or misrepresent those qualities.
Late Medieval Charms & Occult Properties
Late medieval Europe preserved charms, prognostics and recipes alongside learned medicine and natural philosophy. A British Library manuscript dated to the first half of the fifteenth century contains medical recipes and charms, showing how practical, learned and supernatural explanations could occupy the same manuscript culture.
Objects Believed to Carry Hidden Power
Amulets provide a useful historical parallel for the idea that an object’s significance is not exhausted by its visible materials. The British Museum preserves late-medieval amuletic objects from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including a carved stone example associated with Florence.
Silk as a Plausible Material Component
The spell’s square of silk is not a surviving historical recipe, but it is a valuable material for illusion work. Silk was a costly prestige textile in medieval and Renaissance Europe, with major luxury production in the Italian city-states and a growing fifteenth-century industry in France. A small piece of silk therefore reads as deliberate, portable and valuable rather than as generic cloth.
Mythic Deception & Changed Identity
Greek epic repeatedly treats supernatural identity as something that can be concealed or rewritten. In Odyssey Book 13, Athena changes her own appearance and works with Odysseus through disguise, concealment and cunning. This is not a direct ancestor of Magic Aura, but it is a strong mythic parallel for magic that makes the observer receive the wrong identity.
Related magic
Spells and References to Use with Magic Aura
- Detect Magic — the most obvious magical reading for False Aura to mislead.
- Identify — deeper examination; legacy editions give Magic Aura an explicit interaction with identification.
- Dispel Magic — removes ongoing magical deception when the edition’s dispelling procedure succeeds.
- Arcane Lock — physical access control that pairs naturally with deceptive magical signatures.
- Analyse Magic — an investigative spell concerned with the origin and signature of magic.
- Detect Magical Residue — useful when the investigation concerns magical traces rather than only the object’s current aura.
- Undetectable Aura — a narrower legacy aura-masking spell preserved separately in the catalogue.
- Aura Manipulation — a separate spell for falsifying a creature’s aura rather than an object’s magical signature.
- Nondetection — prevents or obstructs divinatory discovery rather than supplying the false magical reading created by Magic Aura.
- Bard Spells — relevant to the Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e versions.
- Sorcerer and Wizard Spells — edition-separated spell catalogue, including the 2024 Wizard version.
Rules questions
Magic Aura FAQ
Does Magic Aura make a nonmagical item actually magical?
No. It changes what magical examination reports. The object gains no enhancement bonus, spell effect, charge, command word, attunement property or other magical function merely because its aura looks magical.
Can Magic Aura hide a cursed item?
It can falsify the item’s magical aura where the spell allows, but it does not remove the curse or stop the curse functioning. Whether a particular identification method exposes the deception depends on the edition and the exact examining effect.
Can 5.5e Magic Aura make an Undead creature count as another type?
For spells and magical effects, yes: Mask tells those effects to treat the willing target as the chosen creature type. The target does not become physically living, gain the traits of the chosen creature, or lose its own innate abilities merely because its magical classification has changed.
Does the 2024 spell still work like the old 1st-level spell?
No. The open 2024 SRD version, Arcanist’s Magic Aura, is a 2nd-level Wizard spell and includes a creature-targeting Mask effect. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e retain the older 1st-level object-focused spell.
Can Detect Magic see through False Aura?
False Aura exists specifically to falsify magical-aura detection. Detect Magic receives the false result. That does not prevent nonmagical investigation or a different magical effect from revealing information that Magic Aura does not claim to conceal.
How does the 30-day version work in 5.5e?
Cast the spell on the same target every day for 30 days and apply the same effect each time. After that repeated use, the illusion lasts until dispelled rather than ending after 24 hours.
Rules authority and licensing
Sources and Licensing
- D&D 5.5e / 2024: System Reference Document 5.2.1 — Arcanist’s Magic Aura, Level 2 Illusion (Wizard).
- Pathfinder 1e: Archives of Nethys — Magic Aura, sourced to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook.
- D&D 3.5e: d20 SRD — Magic Aura.
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