What is Divine Sense in D&D 5e?
Divine Sense is a 1st-level paladin class feature. In D&D 5e, paladins are divine warriors whose powers stem from sacred oaths. While subclasses are defined by the different oaths you can choose from (Oath of Vengeance, Oath of Devotion, and so on), all paladins have access to a few core class features—including Divine Sense, which allows them to detect otherworldly foes. Other paladin features include: Lay on Hands. This ability allows paladins to heal a certain number of hit points based on their level. Fighting Style. Paladins can specialize in a particular fighting style, like defense or dueling. Divine Smite. Paladins can expend a spell slot to deal radiant damage to foes while striking them with a melee attack. Channel Divinity. Paladins can directly channel divine energy in different ways based on the oath they choose. Divine Health. Paladins become immune to disease at the 3rd level. Aura of Protection. This generates an aura allowing the paladin and nearby allies to add the paladin’s Charisma modifier to any saving throws. Aura of Courage. The paladin and allies nearby can’t be frightened with this ability active. Cleansing Touch. Paladins can spend an action to remove one spell on themselves or a willing creature.
How does Divine Sense work?
Divine Sense can detect undead, celestials, or fiends within range. As an action, you can activate Divine Sense and immediately learn the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet (so long as the creature isn’t behind total cover). You learn the creature’s type but not its identity, and you can sense any object or place that has been hallowed or desecrated. For example, say there’s a vampire (a type of undead) within 60 feet of your paladin. In that case, you’d detect an undead creature and know where they are, but you wouldn’t know it’s specifically a vampire or that vampire’s name. According to the ability’s description, a paladin’s Divine Sense registers the presence of evil (like fiends and undead) as a noxious odor, while powerful good (like celestials) resonates with the sound of heavenly music.
Divine Sense lasts until the end of your next turn. As an ability, Divine Sense isn’t always passively active. You must choose to activate it as an action, and it’ll last for a round, from the initial turn in which you use it until the end of your next turn (which is about 6 seconds of in-game time). So, if you want to detect creatures in different areas, you’ll likely have to use Divine Sense multiple times.
You can use Divine Sense a limited number of times per day. Paladins can activate Divine Sense a number of times equal to 1 + their Charisma modifier. That means the higher your paladin’s Charisma ability score is, the more they’ll be able to use Divine Sense each in-game day. For example, if your Paladin’s Charisma modifier is +4, they can use Divine Sense 5 times per day (1 + 4). Your paladin will regain all expended uses of Divine Sense after finishing a long rest. In 5e, long rests are periods of extended downtime that typically last 8 hours.
How to Use Divine Sense
Detect shape-changed fiends or undead with Divine Sense. Powerful fiends (devils and demons) can disguise themselves as an average humanoid. Similarly, vampires can try to pass as humans—and shapechange into bats when they want to. So, if there’s a hidden enemy in the area, a paladin’s Divine Sense can help sniff them out. Remember that Divine Sense can’t break an effect like invisibility. For example, if a nearby fiend is invisible, Divine Sense would tell you where that fiend is—but you still wouldn’t be able to see it. You can also use Divine Sense to determine a creature's type before using certain abilities and spells. For example, if you can verify that a foe is undead, the party's cleric could then confidently use Turn Undead against it.
Avoid ambushes by sensing them beforehand. Sometimes, a Perception check isn’t enough to spot the hidden enemies waiting to attack the party. But, if you’re within 60 feet of those hidden enemies, Divine Sense will detect them—even if they’re so well-hidden that your paladin can’t see them. By catching an ambush early, you can even use Divine Sense to get the jump on your enemies and ambush them first!
Find significant items or places while exploring with Divine Sense. Since Divine Sense can detect anything that’s consecrated or desecrated, you may be able to find powerful artifacts, weapons, or other important gear that you might otherwise miss. Similarly, if you’re trying to find an entity’s lair, Divine Sense can point you to hallowed (or corrupted) ground and help you navigate your way there.
How to Tweak Divine Sense as a DM
Allow Divine Sense to detect more creature types to expand its utility. Some players may feel that Divine Sense doesn’t do enough to be worth using regularly—specifically because it only detects celestials, fiends, and undead, even though many other creature types exist. If you (as the DM) agree, you could also allow a paladin’s Divine Sense to detect fey, aberrations, or elementals. You could also tweak the ability to expand its range, changing its 60-foot range to a 90-foot, 120-foot, or even 300-foot range (depending on what you feel is appropriate).
Similar Spells & Abilities
Detect Good and Evil Out of all the 5e spells, Detect Good and Evil functions most similarly to Divine Sense. For the spell’s duration (up to 10 minutes), you can detect the presence of an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead within 30 feet and determine the creature’s location. You can also detect objects and places that have been magically desecrated or consecrated. Although this spell can reach past the majority of barriers, its range is blocked by a foot of stone, an inch of metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.
Primeval Awareness Primeval Awareness is a ranger class feature (much like Divine Sense is a paladin feature). At level 3, rangers can use an action and expend a spell slot; for 1 minute, they can sense whether aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead are anywhere within 1 mile (or up to 6 miles in their favored terrain). However, unlike Divine Sense, Primeval Awareness doesn’t reveal the creature’s location or how many of them are present.
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