As a veteran of many gaming systems over the decades there are a lot of mechanics that sort of stick with you. One that I've noticed Warhammer does not share is the ability for priests to detect evil or chaos in the case of Warhammer. It seems strange to me that arcane casters can easily use magical sight to detect the chaos in the winds of magic but priests and their ilk don't seem to have a way to easily detect the chaos which they oppose. Is there a way in Warhammer that I'm missing, or is this just absent from the system? Have you maybe house ruled something?

I know that technically anyone can get magical sight if the GM allows it, but it is an out of career skill and that just seems wrong for the priestly careers.

I think the reason they can't is because they are completely separate from Chaos, they gain their power from they're belief in their gods.

Any priest capable of seeing the taint of chaos is likely tainted himself. Duh.

I swear that the more experienced the caster the less magic sight could tell the colour of magic they used. Am sure I read that somewhere.

If it was so easy just to magic sight a cultist then everyone be doing it.

All magic is chaos in some form.

As a veteran of many gaming systems over the decades there are a lot of mechanics that sort of stick with you. One that I've noticed Warhammer does not share is the ability for priests to detect evil or chaos in the case of Warhammer. It seems strange to me that arcane casters can easily use magical sight to detect the chaos in the winds of magic but priests and their ilk don't seem to have a way to easily detect the chaos which they oppose. Is there a way in Warhammer that I'm missing, or is this just absent from the system? Have you maybe house ruled something?

I know that technically anyone can get magical sight if the GM allows it, but it is an out of career skill and that just seems wrong for the priestly careers.

In addition to Magic Sight, there are a few specific blessings and spells that can detect chaos-worshipers and mutants rather easily. I don't remember the card names off the top of my head, but check the Action cards for Priests of Verena and Sigmar, and I think for the Wizards of Light and Celestial Orders. Might not be all four of those, but it's more than one of them. There's definitely a few things in the full deck(s) that'll bring a quick end to "who's the badguy" mystery plotlines in the system. Things like Blessings that make anyone in Medium range with the taint of Chaos glow visibly, and lie detector spells that require just a tiny bit of creativity on the PCs part to reveal chaos-worship. Don't remember what set the cards are from, could be Signs of Faith, Hero's Call, or the PODs.

I always felt that "Detect Evil" being a first level spell really limited the storyline options in D&D, and would prefer to not have anything like it in Warhammer.

I have to agree, from a GM perspective, that the mechanic of detecting evil or magical sight can be a real pain in the rear at times. That said, most real-life religions that I can think of have clergy that claim some ability to recognize what they consider to be evil or corrupting influences. Add to that a steady diet of other games that have priests, paladins, and clerics that can at the very least detect evil at some point in their development.

I just find it very strange that there is not something similar that priests of all the main deities could use.

Use witchhunters and torture. Think spanish inquisition. Noone is really innocent

To OP, don't let a Witch Hunter, otherwise known as Templar of Sigmar, tell you they can't detect chaos! Doubting the ability of Sigmar's faithful defenders that way is proof of chaos taint itself!

I agree that simple "detect evil" etc mechanics are death to story as well as subtle/realistic characterizations and reflect a wargame-mentality (let's colour-code everything "killable"/"not killable").

And yes there are some action cards and in fact any Witch Hunter or other PC can take Magical Sight at the cost of the expense of "non career/advance skill" (4 advances, ouch!).

Narratively/setting wise, temples and orders might have "seers" who can detect chaos (mechanically those who invested in that costly ability). They also likely perceive the winds and chaos differently, with their own subjective lens. Wizards see it the way the elves taught them to see it (IMHO chaos has not true singular appearance, it's eye-of-beholder). So it's not even immediately obvious the Temple Seer sees what the Wizard sees as they describe it differently.

The novel "Beasts in Velvet" has a temple seer (with more abilities than magical sight actually, she's a minor psychic really - either a blessed individual or a stable mutation that's useful though mentally stressful - deemed the former because the temple finds her useful and so deems her acceptable when it could just as easily decided to burn her).

The same wizard whose magical sight sees more also may likely "see it all as more complicated question" due to their different relationship with the winds/chaos etc. where they definitely do not see "chaos = evil" and in fact disdain that fanatic's label "warpstone" favouring to ponder "wyrdstone's nature".

In WFRP your attitude is very dependent on "who/what you are".