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Assuming a target of a Pathfinder spell did not see/hear/notice a caster casting the spell, do they know/feel they were targeted?
Is it relevant if the spell worked or not, if a save was involved (either successful nor not)? Does it depend on the spell?
Example: A cleric casts detect evil through a door. What do the NPCs on the other side know now?
For example, the spell detect evil is an area spell that doesn't target creatures and doesn't grant a saving throw. A typical creature just doesn't know if it's in the area affected by the spell detect evil.
Detect Evil is not a Scrying spell, though it has a chance of working through one (emphasis mine).
As with all divination (scrying) spells, the sensor has your full visual acuity, including any magical effects. In addition, the following spells have a 5% chance per caster level of operating through the sensor: detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic, and message.
In that case,
A creature can notice the sensor by making a Perception check with a DC 20 + the spell level. The sensor can be dispelled as if it were an active spell.
By itself, Detect Evil provides no saving throw for a possible detection or counteraction. The spell description also does not mention any light, sound, sensation, or other kind of detectable sense.
More generally, if the spell describes nothing detectable manifesting, your target won't be aware. Evocation spells have spectacular manifestation of their spell energy, while Illusion spells could completely obscure their manifestation (to avoid disbelief).
Now take Message for example. It has a duration of 10 minutes, before which you have to appoint your targets. But as long as you do not whisper any words to these targets in those 10 minutes, they have no way of knowing they are being targeted by Message. Like Detect Evil, the spell description does not mention any light, sound, sensation, or other kind of detectable sense. Message does not provide a saving throw, nor is there a spell resistance.
According to a relatively recent—and widely unpopular—entry in the FAQ, all spells have manifestations that make it possible for anyone to know that a spell has been cast. A spell's manifestation can be disguised, hidden, or removed only by a caster that has one of the new feats or special abilities that does that.
It's hotly debated whether a spell's manifestation allows onlookers also to identify the spell's caster or if a manifestation simply indicates that a spell's been cast.
