A ? About the Images Power

[Corven_Ren]

I am in the process of creating a fire & heat based character and was wondering if it was a plausable idea for him to basically cause people to see mirages. What do you think?

[jackalope]

Re: A ? About the Images Power

 

I am in the process of creating a fire & heat based character and was wondering if it was a plausable idea for him to basically cause people to see mirages. What do you think?

 

Depends on what you mean by plausible.

 

It's a plausible use of the Human Torch's powers in a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby FF tale, when most people only knew of mirages as "hallucinations of an oasis" from episodes of I Dream of Jeannie. (edit: that sounds harsh, but what I mean is that it's plausible if you're doing a tongue-in-cheek homage to the 60's comics and following the "anything that sounds like scientific explanation is a scientific explanation" trope).

 

But if you mean plausible in a "makes sense to anyone who graduated a high school science program after 1945", then no, it's not plausible.

 

A mirage is only a rippling distortion in the air causes by heat reflecting off the ground. It can, from a distance, appear as water on the horizon, but no-one would ever mistake a mirage for anything other than rippling water. You would never mistake a mirage for a tree, or a car, or a person for example.

[Zeropoint]

Re: A ? About the Images Power

 

Not quite true. Under certain unusual conditions, the varying density of air can create a lensing effect that allows the viewer to see things below the horizon or otherwise out of range. This can make it look like there is an oasis, or city, or mountains, or whatever where there is nothing but empty desert--or even above the desert in some cases.

 

This effect can't create new images, only make something that already exists look closer.

 

Under normal conditions, however, rippling water is the only visual effect you're going to get.

 

Zeropoint

[Corven_Ren]

Re: A ? About the Images Power

 

K thanks guys

[Speedball]

Re: A ? About the Images Power

 

I think in order to have full-blown heat-induced hallucinations like the kind an Images pwoer would replicate would be to dehydrate a person. When severely dehydrated, a person can hallucinate--but this would take many rounds of slow heating. Try to do it any faster and you won't dehydrate the target--you'll just burn it.

[Lightray]

I think in order to have full-blown heat-induced hallucinations like the kind an Images pwoer would replicate would be to dehydrate a person. When severely dehydrated' date=' a person can hallucinate--but this would take many rounds of slow heating. Try to do it any faster and you won't dehydrate the target--you'll just burn it.[/quote']

In this case, Mental Illusions vs. CON would probably be better than Images, though.

[Speedball]

Re: A ? About the Images Power

 

In this case' date=' Mental Illusions vs. CON would probably be better than Images, though.[/quote']

 

Excellent point, lightray. You might even want to make the effect cumulative or have a delayed activation.