Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

[arcady]

I want to build the sense that I've described here:

 

Something' date=' or someone, just at the range of Mage Sight, was always there. She guessed a block or two, where they likely thought she could not see them behind walls and around corners - underestimating her power. Whoever it was would follow her, just on the edge, as she went for her morning and midday meals - everyday the moment she stepped beyond the door of her estate there it was, a presence - sometimes Water, other times Fire, and once even Air.[/quote']

 

Given that the special effect entails sensing the use of magic and its general nature and strength - not in exact terms, but in relation to oneself.

 

How could I construct this sense?

 

If it entails an N-Ray ability, how do you add that part in? N-Ray doesn't seem to have any special cost on it for the ability to penetrate objects (unless I missed it).

[jackalope]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

If I'm understanding what you want, this should do:

 

Detect

Magic 13- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Range

plus

N-Ray Perception

(Unusual Group), Telescopic (+5 versus Range Modifier)

Cost: 40

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Don't worry about the "N-ray" effects. N-ray vision in the book is simply a special sense designed to simulate classic "X-ray vision" SFX. Its not necessary to develop a sense that can sense through barriers. Many normal senses can sense through barriers, but do not need the addition of N-ray vision. These include Hearing group, Radio group and many unusual senses.

 

Personaly, to design a sense that has enhanced N-ray like abilities (like a Radar that can "deep scan" a target and provide internal schematics based on its scan) I use Analyze. A sense with Analyze can tell you absolutely everything about a target that sense could possibly determine.

 

Its sounds to me like your sense is quite simply;

 

Detect Magic[Common pheonomena](5) Discriminatory(5) 360^ arc(5) Ranged(5) Sense(2) 22pts.

 

with this, the power can detect magic at normal ranges from any direction. It can determine what type of magic (whether its Air, Fire, Water, Earth or Spirit etc) and the source of that magic, but not much beyond that. (you can't get exactly what spell or the type of magic item etc)

[arcady]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Thanks folks.

 

Only, two conflicting responses, who's right?

 

 

Oh, if I wanted it to be able to go around corners, or even all the way around a block, but not through things, would that be getting indirect instead of 360 degrees, or?

[keithcurtis]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Perhaps you could find something helpful in my camapign's notes on Spirit Sight.

It's not easy designing adventures for a class of people who are basically walking tricorders.

 

Keith "but I try" Curtis

[jackalope]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Only' date=' two conflicting responses, who's right?[/quote']

 

Always bet on the Jackalope.

 

An unusual detect can't be assumed to have N-Ray properrties unless they are paid for. Therefore it should be N-Ray because you can sense things that are around corners, on the other side of walls, etc. It should be 360 degrees because you can sense things behind you.

 

You might get rid of the Analyze, and you could add Sense.

[arcady]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Keith: 350 degrees?

 

I noticed you wrap it into your multipower. I had it seperate from the VPP I require the mages to take, and if I folded it in they'd have 20 or more additional points.

 

I've been wondering if as I described it out of my fiction above (rough draft of that chapter - and below my norm, been bugging me since I posted it) I would even need the 360 degree aspect...

[Mark Taylor]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

You don't need N-Ray to sense phenomena through physical barriers. In fact, whether or not a detect can sense through barriers or not is mainly a matter or special effects. This is covered in the rules FAQ under Enhanced Senses.

 

 

Q: How can you determine whether a Sense can perceive through physical objects, like walls?

 

A: This isn’t really a matter of establishing a hard-and-fast rule. It’s more an issue of considering what’s being detected, the nature of the Sense Group, and the special effects involved, and then applying your common and dramatic sense.

 

The full answer is much longer but that's enought to sum up the essence. The rest just gives guidelines about which factors you might want to consider when making the decision. You could go take a look at it yourself if you want more detail

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Always bet on the Jackalope.

 

An unusual detect can't be assumed to have N-Ray properrties unless they are paid for. Therefore it should be N-Ray because you can sense things that are around corners, on the other side of walls, etc.

 

 

Then how do you explain basic sense of Hearing, which can sense things around corners and through walls (though, at a reduced PER roll) and Radio perception, which costs a mere 8pts, but are not stopped by walls at all? (except a building with high metal content and electronic interferance)

[jackalope]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Then how do you explain basic sense of Hearing' date=' which can sense things around corners and through walls (though, at a reduced PER roll) and Radio perception, which costs a mere 8pts, but are not stopped by walls at all? (except a building with high metal content and electronic interferance)[/quote']

 

It's basic physics.

 

Sound waves travel through some barriers, and bounce around corners. Same is true of radio waves. Both hearing and radio are passive senses - the signal travels to you.

 

Unless a detect is picking up some sort of transmission from a source, I don't see any reason to assume that detect automatically has N-Ray properties.

 

If a GM chooses to define magic as radiant, if there is "magic radiation" or "magic waves" (magitons?), then a passive magic detect might have some limited N-Ray properties, but the GM would also have to define what materials, if any, block the signal.

 

But no such stipulation was given, so I designed a sense that can detect magic at the farthest fringes of perception regardless of interceding objects, an active sense that reaches out and finds magic, regardless of whether it is radiant or not.

 

I don't think it's fair for a player to assume or insist that magic is automatically radiant and that it can penetrate any barrier.

[arcady]

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

 

Well this is what I've worked out so far:

 

http://home.pacbell.net/arcady0/fahla/Gaming/magic_Hero.html#magesight

 

Mage Sight:

All Mages have the ability to sense other mages casting or holding magical elements. This works as the Detect Sense for Magic, and possibly a distinctive feature on mages.

 

Mage sight is contained within the primary element's VPP. It can do the following, depending on the size of the VPP:

• Detect Magic (Class, 5 points), Passive; Real Cost 5. Can determine element.
  
• Add sense (2 pts.); Real Cost now 7.
  
• Add Range; Real Cost now 10.
  
• Add Discriminatory; Real Cost now 15. Can relative power in relation to self, rough time of fading magic - recent or not.
  
• Add 360 degrees; Real Cost now 20. Can sense around corners, but not through silk, magical barriers, or more than 5 inches (actual, not Hero system hexes) of matter.
  
• Add Analyze; Real Cost now 25. Can tell exact magic style, exact power, ID caster on future contact.

Mage Sight cannot have other Sense modifiers. A mage's Mage Sight suffers the same Real Cost limits as any spell they might cast, and drops down when they use up parts of their pool to whatever is left. So a Mage who could cast a real cost spell of 20 has 360 degrees, when that mage casts a Real Cost spell of 11, they only have 9 left for Mage Sight, and thus have the 7 point version.