Discriminatory IR vision?

[Mathew]

I noticed that in the write up for Scorch in The Mutant File, she bought Discriminatory for her IR Vision. I was sorta under the understanding that IR (and UV) vision was discriminatory - that is, if you buy it, you see like through an IR camera, you see shades IR light, outlines, etc. If this is not the case, then are people who just buy IR or UV vision only able to detect "yes or no" to the presence of IR and UV light, and they have to buy Discriminatory to see detail? Or was the Scorch write-up mistaken?

[Rapier]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

Discriminatory means that you can tell one person from another. IR vision especially with people is not very distinctive. Depending on what you've been doing your IR look can change pretty dramatically. IR does not, by default (iirc), include discriminatory. I'd have to look it up for sure, and I'm a little short on time right now.

[JmOz]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

In 5th IR would be most offten attached to sight and then have discriminitory

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

In 6e IR Vision is specifically NOT Discriminatory, as noted above. That means you can target people using only IR Vision, but you might not be targeting the right people. The functional question is how easy is it for a hero with non-discriminatory vision to keep the good guys and bad guys straight? Obviously it depends on the circumstances, but a PER roll (with modifiers no doubt) would probably be required. Some characters would be easy to distinguish (a lone flying character or those with active fire powers for instance), but it would also be easy to lose a target in a crowd.

 

Enhanced senses, in my experience, are one of the hardest things to GM because it requires you to think about what exactly a character with those senses is really perceiving at any given moment. I had a player who ran a hero that was blind but had a heat sense bought as IR Vision, and I was forever forgetting he couldn't do simple things like read signs or see through the windshield of a car (which is largely opaque to IR wavelengths), much less keep track of who's who in combat (and yes, he accidentally blasted his teammates more than once). Fortunately the player was willling to remind me of the character's shortcomings most of the time, but in retrospect I might not have been so willing to go along with it if I had realized what a headache it would be.

[Mathew]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

So is it official that in 4e IR vision (and UV) are NOT discriminatory? I figured they were Discriminatory - just like they are targeting and ranged, just for being in the sight group.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

I'd say this depends a lot on the GM and the campaign. (Note that Normal Sight also doesn't have Discriminatory, but it is "discriminatory in many ways" or whatever.) The one thing we should say for certain is that Discriminatory should give you more detail than the sense does without. But there's no real clear-cut line in the sand, so this is something that you're going to have to take up with your GM (or think about how you want to handle in your campaign if you ARE the GM).

 

I can imagine "normal" IR Vision that would let you tell people apart. In that case Discriminatory might be able to give you enough information to determine whether they've recently eaten or been outside or been exercising based on their heat signature. I can also imagine "normal" IR Vision that wouldn't let you distinguish individuals, or would only let you recognize people you are very familiar with and have seen using IR Vision in the past. In that case Discriminatory might give you full recognition in addition to some or all of the things mentioned above.

[Mr Reasonable]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

I believe that IR that works through the sight simulated sense group is as discriminatory as normal sight i.e. you would have no difficulty telling people apart. If it is bought on its own however, or as part of a simulated sense group that is not normally discriminatory, all you can tell is that some places are hotter than others. In fact, bought 'on its own' it is not a sense and has no range.

 

I think of non-discriminatory senses as entirely 'black or white' - no gray or color. They tell you that what you detect is present or absent at a given location, but little else on their own. Anything above a threshold level would register on the sense, anything below that threshold level would not. Most senses are pretty useless without some level of 'discriminatory' attached, in my opinion. Even without 'discriminatory' though you can get some useful information, coupled with other circumstantial evidence (that particular blob of heat is moving rapidly toward me...) you can often tell living targets from non-living ones. Obviously you'll need 'range' on that to make it work.

[pinecone]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

Discriminatory means that you can tell one person from another. IR vision especially with people is not very distinctive. Depending on what you've been doing your IR look can change pretty dramatically. IR does not' date=' by default (iirc), include discriminatory. I'd have to look it up for sure, and I'm a little short on time right now.[/quote']

 

yeah it is "partially discrim" as a default because it's part of the sight group...fine detail would take some extra points. IR:" I see a person in the bushes" Dicrim IR: "I see a Man in the bushes, and he is sweating, or has been exercising"

[JmOz]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

However, and consider, that discrimitory should be based on the information you are getting from the sense (You could tell two voices apart, but would have no idea what the person looks like). With IR a case could be made that you would be able to tell various temps apart, but not necesarily enough to tell people apart

[casualplayer]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

Why should you get any sensory Adders for free? If I define it as Scent Heat like a reptile do I get free 360 degree sensing?

 

For a decent visual of what IR Vision No Discriminatory looks like, just watch Predator.

[JmOz]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

simulate sense rule from 5th edition

[Matt Holck]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

The Infrared

 

 

 

 

Infrared cameras as a rule are black and white.

They only read the intensity of the infrared light.

The cameras do not discriminate specific wavelengths.

[pinecone]

Re: Discriminatory IR vision?

 

Why should you get any sensory Adders for free? If I define it as Scent Heat like a reptile do I get free 360 degree sensing?

 

For a decent visual of what IR Vision No Discriminatory looks like, just watch Predator.

 

Well "Sorta" they are supossed to get the basics of the sense they glom on to...I'd likely call "IR ScenT" as a 240 degree sense.....normal scent is 360, but affected by wind...Photons find the back of your head to be a blockage....Kinda a gotta go with what makes sense (Heh I made a funny! What?...)