Hermetic Vision?

[Supreme]

I'm making a character who is imbued with the powers of the Greek god Hermes. Since Hermes is, amongst several other things, the god of trickery and deception I thought the character should have some kind of enhanced sense to allow him to see through deceptions of some kind. Since this concept could become a little too powerful and unbalancing I thought I'd stick to an enhanced sense that would only allow me to perceive through illusions made by the Images power (I'll also take mental defense only usable vs Mental Illusions). How should I go about that?

 

My first thought was either a bonus to perception, only vs Images or Detect: Images (as sense, discrimiatory, etc.). My only question then is would these senses allow me to see through the Image or to merely perceive the presense of the Image power?

[Hermit]

Re: Hermetic Vision?

 

Originally posted by Supreme

My first thought was either a bonus to perception, only vs Images or Detect: Images (as sense, discrimiatory, etc.). My only question then is would these senses allow me to see through the Image or to merely perceive the presense of the Image power?

 

I think you'd need N Ray perception for it to do that, unless the image was naturally transparent. Our eyes allow us to sense physical objects, but that doesn't mean we can just bypass them.

 

IMO

 

You could glance at the image and go "It's faker than Pro wrasslin!" but you couldn't go "It's fake, and behind curtain #3 is..." unless you had the N Ray.

[Hermit]

Hmm, the boards hiccuped when I posted.

[Killer Shrike]

Build it as a seperate sense that duplicates normal sight, but is an Unusual Sense and therefore must be flashed, imaged, invisibled, etc seperately (and who's going to have a power construct built vs your custom freaky unusual sense?)

 

Its a little expensive in as much as it is a redundant ability, but will make the character virtually immune to a lot of annoying sense-affecting powers.

[Rakshasa]

Just to add a little color, the god Hermes was said to be amekane ("impossible to trick" in Greek). He was the god of con artists (and himself gained his godhood by tricking Apollo).

 

To simulate that power, I suggest a simple "sense illusions". It should be cheap, since illusions are rather rare...

 

A possible extension of that power would be "sense lies", and maybe some kind of danger sense, since traps and ambushes are a kind of trickery.

 

Rakshasa.

[Fireg0lem]

Resistance might be useful as well, although the enhanced sense route would be more comprehensive.

[Supreme]

Re: Re: Hermetic Vision?

 

Originally posted by Hermit

I think you'd need N Ray perception for it to do that, unless the image was naturally transparent. Our eyes allow us to sense physical objects, but that doesn't mean we can just bypass them.

 

IMO

 

You could glance at the image and go "It's faker than Pro wrasslin!" but you couldn't go "It's fake, and behind curtain #3 is..." unless you had the N Ray.

I like this idea, Herm. I think it can be combined with:

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Build it as a seperate sense that duplicates normal sight, but is an Unusual Sense and therefore must be flashed, imaged, invisibled, etc seperately (and who's going to have a power construct built vs your custom freaky unusual sense?)

 

Its a little expensive in as much as it is a redundant ability, but will make the character virtually immune to a lot of annoying sense-affecting powers.

Any suggestions about how to construct this? Is it a combination of Detect with N-Ray, or do I just get the N-Ray usable only on illusions? Actually, I sort of wonder if N-Ray is supposed to penetrate illusions at all.

[Killer Shrike]

FRED Page 105 1st column, Sense Group "greybar" last para cites the legality of making a seperate sense, and in the side bar of the same page it cites that Normal Sight costs 25 points; page 227 1st column last para goes into specifics on how a seperate sense interacts w/ sense effecting powers.

 

So, duplicating Normal Sight as a Seperate Sense should cost 25 points. This is obviously a little wonky as for 25 points your character becomes virtually immune to several other powers not targeted specifically against it, but it seems to be legal.

[pinecone]

I'd also add in Detect:True form as part of the sight group as a low cost "cool power" to bedevil those tricky shapeshifters and to dicover Transformed items....

[Supreme]

Originally posted by pinecone

I'd also add in Detect:True form as part of the sight group as a low cost "cool power" to bedevil those tricky shapeshifters and to dicover Transformed items....

Hmmm... now that is interesting!

[Guest Keneton]

Hermetic vision=Detect polling! LOL!!!

[Thirdbase]

Originally posted by Keneton

Hermetic vision=Detect polling! LOL!!!

 

And here I thought it was the ability to detect things sitting on the fence.

 

Supreme depending on how expierienced the character is supposed to be, you might want to start with the ability to just detect the illusions, then add in the ability to see through them, and who created them, etc.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Thirdbase

And here I thought it was the ability to detect things sitting on the fence.

 

Supreme depending on how expierienced the character is supposed to be, you might want to start with the ability to just detect the illusions, then add in the ability to see through them, and who created them, etc.

Yeah, that'd be the usual route with something like this. I have been making Champs characters for 20 years, guys. I know all the tricks.