Projective Senses

[Foxiekins]

My wife came up with the idea of a character who can let other people perceive things through her senses...  This seems at first to be Clairsentience, usable by others, but the more I think about it, the more awkward it seems to try and build, given how the rules for perception points work...  Does anyone have any notions to other ways to build this ability...?  I've contemplated Mind Link and Telepathy, but they don't really seem up to the job...

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

Perceiving things from a place other than oneself is generally Clairsentience.  You could hack it with N-Ray UBO limited to things the granter perceives, but it'd be a kludge. 

[IndianaJoe3]

"Clairsentience, UBO, Mobile, Only through original character's senses" seems to fit. What is the issue you have with perception points?

[GreaterThanOne]

As I understand it, it is definitely Clairsentience. You will have to decide if the person "seeing through her eyes" is using her perceptive senses and limits or their own or what senses and sense groups are projected. Can it be forced? etc. Using Champions Complete UOO "Differing Modifiers" on Pg. 120 you should build it as the user will use it with all Advantages and Limitations then the Real Cost of that power becomes the Base Cost of the player character's cost and then you apply Advantages and Limitations from there.

 

Hope that made sense.

[GreaterThanOne]

Adding to the above if it can be forced it will have UAA (against 0 DCV or 0 DMCV for a willing recipient or the GM can just allow it to hit of course) but the build procedure is the same. 

[Duke Bushido]

And if you really want to avoid Claisentience and have a reasonably inexpensive build, go with Telepathy. 

 

Moreover, Telepathy may be more appropriate because of a built-in limitation that Claisentience does not have. 

 

A Claisentience-based build is essentially "here; use my eyes!"  (or ears or tongue or what-have-you).  There is no inherent limit to what the recipient will perceive, so long as it is in the range of the borrowed perceiving neurons.

 

So if you want to build "take another look" or "am I missing anything?" (both wonderful ideas that I am now in love with, by the way, and will have to work into Danica.  Thanks!  ), then I suggest Clairsentience is ideal: the borrower gets his own perception roll to notice whatever might be in the lender's field of perception.

 

But there's a drawback as well:  if you're building "Let me show you something," well, they might not see it.  They might, using the same eyes you saw it through, not actually see it because of a flubbed perception roll. 

 

With Telepathy-

 

Well, Telepathy is a communication medium.  You can use it to describe, in as exacting a detail as you wish, everything that you are perceiving.  Owing to the odd "monologuing takes no time" rule, it's barely even a hand wave to turn that into "describing what I see in absolute minutiae takes no time," which actually makes _more_ sense when you apply the SFX of this power as "you can see what I can see." mostly because you don't _actually_ have to describe every little thing:  the borrower is seeing it with you. 

 

Now how are these builds functionally different? 

 

As noted, with Clairsentience, the borrower is borrowing your senses to make his own perception roll.  He is seeing what _he_ sees with your eyes, and not necessarily what _you_ see, with all the pros and cons inherent to that concept. 

 

With Telepathy, he needs no perception roll, as he sees exactly what you see (because that is all you would ever be able to describe to him, after all) making it a certainty that, if you are trying to show him a specific thing, he _will_ see it.  Of course, he will never be able to perceive what you do not perceive, even if it is in plain sight: he is getting the exact image that your brain is recording, so to speak. 

 

At first blush, the differences don't seem significant, as they both do _generally_ the same thing.   The most critical difference is if the two characters are seeing _from the same vantage point_, or if they are seeing _the same thing_. 

 

If you will bear with me for an anecdotal example, some years ago my wife and I attended a rally in north Georgia.  Short version:

 

The entire group ended up at an observational pull-off in Tennessee and we pulled off for chatting, clothes changing (those wanted to) and rest (for those with tender backsides).  A lot of us wandered over to a line of post-mounted binoculars to peer into the valley or the hills the other side of it. 

 

My wife was quite impressed with what she saw, and begged me to take look. 

 

I saw a _sweet_ looking Suzuki Samurai, silver with red stripes and a beige soft top; it was an exact copy of the one I owned before Dan "the Fraud" Rather faked his investigative report into the dangers of the Sammy (I think you Aussies call it the Jutney or something like that?), prompting no end of hell from the woman I was with at the time until I sold it just to keep the peace.  (I loved that stupid thing: best camping and fishing car _ever_!) 

 

I giggled, commented to my wife that it brought back memories, and I thanked her. 

 

And she asked me what the hell I was talking about. 

 

Apparently, I was _supposed_ to notice the home with the creek running behind it and the for-sale sign in front.  I missed that completely. 

 

And that's how the Clairsentience build will work without handwaving it otherwise. 

 

 

[Grailknight]

If you want to avoid Clairsentience UBO, why not go with Images? Then you can show the other person  everything you experience and a re not limited to one person.

[BoloOfEarth]

I agree as to the Telepathy (with a minor limitation that it only carries over what the character perceives, not thoughts / memories, and a more sizable limitation that it's only a one-way connection).  One thing about the Clairsentience - AIUI technically it allows you to use any senses *you* possess for that sense group, at that target location.  So even if Wifeikins (wife of Foxiekins) has IR, UV, Nightvision, and X-Ray vision, and she hits Foxie with Clairsentience UBO, well, if Foxie doesn't have any of those senses, then I believe Foxie can only use Plain Old Eyeballs v. 1.0 (unless either Wifeikins' senses are also UBO, or the GM wants to be nice and hand-wave it).  But Telepathy gets around that issue, as well as the lender's successful perception issue that Duke described.

[GreaterThanOne]

I was thinking about this last night (I don't know why) and the more I did, the more I thought that I would just add UBO on the Senses or Sense Groups you want others to use. It will give you the broadest options in regards to "how it works" you can make the targeting Mental (so it's targeting is LOS), Usable Only Through Mind Link (-0 ) or keep the ranged targeting rules for UOO as is (see UOO Table Champions Complete p. 119.

 

See Champions Complete Pg 80. Mind Link- No LOS  for a great way to do this without range or LOS.

 

And finally the UOO rules provide a way to make differing Ad/Disads for the Recipient and Grantor for example the Grantor may need to uses Gestures or Incantation (Say if its a Spell) whereas the Recipient may not. Telepathy would get a bit twisty to get adjust correctly IMO. 

 

Additionally, Telepathy also includes the ability to "read" minds, on a moral or "Feeling of the Power" sense, allowing someone to access your senses as opposed to transmitting your sensations definitely have a different feeling to them though you can Ad/Disad it any way you want so it ends up working.

 

Either way, good luck and enjoy!

 

  

[dsatow]

I would use mental illusions with a limitation only what attacker can sense (probably a -1 1/2) and a set level of effect.

[Tech]

I would go with Clairsentience UBO. The other powers do not work for the following reasons (unless I missed something):

 

a) Bolo says "But Telepathy gets around that issue, as well as the lender's successful perception issue that Duke described."  Duke's reasoning is excellent. Just because you see something doesn't mean you are concentrating on the same object. The original post just allows someone else to see what you're seeing, not forcing the person being granted the power to be aware of what the grantor sees. Also, Mental Defense kicks in with Telepathy so I'd not go with that power.

b) Grailknight's Image suggestion is good, but it is obvious to anyone/everyone looking at the images, which is not what the OP wanted.

c) Mental Illusions has the same problem with Mental Defense, although I do like the idea.

 

 

 

[Duke Bushido]

Unless I am mistaken, nothing in Mental Defense mandates that it be on all the time.  Nothing says it can't be on, either, but I don't think it has to be assumed that one cannot let "friendlies" send something to you. 

 

(yeah: this is going to open a can of worms. ) 

 

 

[Tech]

2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Unless I am mistaken, nothing in Mental Defense mandates that it be on all the time.  Nothing says it can't be on, either, but I don't think it has to be assumed that one cannot let "friendlies" send something to you. 

 

(yeah: this is going to open a can of worms. )

 

Duke, it looks you... are correct! Give that guy a hamburger.  From 5th edition black book, p120 on Mental Defense:

 

"Like other Special Powers, Mental Defense is "on" at all times, unless the character chooses to turn it off."

 

Telepathy appears to only need 'Greater than Ego' for this to work, Mental Illusions looks to be Ego +10 for it to work. I'm still leaning towards Clairsentience personally because the targeted person won't be without his defenses at some point while being given sight.

[pinecone]

In 5th you could "send" senses...did that change? The only time I used it was to build "super" cam- corders "Photographic memory, sendable, only via electronic files..."