Message no. 1

From:	Quicksilver <jhurley1@****.STEVENS-TECH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Improved Invisibility (was Re: 150 real diamonds)
Date:	Wed, 14 Dec 1994 18:59:33 -30000

On Tue, 13 Dec 1994, J.D. Falk wrote:

> See, this character, Dr. Boris, was seriously fragged by the
> Ares(?) laser weapon in FOF. But he was improvedly invisible.
> So, if Improved Invisibility (which works against electronic
> scanners, cameras, etcetera) actually _bends_ the light, would the laser
> have affected him? If not, what does it do?
> I hate to open this specific Pandora's Box, but it could well be
> an interesting topic for the first week or so. *grin* And, please,
> remember -- Shadowrun's Improved Invisibility spell has
>>>>NOTHING<<<< to
> do with the equivalent spell in AD&D!
>
[.sig deleted]

Improved Invisibility is a Illusion spell.
[From her on in, this post is IMHO]
Illusion spells don't actually do anything. They counterfeit something
to the sense/senses. An illusion spell *cannot* actually affect
anything, even photons. If it did indeed affect photons (by bending them
around the target, for example) it would be a manipulation class spell.
(I did this spell for an NPC. The target was lower (4, not int), the
drain was higher ('cause it was a manipulation), and it concealed the
target from IR ('cause it bent the IR photons away from observers.
Accounted for in a bonus game effect mod to the drain).

Improved Invisibility does none of these things. The way I see it
working is thusly: the spell projects a hologram (magically) around the
target that *looks* like the person is not there. Alternatively, the
spell acts as a very good ruthenium fiber suit that is able to fool more
than one observer at a time(The image is skin-tight). The Int resistance
roll is therefore a chance to spot irregularities in the false image.
It works against cameras because the *image* is really there (as opposed
to Std. Invis, where the spell just fools the living mind into thinking
there is nothing there), but fails against IR because the spell cannot
mask the body's own generation of IR wavelength photons. (By this
reasoning, and invisible character cannot carry a light source either, BTW).

Food for thought

*****************************************************************************
Chavez:"I want to see his eyes when it happens."
Clark:"So use a good scope on the rifle."