| From: | Eve Forward <lutra@******.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Magical Perception power |
| Date: | Tue, 19 Sep 1995 16:54:10 -0700 |
I think it might be interesting for SR. Anyone have any feedback on how to
develop it and handle it in game terms? Especially how much it should cost at
character creation, to avoid munchkinism.
Magical Perception
Certain individuals and many paranormal (and, rumor has it, even
normal) creatures, while not possessing full astral awareness, nevertheless
seem to have a certain sense of the invisible world. Whether this is something
that all living creatures possess to some degree, or is a distinct talent, is
not certain.
Magical perception is a "sense" of an astral power or presence nearby.
It may detect background count, spirits or other astral creatures, or sustained
spells. Exactly what is being detected will not usually be known; the
individual will only get a "sense" that something is there.
This "sense" manifests differently for different people. It can be a
sudden chill or tingle, a feeling of nervousness or anticipation, feeling
"creepy" or "sensitive", or feeling "watched". Some will
feel a distinct ache
or pain or itch in some portion of their anatomy, usually the same place each
time. Rare cases may smell something "odd", or may see faint motions out of the
corner of the eye, or faint hallucinations that are too indistinct to learn
anything from. Some may experience a sudden ringing in the ears or a muting of
sound, or hear faint static, wind, or humming sounds.
Individuals will often be more sensitive to some things than others;
some may be able to sense background count yet be unable to sense spirits, for
example. The strength and nature of the impression may vary.
Magical sense is very easy to confuse with normal body responses;
because of this, if an individual attempts to actively try to use their magical
sense, more often then not all they'll get is a false alarm. (Try really hard
to see if you can feel your skin tingling, and pretty soon you can feel it).
And a normal random body response may be misinterpreted as a magical
perception. However, magical sense does not need to be "turned on"; it is
always on.
The drawback to this is that it's always on. If a sudden strong
perception occurs, it may interfere with the individual's actions; a sudden
sense of fear and paranoia can be difficult to deal with while
trying to accomplish a tricky task. (+N to target numbers)
Spirits and other sentient creatures in the astral, that are observing
a magic-sensitive individual, have a chance of noticing that they have been
noticed. How they respond to this knowledge is up to the GM. The
magic-sensitive individual does not have a accessible presence on the Astral,
but spirits in particular seem able to "pump up" their astral presence and
thereby increase the individual's perception of them, often sending the
individual into overload and leaving them a quivering wreck. (+1 to TN's per
round of the spirit's attention).
The range on this varies. For some it is touch, for others it only
works if the magic being sensed is close by (the same room, for example).
Others will only sense magic that is pertaining to them; a spirit watching
them, or a spell affecting them, for example.
Magic perception is handled the same way as a perception test, and
uses the same stat. The GM will assign the target number for the test, if
he/she feels a test is necessary (sometimes the power just isn't working, so
there's no need to check). If the test is failed, nothing is sensed; a success
indicates some sense is gained, the strength of the impression depending on the
number of successes. GM's may choose to let the strength of the impression
increase with the magic being perceived (A Force-12 elemental would give a
stronger impression than a Watcher, for example) or simply let the dice decide.
(Note: This could give a very strong impression that "There's something here!"
even if it's only a Watcher, while the elemental might give only a faint sense)
Whaddya think, sirs?
-E
