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Old 08-27-2017, 08:20 AM   #7
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Darkvision (vanilla and magic -10%)

Quote:
Originally Posted by lachimba View Post
5. Does a Gorgon's flesh to stone work via Dark Vision?
Presumably in this case the Gorgon's ability is Sense-Based, which means that the target can be affected only if it can sense the Gorgon. (See it, usually.) Being able to see at all is actually disadvantageous in this case -- but that doesn't turn normal human vision into a point-granting Disad. Similarly, having extra senses to perceive the hideous Gorgon would be that much more disadvantageous. Having a lot of senses is a two-edged sword, even if it is a net Advantage because it benefits you more often and more strongly than it hurts you.

The fluff text for the ability should give you some ideas on how to adjudicate it. If your flash-bang grenade Affflicts stunning or blindness due to its visible-light flash, not being able to see in that spectrum might well make you immune, and being able to see in some other part of the spectrum might well leave you unaffected simply because the mundane grenade wasn't designed to affect that part of the spectrum. Note that that also presumes you can easily turn off your normal vision, which ordinary humans can't do. It's not the presence of another sense that helps; it's the absence of normal vision. If multiple sensory powers are important in the game then that might make the flash-bang ability cheaper. (Think of it as an Accessibility that affects fewer people: Only Those Without Other Senses).

So if Gorgons turn viewers into stone because they're just that ugly, being able to see them via any means might well be bad. If your Gorgons are less powerful -- say, you can safely view them in a mirror or polished shield, as it's only the direct sight that's deadly -- you might count other means of viewing as sufficiently distorted to be safe. Clairvoyance, for example, might not get you turned to stone -- or it might. That's really a GM call for how the Gorgon's work in his setting.
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