Detect with Analyzing

[the_matrix_walker]

I was wondering about the kind and amount of information imparted by Detect.

If you have:

Detect: Supernatural Creatures (Analyzing, +100%)

And the character encounters a creature he's never heard of, what does Detect tell them? What would the basic analysis be of a vampire if you had never heard of one? Or the detailed analysis? Should you Detect the name of a thing, or details about it's nature?

"Form and purity of the item sensed, its precise subclass," Seem hard to apply... (Things like Vampire Lord or Feral Vampire could be interpreted I suppose... but without already knowing what a vampire is what do you really find out?

Does an Analyzing ("superscience scanner" equivalent) Detect tell you this thing lives on blood, burns like lamp oil and can lift a small truck if it's fed recently?

[Refplace]

Names are right out IMHO. That would be its own Detect and one I would likely not allow.
I would say it only tells you the nature not the name of the type, you need skills to properly label and understand what your seeing.
Any power with the supernatural limitation is up for detection if its on, less so if its a part of you but inactive, no spells for this detect but things that would be on a racial template.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I was wondering about the kind and amount of information imparted by Detect.

If you have:

Detect: Supernatural Creatures (Analyzing, +100%)

And the character encounters a creature he's never heard of, what does Detect tell them? What would the basic analysis be of a vampire if you had never heard of one? Or the detailed analysis? Should you Detect the name of a thing, or details about it's nature?

I think of Analyzing as similar to the way hearing discriminates between different sounds instead of giving just volume and direction. Never having analyzed a vampire before might be similar to identifying a new sound - similar to picking out instruments and beats and melody, Analyze Supernatural Creatures might give you a sense of death or hunger, and a sense of a bestial, predatory urge.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

I think of Analyzing as similar to the way hearing discriminates between different sounds instead of giving just volume and direction. Never having analyzed a vampire before might be similar to identifying a new sound - similar to picking out instruments and beats and melody, Analyze Supernatural Creatures might give you a sense of death or hunger, and a sense of a bestial, predatory urge.

Except I would think that analyzeing would give you a lot of 'sounds like's, much more specific then 'death, hunger and a sence of bestial predatory urge' more like.

'It has hints of undeath (assuming that the analyzer has met other undead), and a parasitic nature, coupled with increased durability strength and a long life.' Followed by some specifics that basically translate to a rough outline of the stats of this vampire (if this needed to be roleplayed out it would be a lot of 'stronger then a ghoul, weaker then a wearwolf' 'smart as a human', etc etc).

counter-example:
Just because I have never heard a monster truck before does not mean I would not realize hearing one in the distance that 'it sounds like a truck, but more tuned and powerful, and bigger: I'd probably be able to identify if it had a diesel engine, a gas engine, or some other sort of engine as well- and I don't have discriminatory hearing, let alone analyzing. So someone with Detect (supernatural) + analyzing should get a LOT more detail.

[the_matrix_walker]

MH Supernatural Sense (Detect Supernatural Beings) indicates that a successful basic analysis roll tells you what kind of being you are dealing with.

I could certainly be mistaken, but I took that to mean you learn it's a "Vampire" or "Zombie" or "Ghost" rather than "undead."

So if you have Analyzing, you would get that information without an analysis roll, and with it you should get more information than that with a detailed analysis roll.

[Nereidalbel]

MH also assumes that the PCs know what different monsters are. For a PC who hasn't at least heard a few legends about vampires, the best they could really get is that it's a sentient undead.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

MH also assumes that the PCs know what different monsters are. For a PC who hasn't at least heard a few legends about vampires, the best they could really get is that it's a sentient undead.

That just doesn't sound like a "Detailed Analysis" to me, and suggests a vampire would scan the same as a litch or a mummy.

And if they did know about Vampire lore, but never encountered one, without having "scanned" one before, how would he connect that "feeling" with his knowledge base?

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by starslayer

Except I would think that analyzeing would give you a lot of 'sounds like's, much more specific then 'death, hunger and a sence of bestial predatory urge' more like.

...

counter-example:
Just because I have never heard a monster truck before does not mean I would not realize hearing one in the distance that 'it sounds like a truck, but more tuned and powerful, and bigger: I'd probably be able to identify if it had a diesel engine, a gas engine, or some other sort of engine as well- and I don't have discriminatory hearing, let alone analyzing. So someone with Detect (supernatural) + analyzing should get a LOT more detail.

It would depend on the roll, better rolls get more information. Good rolls + context will usually identify the monster, but there needs to be some room for uncertainty and tension to let some plots proceed. For instance, in one ep of Buffy, the school counselor was killed by someone with super-strength - and it so happened that that episode included four people with four different kinds of super-strength!

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I was wondering about the kind and amount of information imparted by Detect.

If you have:

Detect: Supernatural Creatures (Analyzing, +100%)

And the character encounters a creature he's never heard of, what does Detect tell them?

GM judgement call of course, but here's what I'd say if a PC was scanning, say a jiang-shi:

An unfamiliar type of undead. Corporeal. Mindless hunger. Nocturnal.

If it was a dullahan

An unfamiliar type of unseelie fairy. Intelligent. Death. Decay.

[the_matrix_walker]

These examples just seem very Vague, the kind of information one might expect from a standard analysis roll, not a detailed analysis.

They certainly do not seem worth +100%