[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Hmmm... much to ponder.

What is certain is that the combination of Detect (Minds) with an effective range and resolutipn somewhere between the human senses of smell and hearing, possibly ranging up to sight at best + Detect (Spirits) with a range and resolution way better than natural senses should cost significantly less than Detect (Consciousness), which would be Very Common, with the Long-Range enhancement. Having the Detect ability be much less effective for the vast majority of foes that might actually kill you should be good for a significant cost reduction.

It's an issue with the resolution of the system, yeah. Note the difference between Detect (Spirits) or Detect (Minds) and Detect (Consciousness) is itself fairly small - only [10]. There's also the issue that Detect (Spirits) and Detect (Minds) are the same price, although the latter is likely much more useful (Spirits can be problematic, but fewer of them can seriously harm you in the same a way a Mind that has a rifle can). If you wish to give the player a larger discount with all this in mind, you'd certainly be well within your rights. Given the reduced utility of Detect (Spirits), treating it as Occasional wouldn't be a terrible option. Perhaps the character has Detect (Spirits, Occasional; Analyzing +100%; Long-Range +50%) [25] + Detect (Consciousness, Very Common) [20] (Very Common is [20] more than Occasional), for a total of [45] (while he'd have to pay [75] to have Detect (Consciousness, Very Common; Analyzing +100%; Long-Range +50%)). The character's Detect works normally for Minds, but for Spirits he has a much longer range as well as markedly improved ability to analyze them.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I agree that the normal range modifiers seem better suited than -1/yard, which seems pretty useless as a sense.

-1/yard is mostly useful as a backup for your other senses, letting you know where something is if it manages to sneak in close. Only getting -10% for it is pretty disappointing, of course. You can also choose to make certain things more obvious to the Detect ability, much as rapid movement and bright colors are more obvious to our eyes, loud noises more obvious to our ears, and strong scents more obvious to our noses. Perhaps more powerful minds or spirits are more obvious to Detect (Consciousness)?

Originally Posted by Icelander

I could get behind a slight extra penalty over and above normal range penalties (maybe based on Mana, but it seems that -8 to -10 on average and No Mana for much of modern cities during the day would make the Magical -10% limitation an insufficient limitation to be fair for that kind of penalty). But I don't think I want a mind 25 yards away to be utterly undetectable, even for the greatest spiritualist who ever lived.

I feel -5% per -1 to Detect works.