Social implications of RPM

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

This is kind of my wheelhouse genre-wise, I've got two campaigns that are basically "Urban Fantasy Mysteries." That said, I use Criminology or Forensics with a required specialization of "Occult." Both have the Occultism skill as a prerequisite and Forensics (Occult) requires Thaumatology. Reading "spectral remains" and the like in the "aether" still requires a spell (Greater Sense Magic + Lesser Control Magic) that won't contaminate the area. But with a successful Forensics roll you can tell how long ago it was cast, who cast it (if you're familiar with them or you come across the same "scent" again), what it was supposed to do, etc. I applied a -1 penalty per 5 days that has past if it was cast using the adept times or 5 hours if using the non-adept times. Attempts to cover their tracks can add further penalties. Multiple spells cast in the area muddy the "atheric waters" and stack, but also include a further -1 penalty per caster. Other penalties are as assigned by the GM. That's just for magical evidence, if they've actually left physical evidence (charms, traditional trappings, grimoires, etc.) that's a whole other roll.

That's a really cool idea. I think I would want to expand it for making big spells easier to detect and smaller spells harder. So I would perhaps go with standard range penalties in seconds, but provide a bonus to the roll equal to the cost of the spell. So a 200 energy spell car on the last day is easy to detect even with a dozen tiny spells missing the waters.

Epic spells would even reach backwards in time giving of indicators that they may be cat if no one does anything to stop it. This preventing the I get 1000 of my loyal followers to give until death for my destroy the world spell, or at least making an adventure hook it if each such spell.