11-23-2021, 12:25 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
Quote:
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
|
11-23-2021, 12:48 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
Not really. The D&D concept of infravision is thermal IR, most games are oblivious to wavelengths between visible light and thermal unless it's a high tech game and they decide to make a plot point out of being able to see beams from infrared motion sensors.
|
11-23-2021, 12:49 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
Quote:
Build-wise, this would be something like Detect (Living Prey*; Long-Ranged (Lesser!Vague -??%) +??%; Discriminatory (Close-Range -??%) +??%). Note this makes use of Limited Advantages. Mechanically, you make a single Sense roll. If you detect the target while taking a -1 per yard, the sense is Discriminatory and you can engage normally. If you fail there, but detect the target while taking standard SSR penalties (-1 at 3 yards, -2 at 5 yards, etc), you know the target's location to within a yard. If you fail there, but detect the target(s) while taking the Long-Distance Table penalties, you roughly know what direction prey is located. *Most undead only have specific living things they can prey upon for sustenance - such as only sapient life - so set how common the category is based on that.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul |
|
11-23-2021, 01:40 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
But they also call it "vision" and treat it as if it let you see in the dark the way humans can see in the light. That's not remotely possible for thermal IR; the best possible resolution would count as being legally blind by human standards.
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
11-23-2021, 01:59 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
If you're willing to have lenses a few inches across you can achieve the resolution of vision.
|
11-23-2021, 03:11 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
Do you know of any animal that has evolved such a thing? And are there materials that can refract thermal IR similarly to visible light?
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
11-23-2021, 03:17 PM | #17 |
Join Date: May 2010
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
In a previous thread I started on the Infravision issue, the conclusion was the GM should be pretty generous in adjudicating what fantasy infravision can do. Sure, it's totally unrealistic, but so are lots of things in fantasy.
|
11-23-2021, 03:36 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
Bioluminescence works well with near IR vision (as with IR chemsticks and NODs). There is also some evidence for emitters in the UV range in deep-water organisms.
|
11-23-2021, 03:39 PM | #19 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
The interior of the eye of a warm-bodied animal is flooded with thermal IR from the warm-opaque walls of the eye itself. Seeing things by their thermal radiation at the same temperature as the eye is like trying to use a camera with a light inside it: it’s exceeding difficult to get noticeable contrast in the image.
My thoughts turn to creatures with IR eyes on stalks that could be kept significantly cooler than body temperature. Those would only work in rather cold dark environments.
__________________
Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
11-23-2021, 04:00 PM | #20 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: Ways for Monsters to See in the Dark
Quote:
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
|
|
|