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Old 11-25-2014, 02:54 AM   #1
Azrael
 
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Default cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

Trying to figure out the cost of detect animals + cost of detecting certain types: dogs, cats, etc.
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Old 11-25-2014, 03:05 AM   #2
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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Originally Posted by Azrael View Post
Trying to figure out the cost of detect animals + cost of detecting certain types: dogs, cats, etc.
Using GURPS Magic: Plant Spells (p. 7) as a base, it might look like...

Detect (Animals) [30]
Detect (specific class - e.g., mammals) [20]
Detect (one family - e.g., all felines) [10]
Detect (one species - e.g., all house cats) [5]
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Last edited by Christopher R. Rice; 11-25-2014 at 05:28 PM.
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Old 11-25-2014, 08:24 AM   #3
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

Cats as domestic house cats, right? It's a bit confusing to use felines, then cats as a subgroup.
Though my sarcastic nitpicky side may wonder if detect house cats could find hybrids like Savannah cats.
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Old 11-25-2014, 10:10 AM   #4
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post
Using GURPS Magic: Plant Spells (p. 7) as a base, it might look like...

Detect (Animals) [30]
Quote:
Originally Posted by basic set page 48
Very Common (all life, all supernatural phenomena and beings, all minerals, all energy): 30 points.
"Animals" should be less common than "All life".
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Old 11-25-2014, 04:41 PM   #5
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Cats as domestic house cats, right? It's a bit confusing to use felines, then cats as a subgroup.
Though my sarcastic nitpicky side may wonder if detect house cats could find hybrids like Savannah cats.
Sarcasm rarely earns my attention, but yes, house cats.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NineDaysDead View Post
"Animals" should be less common than "All life".
Then it's a screw up in Plant Spells (which clearly lists "all living plants" as being Very Common) - I tend to use the most published material. A argument could be made for ...

Detect (Life) [30]
Detect (Animals) [20]
Detect (specific class - e.g., mammals) [10]
Detect (one family - e.g., all felines) [5]

Then add a -80% to the last for one specific family.
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Old 11-25-2014, 05:29 PM   #6
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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"Animals" should be less common than "All life".
Yeah, but B48 also notes that humans are common for the purpose of Detect. Subset of animals, I'd say. The rarity classes are granular, which requires some fudging in marginal cases. In the past, I've usually gone with ruling the proposed category as the more common class, but giving a little more information than I might give for another Detect that is more clearly in the same commonality group. If you had a mind towards precision, you could interpolate values to better represent the value of a given category for your games.
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Old 11-25-2014, 05:31 PM   #7
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
Yeah, but B48 also notes that humans are common for the purpose of Detect. Subset of animals, I'd say. The rarity classes are granular, which requires some fudging in marginal cases. In the past, I've usually gone with ruling the proposed category as the more common class, but giving a little more information than I might give for another Detect that is more clearly in the same commonality group. If you had a mind towards precision, you could interpolate values to better represent the value of a given category for your games.
Yeah, that's another thing that gives me pause. I wonder if a "super common" version of Detect might be a optional choice - say, worth 60 points at its base.
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Old 11-25-2014, 05:44 PM   #8
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post
Yeah, that's another thing that gives me pause. I wonder if a "super common" version of Detect might be a optional choice - say, worth 60 points at its base.
The rules for wild card advantages would suggest: Detect! [120].

Which would allow you to detect anything and everything within range, while that's certainly powerful, if you compare it with what else you could buy in the 120 point region it seems fair:

Jumper: Time (Reliable +1, +5%) [105]; Temporal Inertia [15]
The ability to mess with cause and effect, relatively safely.

Unaging [15]; Unkillable 2 [100].
The ability to never die.
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Old 11-25-2014, 05:52 PM   #9
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

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Originally Posted by NineDaysDead View Post
The rules for wild card advantages would suggest: Detect! [120].

Which would allow you to detect anything and everything within range, while that's certainly powerful, if you compare it with what else you could buy in the 120 point region it seems fair:

Jumper: Time (Reliable +1, +5%) [105]; Temporal Inertia [15]
The ability to mess with cause and effect, relatively safely.

Unaging [15]; Unkillable 2 [100].
The ability to never die.
Do remember that Detect (Life)! would be what you're doing, which wouldn't let you detect anything as you suggest - but use any other ability that Detect (Life)! could logically extend to (e.g., Telesend (Living Things) or Detect (Artificial Minds)). You've a point though. GURPS Supers suggests that a Very Common type of Control would be 25 or 30 points. Since a God-Like version of Control is 30 points, I'd probably go with 25. That's a 25% increase. So using similiar logic, super common Detect would be 37.5 (I'd round that up to 40). That seems both reasonable and fair.
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Old 11-25-2014, 06:39 PM   #10
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Default Re: cost of detect animals + detect specific types of animals

Basic Detect only gives vague information about the substance's presence.
Too expansive of a form might reduce its usefulness.
Yeah, there's something that falls under the category of everything near you. Sorry, you failed at analyzing for more details.
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