[Basic] Advantage of the Week: See Invisible

[DaibhidC]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Just about every story has air (which is invisible) and usually the person who can see invisible has no special ability to see air (they might be able to see air spirits).

I think (failed physics student, I could be wrong) that air is more transparent than, say, water or glass, but isn't actually 100% transparent (aka invisible), we're just used to what things look like when we're looking through it.

Although I do like the idea of a character with the "special ability" to see air, which I'd guess would be equivalent to living in a personal fog cloud.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I actually prefer the Basic Set. I particularly don't care for the ability to see (invisible) ghosts regardless of how they achieve invisibility.

It would be crap world building to give ghosts more than one way of achieving invisibility anyway.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by DaibhidC

I think (failed physics student, I could be wrong) that air is more transparent than, say, water or glass, but isn't actually 100% transparent (aka invisible), we're just used to what things look like when we're looking through it.

Although I do like the idea of a character with the "special ability" to see air, which I'd guess would be equivalent to living in a personal fog cloud.

Not much use to see stationary air, but seeing air currents would have its uses particularly if you're a pilot.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by DaibhidC

I think (failed physics student, I could be wrong) that air is more transparent than, say, water or glass, but isn't actually 100% transparent (aka invisible), we're just used to what things look like when we're looking through it.

Air isn't totally transparent, but it's more than transparent enough to qualify for the Invisible advantage.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by DaibhidC

I think (failed physics student, I could be wrong) that air is more transparent than, say, water or glass, but isn't actually 100% transparent (aka invisible), we're just used to what things look like when we're looking through it.

You can "see" air (or at least light scattered from oxygen molecules) when you look into the sky - it's why the sky is blue.

Seeing air currents would be handy for ranged weapon users (to account for windage) and people who have to deal with creatures of elemental air.

Originally Posted by DaibhidC

Although I do like the idea of a character with the "special ability" to see air, which I'd guess would be equivalent to living in a personal fog cloud.

I wonder how to model this problem in GURPS. The simple way is Bad Sight (Limitation: Not in Vacuum), but Blindness with some sort of limitation (e.g., Normal Sight within 1 yard, Bad Sight at 2 yards, Blind beyond that) might work, too.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

You can "see" air (or at least light scattered from oxygen molecules) when you look into the sky - it's why the sky is blue.

In clear air, Rayleigh scattering is something like 0.002% per yard. Unfortunately, the human eye's limit on contrast is only around 1%.