range penalties for Mage Sight?

Plane · 10-04-2020, 08:07 PM

I was reading this 2011 thread at http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=79703 comparing it to Analyze Magic and noticed something strange about the contrast between "Regular" and "Information" on M102.

In the case of Analyze Magic, you would roll with range penalties in respect to a single subject... but in the case of Mage Sight it makes it sound like 1 roll for multiple subjects...

On a good roll, for instance, fire spells will have a distinctive red glow, and evil items will somehow seem to have a “black glow”
A critical success with this spell lets the caster fully identify every magic item he sees.

Mage Sight is also a maintainable spell with a duration, whereas Analyze Magic is instant...

So if you did just roll 1 time, what are range penalties in respect to? If it's the caster wouldn't that be -0?

Or is Mage Sight something you can cast on others and send your hireling w/ sight on to go ID items for you?

Given that a 1/2 inch of solid material prevents this aura, Analyze Magic will always have a niche (unless you have spells to see through walls) for identifying items which are far off or items which are inside boxes.

Some good points were made though about how the MS critical success bonus can give AM a run for it's money...

I was wondering if anyone played it like Mage Sight would reroll against itself every time you looked at an item, and maybe use the -1/yard Regular Spell penalties based on how far away the item you're looking at is? That would seem one really good way to help keep it in check.

Otherwise... I could see mages recasting this until they got a critical success so that they could maintain that 'perfect mage sight' spell indefinitely fur perfect ID of anything in sight.

Anthony · 10-04-2020, 08:36 PM

The range penalties for casting mage sight on a character are Regular. However, once it is cast, the subject of the spell now has an enhanced visual sense, and therefore it uses any modifiers that apply to vision, including range modifiers.

Plane · 10-04-2020, 08:52 PM

B358 follows the sense-based Vision rolls ("you notice something") with IQ-based "comprehension rolls" ("understand what you have sensed").

Do you figure that a crit success by the mage means whoever made that roll doesn't need to make those comprehension rolls and just gets full info after the 1st roll (just to notice it) is a success?

I kind of wonder just how much someone could take in. Like if there was a room with 100 magic rings, they're all in plain view, but can you really focus on every single one at once?

Not to mention, even if you got fed that much info, could you retain it well?

This is reminding me of the approach of using accumulating 'two things at once' things to focus on what multiple enemies are doing in combat, and for remembering their previous actions. The latter especially important if they get out of eyeline

Rapid Strike and Cole's "Rapid Aim" and similar also come to mind. You need "Enhanced Tracking" to aim at or evaluate more than one foe at a time, for example. You might not need that to "kinda track" multiple foes (no aim or evaluate bonus, just to be aware of them and what they'er doing) but there should probably be some kind of hard limit on following a mass of actions.

If there are 20 goblins and you knew one had the magic dagger and it's not in plain sight, keeping track of which one had the magic dagger as they jump all over the place in front of each other, etc.

10-04-2020, 08:07 PM	#1
Plane Join Date: Aug 2018	range penalties for Mage Sight? I was reading this 2011 thread at http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=79703 comparing it to Analyze Magic and noticed something strange about the contrast between "Regular" and "Information" on M102. In the case of Analyze Magic, you would roll with range penalties in respect to a single subject... but in the case of Mage Sight it makes it sound like 1 roll for multiple subjects... On a good roll, for instance, fire spells will have a distinctive red glow, and evil items will somehow seem to have a “black glow” A critical success with this spell lets the caster fully identify every magic item he sees. Mage Sight is also a maintainable spell with a duration, whereas Analyze Magic is instant... So if you did just roll 1 time, what are range penalties in respect to? If it's the caster wouldn't that be -0? Or is Mage Sight something you can cast on others and send your hireling w/ sight on to go ID items for you? Given that a 1/2 inch of solid material prevents this aura, Analyze Magic will always have a niche (unless you have spells to see through walls) for identifying items which are far off or items which are inside boxes. Some good points were made though about how the MS critical success bonus can give AM a run for it's money... I was wondering if anyone played it like Mage Sight would reroll against itself every time you looked at an item, and maybe use the -1/yard Regular Spell penalties based on how far away the item you're looking at is? That would seem one really good way to help keep it in check. Otherwise... I could see mages recasting this until they got a critical success so that they could maintain that 'perfect mage sight' spell indefinitely fur perfect ID of anything in sight.

10-04-2020, 08:36 PM	#2
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: range penalties for Mage Sight? The range penalties for casting mage sight on a character are Regular. However, once it is cast, the subject of the spell now has an enhanced visual sense, and therefore it uses any modifiers that apply to vision, including range modifiers. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.

10-04-2020, 08:52 PM	#3
Plane Join Date: Aug 2018	Re: range penalties for Mage Sight? B358 follows the sense-based Vision rolls ("you notice something") with IQ-based "comprehension rolls" ("understand what you have sensed"). Do you figure that a crit success by the mage means whoever made that roll doesn't need to make those comprehension rolls and just gets full info after the 1st roll (just to notice it) is a success? I kind of wonder just how much someone could take in. Like if there was a room with 100 magic rings, they're all in plain view, but can you really focus on every single one at once? Not to mention, even if you got fed that much info, could you retain it well? This is reminding me of the approach of using accumulating 'two things at once' things to focus on what multiple enemies are doing in combat, and for remembering their previous actions. The latter especially important if they get out of eyeline Rapid Strike and Cole's "Rapid Aim" and similar also come to mind. You need "Enhanced Tracking" to aim at or evaluate more than one foe at a time, for example. You might not need that to "kinda track" multiple foes (no aim or evaluate bonus, just to be aware of them and what they'er doing) but there should probably be some kind of hard limit on following a mass of actions. If there are 20 goblins and you knew one had the magic dagger and it's not in plain sight, keeping track of which one had the magic dagger as they jump all over the place in front of each other, etc.