Anonymity vs magic

[Outsider]

OK.. I want to make a character who cannot me located or identified by magical means.

 

The magical means I can think of thant

 

Unusual Detects : Easy enough... just buy invisibility vs them.

 

Mind Scan : Not a sense, so invisibility doesnt work. In order to prevent someone using Mind Scan from knowing the "general location and presence" of the target, it is necessary that they fail their ECV attack roll. Fair enough, but how much of a limitation on ECV levels would (DECV only) and (only vs Mind Scan) be?

 

Clairsentience : How would one make it so that the character simply doesnt show up on clairsentience of any sort, real time, retro- or pre-cognition? The method I am thinking of would be to buy total invisibility, then limit it to only effecting senses that are being used through clairsentience. How much of a limitation on Invisibility would that be, do you think? Precognition presents a special problem, since, while the invisibility above might prevent pre-identification of the character, it wont prevent someone from knowing ahead of time to just plant a guard or 6 where something is going to happen, to see, catch, or kill whoever does it. Which kind of defeats the purpose of being immune to being pre-cogged, in a lot of ways.

 

Telepathy, AoE Megascale : I probably wont have to worry about this one, since it steps all over Mind Scan, but, theoretically, a large scale AoE telepathy where the telepath probes all minds in an area searching for information, such as "If you are the person who robbed the royal treasury last night, where are you right now?" Defense against this would be plain old Mental Defence, limited to (only vs Telepathy)...and how much would that be worth? More or less than the (only vs Mind Scan) on the ECV levels above?

 

 

Also, can anyone think of any other magical methods of finding someone that I havent thought of?

 

Tracking, by sight or scent, even if arrived at magically, would be mundane methods, I think (handled pretty easily through 'trackless stride' Talent and Invisibility vs scent/taste group)

[Curufea]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

There is the desolid cheat-

 

Desolid vs magical detection, always on, inherent, 0 END

 

Basically taking the character out of the magical dimension entirely.

[Outsider]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

He'd have to spend a lot of points on making things "affect solid world" but I hadnt thought of that method.

 

No matter how I've thought of it, it doesnt appear that there is any way to do it without spending beaucoup points.

[MordeanGrey]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Suppress vs. detection type magic may work as well.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Yeah, just a Supress 6d6, All Powers to Detect the Player (+1/2), Trigger

[Basil]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Also' date=' can anyone think of any other magical methods of finding someone that I havent thought of?[/quote']

Detect, Person Who Cannot Be Detected By Any Of My Other Spells.

 

Or, less munchkin-y, Detect, Person "Invisible" To Clairsentience.

 

Unusual Detects : Easy enough... just buy invisibility vs them.

Do you think you can think of every possible Detect someone might invent? Do you want to keep buying new Invisibilities every time someone pulls a new Detect on you? That's going to run to a lot of points.

[Outsider]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

"Detect" is listed as an individual sense under the "Unusual Group" in Enhanced Senses, so Invisibility to Unusual Group should cover it. (and clairsentience which is also under 'unusual group')

 

Looking at it more, it seems all I really need to do is avoid Mind Scan. Anyone want to offer an opinion on how much of a limitation (only usable as DECV vs Mindscan) would be on skill levels?

[Markdoc]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Simple.

 

Buy invisibility to Unusual senses and Mental sense groups. Mental senses covers both Telepathy and Mindscan and Unusual covers Clairsentience and magical detects such as "Detect people who cannot be detected by my other detects"

 

Relativley expensive, but then, it's a jolly useful power for somebody who's being hunted (or expects to be hunted) by cosmic horrors, pissed-off wizards and the like.

 

cheers, Mark

[Cantriped]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

don't forget inherent, kinda defeats the whole purpose if Magic can dispel the ability to be found

[Outsider]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Hah! Dont know how I missed that... right there in bold face, 2nd from the top in the Sense Groups chart. Disregard this thread

[Basil]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

"Detect" is listed as an individual sense under the "Unusual Group" in Enhanced Senses' date=' so Invisibility to Unusual Group should cover it. [/quote']

5th Ed., p.105, boxed text "Sense Groups."

"A character may define a Detect he buys as belonging to none of the standard Sense Groups -- in effect, it becomes a Sense Group of its own, making it difficult to affect with Sense-Affecting Powers."

 

p.227, under "Before Combat">"Senses in the Hero System">"Sense Groups">"The 'Simulated Sense Group' Rule."

"If a Sense is not defined as a form of one of the standard Senses, it can only be affected by Sense-Affecting Powers individually. For example, Combat Sense and Danger Sense both 'stand alone' -- they don't simulate any Sense Group, so only Sense-Affecting Powers specifically designed to affect them...work against them.

"Because of the Simulated Sense Rule, characters cannot use Sense-Affecting Power on the Unusual Sense Group as a whole; they must affect its Senses individually, or whatever Sense Group they belong to as a whole"

 

p.228:

"The Unusual Sense 'Group' really isn't a Sense Group as the term is usually used;..."

 

p.229:

"Detects allow a character to perceive virtually anything he can think of...Typically a Detect will be subject to the Simulated Sense Rule..."

 

From the online FAQs (http://www.herogames.com/SupportFAQs/revisedrules/POWERS.htm):

"It is possible, of course, to buy Invisibility to various Unusual Senses individually, such as Invisibility to Detect Magic or Invisibility to Danger Sense."

Note Steve Long does not refer to "Invisibility to Detect".

 

Note also every write-up for a Detect I've ever seen, in anything published by Herogames, is of the form

Detect This-and-that: Detect, ...

that is, the correct official name includes the thing detected. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to Senses.

 

 

So, clearly you cannot be invisible to all the Unusual Sense "Group" with one Power.

 

Further, it seems to me that "Detect" is not a Sense, but a category of Senses. If a bunch of Detects are taken, and all are not made part of a Sense Group, then you'd have to buy Invisibility versus each one separately; "Invisibility vs. Detect" is not, AFAICT, a legitimate build.

 

YMMV, of course.

[Curufea]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

What you need is something versus a special effect - that of magic.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Detect: "Prying Eyes" (10pt), Sense, Targeting, Range, Telescopic: +44 (planetary scope); Only for Trigger of Magical Unawareness (-1);

 

Magical Unawareness - Mental Illusions: 10d6; Trigger: Character Detected by Magical Senses (+1/4); Reduced End Cost: 0 End (+1/2); Persistent (+1/2); Set Effect: I'm Not Here (-1/2); Only Affects Magical Senses (-1); Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4); ...

 

Add Transdimensional to taste. Just an idea.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Anonymity vs magic

 

Here's another one:

 

Stealth: 40-; Persistent (+1/2); Only vs. Magical Senses (-1);