Latent Detection

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Should mages be able to detect latency?

Poll ended at Sat Mar 08, 2014 11:50 pm

Yes
7
44%
No
3
19%
Maybe (see comments below)
6
38%
 
Total votes: 16
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Kinaed
Posts: 1984
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:54 pm
Discord Handle: ParaVox3#7579

Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:50 pm

What do you think? How should it work?

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Kinaed
Posts: 1984
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:54 pm
Discord Handle: ParaVox3#7579

Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:12 am

For those who have selected maybe, please clarify when yes and when no, and what considerations you think ought to be in place.

Dice
Posts: 479
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:15 pm

Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:14 am

My first reaction: It should be a toggle of some sort (no detecting ANY mage, only detecting the latents explicitly searching for folks), only visible to other mages/latents, and perhaps mutual.

I.e., any mage who elects being able to see latents should perhaps be visible by latents as well. So the risk isn't solely on the latents' side?

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Kinaed
Posts: 1984
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:54 pm
Discord Handle: ParaVox3#7579

Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:16 am

I'd be looking for an IC mechanic that has consistent play backing across all people if a mechanism was there for latents (or mages) to be detected. I'm definitely not keen on it being about OOC choice.

Bennie
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:03 am

Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:18 am

Allow me to be frank. This is a topic on which I a very torn.. I am not sure I have any one solution or opinion on the matter, more a collection of possible solutions I would be amiable to seeing, regarding latent detection and mage-on-mage RP in general.

First of all, I do think that in some sense, mages should be able to detect latents, perhaps even awakened mages. However, when I say this, I believe 2 things should be true:
1) This should only be available for higher levels
2) It should not be insta-win/it ought to still involve some risk

I am not wholly sure how this would be implemented.. however, perhaps giving high circle mages a grey spell that allows them a chance of detecting latency on a person. Except.. I kind of want that spell to have a rate of false positives, in that it returns latency on some individuals who are not latent.. maybe higher chances on members of covert guilds or of non-Davite religions (the underlying idea being that seeing as they have something to hide, they catch the attention of the spell). Such false positives would occur at a high enough rate to sow paranoia and doubt in the mage using it, but at a low enough rate for the spell still being worth using.

I could see it somewhat amusing for a master mage to swoop in and try and awaken a little apprentice, only to find they have an utter mundane. Not to mention, this might accidentally throw a character or two into unexpected contact with the magical, which itself enriches Inquisitor RP since they have a report to respond to..

Atholos
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:58 pm

Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:17 am

Bennie wrote: 2) It should not be insta-win/it ought to still involve some risk
I agree very much with this, BUT I feel it would already be a large risk to be seen as a latent to every mage who bothered to look. Should that mage get caught and turn you in then obviously it's a loss of some sort, you have a strike on your character which would either burn or help you be burnt in the future.
Bennie wrote: 1) This should only be available for higher levels
To this: I sorta agree with, it shouldn't be a spell available to level 70 mages, but to circle four/three and a half mages at the most, simply because in my own experience, most if not all mages that have gotten to around level 70 or so have no mage friends and are not looking for any.

But that's just my two cents.

Marisa
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:37 pm

Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:55 am

What about some sort of command that you can use on someone by touching them? It would be inobvious to everyone else that either they or you were a mage, and if they were a non-mage they would be none the wiser. But if they were a mage or a latent, they would feel something weird. You would feel the response from a latent, and maybe an awakened mage... maybe a chance depending on the strength of the awakened mage to give a false negative back, so they now know you're a mage and you still know squat?

Basically, if such a thing were to exist, I'd want it to be a little bit risky, but in the main way that the risk was among other mages, so as to better encourage doing it, but still being careful?

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Kinaed
Posts: 1984
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:54 pm
Discord Handle: ParaVox3#7579

Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:22 am

I think I'd like a spell that, when activated, may allow detection when a player touches another player. I probably wouldn't just let it be that mages can detect latents, and I'd probably want to let a latent know when there's a possibility that they could be/were detected.

I'm not sure if just a touch should do, or something a bit more extreme - a kiss, maybe? *ponder*

Onyxsoulle
Posts: 150
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:46 pm

Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:04 pm

*swoops in* Okay, I voted yes, but there are some things I think should help affect this.

Yes, it should be a spell of some sort. Very high level, and very high circle.

False positives? Maybe, maybe not. I'm torn about this. I understand the want for failure, but the way I'm looking at it is that this is already a very high level spell. Failures would normally occur on low level spells when a mage is starting out. At 70+ the spells should be(at least in my opinion) practically foolproof. But like I said, I'm torn, it does allow for rp.

Make it element specific! Only a naturally born (element)-mage can detect their own element latents. Which allows each element a new spell, not a grey one.

The part that will make even Kinky go 'wtf?'. Make it 6th circle. Yep, I said it. If you look up regnancy in the helpfiles it states stuff about how true masters of magic can bend someone they awaken to their will(i'm paraphrasing). This type of spell would obviously be old, lost to the world, and now found. In the helpfiles it states that there is a 6th and 7th circle which has been lost. Combine the two, give mages a new circle, which allows for a new spell(only one right now), but don't make it easy. Unlike the other circles a mage shouldn't be able to to just 'level up' into the sixth circle. It should include sacrifice, danger, possibly a demon, and at least three monkeys. The reward: more power(mattack doing more damage, etc) and the new spell which allows them to sense latents.

Benefits of having the latent spell that would help in rp. Bob the caster is the newest Uber mage. He has his latent-ometer up. It pings when he passes Steve the yutz. He talks to Steve, finds out what kind of person he is, etc etc. A week goes by, Bob has the spell up again, he sees steve, goes to talk to him, notices that Steve isn't setting his spell off. Steve has been awakened by another mage! So now Bob pretends to become friends with steve in order to find out who awakened him. See, builds rp.

Yeah, I know, the 6th circle thing might be too much, but I think the rest of the stuff might be helpful.

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Kinaed
Posts: 1984
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:54 pm
Discord Handle: ParaVox3#7579

Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:22 pm

Hehe, I'm probably not prepared to open Sixth Circle magic, no - but I do appreciate your comments and suggestions, and will consider them when I try to figure out what to do around this. Thanks, Onyx!

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