Hey Everyone,
So, I have decided I really want to get a full grasp of Focused Mage Sight and what players are capable of doing when they are utilizing it to analyze spells/supernatural phenomena/mundane things.
I am going to throw out some scenarios and lay out my understanding/interpretation of what I expect mechanical/plot information is derived from scrutinizing and revelation.
First Scenario:
An Acanthus Mage happens upon an unconscious man in a back alley that seems to have no physical injuries and has no pulse. He suspects this person may have been poisoned or perhaps overdosed on something, but either way he decides to rule out any magical cause for this man's current state and uses Focused Mage Sight to determine what he can see.
Now, the man is actually under the effect of the Suppress Life spell used by another Mage looking to gain information inside the man's house and has placed him in the street alley to hide him for the time being. The opacity is 2 since it is a Death Ruling Spell and it was an Improvised Spell.
The Acanthus rolls and gets a couple of successes with his Scrutiny and decides to use the Revelation mechanic to see what information he was able to determine from the analysis of the man lying in the street alley.
Since he lowered the Opacity to 1 he does not get any deep information, but he does get some Surface Information which details the following:
- Awakened Magic was indeed used on this man
- He determines it is from the Death Arcana and gets the smell of Embalming fluid (the Signature Nimbus of the caster)
- He determines that this effect has been in place for about 30 minutes
The Acanthus Mage decides that this is sufficient and is familiar with the Signature Nimbus of the caster recognizing it with a fellow order member and decides to send his pal a message letting him know about leaving stuff in street alleys to remind his friend to not forgot the guy.
I feel like the Acanthus Mage would not know it is the Death Arcana, but maybe Focused Mage Sight can divine a lot of information regardless of what Paths are used.
Second Scenario:
A Mastigos Mage runs across a very odd woman in a bar that he feels entranced to approach, but he is actually very shy despite having the ability to instantly perceive how people feel about him. However, she feels different and his PMS is driving him nuts every time he glances at her so he decides maybe to focus a little harder on what is so special about this woman at the bar.
So, the woman is actually a host for Abyssal Spiders, as some might have guessed, and I have rated this Mystery at an opacity 3 since it is like Psychic Domination but since it is not Supernal it is actually multiplied by 1.5 as indicated in the book.
The Mastigos Mage rolls and gets a couple of successes with his Scrutiny and decides to use the Revelation mechanic to see what information he was able to determine from the analysis of the woman at the bar.
He was able to lower the Opacity to 2, so he does not get any deep information, but he does get some Surface Information which details the following:
-This mystery is not a result of Awakened Magic.
-This effect has been going on for at least a couple of days.
This seems appropriate and fits well with what I would expect for most any type of general Focused Mage Sight inquiry regardless of the Path belonging to the Mage.
Third Scenario:
An Obrimos Mage finds a dagger that supposedly belonged to a notorious assassin that has killed many people, but he is skeptical whether the item is actually the real deal so he decides to use his Focused Mage Sight to glean some information regarding the dagger.
This dagger is in fact the weapon used by the notorious assassin. The Opacity is 0 since there is no magic involved or anything supernatural, it just happens to be a finely crafted dagger used by a famous assassin.
The Obrimos Mage rolls and gets a couple of successes with his Scrutiny roll and decides to use the Revelation mechanic to see what information he was able to determine from the analysis of the dagger.
Since the Mystery had no Opacity he gains Surface Information and Deep Information which details the following:
- This Mystery is not related to Awakened Magic
- This Mystery is 3 years old (when it was first crafted)
- This Mystery does not happen to be revolving around anything in the Supernal or the Abyss.
- This blade was finely crafted and seems to have been used quite frequently with much force.
Sorry for the long post, but let me know if I am understanding the use of Focused Mage Sight correctly!
Thanks
So, I have decided I really want to get a full grasp of Focused Mage Sight and what players are capable of doing when they are utilizing it to analyze spells/supernatural phenomena/mundane things.
I am going to throw out some scenarios and lay out my understanding/interpretation of what I expect mechanical/plot information is derived from scrutinizing and revelation.
First Scenario:
An Acanthus Mage happens upon an unconscious man in a back alley that seems to have no physical injuries and has no pulse. He suspects this person may have been poisoned or perhaps overdosed on something, but either way he decides to rule out any magical cause for this man's current state and uses Focused Mage Sight to determine what he can see.
Now, the man is actually under the effect of the Suppress Life spell used by another Mage looking to gain information inside the man's house and has placed him in the street alley to hide him for the time being. The opacity is 2 since it is a Death Ruling Spell and it was an Improvised Spell.
The Acanthus rolls and gets a couple of successes with his Scrutiny and decides to use the Revelation mechanic to see what information he was able to determine from the analysis of the man lying in the street alley.
Since he lowered the Opacity to 1 he does not get any deep information, but he does get some Surface Information which details the following:
- Awakened Magic was indeed used on this man
- He determines it is from the Death Arcana and gets the smell of Embalming fluid (the Signature Nimbus of the caster)
- He determines that this effect has been in place for about 30 minutes
The Acanthus Mage decides that this is sufficient and is familiar with the Signature Nimbus of the caster recognizing it with a fellow order member and decides to send his pal a message letting him know about leaving stuff in street alleys to remind his friend to not forgot the guy.
I feel like the Acanthus Mage would not know it is the Death Arcana, but maybe Focused Mage Sight can divine a lot of information regardless of what Paths are used.
Second Scenario:
A Mastigos Mage runs across a very odd woman in a bar that he feels entranced to approach, but he is actually very shy despite having the ability to instantly perceive how people feel about him. However, she feels different and his PMS is driving him nuts every time he glances at her so he decides maybe to focus a little harder on what is so special about this woman at the bar.
So, the woman is actually a host for Abyssal Spiders, as some might have guessed, and I have rated this Mystery at an opacity 3 since it is like Psychic Domination but since it is not Supernal it is actually multiplied by 1.5 as indicated in the book.
The Mastigos Mage rolls and gets a couple of successes with his Scrutiny and decides to use the Revelation mechanic to see what information he was able to determine from the analysis of the woman at the bar.
He was able to lower the Opacity to 2, so he does not get any deep information, but he does get some Surface Information which details the following:
-This mystery is not a result of Awakened Magic.
-This effect has been going on for at least a couple of days.
This seems appropriate and fits well with what I would expect for most any type of general Focused Mage Sight inquiry regardless of the Path belonging to the Mage.
Third Scenario:
An Obrimos Mage finds a dagger that supposedly belonged to a notorious assassin that has killed many people, but he is skeptical whether the item is actually the real deal so he decides to use his Focused Mage Sight to glean some information regarding the dagger.
This dagger is in fact the weapon used by the notorious assassin. The Opacity is 0 since there is no magic involved or anything supernatural, it just happens to be a finely crafted dagger used by a famous assassin.
The Obrimos Mage rolls and gets a couple of successes with his Scrutiny roll and decides to use the Revelation mechanic to see what information he was able to determine from the analysis of the dagger.
Since the Mystery had no Opacity he gains Surface Information and Deep Information which details the following:
- This Mystery is not related to Awakened Magic
- This Mystery is 3 years old (when it was first crafted)
- This Mystery does not happen to be revolving around anything in the Supernal or the Abyss.
- This blade was finely crafted and seems to have been used quite frequently with much force.
Sorry for the long post, but let me know if I am understanding the use of Focused Mage Sight correctly!
Thanks

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