View Character (V1)
Conditions
The conditions as stated by Rules Book p. 193 (you must be in the same force or guild as the target, so if you are in a guild, you cannot view characters in other guilds or parties inside the guild’s location) are incorrect. In my experience, you can View everything within the same location, period. I.e. a character inside a Location or inside a guild or party in that location, can View all characters in that location, in ALL guilds in that location, and in all parties inside of that location, and also he can view alive or dead prisonners held by himself or by that location or a guild in that location (even if not owned by him). Just try the LPE, and it will list all targets, BUT it does not list prisonners, which as said above, CAN be Viewed.
Success/risks
You’ll see all characters that are not Invisible and whose Stealth is less than yours. A View will fail when done on targets with higher stealth than you or with invisibility on, and then the target will get a message, saying that character X was following him around trying to gain info. So in case of failure, your character’s identity will be revealed to the target (see example below). In case of success, however, your target will never know you had an eye on him.
Details
Does not give quantitive info, even the skills are only by approximation, lumped together in four classes:
- Arcane: Arcanist, Priest, Bard
- Stealth/Thief : Stealth, Thief, Assassin, Spy
- Merchant/Admin: Merchant, Admin/Engineer, Rumormonger
- Military: Knight, Berseker, Ranger
- Weaponmaster: Swordmaster, Axemaster, Bowmaster.
The PC/TAC/INF ratings are given as: terrible (below 0), whimpy (0), poor (1-3), below average (4-9), average (10-16), good (17-24), excellent (25-35), awesome (36-48), godlike (49+).
If a View says “has a sense of hidden power”, then the target has a Mark (unspecified).
Your View will also list a prestige rating for the target: this is not his Basic Prestige nor his Effective Prestige, but his Effective Prestige minus the prestige from titles [officially checked by Harlequin Games].
Examples
Observe Goldwing ID# 1234
Race: Great Red Dragon Beauty: 11 Alive, and not wounded.
Estimated attribute ratings: General skill classifications:
Personal Combat: Average Skill #1: Arcane/Priest/Bard Skill
Tactics rating : Below Average Skill #2: Stealth/Thief
Influence : Below Average Skill #3: Stealth/Thief
Weapon in use: ID# 130 Ariel Wind Bow
Armor : ID# 153 Elf Lt. Chain (M)
He is masked!
Observe Glarin ID# 1235
He has the supernatural status of Nether Damned.
There is a sense of hidden power about him a Mark maybe?
Race: Draconian Beauty: 14 Alive, and not wounded.
Estimated attribute ratings: General skill classifications:
Personal Combat: Excellent Skill #1: Arcane/Priest/Bard Skill
Tactics rating : Excellent Skill #2: Arcane/Priest/Bard Skill
Influence : Average Skill #3: Military Skill
Weapon in use: ID# 108 Pwr 4 Elven Bow
Armor : ID# 199 Dragon Armor (L)
Warmount : ID# 437 Wardrakes
Item to use : ID# 730 Altar
Item to use : ID# 590 Bell
He is wearing colors :
A black dragon riding a wagon dragged by 1000 Elves
Dragson ID# 1000
Date: Day 23 of January.
For several days Dragson gets the uneasy feeling that
she is being watched. He soon discovers that Westing ID# 1111
is observing him, and takes appropriate measures to
make sure that she learns nothing of any real value or interest.
Scry Character (Spell #152)
Conditions
Works at a range. You must overcome the MAR of the target, as well as any magical shells that are in between sponsor and target (if they are not in the same force/guild).
Success/risks
Will also work when target has Stealth on or is Invisible, or when he has Covert skills or soldier protection (which could protect the target against Spy Character), but the target will get his MAR as protection. The spell will fail if you did not overcome the MAR of the target, and any shells between sponsor and target. In case of failure, the target will not get to know which character was looking for him, he only will experience things like strange headaches and the like, and thus be alerted that he was the target of a failed spell (could be ANY kind of spell by ANY player!).
Details
A successful scry gives possessions, equipment and skills of target, and the targets last character actions if target was a player owned character. It’s kind of a magical Spy, but not totally. It does not give exact ratings of characteristics/attributes (versus Read). And it does NOT reveal location (versus Spy).
Example
-> Westwing ID# 1234
Scry Julwing ID# 1235
Race: Ariel Beauty: 12 Alive, and not wounded.
Estimated attribute ratings: Skills and Abilities:
Personal Combat: Average Skill #1: Seer
Tactics rating : Average Skill #2: Ranger
Influence : Below Average Skill #3: Admin/Eng
Weapon: ID# 20 Troll Hammer
Armor : ID# 171 Magic Chain Mail (M)
He is masked!
AMT ITEM # NAME OF ITEM WEIGHT
423 409 Crowns 2.11
ID# 0 Julwing is performing public works.
ID# 0 Julwing is performing public works.
Spy Character (C4)
Conditions
Works at a limited range. Likely you can Spy on dead characters.
Success/risks
The target receives protection against the Spy by his own covert skills (Spy, Thief, Assassin) and by any soldiers that protect him (guild soldiers if he is in guild, force soldiers if he is assigned to a slot). This protection decrease the change of success.
Details
A successful Spy Char gives the same info as Scry Char, so does NOT give exact numerical values of Attributes and Skills. It DOES gives location (force/province) of target, his equipment/posssessions, and his last character actions (if target was player owned). Whether to use Scry or Spy therefore depends on the protection of the target. If target has protection of very high MAR and shells, use Spy; if target has protection of high Covert skills and many soldiers, use Scry; if he has both…leave him alone.
Example
Spy upon Kollub ID# 1236
He has the supernatural status of Prophet of Shanah.
Race: Giant Nomad Beauty: 10 Alive, and not wounded.
Estimated attribute ratings: Skills and Abilities:
Personal Combat: Excellent Skill #1: Assassin
Tactics rating : Average Skill #2: Stealth
Influence : Poor Skill #3: Priest
Weapon: ID# 997 The Purple Bow
Warmount : ID# 444 War Silver Dragon
Item to use : ID# 726 The Golden Dragon {Battle Standard}
Item to use : ID# 584 Shanah’s Symbol {Jewel}
He is wearing the colors :
These are made-up colors
AMT ITEM # NAME OF ITEM WEIGHT
1 132 Shield (M) {Shd} 2.30
1 198 Dragon Armor (M) {Arm} 7.30
1 584 Shanah’s Symbol {Jewel} 0.25
1 594 Warrior’s Way {Book} 0.10
1 717 Strength of Shanah {Scroll} 0.05
ID#1236 Kollub was seen casting a spell.
ID# 1236 Kollub tried and failed to cast a spell.
ID#1236 Kollub tried and failed to cast a spell.
Currently Kollub is at 19/5.
He is with Legion ID# 1997.
Spy upon Casroaniel ID# 3849
She has the supernatural status of Enraged.
Race: Amazon Beauty: 11 Alive, and not wounded.
Estimated attribute ratings: Skills and Abilities:
Personal Combat: Average Skill #1: Illusionist
Tactics rating : Average Skill #2: Knight
Influence : Below Average Skill #3: Thief
Weapon: ID# 13 Bow
Armor : ID# 147 Laminated Armor (M)
She is masked!
No Possessions!
There does not seem to be any noteworthy activity performed in the
last month.
Currently Casroaniel is at 24/19 .
She inside Location ID# 1956 –
Cedarrock Bay
Read Character (spell #143)
Conditions
You must be in the same PROVINCE as the target. You must overcome the MAR of the target, as well as any magical shells that are in between sponsor and target (if these are not in the same force/guild).
Success/risks
The spell will fail if you did not overcome the MAR/shell of the target. In case of failure, the target will not get to know which character was looking for him, he only will experience things like strange headaches and the like, and thus be alerted that he was the target of a failed spell (could be ANY kind of spell, by ANY player!).
Details:
The report includes nearly everything there is to know, as if you owned that target, EXCEPT FOR:
- MAR and SAR
- spells known by target
- force in which the target is and what slot he is leading, if any
- last actions of target
Note: the Read Character spell #143 will report the Effective Prestige (=with Marks, Titles, etc.) of the target; this could be handy for Diplomacy, Charm spells, or Challenge, be it that such actions may use different kinds of prestige. E.g., the Charm Character spells #48/49 use Base Prestige (=without Marks, Titles etc.).
Example
Hargrom casts the spell Read Character ID# 143
on Curgam ID# 1237, which reveals the following:
->Curgam ID# 1237
Chimerea Prestige: 145
——————————————————————————
Str: 21 Berserker : 1 Condition: Alive/well
Dex: 5 ———- : 0 Wounds : 0%
Con: 25 ———- : 0
Bty: 5 Combat Factor : 210
PC : 22 { 22 } Attack Factor : 850
Tac: 6 { 6 } Defense Factor : 20 Masked : YES
Inf: 5 { 5 } INV/DAM values : 4 / 3 gender : Male
Act: 2 Stealth : OFF
God: 0 Nonbeliever Externals: Refusing
Items equipped:
Weapon : # 623 Helm of the Warchief [.08]
Shield : None!
Armor : None!
Warmount: On foot
Item #1 : ——–
Item #2 : ——–
Loyalty : Super Fanatical Greed : Extreme
Probe Character (Spell #148)
This spell will reveal the province in which the target is AT THE END OF THE DAY! So even if your target is owned by a player who processes AFTER you on the same turn processing day, then you will still get to see to where the target moved in the turn of that player…
Example
Marthom casts the spell Probe Character/Prisoner same
plane ID# 148 on Ludewich id #1456. The target has a Magic Attack
Resistance of 6. This spell reveals that your target is in province 66/9.
With thanks to the following persons for supplying me with examples: Gary James, Hill Bullock, John ‘Mrgrah’ O’Kieffe, Darren Duffy, Michel ‘Cybercat’ Lanting, Dan Lake.
This article is reproduced with kind permission from “Aayko’s The Legends Corner”.