Advice

Looking at Others

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”.