Mage Sight

Mage Sight is one of the core tools a Mage has, and one of the more ambiguously written sections of the book. I'm going to try to touch on the important things, since another book could be written about Sight & Resonance in general.

Unless Cloaked, Active spells are visible. Whether they're a soft glow, or baby nimbus, or what-not, it is apparent to anyone with Active Sight when something is enchanted. How, is unknown... for that, you Scrutinize.

There is some confusion as to how a person appears when they Scrutinize. For the purposes of my game, Scrutiny is fairly obvious. Consider that Scrutiny is a Mental Action; that is to say, it requires a degree of concentration that allows no other Actions to be performed. That means that you can't even fish your keys out of your pocket while Scrutinizing. So, by the definition of it as an Action, I interpret that to mean it requires most of a person's mental capacity for a full 3 seconds. Extended Scrutiny obviously lengthens this Duration. For the object of the Scrutiny, this means that someone is staring at them. You don't casually glance and roll for Scrutiny -- you take that full Action. To be subject to an intense visual examination is fairly obvious. If your character has Subterfuge, or something similar that would allow them to possibly perform the Scrutiny on the down low, please mention it. I should have mention that i think of resonance as a mini aurora borealis, shimmering and dancing around a person (or object). For that reason, I don't allow people to maintain eye contact -- they're looking all about the person, discerning the ripples and nuances of the phenomena.

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult Action: Extended (1–5+ successes; one roll represents one turn of scrutiny)

Social Ramifications

Scrutiny is usually used to assess spells, and caster's proficiencies. For that reason, some might consider it an implicit challenge, or assessment.

Targets

Scrutiny targets should be declared in advance. If you don't it will be assumed that successes will be devoted in order, one at a time, to the listings in the book: Composition, Potency, Targets, Duration, Identification, Power, and Mastery. That means 3 successes would translate into a single success towards Composition, Potency, and Targets.

Beings and Objects

Identity: Each resonance or aura is as unique as a fingerprint. If a mage has seen or studied a resonance before and is familiar with it, one success allows him to recognize the subject. With five successes, he can recognize shapeshifters in any of their forms.

Nature: One success is enough to alert the mage that the person is not what he seems to be, but the mage doesn’t necessarily know what the subject really is. Five successes allow a mage to determine a subject’s true nature.

• See Also: Mask