Tech - Ultrasound

[PotatoJedi]

Name: Ultrasound
Range: Touch
Casting Time: 1 Round
MP Cost: 4
Duration: Until Removed

You hold a device with a display such as a mobile phone against a wall or other solid surface. Until you remove the device, you can see through its display to the other side similar to how ultrasound pregnancy exams look. You can move the device along the wall to get a different view provided it remains in contact. The device can only penetrate through one solid surface, so if there happens to be 2 walls back to back, you can only see through the first. Similarly if you're trying to look through a hollow door, you'll only see past the outer layer. No sound is transmitted.

[logan9a]

Interesting.

[Scott]

I would think that ultrasound wouldn't see much, unless what you are looking for is right up against (or perhaps inside?) the wall.

It reminded me of this though: www.technologyreview.com/s/612375/using-wi-fi-to-see-behind-closed-doors-is-easier-than-anyone-thought/

[PotatoJedi]

Perhaps Ultrasound was a bit misleading. I was picturing it working similar to Daredevil's "vision" (though not nearly as good) or a bat's sonar, just more "picturey".

So you could plonk it against a wall and make out rough shapes in the room, approximate distances and whether something is moving or not. It's not really going to tell you much other than "there's something over there." You wouldn't be able to spy on someone as they are typing their password on the computer, but you could probably tell that someone was sitting at a desk in front of some kind of square shaped device.

[logan9a]

Thinking no to this one for the same reason we didn't have a very similar effect in the stone/metal/wood spell tree.

(See relevant spell thread discussion where ever it is for details).

[logan9a]

A different sort of effect could be 'trace thing hooked up to the electricity' or some how trying to find a specific piece of tech if it is hooked up to the electricity. It may not be a straight route to it but if you went into a house and tried to find a toaster (for example) if it was hooked up to something and active, you could eventually track down approximately where it was. "On the other side of this wall, I think there is a toaster but I can't find the secret door to it."

Or something like that perhaps?

[PotatoJedi]

Nov 11, 2018 1:08:43 GMT logan9a said:

Thinking no to this one for the same reason we didn't have a very similar effect in the stone/metal/wood spell tree.

(See relevant spell thread discussion where ever it is for details).

Noted!

A different sort of effect could be 'trace thing hooked up to the electricity' or some how trying to find a specific piece of tech if it is hooked up to the electricity. It may not be a straight route to it but if you went into a house and tried to find a toaster (for example) if it was hooked up to something and active, you could eventually track down approximately where it was. "On the other side of this wall, I think there is a toaster but I can't find the secret door to it."



Or something like that perhaps?

Interesting. I could see uses for that. Perhaps it can be the first branch before reaching Livewire?

[logan9a]

Possible!

[Scott]

Nov 11, 2018 1:10:49 GMT logan9a said:

A different sort of effect could be 'trace thing hooked up to the electricity' or some how trying to find a specific piece of tech if it is hooked up to the electricity. It may not be a straight route to it but if you went into a house and tried to find a toaster (for example) if it was hooked up to something and active, you could eventually track down approximately where it was. "On the other side of this wall, I think there is a toaster but I can't find the secret door to it."

Or something like that perhaps?

Name: Wire Trace
Range: Touch (to an outlet)
Casting Time: 1 Round
MP Cost: 2
Duration: Concentration

You think of a type of tech device and gain a sense of what direction the closest device of that type that is plugged in to the electric grid is. While maintaining concentration on the spell, you may slowly simple action move around and attempt to triangulate approximately where the device is.

[PotatoJedi]

Can you "exclude" devices? For example I'm trying to look for a computer but want to exclude x computer from being discovered as I am not interested in knowing where it is.

Or, say you cast the spell and start looking for toasters. You find one but realise it's not the one you wanted. You recast the spell and exclude the toaster you found earlier and search for the next nearest one.

[logan9a]

Nov 11, 2018 20:43:30 GMT PotatoJedi said:

Can you "exclude" devices? For example I'm trying to look for a computer but want to exclude x computer from being discovered as I am not interested in knowing where it is.

Or, say you cast the spell and start looking for toasters. You find one but realise it's not the one you wanted. You recast the spell and exclude the toaster you found earlier and search for the next nearest one.

That could be the next one up in a branch from the find stuff spell - which gives the find kind of item spell a wonderful limitation.

"Not that one"
Cast immediately after the wire trace spell allows you to exclude an item found with the wire trace spell within the last day. If you have the MP (say 2 ea for this add on plus what ever the wire trace costs) you can exclude multiple items that were discovered by the wire trace.


"Get specific" (someone will maybe come up with better names - this one is on that same small branch as 'not that one')
Cast immediately after the wire trace spell allows you to exclude anything quick and easy for the GM to understand. Something like "None of the computers above the fourth floor nor in the western half of the building or that row of computers I can see near me" is OK but "Any in secret rooms" is not. This one can be cast with 'not that one' in order to begin excluding devices found within the parameters that are not the ones being searched for. 4 MP.

[PotatoJedi]

So it would be…

Wire Trace
Wire Trace 2 (exclude already-discovered devices)
Wire Trace 3 (exclude any devices easy to understand by the GM + Wire Trace 2 if desired)

Also are we going to include Livewire anywhere in this branch? It's kind of similar but a bit more powerful because you can name a specific device & location to look through, though you don't necessarily know the exact location of the device. Perhaps putting it at the end? Though that would make getting to it quite a long ordeal.

[logan9a]

Interesting!

It fits.

[Scott]

Nov 11, 2018 20:18:26 GMT Scott said:

Name: Wire Trace
Range: Touch (to an outlet)
Casting Time: 1 Round
MP Cost: 2
Duration: Concentration

You think of a type of tech device and gain a sense of what direction the closest device of that type that is plugged in to the electric grid is. While maintaining concentration on the spell, you may slowly simple action move around and attempt to triangulate approximately where the device is.

The way I wrote it, I was thinking that if you waddle around while concentrating and that movement makes a different device of that type closer then your focus switches to that one. If you're looking for a specific device in a sea of like devices, then you are screwed regardless.

[PotatoJedi]

Yeah that's how I understood it as well. Hence the "can I exclude x device from my results" question, to which Logan suggested a higher tier spell.