I forget, what does True Sight see when you are massive?

[SangoProduction]

So, True Sight reveals the the "true form" of a creature you see, if they are transformed. I think I may have asked this before a couple years ago, but forget the answer.

If your "true form" is a colossal dragon, but you're in a typical inn in Human form, what does someone's true sight see when they open the door to walk in for a drink?

[hamishspence]

I'd speculate - a single ghostly dragon leg, if the room is very small.

[Crake]

I'd speculate - a single ghostly dragon leg, if the room is very small.

Personally, I imagine it more like an overlay on your vision, so you'd see the whole dragon, but it's interposed over your vision, so you can see it all "in front" of of your vision, so to speak, rather than having it occupying 3d space and being cut off by physical barriers.

[Doctor Despair]

Personally, I imagine it more like an overlay on your vision, so you'd see the whole dragon, but it's interposed over your vision, so you can see it all "in front" of of your vision, so to speak, rather than having it occupying 3d space and being cut off by physical barriers.

I'm confused what you're suggesting. So you see everything you normally see, and then you also see the dragon (through barriers, too, presumably just reaching out into a void, as you can't see through physical barriers)?

[TheStranger]

I'm confused what you're suggesting. So you see everything you normally see, and then you also see the dragon (through barriers, too, presumably just reaching out into a void, as you can't see through physical barriers)?

I think the only way it makes sense is if True Seeing gives you a magical sense that isn’t *exactly* sight but close enough that sight is the best way to explain it to non-wizards. So you see the human, but you also “see” that the human’s true form is a colossal dragon. The spell translates that into your awareness in some way that avoids taking sanity damage from literally seeing a creature larger than the space it’s in.

If pressed to describe it, I’d use words like “sense” or “perceive” rather than “see,” and describe it as the intangible presence of a dragon much larger than the room looming around the human.

[ShurikVch]

If you walk into invisible fog and use True Sight - you wouldn't see things outside the fog
So, why you should see the whole Dragon - rather than inside of the Dragon's stomach, lungs, or whatever?

[Red Fel]

I think the only way it makes sense is if True Seeing gives you a magical sense that isn’t *exactly* sight but close enough that sight is the best way to explain it to non-wizards. So you see the human, but you also “see” that the human’s true form is a colossal dragon. The spell translates that into your awareness in some way that avoids taking sanity damage from literally seeing a creature larger than the space it’s in.

If pressed to describe it, I’d use words like “sense” or “perceive” rather than “see,” and describe it as the intangible presence of a dragon much larger than the room looming around the human.

This is my take as well.

You look at the subject, and you "know" what you're looking at. You see the human form, but you also see "massive," "scales," "wings," and so forth. If you know what a dragon is, your brain translates it as such; if you don't, it's as if you "see" the dragon there - the physical features - but you don't actually "see" it, you just somehow "know" that's what you're looking at.

It's magic. It doesn't have to make sense.

[Toliudar]

Or maybe the true sight overlays a wire frame of a red dragon, at the same size as the human form, but with the words "Objects in the tavern are larger than they appear" appearing below.

[Crake]

I'm confused what you're suggesting. So you see everything you normally see, and then you also see the dragon (through barriers, too, presumably just reaching out into a void, as you can't see through physical barriers)?

Imagine like when a game glitches out and things render in front of objects despite being behind them. If you've seen wall hacks in fps games, sorta like that.

[Fouredged Sword]

Obviously you see the dragon's human form, but then the spell manifests to you the voice of your DM saying "Yo, but it's really a dragon transformed."

[the_tick_rules]

I always imagined one of the forms to have that semi-transparent look they use for ghosts and stuff. Real or fake guise is up to taste.

[Silly Name]

I'm not sure how to rule it RAW, but from reading the description, it seems logical to me that if there's an ancient silver dragon polymorphed into an human on the other side of a wall, you wouldn't see an ethereal dragon "clipping" through the wall - you need to see the creature in order to also see its true form.

Also, however you decide to rule/fluff how exactly this works, the spell description says nothing about the "true form" interfering with your normal sight, so the forms it reveals would have to be enough ethereal/small/whatever to be see-through.

[Crake]

I'm not sure how to rule it RAW, but from reading the description, it seems logical to me that if there's an ancient silver dragon polymorphed into an human on the other side of a wall, you wouldn't see an ethereal dragon "clipping" through the wall - you need to see the creature in order to also see its true form.

Also, however you decide to rule/fluff how exactly this works, the spell description says nothing about the "true form" interfering with your normal sight, so the forms it reveals would have to be enough ethereal/small/whatever to be see-through.

No no, my point was you could see the "clipped" image onto of the physical person regardless of physical barriers that might otherwise prevent you from seeing the true form in it's entirety, i didn't mean to imply that you could see true forms when there were physical barriers between you and the shapeshifted form.

[SangoProduction]

No no, my point was you could see the "clipped" image onto of the physical person regardless of physical barriers that might otherwise prevent you from seeing the true form in it's entirety, i didn't mean to imply that you could see true forms when there were physical barriers between you and the shapeshifted form.

Hmm. Interesting. So you mean essentially that you see the rest of the image clip through other barriers that both you and the dragon are on the same side of?

And on an unrelated note: What would true sight look like with half or more of the tavern being similarly sized dragons in human shape?

[Dr_Dinosaur]

When you smell something, that's your brain taking chemical signals from your nose and intepreting them into "rotting fish," "brownies," etc. True Sight imo does that as another sense. Your eyes take in signals recognized as "human" but your True Sight catches the polymorph magic and adds "but really a dragon" potentially throwing you into uncanny valley territory

[Silly Name]

I've just though about a couple more potential questions:

- If I see a super-imposed image of the creature's true form, and of the correct size, what happens if I (a medium creature) stand next to a colossal creature polymorphed into a medium creature? What do I see? Am I "inside" the image? Again, I assume it would be semi-transparent and not get down to details like internal organs, but it'd be a bit disorienting to make sense of the image if it works like this.

- Likewise, if the creature's true form is colossal, how can I tell what that true form actually is if the creature stands inside a small room (like, a jail cell ten feet on each side)? How do I get enough useful information from so close up without ending up acting like a blind man touching an elephant?

I also seem to recall a situation in which one of my players had True Seeing active and we had to stop for a couple minutes because everyone at the table needed to figure out what exactly his character was seeing in regard to an illusion... But I don't recall why that debate started. I just remember that it seemed important to determine whether he simply saw things as they were, or was aware of the glamour but could see through it.

[Falontani]

on a similar note; how many wizards walk around shrouded only in illusion, and how many people with true seeing just 'ignore' that they saw the wizard standing totally naked in front of them?

[Crake]

Hmm. Interesting. So you mean essentially that you see the rest of the image clip through other barriers that both you and the dragon are on the same side of?

Yeah, so if it was in a room with a low ceiling, and you looked upward, you would still see the dragon's towering form, even though there's a roof there, you would just see it "through' the roof so to speak


And on an unrelated note: What would true sight look like with half or more of the tavern being similarly sized dragons in human shape?

Cluttered is what I would imagine! Though whichever creature you were focusing on would probably come to the forefront of your senses.

[XionUnborn01]

You know how tv shows and movies have characters that have hologram disguises that kinda glitch occasionally and you can see through them? That's how I assumed it worked. Like you're looking at an elf but you also see a dragon occasionally. The spell would help your brain realize that you're seeing it's true form. As far as size, I always assumed that it would be like you were seeing into an extra dimensional space, like looking into a porthole on a ship. You can see the dragon but its clearly not the same size as the elf you're looking at