SangoProduction
2022-11-18, 11:24 PM
I honestly kind of forgot this talent existed until just recently. Then I was directed to it... and man, I think it can be really messed up.
Vision (charm)
You may make someone see things that are not there.
Lesser Charm: You may alter a creature’s perception of a single creature, object, sound, or effect for 1 round per caster level (Will negates). You may alter 1 sense (sight, sound, touch/pain, taste, smell); for example, you could make a thief appear to be an alley cat, make a scratch appear as a gaping knife wound, or make the sound of footsteps seem like the wind. You cannot use this to replicate speech or sights and sounds you have never encountered before, nor to make something invisible. If used to cover up pain (such as hiding the target taking damage) the target gains a +4 bonus to their Will save. If the target interacts with the object of their altered perception, they are allowed an additional save every round they continue to do so.
Greater Charm: This functions as the lesser charm, except you may affect all 5 senses in relation to the chosen creature, object, sound, or effect.
Powerful Charm: This functions as the greater charm, except you may change the target’s perception of everything around them. This grants the target a new saving throw each round they interact with any part of the altered surroundings.
I mean, gaslighting is the most obvious way to use it. Functional Telepathy / Automatic Coded Language as well.
I had someone suggest that they were going to make the target hear the background sounds of the woods as [inappropriate description]. Probably much too broad. It needs a specific thing to manipulate. But the talent does explicitly call out "wind" as an appropriate manipulated perception. So having the wind sound like that would probably be fine.
I'm thinking that in combat, you could make your allies look like their allies to them. Or [indescribable horror].
It says that a thief can be made to appear as an alley cat... most thieves are not tiny-sized. So it doesn't have clear size restrictions on what you can recode a perception to. So there can be clear abuses, like making [thing] look like [overwhelmingly large thing], blocking all sight. But a reasonable DM is probably going to strike that down.
Making the floor look like it's impassible, or a gap look like it has a floor, is also a clear use. Alternatively, making the floor look like it's on fire could get someone to flee their position, or even avoid running through.
Having the air feel like ice (or wind if such needed specificity)... would quite possibly be devastating. Could give someone heatstroke by having them try and fix it.
I mean, making anything mundane feel or sound particularly notable (especially for any long period of time) could be maddening. Imagine if it feels like your armor/clothes is/are burning you.
Any other notable uses you can think of?
Vision (charm)
You may make someone see things that are not there.
Lesser Charm: You may alter a creature’s perception of a single creature, object, sound, or effect for 1 round per caster level (Will negates). You may alter 1 sense (sight, sound, touch/pain, taste, smell); for example, you could make a thief appear to be an alley cat, make a scratch appear as a gaping knife wound, or make the sound of footsteps seem like the wind. You cannot use this to replicate speech or sights and sounds you have never encountered before, nor to make something invisible. If used to cover up pain (such as hiding the target taking damage) the target gains a +4 bonus to their Will save. If the target interacts with the object of their altered perception, they are allowed an additional save every round they continue to do so.
Greater Charm: This functions as the lesser charm, except you may affect all 5 senses in relation to the chosen creature, object, sound, or effect.
Powerful Charm: This functions as the greater charm, except you may change the target’s perception of everything around them. This grants the target a new saving throw each round they interact with any part of the altered surroundings.
I mean, gaslighting is the most obvious way to use it. Functional Telepathy / Automatic Coded Language as well.
I had someone suggest that they were going to make the target hear the background sounds of the woods as [inappropriate description]. Probably much too broad. It needs a specific thing to manipulate. But the talent does explicitly call out "wind" as an appropriate manipulated perception. So having the wind sound like that would probably be fine.
I'm thinking that in combat, you could make your allies look like their allies to them. Or [indescribable horror].
It says that a thief can be made to appear as an alley cat... most thieves are not tiny-sized. So it doesn't have clear size restrictions on what you can recode a perception to. So there can be clear abuses, like making [thing] look like [overwhelmingly large thing], blocking all sight. But a reasonable DM is probably going to strike that down.
Making the floor look like it's impassible, or a gap look like it has a floor, is also a clear use. Alternatively, making the floor look like it's on fire could get someone to flee their position, or even avoid running through.
Having the air feel like ice (or wind if such needed specificity)... would quite possibly be devastating. Could give someone heatstroke by having them try and fix it.
I mean, making anything mundane feel or sound particularly notable (especially for any long period of time) could be maddening. Imagine if it feels like your armor/clothes is/are burning you.
Any other notable uses you can think of?