Power Perceive skill

Also called PP or simply power. Power Perception is the skill to sense and identify the various mystical forces in Elanthia. Mana (all magic-users), life essence (empaths), heavenly bodies (moon mages), and things related to the gods (clerics).

Syntax

The basic command to perceive magic is shared by three synonymous verbs:

• POWER
• PERCEIVE
• CONCENTRATION

If you are a magic user, typing any of those will have the same effect. Adding HELP will show which options are available to your guild.

Mana

There are 4 basic types of mana accessible to mortals flowing around us, though at least a couple more exist.

• Lunar (Moon Mages)
• Holy (Clerics and Paladins)
• Elemental (Warrior Mages and Bards)
• Life (Empaths and Rangers)

In addition to the basics, combinations of the above create different types of sorceries (those mixed with Elemental) and necromancies (those mixed with Life).

Mana levels vary from place to place and/or time to time. Lunar mana, for example, is influenced by the relational positions of the moons.

On top of this basic variance, various events cause mana to wax and wane in concentration (this is a strictly-positive bonus, so at the lowest points of these cycles it never goes below what is naturally there).

• Lunar -- special celestial events (conjunctions, eclipses, etc)?
• Holy -- as the calendar approaches high holy days, holy mana grows stronger.
• Elemental -- strong weather conditions infuse the mana with added energy.
• Life -- as the calendar approaches the summer solstice, mana goes up; as it approaches the winter solstice, mana goes down.

After around 100 ranks, mana perception expands into rooms adjacent to the one you're standing in, allowing you to both see and draw (in limited fashion) on this other mana. Above 300 ranks you begin to draw on mana from rooms farther away.

Perceive Health

Empaths have a special ability to perceive the life essences of the people and animals (and some highly-evolved intelligent plantlife) around them. As they gain skill, these sensations gain clarity and they'll be able to pick out certain properties of the individual (whether in hiding, if they have a disease, etc).

• Fellow empaths, visible or hidden (in which case the name is not revealed)
• non-empaths (profession indifferent), visible or hidden (name not revealed)
• NPC characters and creatures (eg shopowners, smelly cat, etc)
• critters and other beings (type indifferent--can see horses, goblins, and guardian spirits equally well)
• undead and evil or cursed creatures (appear as malign presences)
• hidden critters (indistinguishable from non-empaths)

With the right amount of skill the Empath can further detect the health status of an individual:

• dying state/low vitality
• disease
• poison
• parasites such as blood worms

With increasing skill, an Empath will be able to sense life essences in other rooms farther and farther away. Note that when a person/critter is hidden, this ability does not grant any mechanical bonus towards defeating stealth or pointing them out.

Perceive Others/Items

• Clerics are able to see the number of favors and level of memory degradation on dead people, and when those still kicking and screaming have no favors left.

• Clerics can also perceive items to see their cursed or blessed nature.

• Moon Mages can see what spells are active on other people, and have further options besides.

• Warrior Mages can perceive Familiars to identify who they belong to.

Skill Feats

• The default roundtime for perceiving mana varies between 8 and 12 seconds. Every 60 ranks of PP the minimum and maximum roundtimes drop by 1 second up to 300 ranks (3 - 7 seconds). Every 60 ranks after 300 you will drop the maximum roundtime by 1 second until 540 ranks when every perceive will take 3 seconds.
• Sometime around 80 ranks of PP you will start to see messages indicating the relative mana of adjacent rooms when compared to the room you are perceiving. By 100 ranks you will see the message nearly every time. This indicates you are drawing some power from adjacent rooms. The more ranks of PP you have the more you will be able to draw from adjacent rooms. There is a cap, but I have yet to determine it.
• Sometime around 300 ranks you will start to see this message "You can tell that you sensed a trace of energy from beyond the adjacent areas." By 320 ranks you will see this message nearly every time. You will continue to draw more and more mana from beyond adjacent areas as your skill increases. There is a cap, but I have yet to determine it.