Two new void spells (mayb in place of some existing ones?)

[Puciek]

I propose two high-circle spells for void. I will first let you read the spells and then state a reason for them so bear with me.

Name: Ariels Stalker (i suck at names, i know)
Desc: Very similar spell to auspex, but it will follow a targeted person (for rl hour*circle or untill dismissed manually) and let you hear his/hers thoughts remotely.

Name: Ariels Invader
Desc: Only a very few grand masters of void can utilize this powerful spell which allows you to read desc notes of other players.
Addition: usage of this powerful spell requires a desc note why are you doing it. Should give a victim some sort of information when probing happens.

The reason: mind reading currently is very broken.
The longer reason: as I've played the void for quite some time (and being online A LOT interacting with A LOT of different people) i know when people use think and how people use it and it is pretty depressing. Most of people don't use the "think" command at all, which is better than the other breed which uses it every emote or two to post trivial things. The problem with latter type is that once the conversation delves into deception, they simply... stop using the command "think" altogether (so they get all the benefits of it without any risk, how joyful).
While people cannot be forced to use think, this would provide a high circled void with a way to still read minds of those who are not think-happy.

[Dice]

I think you mean Aquiel, not Ariel... Ariel would be pretty weirded out by having a couple spells named after him. ;)

I personally feel void gets a huge advantage by being able to read any thoughts at all, especially considering how low-level Auspex is as a spell. I would be deeply uncomfortable with that power being expanded (and yes, I have played a void mage in the past). Auspex has incredible power already even if people don't always use think.

Magic can't be an 'insta-win' button, and these two spells definitely exceed my comfort level in that regard.

[Puciek]

I think you mean Aquiel, not Ariel... Ariel would be pretty weirded out by having a couple spells named after him. ;)

I personally feel void gets a huge advantage by being able to read any thoughts at all, especially considering how low-level Auspex is as a spell. I would be deeply uncomfortable with that power being expanded (and yes, I have played a void mage in the past). Auspex has incredible power already even if people don't always use think.

Magic can't be an 'insta-win' button, and these two spells definitely exceed my comfort level in that regard.

It's not about instawin. What is the actual benefit you personally had from overhearing thoughts? Did it at least save your life once? It didn't because people use think only for complete triviality/playing around with mages/comic value (and i was gathering this data for what, almost 2 months? So it's not a small sample). Itself it's nowhere near an instantwin, not even close, but it allows a void to be a true master of manipulation and counter-deception (just because you know that they are onto you doesn't mean you've won - it only gives you more room to play with).

[Dice]

It didn't save my life - and it shouldn't. Aquiel's Auspex is the LOWEST level power of Void. It has incredible utility for being a first-circle spell whose requirements are in the single-digit. I didn't even often have it on and it was incredibly useful. I've used it for telepathic communication (two void mages in the same room), for example.

And I do respectfully disagree about it not being insta-win. I've been in many, many situations where if somebody around had been able to hear my characters' thoughts, my character would not still be alive. Period.

The ability to hear thoughts at all would inherently be overpowered to me if not for the way people actually use it in play.

[Puciek]

It didn't save my life - and it shouldn't. Aquiel's Auspex is the LOWEST level power of Void. It has incredible utility for being a first-circle spell whose requirements are in the single-digit. I didn't even often have it on and it was incredibly useful. I've used it for telepathic communication (two void mages in the same room), for example.

And I do respectfully disagree about it not being insta-win. I've been in many, many situations where if somebody around had been able to hear my characters' thoughts, my character would not still be alive. Period.

The ability to hear thoughts at all would inherently be overpowered to me if not for the way people actually use it in play.

That is the idea - it is supposed to be powerful, you couldn't give me one example of time where you've overheard something usefull (even one bit). Only example is when you get the obscure scene of two voids who, while in same room, need to communicate secretly. That is a very obscure scenario. VERY.

Short of that - it's a useless spell that is not really worth casting, and is only used to "catch" mages (by people who know about it from OOC knowledge) which is just... dumb. Only person who would fall for it is the newbie who honestly doesn't know about this spell.

Also keep in mind that if people who suspect a person of being a mage will suddenly disappear, then how long do you think it will take reeves/order to figure out that "hey, it's the guy they were suspecting of magery who did it"? Risk vs reard. You risk your life, so reward should be tremendous.

[Geras]

I like the name "Ariel's Stalker" personally.

[Dice]

I like the name "Ariel's Stalker" personally.

You WOULD, stalker.

[Cellan]

The longer reason: as I've played the void for quite some time (and being online A LOT interacting with A LOT of different people) i know when people use think and how people use it and it is pretty depressing. Most of people don't use the "think" command at all, which is better than the other breed which uses it every emote or two to post trivial things. The problem with latter type is that once the conversation delves into deception, they simply... stop using the command "think" altogether (so they get all the benefits of it without any risk, how joyful).

I don't think that this problem is wide-spread as you think it is. I use the 'think' command quite often, and on all my characters... generally, it's pretty trivial stuff. Why? Because, for me, the think command isn't for the convenience of whichever mage might happen to be listening in on my thoughts at any given time; I use it as a way to develop my character. Frankly, saying, "use it for important things or don't use it at all" sounds awfully like you expect people to think for your benefit. That isn't the purpose of the command.

I'm deeply uncomfortable about the desc note idea, and respond with a very strong "no". Desc notes are meant to be OOC tools-- why should an IC spell give you access to something that doesn't exist in game?

[Leech]

I'm with Cellan here. Reading desc notes would be horribly overpowered. Along with who I'm going to murder, I keep an outline of my character in there, their feelings, what makes them tick, and their life goals. Having that all in the palm of your hand would allow you to manipulate my character perfectly.

All in one overpowered spell.

I do like the idea of the shadow following people at higher levels, though I'm not too comfortable with allowing distance thought reading.

-----

I've actually had a void mage reveal themselves to me because I was thinking rather negative, and border-line aggressive thoughts about them. I use think for all sorts of things, and although I don't think I used it enough, in a lot of instances if people would have known my thoughts then they would probably have killed my character then and there.

There is just so much you can do with the smallest thought. 'I like apples.' *invites them to an apple orchard, to taste a unique blend of apple juice* *proceeds to kill them at said apple orchard*

[Geras]

I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with the current spell either. Tweaking the XP bonus from using think could help I guess, but other than that...