See Aura

[Ted Smythe]

Are psychics and practitioners of magic using the 'see aura' power able to recognize a specific individual based solely on their aura? For example, if I read Charlie the Changeling's aura would I still know it is Charlie next time I use the power on him even if he altered his form?

[Library Ogre]

I would say yes; it would be analogous to looking at someone's face and recognizing them for those with the ability to see auras.

[Prince Cherico]

I follow the law of rule of cool if its
cool I allow it and reconizing some one
by aura is cool

[Natasha]

How are they unique?

They just reveal vague details about a person. Don't they?

[Natasha]

I assume it says something, too... when using a mutant animal with that power.

[Natasha]

I mean the Mutant Animal power is different from the See Aura power.

[Library Ogre]

Think for a moment about the information a face (without makeup) gives you. Gender, more often than not; age, within a range (young, adult, middle-aged, old; some people can narrow it down more); race, again within a range (often based on familiarity; many Asians I know can tell where in Asia someone is from based on a face, and I can often tell Americans from Brits from Eastern Europeans, but French and German people invariably read as Americans to me); mood; health, to an extent (usually when it's an extreme).

You tell these things not because there's a tag attached to a person's neck which reads "I am a middle-aged Korean woman. I am in a good mood and generally healthy." You know that the face is female because her face isn't as square as a male's face, and the styling of the hair. You tell her age because of the accumulation of line and wrinkles and the condition of hair; the sprinkling of grey, the lessening of luster that sets in a bit as one ages. You know her race because of skin color, eye folds, and hair. You know mood because of expression of mouth and eyes. You know health because of a variety of subtle signs; a healthy person simply looks healthy, while the signs of ill-health (runny nose, red eyes, disheveled look) are generally less so.

You recognize a person because you look at all of these. If you see them repeatedly, especially over a period of time, you'll be able to recognize them again. Now, the duration of See Aura is pretty short, but you're giving a person a pretty healthy eyeball during that time, and so I'd say you could recognize one if you saw it again, especially if you've seen it multiple times before.

[Natasha]

If it presents itself the same way every time, sure.

I don't think it's clear that it's the same every time.

[Natasha]

The see Aura works a little differently from the real life one.

[Natasha]

If they're not seeing the same aura... well, frankly, that would mean there's two things called auras, and that seems really, really silly.
Is that what you're saying? That mutant animals with their distinct See Aura power, and psionic/magely humans with their distinct See Aura technique, are seeing distinctly different phenomenon with different applications?
Or are you simply repeating my point that, even though the mutant animal power writeup does imply that each aura is unique, nevertheless humans might not be able to tell one aura from another?

The etheric is complex. That means there could be two things called auras; it also means that I could be repeating your point. I think it's up to the player group to make that call. From a BtS perspective, I'd keep it a mystery and unexplained. Some will accuse me of handwavium, to which I can only respond, I don't know the actual answer to these games. Pick one that suits you. If I had to pick one, I'd go with the latter; the Mutants are more atuned to auras than the others.

I hope that I am making sense now.

Peace?

Of course.

[Library Ogre]

due to the fact you can't see alignment I'd say that Aura's aren't explicit in determining who's who, what's what. the power only gives limited information not omniscience, like most of the divination stuff in PB.

Why would being unable to see alignments be the dividing line? In PB, alignment isn't a mystical connection to moral and ethical truth (as it is in D&D; Good, Evil, Law and Chaos all objectively exist and have goals), but rather your standard of behavior.

I can recognize people at the library even if I know nothing about how they behave save when I'm observing them... and those observations may be of very limited duration.

[Natasha]

due to the fact you can't see alignment I'd say that Aura's aren't explicit in determining who's who, what's what. the power only gives limited information not omniscience, like most of the divination stuff in PB.

Why would being unable to see alignments be the dividing line? In PB, alignment isn't a mystical connection to moral and ethical truth (as it is in D&D; Good, Evil, Law and Chaos all objectively exist and have goals), but rather your standard of behavior.

I can recognize people at the library even if I know nothing about how they behave save when I'm observing them... and those observations may be of very limited duration.

Both gadrin and I have pointed out the general vagueness of information gleaned from See Aura. It's this vagueness (I think) that is the dividing line.

And like I said before: there's nothing in the description of the aura that says it's an immutable sign floating over the person's head. It could be so that one can get used to it, but it is not necessarily so that you can.

I'm not trying to speak on anybody's behalf but mine. Of course.

[Natasha]

Granted there are more things on heaven and earth and all that, but it still seems a slightly silly interpretation to me.
Still, much agreed; while I'll think silly any GM who gives somebody two auras with crossover of information, one for each version of the power, I'll stand by that GM's right to say so. If this becomes a habit, though, this context-sensitive treatment of terminology, I'm not likely to continue playing. To my knowledge, there's only one form of ISP, one form of PPE, and physical beauty means the same thing everywhere in the megaverse. So regardless of the limitations of human perception even when magically or psionically aided, why not auras?

Think of it like this. There are different levels of the etheric "above" the physical level. So the Mutant isn't seeing a different aura, he's just seeing more of the same aura - he's seeing "deeper" or "higher" into the etherics but not as far as, say, the Astral. That explains it, perhaps, but it doesn't explain why. And nothing will. It's a matter of choice for the gaming group to decide why it works this way.

And the group may well decide it doesn't work this way and apply this "recognise by aura" business to anyone capable of seeing auras whatsoever. Or not. Or something wholly different.

[Library Ogre]

due to the fact you can't see alignment I'd say that Aura's aren't explicit in determining who's who, what's what. the power only gives limited information not omniscience, like most of the divination stuff in PB.

Why would being unable to see alignments be the dividing line? In PB, alignment isn't a mystical connection to moral and ethical truth (as it is in D&D; Good, Evil, Law and Chaos all objectively exist and have goals), but rather your standard of behavior.

I can recognize people at the library even if I know nothing about how they behave save when I'm observing them... and those observations may be of very limited duration.

Both gadrin and I have pointed out the general vagueness of information gleaned from See Aura. It's this vagueness (I think) that is the dividing line.

Personally, I don't see the information given as being vague; they're inferences you draw from looking at the aura. "The shape of this aura is wrong; it's not human. However, it's whole and in good condition, so he's healthy. From how it's brightly glowing, I know it has a lot of PPE; way more than me. It's got very strong, well defined lines; he's high level, whatever he is." You're doing the same thing a person looking at a face is doing, but working with a different set of information.

[Natasha]

You're doing the same thing a person looking at a face is doing, but working with a different set of information.

That's why I said I was careful to talk about analogies in the physical realms.

I don't know that studying the aura is the same as studying the face. Little indicates that it is.

[Library Ogre]

You're doing the same thing a person looking at a face is doing, but working with a different set of information.

That's why I said I was careful to talk about analogies in the physical realms.

I don't know that studying the aura is the same as studying the face. Little indicates that it is.

Go back to sources. The power is pretty bare of details about how it works (unlike, say, Astral Projection, which used to have more than a page of description). The original Beyond the Supernatural had a bit more in the section on Parapsychologists, and there's other stuff available, in parapsychological studies, on auras.

[Natasha]

Oki I will re-read my BtS book this evening.

[Natasha]

Oki I will re-read my BtS book this evening.

Gonna have to read it again. I'm not finding anything..

[Library Ogre]

They talk a little bit about it in the section on Kirlian photography; as I said, it's never been highly detailed in the Palladium canon.

[Library Ogre]

Remember that changeling auras are very similar to human and elven auras (p. 309 of PFRPG2nd), implying that the two auras are relatively similar, themselves.

[Vidynn]

I would say yes auras are meant to unique.

seconded!

[LostOne]

I'd vote no.

[Northern Ranger]

Okay, I would have to allow this, but here's why.

A psychic (or mage) using see aura has likely done this countless times. A person who uses this ability over and over could essentially get used to looking at people this way and learn to differentiate between details. It's my opinion that an aura doesn't change as much as a persons appearance when they age. A person, unless something truly life-altering happens, stays fundamentally the same from adulthood on.

A psychic or mage using see aura on a person would be able to recognize that person again, provided they had seen that persons aura enough times. Think of it like this. You meet a person for the first time and perhaps they don't leave a lasting impression. If it's years before you see that person again, you may not remember them. However, if a mutual friend reminds of the person the next time you see him/her, you might remember. I would say it's fundamentally the same here. The more a psychic or mage is exposed to particular persons aura, the better their chances of recognizing that person again next time.

[LostOne]

I can kinda see your point, however, if you know the person, how often are you really going to be spending the points to activate See Aura to look at them? You've seen their aura, why keep checking it unless they are acting suspiciously?

Also, the aura descriptions are fairly generic. They give you a rough idea of level, presence of magic/psionic ability, unusual aberration, etc. Level can change over time if they've had adventures or other experiences. Those adventures or experiences might change the psychic/magic abilities as well either by introducing new ones or loss of their powers due to some accident or an enemy lobotomizing them. The aura can change just as much as the body depending on the circumstances.

Unless your group/GM is going to specifically add something to the aura that lets you identify someone specifically, like you "just know" it's Bob, I don't really think you can identify someone by See Aura.

But in my game a level 2 mind melter human has the same aura as the level 3 mind melter human and level 1 human minor psychic standing next to him.

[LostOne]

I'm not sure but I think the power also lets you tell if someone has super powers.

I think the RUE version just tells you if they have an unusual aberration, which includes if they're supernatural, have super powers, etc. But it doesn't tell you what.

It'll also tell you if they're possessed.

[mobuttu]

I would say no. Here is why:

See Aura only tells you very "superficial" information about the person. Following the exemples above, it only tells you race, humor, alignment, but not describes you the actual face. There are hundreds and hundreds of people with the same overall "superficial" feartures, but until you don't see their face it's impossible to discriminate one from the other. Thus, Mutant animals "see the details" (the face) of the aura, and thus can recognize one from the other.

Just my 2 cents.