The Dangers of “Pre Buffing”

Psionics are rarely a priority for the Harvesters (only in one mod IIRC), but that is not to say that a powerful Psion or one showing unique abilities could not interest them in the same way a magical beast would. If a Harvester is looking for magical might, to me detecting a magical effect on you is more telling than seeing the eyes (after all, it is hard to make out eyes from 60′ away). Also, if you are actively trying to hide yourself, what else are you hiding?

Correct,

It would be a VERY rare case that a psion would garner the attention of the Harvesters…

Correct,

It would be a VERY rare case that a psion would garner the attention of the Harvesters…

Just one more advantage those pesky Vald have over everyone else

Given the network of informants, vals would be hosed otherwise. The clear eyes is a permanent mark that can only effectively be hidden with an active spell. At least if you’re going to interact with anyone you don’t implicitly trust. Members of the Sanctorum have to be careful about where they cast, but aren’t otherwise marked in such an obvious manner.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

I think the best Self buffers are Psions(Body of the warrior,Alter Appearance), the best group buffers are probably Divine( Benediction of the Gods, Blessed Pledge) and IIRC, divine casters aren’t harvested.

The arcane caster most likely to get harvested (in my book at least) Elder!, Ebon shield, Ebon Armor and Ebon sword all are silly obvious, followed probably by the primal caster, for his animal based spells and “hunting buffs”.

maybe the harvesters have a better way for peeking at who is and isnt a caster. that being said, i dont thing characters have a lot of fear about harvesters right now, I hope we can change that soon!

Having not played the last campaign, I don’t know how prevalent ‘harvesting’ of PC’s was. I understand if I go around town casting Arcane spells right and left with little regard, that’s fair game. But going about the normal life, casting spells in most adventures as needed (most are outside of city proper, etc.0 is there much risk?Well, the reality of it is that you’re generally trying to fit a coherent story into a 4 to 5 hour-long block. As a result, it’s difficult to fit random harvester attacks into the mix. There were a smattering of adventures that did put a harvester attack into the adventure. But they were few and far-between.

Then there were the special events. Same problem, but more leeway. I remember one battle interactive where several PCs were harvested. There was a special mission to try to retrieve them. There was also a soft-point module whose sole purpose was to mount a rescue mission to the Isle of Tears to recover some harvested individuals, including PCs. (It had a way to get rid of a special “harvested” cert.) I strongly remember that adventure. I was running a table through it and things were going well until they suddenly decided to deviate from their plan. Things went south and they ended up all getting harvested, themselves! To my knowledge, it’s the only instance of a TPH that Arcanis has ever had.

But personally, anything that can add a real element of danger to playing an arcane caster will add to the ambiance. As players, it’s easy to forget that there is a real and tangible fear of being harvested. That’s why the sanctorum exists. If we can make that fear come alive in some way, I’m all for it.

Scott

(But personally, anything that can add a real element of danger to playing an arcane caster will add to the ambiance. As players, it’s easy to forget that there is a real and tangible fear of being harvested. That’s why the sanctorum exists. If we can make that fear come alive in some way, I’m all for it.

Yes, the sanctorum exists for sorcerers. There isn’t any equivelent organization for psions or shamans (who were previously divine, I think). I thought that their spellcasting was relatively safe. I thought the only others in danger were the silly Elorii

I mean, no one but a primal can turn into wolf. It’s an obvious spell, but I would think it would be an effect that if reported to a Harvester he would ignore. I can certainly be wrong because I didn’t play in the last campaign, but I thought these types of casters (psion and shaman) might be grabbed if they happened to be around when a harvest occurred, but it was pretty unlikely they would motivate a harvest by their own powers/actions.

Same thought with the “Alter Appearance.” It can’t be cast by anyone that Harvesters care about harvesting. So thought it was pretty safe to use in public – just as dangerous as having psionically active eyes.

yeah I always thought the ‘casting stealthily’ option seemed overly harsh. I like having the risk and if you do ‘crazy’ things there should be a chance of having it occur. I would *hope* that in a module, you might get some backup from other party members, but you never know

John

The prevalence and frequency Scott already covered. Arcane spellcasting according to the world is risky.

Yes, for sorcerers and Elder casters. There is lots of material indicating Sorcerers need to be careful. A prince who was born with the ability being grabbed, wars fought, secret societies started. There is a lot of indication that Eldritch spellcasting in the world is risky.

I haven’t seen anything indicating psionics is risky. There are groups that educate psions in each Val family. schools. No apparent fear of harvesting. I haven’t seen anything about shamans being afraid of it either, but I could be wrong.

So from what I have been able to find it seems that those kinds of casters don’t have any reason to be afraid. Are those casters at risk as well? Should they know it? Is it significant or just “opportunity grabs”? I’ve heard on the boards that “Arcane Spellcasting is risky” but I don’t know if that is just shorthand for Elder/Eldritch or if it truly includes psions and shamans as well, because if it does, does that come from somewhere in the current books, or is it all module/campaign knowledge (that I do not yet have the experiance to have observed).