Seer

by CyanBlade

The Seer Discipline is a long-standing, though usually rare, discipline in many areas of Barsaive. It fills a function of lore-master, leader, and village elder. The Seer is able to actually sense the magic threads that make up all of reality, and through them, see things other name-givers usually miss or pay little attention. To them, all things in the world are intricately linked by a tapestry of threads, and once this tapestry is seen in its most complete form, mysteries can be reveled and truths found. Seers most often quest for Mynbruje, since they cherish the discovery of truth as well as knowledge.

"Look at that river, what do you see... I see the memory of the last rain, the fish within it, the people who live by it, the children who will play in it tomorrow, and the hopes and dreams of an entire village."
- Julien, Human Seer

Adepts of this discipline have the ability to sense the future and the past by perceiving the interactions and patterns in the great network of threads that make up Barsaive and the rest of the world. Most Seers have a strong sense of fate, choosing to believe that things have a reason. They believe that many were born with great destinies which merely wait to be fulfilled. Other Seers believe that this is complete hogwash and almost nothing is predetermined. These Seers insist that while things may point in one direction or another, all outcomes are entirely subject to chance. Seers live their lives to discover more about the world and to attempt to understand and see more of the great tapestry that connects the existence of all things.

Members of the Seer Discipline attempt to make sense of their world, trying to discover the hidden meaning in things and the threads connecting people, places, and objects. Seers tend know a great deal about many things, and are often very capable at analysis and problem solving. Their roles in many cities are a testament to this, acting many times as an investigator for solving crimes or as the town's resident wise man. As such, Seers suffer minor talent crises whenever they are completely unsure of how to go about solving a problem, act with complete stupidity, or get themselves or their party lost. A more serious talent crisis would occur if they destroyed an object of legendary significance, or if they deliberately corrupted the balance of the tapestry of threads surrounding an important person, place or object.

Important Attributes: Charisma, Perception

Racial Restrictions: None

Karma Ritual: To begin his Karma ritual, the Seer sits cross-legged and begins to meditate on his surroundings. He reaches out with all of his senses and tries to see the web that connects all of the objects, animals, and name-givers within his vicinity, usually reaching a radius of approximately one hundred yards. Each minute he tries to dig deeper into their past and their possible futures, attempting to understand how exactly they relate to each other and how he himself relates to them. At the end of a half hour of meditation, the karma ritual is complete.

Artisan Skills: Acting, Poetry, Storytelling

First Circle

Talents: Astral Sight (D)
Karma Ritual
Melee Weapons
Read/Write Language
Speak Language
Tracking (D)

Second Circle

Talents: Creature Analysis (D)
Durability (6/5)
Item History (D)

Third Circle

Talents: Avoid Blow
Empathic Sense

Fourth Circle

Extend Senses: The Seer may, for the cost of 2 strain, extend his senses, gaining +2 steps to his Perception for the purposes of perception tests. This ability effectively doubles the normal range all of the Seer's five senses, allowing him to pick up the smallest of clues for detecting something. Extend Senses lasts a number of rounds equal to the test result.

Talents: Evidence Analysis (D)
Thread Weaving (Seeing) (D)

Fifth Circle

Karma: The Seer may spend one karma point on Perception only, including Extend Senses.

Talents: Lip Reading
Weapon History (D)

Sixth Circle

Social Defense: Increase the Seer's Spell Defense by 1.

Talents: Anticipate Blow
True Sight (D)

Seventh Circle

Spell Defense: Increase the Seer's Social Defense by 1.

Talents: Read/Write Magic
Scrying (D)

Eighth Circle

Physical Defense: Increase the Seer's Physical Defense by 1.

Talents: Detect Weapon
Lifesight (D)

Ninth Circle

Spell Defense: Increase the Seer's Spell Defense by 1.
Social Defense: Increase the Seer's Social Defense by 1.

Talents: Spellcasting
Spell Matrix
Thread Weaving (Wizardry)

Tenth Circle

Past Sight: The Seer may, for 3 points of strain, may make a half-magic test against a difficulty number set by the GM to look into the past to see events as they occurred in a specific area in which the character is standing. The Seer attempts to sense the tapestry of threads surrounding the pattern of the area, extending his senses out in the both the physical world and in astral space. The character is able to see into the past a number of days equal to test result.

Talents: Detect Falsehood (D)
Multi-Tongue

New Talents

Scrying

Step Number: Rank + Perception Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: Seer

The character is able to enchant a mirror with the ability to gaze at any being, item, or place. The character essentially sets up a link between the pattern he wants to watch and the mirror he enchants. The mirror may be any reflective surface such as a small body of water or a piece of glass. The character must make a spellcasting test against the spell defense against the person, object, or place to be watched. A successful result allows the character to watch the person, object, or place for a number of hours equal to the test result, from any angle or perspective desired, and in the astral plane.

To renew his scrying, the character need only make another test against the same spell defense. Scrying can only be detected on an excellent success versus the scrying test result, and may be dispelled on an excellent success against 15, the dispel difficulty of a seventh circle talent. Scrying has a range of rank x 20 miles, although the Seer must have personally seen or sensed the pattern which he desires to observe. The duration of this talent may be extended to a year and a day and its range made unlimited for the cost of 2 points of blood magic. This blood magic may be recovered after a year and a day has passed, or renewed for another year and a day.

Half-Magic

Seers may make half-magic tests the same way Weaponsmiths do to recognize various weapons, as well as for magical items. They may make half-magic tests to determine what direction they are facing, and where they are in relation to places they have been or know about. Seers may also make general half-magic tests in place of perception for types of sensing not already covered by existing skills, talents, or abilities.

At Third Circle, Seers gain the half-magic ability Sense Probable Future. This ability allows the Seer on a successful half-magic test against a character's spell defense, to get a vague impression of what they are most likely to do in the next few minutes. This only gives the most probable outcome and should not be taken as fact. As the level of success increases, so does the character's accuracy and length of time into the future the character may attempt to predict. This ability may also be used as a rough form of divination, often yielding vague and cryptic answers.

At Fifth Circle, Seers gain the half-magic ability Sense Danger. This ability allows a character to sense when a danger or threat is near such as surprise and blindside attacks. The gamemaster always rolls this secretly and karma cannot be added to the dice roll. A successful half-magic test against an attacker's spell defense allows the character sense an impending blindslide attack. The character is able to sense the attacker and meet his attack without penalty. For surprise attacks, the gamemaster secretly makes a roll for a character against the lowest spell defense of the attacking party. On an average success, the character isn't alerted to the danger until moments before it strikes, only getting a "strange feeling". In this case, the attack is noticed at the last moment and the character is not surprised, but may not warn anyone else. The character may act at the end of the round with a -2 penalty to all steps. On a good success and above, the character can act on his own initiative without penalty, but cannot warn anyone else of the danger.

At Eighth Circle, Seers gain the half-magic ability Sense Fate. This ability allows the Seer on a successful half-magic test against a character's spell defense, to an indication of what the most likely path the character's future will take. The Seer can sense a number of years equal to the result of the half-magic test into the future of the character. This ability may also be used in a more broad sense to divine important events yet to come further in the future. This usually results in cryptic and ambiguous portents of the future that only the most experienced Seers are able to grasp after days or even weeks of study. Use of this ability takes approximately ten minutes. While this ability is more reliable than the Sense Probable Future ability, the future can always change or be changed.

Talent Knacks

Horror Analysis

Talent: Creature Analysis	Rank: 7
Cost: 100	Stain: 1
Disciplines: Beastmaster, Scout, Seer

As described on page 58 of Arcane Mysteries.

Lay of the Land

Talent: Astral Sight	Rank: 4/5
Cost: 100	Stain: 1
Disciplines: Scout, Seer

As described on page 58 of Arcane Mysteries.

Multi-Scrying

Talent: Scrying	Rank: 9
Cost: 200	Stain: 1
Disciplines: Seer

This talent knack allows the character to keep tabs on a number of people, places, or objects equal to his rank at one time instead of just one. Each additional place watched causes one point of strain. The character may add the additional things being watched to the same mirror or to multiple mirrors.

Name-giver Analysis

Talent: Creature Analysis	Rank: 6
Cost: 100	Stain: 1
Disciplines: Seer

This talent works the same way with name-givers as the Creature Analysis talent works with animals. It uses divination magic to gain information about the character the character is observing. The character must achieve at least a good success on a Creature Analysis test against the spell defense of the target. The player is allowed to ask one specific question about the target's abilities or statistics. Other small pieces of information may also be discerned, such as where a character is originally from, if they are part of a particular organization, etc. The gamemaster should exercise caution when allowing this knack to be used in this way.

Discipline Combinations

Seers work best with Disciplines which emphasize using their perception such as Elementalists, Wizards, Nethermancers, Scouts, and Archers. The Disciplines of the Troubadour and Weaponsmith also work very well with the Seer Discipline due to their emphasis on preserving knowledge and information, and their respect for legendary artifacts. Illusionists usually conflict with Seers in that they show the truth by using deception, while Seers prefer to strip away all illusion and look into the reality of things much as an elementalist might. Although not unreconcilable, Thieves usually do not fit particularly well with the Seer's distaste for deception and trickery, as well as the Seer's preferred role as a village elder. Seers will occasionally be multi-disciplined with the Warrior, Swordmaster, Beastmaster, Cavalryman, Air Sailer, and Sky Raider Disciplines, depending on their personal background and culture.

Author's Note:

This is a great Discipline for an NPC so that the gamemaster can further the plot by giving players either cryptic portents of events yet to come, hopefully pointing them in the right direciton, or to allow them to learn some hard-to-get information. The Seer also works well as a player Discipline, although finding a trainer would certainly be a challenge much of the time. The Seer Discipline borrows somewhat from the Scout, Weaponsmith, Wizard, and Troubadour Disciplines, giving huge rewards to those with high perception. This is offset by the Seer's mild combat abilities, although they make up for this later on with Anticipate Blow at sixth circle and Wizardry at ninth. The scrying talent is an excellent plot device although its potential for misuse should be carefully watched by the GM.

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