enhanced senses by a spell and how to explain them

[Rubycon]

Hi,
I tried to make a spell who can enhance or change one or more senses of a wizard. So, obviously, magic could be used to give the wizard a +2 to alertness or investigation rolls because he is much mor aware of the things around him. But what if he want's to hear in the ultrasonic spectrum or see in the dark? First, I'm not sure how to handle such spells and second. I would like to have an intime explanation what happens to the wizards senses (or perceptive organs) to be able to sense in such a way.

[Haru]

There are a number of ways this could work:

The easiest way would be, to do it as a simple task thaumaturgy, to replace one investigation roll with a thaumaturgic ritual, that grants you a special sense for just this one task (or rather as often as you do the spell).

If you want to actually take the ability, you would have to take a supernatural sense, and because it is temporary, you could use the temporary powers option (YS92). To justify access to this, You would need a ritual with enough complexity to take you out, which means filling all your consequences and stress tracks, which would be about 30 or so, if I remember correctly.

As to what happens: It's magic
But seriously, the result is going to be different for every wizard. Magic might simply "translate" for one wizard, while the eyes of the next wizard turn red when he is able to see infra-red, and the next gets bat ears for ultrasonic hearing.

[Rubycon]

My problem is that, when I remember correctly, changing even your own body is difficult and dangerous. SO, options like changing your ears to that of a bat or your eyes to that of a cat might be suboptimal. For a thaumaturgic spell, you could build in some kind of enhancer, like the tuning fork harry is using sometimes. So for  seeing in the dark you could use sunglasses which filters the light spectrum to enhance IR or earplugs to enhance and tune down ultrasonic waves. Could that work?

[Haru]

That's what I meant by "simple task". He uses the enhanced sense only for 1 action, so he wouldn't need to change himself all too much. Read up on simple task in the thaumaturgy section of the book.

If you want to use say infrared vision to counter a darkness aspect, you could do a ritual to put the aspect "infrared vision" on a pair of sunglasses. Then you can tag it to counter the darkness aspect, so it wouldn't affect you any more.

It is easier to think about why you want a specific sense as opposed to how to simulate them with fate, because that is, what it is about.

And yes, changing yourself is dangerous and difficult. Like I said, a 30 complexity ritual, you don't just do those in your spare time.

[Vairelome]

Two ways I'd look at, both involving potions:

1)  True Seeing Ointment (YS304), just modify to the specific effect you want.  The downside is the actual mechanics there are wonky, and don't match up perfectly well with the rest of the Potion ruleset.  However, it's one valid starting place.

2)  Craft a Potion that applies an Aspect to the user, such as "Echolocation of a Bat."  Use the free tag you get on the Aspect to Invoke for Effect--specifically, "I can detect anything a bat's echolocation would detect," and then roll Alertness as normal.  For characters that are thoroughly tweaked out for Crafting, the Potion could combine a sticky Aspect with "my Alertness is set to Superb (or better) for echolocation detection."

I think this is a problem that's best solved by Thaumaturgy.  I can cobble together a couple of ideas using Evocation, but they'd be limited to an instant pulse of detection, in my opinion.  If this is a problem that your wizard wants to solve on the fly, empty potion slots + Lore declaration to have the right potion is what I'd suggest.  If a specific form of detection comes up often enough, he could also create an enchanted item that does the same thing, like a set of earphones that grant him the sticky Aspect "Echolocation of a Bat" 3 times per session, for instance.

[Discipol]

You place a maneuver on yourself.
It costs 3 points for 1 specific effect, like Bat Ears and then you increase the duration based on the list. Default is until sunset/sunrise. Hiding from it does not stop it.

I suggest several castings for each effect, but beware. You tag it free, but enemies also get to do that. Gunfire might increase physical stress of the bullet due to the noise hurting your brain, or it might be a separate automatic attack vs your Discipline or Endurance.

Remember, humans were not meant to have such senses, so if you wanna "cheat" nature, accept the consequences.

[Vairelome]

You tag it free, but enemies also get to do that.

If you create an Aspect by any means (Maneuver, Declaration, or Assessment), you get one free tag on that Aspect.  If the Aspect is fragile, it disappears on use.  If it's sticky, it can be used repeatedly by friend or foe until removed--but every use other than the one free tag costs a FP.

Also, in general, if your enemies use your Aspects to harm you (like in the examples Discipol gives), that's a compel on that Aspect, and you get the FPs they paid.  This can also be useful.

[Discipol]

A fragile aspect would be me sneaking around intentionally, making the "Sneaking Around" fragile aspect.

This is transforming my ears into those of a bat, with visual effect too. This is a permanent/temporary modification of my physiology that brings its intended advantages(maybe) and inherited disadvantages.

If you wanna think of it in game terms, think of bat ears as giving you Alertness +5 if you have Alertness +3, or Alertness +3 if you have Alertness +1. But you also get a reroll instead of the numeric bonus if the dices is against you (maybe one ear is smaller than the other or something).

As a DM I would forbid this mechanic unless it costs at least one minor consequence and costing like 9:
- 3 for turning ears into bat ears
- 3 for having functional bat ears
- 3 for having the ears turn to normal when spell ends.
- Maybe 3 points to give the ability to forceful end the spell early but its not that important.

This would nerf you getting Wolverine senses for free, but still allow you to be creative and solve a puzzle, pass through a challenge, hey, maybe eve save the world.

[NicholasQuinn]

There is always the hyperawareness spell, listed under rotes. As written it enhances the users senses; albeit in a slightly different way to what I figure you're attempting. I believe it says that whilst it is intended as a defense, it could easily be used to substitute alertness/investigation rolls.

Just something to consider.

[Discipol]

hyperawareness could mean the nervous impulses from his organs travel fast to his brain, so he gets faster reaction time.

It would still be a problem in the long run, making one tired and overburned due to the fact that he is not used to so much information so fast.

Same as super running speed. Bones start to crack, muscles tear up, maybe blood leaves the legs causing serious damage. Thats why I suggested requiring a consequence in the thaumaturgy. Ofc, using a consequence gives points to the complexity which balance it out the "sacrifice".

[braincraft]

Use sympathetic magic to make you magically sensitive to physical phenomena.

Use Air magic to carry vibrations and smells in the air to you from a distance.

Use Spirit magic to enhance the light in the area.

Use Earth magic to sense vibrations in the ground.