Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 5513188" data-attributes="member: 18280">If you have a chance, watch the second episode of Medium.  It deals directly with the question "Yes, I understand that you know....but are you sure?"Yes, those things make it easy for the PCs to know the truth.  For them to prove what they know?  That's a different kettle of fish.Ex.  Bob the Devotee of Asmodeus pretends to be a cleric of the One True Faith, then, after chanting and praying, says the Count did it.  Did the Count do it?  Do you know?A cleric's god might not be wearing blinders (like the horse), but the Court isn't being asked to take the god's word; it is being asked to take the cleric's.Zone of Truth is powerful, but it is possible to lie in the Zone.  Is it possible to be Cursed to always lie in a Zone of Truth?  When the Count claims that the PC caster made him somehow lie, and is trying to frame him, is that beyond what magic can do?  Does the King know?  Does the Court know?Using magic raises as many problems as it resolves, unless that magic is used to help in the grunt work of finding actual evidence.  And even then.......There's an Astro City story where a mobster gets off because, hey, he has enemies, and can the court prove that a shapeshifting alien or rival supervillian wasn't setting him up?  If the defense works for the good guys, it should work for the bad guys as well.Yes!No!Because those spells only tell the PCs what they should be looking for.  They know the Count did it, now how do they convince everyone else that the Count did it?Nah.  It just presumes that the society has no way to say "Treat PCs different than NPCs".IF "a horse told me" works for the PCs, THEN it also works for their enemies.IF their enemies cannot just say "My god told me the PCs are guilty", THEN neither can the PCs simply say "My god told me that the Count is guilty."Knowing that Dracula is a vampire changes where Van Helsing stands, but unless Van Helsing can convince Victorian London that Dracula is a vampire, it is not a "I Win" button.  A lot of novel happens after Van Helsing is convinced.In the same light, DNA evidence doesn't always result in a conviction.RC</blockquote>

Verification