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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alomir" data-source="post: 746320" data-attributes="member: 6622">This is a really neat spell, but I ran into some problems when I started thinking about actually trying to use it.  I tried figuring out what the DCs would be for some questions, and quickly got up to astronomical numbers; here are a few of the ones I thought of...DC 35: Thirty seconds from now, who will most likely be in the room I'm currently in?DC 55: What color cloak will Nolin be wearing at this time tomorrow? (Assuming I know where Nolin is likely to be)DC 65: How likely is it that the kobold we just met will pass through this area in the next day?DC 65: What is the most likely time that the kobold will come through here?The relative DCs for different time periods seem a bit off, as well.  Specifically: - Getting info about something three hours from now (DC +9) is easier than getting the same info about something just under a minute from now (DC +10) - One month from now (DC +31) is almost as easy as just under a day (DC +30)Agar, a 16th level caster, has a scry skill modifier of +25 (pretty high without power gaming, I would think).  So, his *eighth level* spell only gives him roughly a 50-50 chance of knowing who will be in the room with him in 30 seconds.  DC 65 (for the kobold questions) is far beyond his reach - but it seems that this kind of info should be within the realm of an eighth level spell.  Also, I would think the second kobold question above should be harder than the first kobold one (although one could argue that the first one has to be asked before the second).  The fact that Agar would get to make upwards of 160 scry checks helps the DC 35 question, but no amount of trying would help the others (more on the 160 scry checks below).What DCs would I suggest?  That's a difficult question - this is not a simple spell.  One option that might help would be to reverse the DC base/DC modifier scheme - make the future time the base factor, with the complexity being a modifier.  I think the complexity issue is too, well, complex to be used for the base.  Here are some thoughts... Future time:DC 10: up to one minute from nowDC 15: up to one hour from nowDC 20: up to one day from nowDC 25: up to one month from nowDC 30: up to one year from nowEach factor-of-ten adds +5 to DC (so 'up to ten years from now' is DC 40, etc).Complexity:Hmmm...  Unlike a scry, the caster isn't just looking for 'what do I see' - need to asks questions, essentially.  What makes up the 'complexity' of a question?  Here are some thoughts:What kind of info - what does the caster want to know about the target of the question?  Just existence (yes/no), status or descriptor (alive, wounded, cracked, full of holes, green), or activity (What is Nolin most likely to be doing at that time?).  Possible modifiers:DC +0:  existence DC +5:  status/descriptorDC +10: activity How much info?  A single bit (e.g., yes/no, a number, a color), a small, known number of bits (e.g., status of each of the four walls), or an unknown amount (e.g., who's in the room).  Possible modifiers:DC +0:  one piece of info (How likely is it that the kobold will be there? How likely is it that any kobold will be there?  How many kobolds are likely to be there?)DC +5:  small/known number of pieces of info (What's the status of each of the four walls?)DC +10: unknown number of pieces of info (What creatures are likely to be there?)How mobile is the target of the question?  Possible modifiers:DC +0:  really immobile object (castle wall, roof of cavern)DC +5:  inanimate object/creature (a table)DC +10: animate object/creatureGiven the spell description ("the remote scrying sensor only exists for one exact instant in all realities"), questions that ask about the time between the present and the sensor's point in time seem beyond this spell (there's no sensor to see what's going on).  However, if the spell were changed such that this did fit, I would say that questions that deal with the 'between time' would be much harder - *SO* much more info to process.  Perhaps:DC +0:  sensor's point in time onlyDC +10:  info about the chunk of time between now and sensor ('Probability that a kobold passed through here between now and then')DC +15: info about a specific point in time between now and sensor ('most likely time that the kobold passed through')The questions from above, reworked:- Thirty seconds from now, who will most likely be in the room I'm currently in?DC: 10+ 0+10+10+ 0 = 30- What color cloak will Nolin most likely be wearing at this time tomorrow?DC: 20+ 5+ 0+10+ 0 = 35- How likely is it that the kobold we just met will pass through this area in the next day?DC: 20+ 0+ 0+10+10 = 40- What is the most likely time that the kobold will come through here?DC: 20+ 0+ 0+10+15 = 45I'm not sure I like the DCs that this ends up with, but I think that this system (or a similar one) has a better basis for tweaking.Another thought:DC -5 to +5 (or more): ad hoc situational modifier, depending on how likely it is that there are multiple possibilities to interpret.  So, a -5 might be 'Well, Nolin only has *one* cloak', and +5 might be 'Little does Agar know that Nolin just bought seventeen cloaks, and is dying to try them all'.</blockquote>

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