RangerWickett
Legend
I'm trying to come up with a lexicon of magical words, because in my writing I find I'm slipping too often into D&D-isms. In particular, I'm looking for a word to describe discerning hidden aspects of things. Divination, augury, and derivatives thereof all involve seeing the future. I want something more akin to "seeing whether that person is a monster in disguise" or "figuring out what kind of power this magic sword has."
Scrying is to see things from afar by means of a reflective surface.
Psychometry lets you learn the history of something, which is close, but it's got 'psycho-' in it, so it doesn't work too well in a fantasy setting, since everything thinks of psionics as sci-fi.
Dowsing and rhabdomancy both involve looking for things, not discerning the nature of things at hand.
Any help would be appreciated. While you're at it, feel free to chip in with any obscure magical words you like. Like tyromancy, which is apparently divination by means of cheese.
Scrying is to see things from afar by means of a reflective surface.
Psychometry lets you learn the history of something, which is close, but it's got 'psycho-' in it, so it doesn't work too well in a fantasy setting, since everything thinks of psionics as sci-fi.
Dowsing and rhabdomancy both involve looking for things, not discerning the nature of things at hand.
Any help would be appreciated. While you're at it, feel free to chip in with any obscure magical words you like. Like tyromancy, which is apparently divination by means of cheese.
