Scrying

[ellestar]

Ran into a problem in my game last night. The party ran into a doppelganger, who they believe is merely a friendly half-orc who was knowledgeable about the local forest (actually an agent of the main BBEG, who is using the party to do his dirty work). They needed his services again, and tried to scry on him, to find out where he was. How should I handle this? They didn't have his real name, only the name he was using. If the doppelganger is posing as another character at the time of scrying, will they see him, even if they only know him by his other false name? I luckily didn't have to deal with it last night, as the doppelganger made his will save against the scrying, but I fear he won't be so lucky the next time (a will save of +6 doesn't exactly guarantee a scry-proof existence)

I can't seem to find anything about this in the rules. Ideas?

 

[CalrinAlshaw]

If they know who they are scrying, have seen them, or know their name, they are scrying the individual that they saw, unless they only have a name. If they are scrying the Doppleganger, and he is in another form, that is what they see, the other form. At this point, they might be a bit confused...

Calrin Alshaw

 

[anon]

Yet another example of how overpowered Scry is, as written.

 

[MerakSpielman]

As a plot twist, have the doppleganger be duplicating an existing half-orc and using his name. The PCs will scry the non-doppleganger, perhaps doing something nefarious.

A Comedy of Errors ensues!

 

[Mephistopheles]

I don't think there is anything in the rules covering this, but the 3.0 FAQ did have a question on it.

Being polymorphed doesn't change your identity - you're still you. Scrying effects tuned to your own identity can still locate you. They also can locate you when they're keyed to assumed identity, too, depending on the scrying character's knowledge of you.

... Someone who knows the imposter only in his assumed identity can scry for him and locate him in that identity.

That FAQ answer still leaves some ambiguity but here's how I'd run it based on this answer.

1) The scrier knows the true identity of the impostor: he can correctly target the impostor with scrying no matter what form it is in.

2) The impostor's assumed form was duplicating a real identity:
2a) If the scrier does not know that the impostor was anything other than it claimed to be, then
i) he targets the real identity if he has met it or knows of it, or else
ii) he targets the impostor if it is currently in the assumed form of the real identity, or else
iii) the scrying attempt fails as the intended target does not exist at the time of casting.
2b) If the scrier knows the identity it met was an impostor, then
i) he can choose to target the real identity, which may fail outright unless the scrier has an adequate connection to the real identity, or
ii) he can choose to target the impostor in the assumed form of the real identity, which will fail unless the impostor is in the assumed form of the real identity at the time of casting.

3) The impostor's assumed form was a fictional identity, regardless of whether the scrier knows the impostor was not what it claimed to be:
i) he targets the impostor if it is currently in the assumed form of the fictional identity, or else
ii) the scrying attempt will fail as the intended target does not exist at the time of casting.

I think that covers all the bases. In all cases that can result in failure I wouldn't distinguish it from a successful save against scrying. The scrier would simply know that the scrying attempt failed for some unknown reason.