The see the unseen debate

[apesamongus]

If my checks only lasted six seconds I certainly would.

Especially if I were engaging in some risky warez downloading activity.

 

[Endur]

In a world where Night Hags, Ghosts, Demons, and other strange creatures roam on the ethereal plane, See the Unseen becomes part of the Warlock's flavor. The Warlock can see the other realms and the wierdness that goes on in the Ethereal plane.

 

[Coredump]

I would! Why not? It is free, after all. I don't mind taking 6 seconds every 10 minutes (later, ever hour, later every 3 hours) to do this. Even people who live in non-combat areas could use a little insurance in a magical world. And it would be justified if I found something invisible or ethereal even once by doing this.

Because it is not free. It takes time and concentration.
You are walking down a road for the second straight day.... and nothing is about. Yet every 30 minutes, you will stop, and then have to run back to your friends?
Try it someday, set your watch, and for every 30 minutes, take 5 seconds, stop, close your eyes...and then move on. Now do this *all* day, and then again tomorrow, and at the end of a solid week, let us know how well that went.
And don't skip, not while talking with friends, not while driving, not while watching TV, not while eating.... *always* do it.

And, this is assuming you 'know' when it runs out.... what if it *doesn't* go 'ding' when it runs out. *NOW* you have to pay attention on a constant basis to notice when it runs out. So now try the above experiment, but without the alarm on your watch. See how often you 'miss' the correct time, and see how often you get totally bored from it.

Now, in a particulary dangerous area....sure. Or at a time something weird is likely...sure. But every 30 minutes? always? nah, not gonna happen.

 

[VorpalStare]

There's another obvious place where this comes into play.

If the warlock is camped out somewhere and sleeping, and the party is ambushed in the middle of the night, the see invisible part of the invocation is likely to have worn off at the time he wakes up. Spending an extra standard action at the start of such a combat can be critical.

 

[Sil]

Try it someday, set your watch, and for every 30 minutes, take 5 seconds, stop, close your eyes...and then move on. Now do this *all* day, and then again tomorrow, and at the end of a solid week, let us know how well that went.

If you ever have a friend with OCD, then you will see this in action. Not really a problem.

 

[Votan]

If you ever have a friend with OCD, then you will see this in action. Not really a problem.

Except it means all warlocks in that game have OCD . . . It does limit character concept a little especially the choatic angle . . .

 

[Scion]

At low levels my characters tend to do everything in their power to always be very prepared at all times, unless the character is supposed to be suicidal of course.

If I personally had the ability to make anyone who was wanting to ambush me glow bright pink, but only to me, and it lasted 30 minutes I would definately waste those 3 seconds anytime I was anywhere. Inside of my locked home I would likely only check around and so long as the door or windows dont open I wouldnt care, but anywhere else that I wasnt in a locked building where no one could get in without setting off alarms? Oh yeah, no getting jumped for me.

So, no, I dont see a reason to not turn it back on every so often.

Given that though, the warlocks in my game who have it (not all of them do) I have told them it lasts for 24 hours for the whole ability.

Unless it came out and said a shorter duration I would go with this.

After all, it only says that you gain the ability to 'see' as the spell, which only tells you how and what they see. The only duration listed is 24 hours, so that must be it for the whole thing.

Going with the opposite however, how long would people have entropic warding last? Do you have the person keep track of all of these seperate durations? I'd rather just go with the 24 hours, as seems to be implied for them all, and leave it at that

(note that stony grasp is different, this power is 'as the spell' in how it works as opposed to 'as the spell' where they talk about the effects)

 

[RigaMortus]

allowing you to see invisible creatures and objects(as see invisibility).

This quote says nothing about the duration. It says it allows you to see invisible creatures and objects as see invisibility. It never mentions that it has a duration as see invisibility, or that it has a range as see invisibility, or that it has an area as see invisibility, etc. It just lets you see creatures/objects as see invisibility does. That's all.