So you know the number and relative location of all Bacteria in your Force*Magic meter radius, which will tell you the topology of the entire area you are in down to the bacteria size. Suppose your PhysMage has Photographic 3D Memory, a Math SPU, an Analyze program and access to Mathmatica or something. I want topographical maps down to the bacteria size.

Okay.

Does this serve any practical purpose that sonar/millimeter wave radar would not?



-karma

Aggravating your GM, as far as I can tell. Waste of a spell, as it won't function in "clean" areas. It will, however, be undetectable unless they have FAB and astral guard critters/spirits, though, unlike normal radar which would give most of the sensors in a corp facility an orgasm.

I assume your head explodes.

How do you distinguish between bacteria on walls, etc., and airborne bacteria? I don't think this spell really tells you anything useful.

And what about the bacteria in the caster's body or the bodies of his teammates?

What about little airborne bacteria clinging to the surface of the mage's eyes?

Also... Bacteria != Bacteria. Only one kind you can detect *g*

If you cannot detect elves with a detect human spell, you shouldn't be able to detect different kinds of bacteria. Also: Why hasn't your GM punched that idea already out of your mind? Hehehe.

Well, good luck with that. (I am on the exploding head side of this, though)... everything is better with exploding heads.

Might be colorful every time someone sneezes.

As far as the questions about discerning between airborne bacteria and bacteria in someones gut, the Math SPU combined with the knowing relative distances between bacteria allows you to compute who and what is where by a simple (or complex) concentration gradient.

As to Bacteria != Bacteria... Yea, you are fully correct, which makes it much more useful. Now we have a particular bacteria named FAB-t that has a very short doubling period and can be used to trace the path of whatever it's covering/inside of.

I guess that's what a soft nanite tracker would do, without the need for magic.

I think this could work, with a few caveats:

First, do some homework and find an extremely common bacterium, a strain that lives in/on 99.99 of people. I'm sure there's one out there. Explain how your character is an expert in microbiology and spell research, to justify this. Then, you have a 'vision' spell that highlights colonies of that bacteria. If you pick something common to the gastrointestinal tract, you should sense clumps of bacteria moving around the facility.

My first reflex was to try and squelch this, but on closer examination, it's not any more unbalancing then a Detect Life spell; after all, Detect Life can give you more then just probable position information. It also gives the mage a form of vision that works through walls, like an Ultrawideband sensor, but he's paying to sustain it.

Humorous, but this is a good point.

What's to prevent a GM from saying, "Okay, you cast the spell. You can't see anything. It's like you're standing in the middle of a dense smoke cloud, only all the smoke particles are glowing."

Seeing all the bacteria in an area could be problematic unless you're in a disinfected clean room.



-karma

Detect [Life Form] is Area and Active.

Or:

"You try and resist the urge, but your gaze is drawn to the bed. You scream."

So it's not sight-like, it's hearing-like. That's an important distinction.

He's looking for midi-chlorians. Good luck!

Mesh

"What's wrong with Bob? He's been standing there for 5 minutes now, and his ears are smoking."

"Oh, he's trying out a new spell. He's apparently trying to calculate a near infinite number of micro-organisms. I think that computer chip in his brain short circuited."

Yeah. Good luck with that.

Player: "I detect Bacteria. Where are they."

Me as GM: "Yes"

Bull