Example Powers 13: "I sense a presence I've not felt since..."

Whether it's called "detecting magic", "feeling a disturbance in the Force", "aura sight", "scanning with a tricorder", "using a PKE meter", or just "waving the timey-wimey thingy to check for stuff", detecting (or obscuring) the presence of Powers is a staple of many genres. To account for that, I've included the "Detect/Conceal Aura" power which can be used in settings where it's useful but not automatic. In settings where it would be possible but rarely used (or useful), I wouldn't require casters to expend resources on acquiring the ability as a separate power; instead, I would say that it could be done simply as a normal casting skill roll boosted by Advantage from a Notice or Stealth skill roll (to detect or obscure, respectively). Likewise in settings where this power is used all the time by default, such as Jedi and Sith in Star Wars who are constantly aware of the Force and can detect when others are using it in the same way that normal people are aware of blasters being fired in their vicinity.




Detect/Conceal Aura: This power (or pair of powers) is used to reveal or conceal the presence of Powers. For example, in a fantasy setting where magical effects are not always obvious displays of crackling eldritch energy, a wizard could use this power to recognize magical items or dormant spell effects; a mad scientist with a high-tech unobtainium scanner could locate the energy signatures of other high-tech devices running on unobtainium power sources; a clairvoyant psychic could use this power to detect the distortions of the astral plane caused by the presence of another potent psychic. The effect reveals the presence of other casters, empowered items, or power effects of the appropriate type in the user's Area. The range may be increased by one Area per point of Advantage. This power can also be reversed to hide the presence of powers (such as when a powerful psychic wishes to appear mundane in order to hide when in the presence of other psychics). Another character attempting to use Detect Aura must win an opposed casting roll with the caster of Conceal Aura.

• The Necromancers of Taj Neroth do not use this power. They must learn to identify magical effects and empowered items through careful mundane use of their Knowledge and Investigation skills.
• The Elemental Mages possess a different variation of the Detect Aura power for each element. The effects are identical in each case, but the color of the casting is different. For example, the Fire spell “Revealing Flame” involves looking through an open flame while the Air spell “Penetrating Breath” summons a breeze that swirls dust and loose debris about the Area to form patterns around any magic which the caster must interpret. Only the mysterious Shadow Lords who claim Darkness to be an element have demonstrated knowledge of Conceal Aura which they call by various menacing names like “Shrouded Knowledge” or “The Power That Lies in Wait”.
• Aetheric Engineers are easily capable of building various scanning devices to detect aetheric energy transmissions in order to triangulate the location of aetheric devices but they rarely do so on a large scale (because large scale devices like rocket ships can be detected with normal radar). Hermetic Dynamicists can use this power to sense (or hide from) the psychic presence of each other. Hermetic Dynamicists and Cryobionicists can detect the active powers and devices of the other, but they are not yet able to convincingly conceal their powers from each other.
• The Dai Zha and Ma Quy templars do not use this power as a distinct ability: in that setting, sorcerers are constantly aware of the Source in addition to their normal senses. They can sense the Source using a basic Concentration roll (aided by Advantage from another skill such as Investigation or Knowledge if they are looking for something specific) the same way they can sense mundane things with the Notice skill (i.e. obvious things don't even require a roll). They can also attempt to hide their presence from other Source users with a Concentration roll (and may use Stealth for Advantage). Users of the Astral Source do this by becoming very calm and passive to blend their presence into the Source around them. Users of the Cthonic Source do this by actively clouding the energies of the Source around them: those who manage to penetrate this stealth don't detect the hidden sorcerer so much as notice that there is a gap in what can be sensed.
• The Tyrian Brotherhood’s witch- and ghost-hunting Knights Sepulchral know a prayer called “Witch Hound” which allows them to detect items, effects, and casters who use Power sources such as necromancy, infernalism, and other dark arts. “Witch Hound” may even be cast to grant Advantage to a casting of “Seek the Guilty” when specifically examining an Area or item for the past presence of a practitioner of the dark arts.