Skill: "Smell"
Syntax: smell (target) or smell with no argument

Using a shifted form's heightened olfactory abilities, a shifted
mage is able to examine the aroma of a vicinity, or a creature, in
an attempt to determine more about them. Animals are said to be able
to know the condition, general location, and even the fear of a being
by their smell alone.

======================================================================
The "low-down dirty mechanics" of the skill:

Basically every form would get this skill, but its power would vary
depending on the type of form, with birds, cats, and canine forms being
on the top of the list (well, the shark would be the absolute best at it,
but he's rare anyway). Forms could "smell" a PC, essentially telling
them that character's current morale, fatigue (their movement percentage),
and even physical maledictions like boneshatter, whirl, etc. When
using the ability with no target, it has a chance of telling the
shifter if there is anyone in their range who is in the area. Note, I
said a "chance". This chance is greatly improved if there are any
maledictions on the players who may be near them, such as bleeding,
plague, poison, scourge (generally things that would produce an odor).
Also, if players have movement below 50% the chance would be improved
to detect them (sweat, people, SWEAT!). Rangers alone would be able
to avoid these penalties to a degree.

Like, no-like?

Hmm...

birds are more sight oriented than smell oriented.

Some people have excellent senses of smell, most don't (and some have almost no sense of smell). Probably something similar is true of animals whose typical sense of smell is better than humans.

Note that having a sensitive sense of smell should also be a weakness in some contexts.

And then there's the "fade out with time" issue. Plus, to do it right, there'd have to be effects from perfume, rotting corpses and so on.

Finally, I think the results you're proposing are far too specific. There's already blood trails which accomplish the bulk of what's probably reasonable.

It might be plausible to introduce some utility form with this as its utility ability, but I suspect this involves way too much work for the gain.

birds are more sight oriented than smell oriented.

They have great sight, sure, but they are no slouches when it comes to
odor. Check out this link for more:

http://www.valleywild.org/TVfacts.htm



Note that having a sensitive sense of smell should also be a weakness in some contexts.

And then there's the "fade out with time" issue. Plus, to do it right, there'd have to be effects from perfume, rotting corpses and so on.

Both of those comments only make me like the idea better.



Finally, I think the results you're proposing are far too specific. There's already blood trails which accomplish the bulk of what's probably reasonable.

"Smell" goes right along with the theme of blood trails, but gives it
a logical boost where animals are concerned (as one would expect.)

It might be plausible to introduce some utility form with this as its utility ability, but I suspect this involves way too much work for the gain.

That completely contradicts the idea, which was to give ALL animal
forms somewhat "heightened" sense in this area, where they should
be.

>birds are more sight oriented than smell oriented.
>
>They have great sight, sure, but they are no slouches when it
>comes to
>odor. Check out this link for more:
>
>http://www.valleywild.org/TVfacts.htm

Which says:

Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell. They have been known to be able to smell carrion from over a mile away which is very unique in the bird world. The turkey vulture has the largest olfactory (smelling) system of all birds.

Then again, I have smelled carrion from over a mile away (roadkill). Carrion stinks.

And I've known people with much better senses of smell than I (for example, being able to smell someone who was smoking while walking by on the sidewalk outside a house -- 30 yards away, and I didn't smell a thing).

>Note that having a sensitive sense of smell should also be
>a weakness in some contexts.
>
>And then there's the "fade out with time" issue. Plus, to do
>it right, there'd have to be effects from perfume, rotting
>corpses and so on.
>
>Both of those comments only make me like the idea better.

Ok, but that's getting into complex data structures strewn all about the mud. Lots of detailed smearing of data about characters onto rooms as they pass through seems like it would add a lot of bulk data for what is a minor end.

>"Smell" goes right along with the theme of blood trails, but
>gives it a logical boost where animals are concerned (as one
>would expect.)

I thought blood trails were already getting a boost where animals are concerned? http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=3&topic_id=136&mesg_id=139

>It might be plausible to introduce some utility form with
>this as its utility ability, but I suspect this involves way
>too much work for the gain.
>
>That completely contradicts the idea, which was to give ALL
>animal forms somewhat "heightened" sense in this area, where they
>should be.

It sure does contradict the idea. On the other hand, I'm not sure about the "should"?

Let's take sharks for instance. In real life, sharks can "smell blood trails" from a long way away, and can similarly sense thrashing about. In the game, swimto captures most of this ability (though a "(wounded)" indicator which shows up on where/scan (and maybe on who if they've been in water in the shark's area in the last tick) might also be appropriate). But it doesn't make a lot of sense for sharks to know specific things about morale, etc. ... unless you're trying to make people harder for sharks to find if they're being calm and quiet?

Ok, maybe it makes sense for people to have extra lag on a shark's swimto if they're not wounded and if they've held still for the last tick... but that seems kinda pointless. What's the difference between this lag after the command was entered and all that lag before the command was entered? Can you imagine anyone saying this feature rocks?

>Which says:
>
>Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell. They
>have been known to be able to smell carrion from over a mile
>away which is very unique in the bird world. The turkey
>vulture has the largest olfactory (smelling) system of all
>birds.
>
>Then again, I have smelled carrion from over a mile
>away (roadkill). Carrion stinks.

--Vultures can smell it from a lot farther away.

>And I've known people with much better senses of smell than I
>(for example, being able to smell someone who was smoking
>while walking by on the sidewalk outside a house -- 30 yards
>away, and I didn't smell a thing).

--You are not a vulture, you are not a panther, you are not a deer,
you, my friend, are not a shark. Our senses are crap compared
to those animals'.

>>Note that having a sensitive sense of smell should also
>be
>>a weakness in some contexts.
>>
>>And then there's the "fade out with time" issue. Plus, to do
>>it right, there'd have to be effects from perfume, rotting
>>corpses and so on.
>>
>>Both of those comments only make me like the idea better.
>
>Ok, but that's getting into complex data structures strewn all
>about the mud. Lots of detailed smearing of data about
>characters onto rooms as they pass through seems like it would
>add a lot of bulk data for what is a minor end.

--Details are what make this game great.


>I thought blood trails were already getting a boost where
>animals are concerned?

--Uhh, this is about a completely different thing (being the skill
"smell", which I first posted.)

>>It might be plausible to introduce some utility form with
>>this as its utility ability, but I suspect this involves way
>>too much work for the gain.
>>
>>That completely contradicts the idea, which was to give ALL
>>animal forms somewhat "heightened" sense in this area, where
>they
>>should be.
>
>It sure does contradict the idea. On the other hand, I'm not
>sure about the "should"?

--Animals "shouldn't" be represented as having senses
that are superior to those of a human? Hmm, can't say I agree.

>Let's take sharks for instance. In real life, sharks can
>"smell blood trails" from a long way away, and can similarly
>sense thrashing about. In the game, swimto>captures most of this ability (though a
>"(wounded)" indicator which shows up on
>where/scan (and maybe on
>who if they've been in water in the shark's area
>in the last tick) might also be appropriate). But it doesn't
>make a lot of sense for sharks to know specific things about
>morale, etc. ... unless you're trying to make people harder
>for sharks to find if they're being calm and quiet?

--the only purpose a shark would have for using "smell" in an area,
rather than on an individual, would be to detect hidden water forms,
or improved invis'd invokers. Duo'd characters would be beyond detection.

>Ok, maybe it makes sense for people to have extra lag on a
>shark's swimto if they're not wounded and if they've held
>still for the last tick... but that seems kinda pointless.
>What's the difference between this lag after the command was
>entered and all that lag before the command was entered? Can
>you imagine anyone saying this feature rocks?

--Uhhh....what? I never said any of that.

>>Which says:
>>
>>Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell. They
>>have been known to be able to smell carrion from over a mile
>>away which is very unique in the bird world. The turkey
>>vulture has the largest olfactory (smelling) system of all
>>birds.
>>
>>Then again, I have smelled carrion from over a
>mile
>>away (roadkill). Carrion stinks.
>
>--Vultures can smell it from a lot farther away.

Not according to the url you posted (http://www.valleywild.org/TVfacts.htm).

But maybe you've got another reference?

This quote comes from http://barbarascamera.com/turkeyvulture.html:

"...turkey vultures have been used to find leaks in a 42-mile-long oil pipeline; when ethyl mercaptan, which smells like rotting meat, was pumped through, the birds gathered at the leaks."

Grammar is a little funky, but you get the idea.

Hmm... probably worth looking at a bit more.

On the flip side, however, it's not like a single bird was let loose at one end of the pipeline to go off and find that leak. It's kinda hard to figure out how far away the first bird that smelled the leak was (and, since birds are fairly social, once one starts acting interested, others are sure to come visit).

Anyways, that's a neat reference.

What's with the "Hey, I'm gonna put Urden's idea between my teeth and
clamp down, stubbornly refusing to be shaken off, due to my verbal
lockjaw?" Hehe, JUST ADMIT THAT YOU LIKE THE IDEA!! YOU LIKE IT MORE
THAN ANYONE! MORE THAN ME!!!

REPENT, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED!

Well, yeah, I thought that was obvious.

but I think the detection is too good to give to shifters.

but I think the detection is too good to give to shifters.

What if it only worked in wilderness areas?