Line of Sight Levitation

[Veknironth]

Well, I guess I should start with asking if Levitation requires line of sight. I checked the spell in the book and it doesn't say that it does, but it seems like a requirement at least to start.

Assuming it does, does the spell caster have to maintain view of the person being levitated? Can the caster, for example, turn away and still have some sort of sense of where the levitated object is? Could the mage raise and/or lower the levitated object while not looking at it? Would the target becoming invisible make it impossible to move? What if the Mage is momentarily blinded?

-Vek
"I guess the same questions stand for telekinesis as well."

[Soldier of Od]

Not sure on the actual rules, but this is how I would deal with it:

I would rule that you need line of sight (or touch) to initiate the levitation or telekinesis.

In the case of telekinesis, if you can no longer see the object or are blinded, simply apply the penalties for being blind (-9 to strike and parry from memory?) to whatever it is you are trying to do.

I am tempted to say that you can't control the levitation if you can't see it, but would be happy to use the same idea as above - if you want to do anything to the levitated object or person, make a strike roll -9 to see if you can do it. But then what is your target number? Over 4, as the minimum needed to "strike"? Or over 10, as the standard "no opposing roll" target for things like rolling with a fall or pulling a punch? Which, with a -9 penalty would make it very difficult to achieve! Now that I think it through, I'm not helping very much, am I! Sorry!

[Lukterran]

Personally this is how I would rule: There is no real line of sight restriction.

Levitation would only need line of sight in order to have a valid target for the spell. You could know where the object is at prior to casting the spell (like a chair you setting in but not necessarily staring at it) and target the object that hadn't moved from the position the mage last saw it in.

I would think you wouldn't need to maintain eyesight to keep it up in the air either. For example levitating a wounded comrade behind the cast but the mage still being able to take part in other actions like casting a fire ball at an advancing goblin. Levitation doesn't say anything about a concentration requirement so the mage shouldn't be limited to having maintain focus.

In regard to the movement of the object (or person) while the spell is in effect - again I don't think you need to see it. But movement would be wildly inaccurate. You might be off by many feet on altitude (expect at the limits of the spells range of all the way up to maximum height or all the way down to ground). The speed of movement I have no clue about. But give other examples of levitation in culture and media. I would say it would be slow and gentle.

Now if it was a person. I think them turning invisible I might give them a 2nd saving throw against the mage again but not an object.

[kiralon]

I play LOS to change anything. Raise him 50ft up no probs, he turns invis, you can only turn off levitate, you want to raise him another 10ft, get a see invis potion.

[Hotrod]

I'd say that the psychic needs to have some sense of the thing/person he/she is manipulating to use a given power. Line of sight might not be necessary if the psychic is using ectoplasm to sense the location of the thing being levitated (or if the psychic is using Astral Projection or some such).

[Veknironth]

Well, I think I'll go with the idea that you need to SEE something to start levitating it. Like having to see something to grab it with your hand. But if the caster is no longer able to see it, the caster still has "a hold" on it and can move it up and down. However, this is like raising and lowering something in your hand, but in the dark. You might bring it too high or too low and bump into something.

-Vek
"I am guessing this never comes up in most campaigns."

[Veknironth]

Well, I had another Levitation question. What is the rate raising and lowering? Is it one speed or can it be adjusted at the caster’s discretion? Also, what is the rate of acceleration/deceleration?

-Vek
“That should be it for levitation.”

[Nekira Sudacne]

it seems to take one attack/action, so whatever the maximum distance is divided by 3 seconds.

[Axelmania]

I'm wondering how many attack spells even say "you need a direct line of attack between you and the target" preventing stuff like casting fireballs that appear on the other side of walls to hit guys.

[Veknironth]

Well, I think the fireball goes in a straight line so anything between the caster and the target would interfere. But what about something like Fuliminate or Call Lightning? Those come from the sky, so blasting someone on the other side of the wall, that you can "target" with something like presence sense should be doable.

-Vek
"And all the cloud spells."

[Axelmania]

Energy Bolt "can mentally direct simply by looking at his intended target"
Fire Bolt like the energy bolt, the mage can create and direct a bolt of fire"
Fire Ball "which hurls at its target at awesome speed" .. "is magically directed"

None of it seems to necessitate actually having a straight line of attack. You might even "look at them" in a mirror.

If something like a glass wall obstructing your vision prevented the spell then you couldn't even use the spell if you wore goggles.