Ultraviolet Vision What Does the let a player see?

[darthauthor]

What does Ultraviolet optic systems let a person see?

[Grazzik]

What does Ultraviolet optic systems let a person see?

Great video showing the world in UV

[darthauthor]

That was a neat video.

I felt it was a little long for me but educational.

In the contexts of the Rifts Earth Game, does Ultraviolet vision let you see the invisible?

Astral Projectors?

People in Camofluage?

Trails of blood?

See while in smoke?

Does it allow you to see in the dark of night?

[hup7]

Okay keep in mind ultraviolet vision lets you see anything that reflects ultraviolet light but you need ultraviolet light to be reflected. During the day the sun produces ultraviolet light, but out of the sun you would need another source of UV light, just like you need a torch for visible light.

does Ultraviolet vision let you see the invisible?

GM's choice. Simple Invisibility can be detected by infrared, so it is likely that it could be detected by UV. But note that a warm body emits infrared but doesn't emit UV. So I would not argue with a GM who says no. IMHO - yes, if the spell doesn't block IR no reason it would block UV, but you would need a UV source.

Invisibility (superior) specifically calls out ultraviolet - so nope.

Astral Projectors?

Only psychics, young children under 13 years old, animals and most supernatural creatures can see. No reason to assume either IR or UV is affected any differently. IMHO - no.

People in Camofluage?

This would depend on their camouflage. In most cases no - unless they recently washed their ghillie suit in ultrabright laundry detergent. IMHO no one would be that dumb, I hope.

Trails of blood?

Okay blood appears black under UV, so it would depend on what the blood is on. Say you have a blood stain on something else that appears black under UV, dirt – then no, but if you have blood on say freshly washed sheets – yes.

See while in smoke?

This is a tricky one. Yes, UVA will pass through smoke, however UVB will be absorbed by smoke (this is a very simplified answer). Your vision would probably be a bit better through smoke, but not clear. So, a lot depends on the UV light source and the smoke. IMHO I would reduce the penalties by half, just to keep the game simple.

Does it allow you to see in the dark of night?

No, unless you have a UV torch.

[glitterboy2098]

i would point out that the video shared is someone using a fairly simple UV filter over a normal camera. this is why the result is rather subdued. being able to see UV naturally would be more like having additional colors showing up. a raven looks black to us but is practically psychedelic in UV, because of hos their feathers reflect UV in different ways (remember UV is a portion of a spectrum, so you get various 'shades' of it from the range of wavelengths) as well as the way that their feathers fluoresce under UV light. a lot of animals and plants evolved traits related to UV because of this.

People in Camofluage?

probably to a degree.. the material their camo is made of it going to reflect UV differently than the surrounding plant life and such. however it would still help break up the outline of the person, which is what camo really is intended to do, so for the most part it probably wouldn't effect much.

Trails of blood?

Okay blood appears black under UV, so it would depend on what the blood is on. Say you have a blood stain on something else that appears black under UV, dirt – then no, but if you have blood on say freshly washed sheets – yes.

as mentioned, blood absorbs UV ,so would appears dark/black under UV.. but depending on who the material it is on shows up under UV, it may still be easily discernible.
it is also worth noting that if exposed to certain chamicals, like the stuff in Luminol, that bind with chemicals in blood, blood spatter can glow under UV. however this requires specialized application and detection, takes a long time between application and detection, and is nowhere near as effective as TV shows make it look. plus spraying that stuff can wipe out trace evidence on surfaces, so it tends to be a last resort approach once everything else has been done.

See while in smoke?
This is a tricky one. Yes, UVA will pass through smoke, however UVB will be absorbed by smoke (this is a very simplified answer). Your vision would probably be a bit better through smoke, but not clear. So, a lot depends on the UV light source and the smoke. IMHO I would reduce the penalties by half, just to keep the game simple.

depends on the type/origin of the smoke as well. there has been a fair degree of work with military smoke screens to ensure that they block UV and IR (through various additives in the smoke systems)

[darthauthor]

WOW,

Great answers guys.

I complete forgot about UV and crime scenes.

I actually got these questions because I was looking at skills like "Optic Systems" and wonder how players could use them. Also tech (googles and cybereyes) wondering what I would do if I were in a situation. If I started going through the different ways of seeing the world what ought I to see?

Then, "How would that work in game?"