Aether sensitivity

[g0ne]

Okay, very simple question. Is aether sensitivity, i.e., being able to sense/detect aether around oneself considered OP or special snowflakey or frowned upon? 

 

Because Eleni is aether sensitive. She can sense aether around her. 

 

However, I do not publicize or openly RP this out. There have been a few instances where I told the other person and asked them if they were okay with it, and when they said they were fine, only then I incorporated Eleni's aether sensitivity into the RP.

 

Now, my question is, am I doing it right? Is it wrong of me to make her aether sensitive? Any valuable advice?

 

Okay... Maybe not so simple.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Conjurers (especially hearers) and Thaumatuges both seem to be capable of sensing aether.

 

Conjurey would seem to use it as a more passive ability, hearing and sensing the aether around, while Thaumaturgy seems to be more of an active ability/judgement.

 

Sounsyy might be able to find cool lore facts proving or disproving that though.

[Warren Castille]

Warning: Speculation

 

Eorzea's special specifically because of how aether-dense the land is. I forget where specifically they mention that, but it's also theorized that's why magic is as potent as it is.

 

As Porkchop mentioned, conjurers can "hear" magic. Thaumaturges channel it for their spells, so they should be able to "feel" if there's enough around them to manipulate. It's not too far off, in my head, from the Force in the Star Wars universe. It's all around, but there are those sensitive to it.

 

Similarly, there are people in the real world who can feel air pressure drop when weather systems move, or similarly folks able to feel or hear the electromagnetic whine of technology. There's no reason why someone might not be able to feel aether more than others.

[Melody]

Hmm, I don't feel like it would be considered anything like that.

 

Melody is a little aether sensitive and I usually play it out by having her skin crawl, the air feels a tad off, or some such subtle thing. I also don't rp it unless someone else is manipulating aether in some way that would makes sense for her to pick up on.

 

Since this world is full of aether and aether users, it would makes sense to me if something like this seemed kinda normal.

 

Just my opinion. ^.^

 

*crawls back under her rock to avoid any flames*

[Aya]

Someone's got to do it!  Honestly I think its something you can afford to be pretty casual about.  I know I personally don't have anything against people who play character's who are aether sensitive, or Echo and so on (Aya has her own very special Echo powers, right? right?).  But what does bug me is when people decide that a "special" or unusual capability should become the focus of their character, or the foundation around which they build the character.  That leads to flat and uninteresting RP in my experience.

 

So, I'd say, run with it!  However it seems to work best to you

[Nebbs]

Go for it, make it something about your character and make it so it does not impose on others or break peoples plots.

 

It could also be a good and bad thing for your character. Being stunned by a burst of Aether for example. Nebula is always staggered after a teleport for example.

 

Make it a characteristic that adds depth and flavour and not an uber power.

[Erik Mynhier]

I dont think its OP, all of the mage classes quests mention it at least once. Training in aether seems to grant sensitivity as far as I can tell.

[Chris Ganale]

I myself have always acted under the assumption that a properly-trained mage can sense the magic density in the air around them, and in particular can detect other mages around them who possess a certain threshold of magic. If the mage in question is absurdly powerful or has a specific magic signature, then they can be identified by another mage at a distance.

[Erik Mynhier]

I would say its safe to have devices to detect aether as well. There are several different such devices in mission dialog.

 

I for one uses such a device on Erik. His false eye was made by a joint effort of an alchemist, goldsmith, and an aetheric researcher. Of its 3 functions (two of which are unnatural lifelike appearence, and the ability to see through it like a real eye even when its out of his head) one is the ability to (Lybra) view the aetheric aura of others. He uses this primarily to view the health of another (to see where the injury is by a change in the aura) as well as a lie detector (seeing color changes that denotes lying).

[Aoi Fukiku]

Nothing wrong with Aether Sensing and it is noted in several of the magic users storylines. Brianna actually uses it to see. She has a special visor made to help cancel out much of the noise since well, everything is pretty much made of aether and focus on large bodies of it (such as people and beasts). Of course her use has limitations such as having to focus hard to see outlines of weapons, getting knocked on the head cancels her ability, losing her visor makes it a large static area making it hard to focus, etc.

[Verad]

Just do something more interesting than superpowers with it.

[Kellach Woods]

Eorzea's special specifically because of how aether-dense the land is. I forget where specifically they mention that, but it's also theorized that's why magic is as potent as it is.

 

I heard that as well but couldn't tell you the source - Although the starter peddler does seem to be quite knowledgeable about the aether situation around Eorzea as the first thing he says is "Must be the ambient Aether, you'll get used to it don't worry".

 

And, more recently :

 

The scholar you accompany up until you find Wilrid's body mentions the Aether being noticeably lower than before across all the land, EXCEPT when you find the body.

 

[g0ne]

Hm...

 

I thought, and I'm not making Eleni aether sensitive. Seems too complicated and too much of a hassle.

 

I think she's fine as she is.

[Mercurias]

Being able to sense aether isn't quite as fantastic a gift as you think. There are Thaumaturgical references to an "inner eye" that reads aether in class quests, and Conjurers have made mention in the halloween quest of something like an Aura reading? I remember seeing it, but not where.

 

To hedge bets, my aether sensitive character, given his specific gifts (He's a Hearer), can discern between a few types of aspected aether, can sense aetheric buildups, can sense when aether is "Wrong" (i.e. too concentrated or corrupted) in a few cases, and can sense the void in most circumstances. He has to concentrate in order to sense anything other than the buildups and EXTREMELY large amounts of void energy, and his range of fine sense is quite short. 

 

I mostly wanted to make it useful, but not OP in most circumstances.

[CrimsonMars]

On a slightly unrelated noted, would it be considered op to sense charka as well?

[Dogberry]

Is this skinny dry mocha half caf double latte with legs aether free? I'm aether sensitive and it makes me all bloaty.

[Star Lin]

Kestlona is only faintly sensitive, maybe enough that she could throw out a weak cure spell.  If she had more patient for magic then she might become more sensitive to it.  What's funny is that Kest gets a type of motion sickness because she isn't sensitive to the aether.  Pretty much telepotering leaves her on her knees.  It's why you would see her more often then not traveling by foot or on her chocobro(sp?).

 

John his highly sensitive to aether but only able to sense it through his finger.  Depending on how strong the aether is, might be what cause his "Dreaming" episodes.  He wears the glove to try and cut the feedback he gets and to keep him from "Dreaming".  He's able to use his own aether/energy to boast the healing in others.

 

Thing is, I have a feeling that I need to find someone to teach him control, since I see it in my head that this kind of healing is where his sister got her saying from..."I'll heal you to death," though in her case, it's a joke to one of her old linkshell mates because the axe weilder was always getting into trouble.  Any taker?