RE: Re: Darksense carried by darkness, brilliant!

From: Sam Elliot <samclau_at_5_rvsus5NcIxls5fa8DQ6hiJ4TmU4-oNSs8-hwrn-nwWP0JTUpMvegd0KgCfvRnRaMfW>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 19:25:25 -0300

> [Adept]
> > > (Having said that, the human sense of smell is actually rather
> > > good. People who train their noses can do pretty impressive things
> > > with them.)
> >
> > Well, it functions. But, in comparison to most other mammals, it
> > falls short.
> >
> > Sam.
>
> Seriously, that's just lack of focus and training. Dog's, especially
> some specific breeds are very impressive when it comes to the sense of
> smell, but a human is quite competetive to most other mammals when
> trained and alert.

I really really don't want to argue the toss on this one (I've a migraine, besides) but try googling "dog sense smell" and see what comes up - the LA Natural History Museum (presumably fairly credible) website cites a 100 million times greater sensitivity than a human, so more than my half-remembered factoid. I doubt a human can sense a few molecules of sweat which have passed through into a shoeprint like a dog can. I've very nearly stepped on enough venemous snakes (black mamba and recently a rattler, both times with flipflops or less) in my time to know my sense of smell isn't a patch on a horse's. Hell, I could even hear the rattler but thought it was a particularly frisky cricket.

Point is, it is, as you implied when you started this thread, fun to play with characters with different perceptions. IMO it is fun to play with the fact that humans wouldn't know they are being stalked by a pride of lions when they are downwind of the creatures and looking at the lion poo wondering what animal left all that behind. Meanwhile, it is fun to be able to have characters (esp. PC's) which do have a good sense of smell. I don't see many candidates beyond trolls, puma people and Telmori.

[I went and argued the toss...tsk tsk]

> As for the other senses, like hearing and smell, I'd say that trolls
> would have the edge on humans, but nothing spectacular.

Okay, I'd see no reason to give them a better sense of hearing, but different strokes.

> Look into the elves if you want to see superior senses. Large pointy ears
and big eyes.

Well, yeah...not sure the pointiness helps much. I think all that stuff, the almond eyes and that, is just there to get adolescent males excited, myself. But, seeing as they do have better vision and hearing than humans, according to the roolz, I'd probably make them utterly incapable of smelling anything at all (including forests burning ;-) ) and give them lousy abilities when it comes to being tactile. It's all that accumulated DnD infravision trauma I have, see.

> The elves are also more like a pray species

For this reason, I've always thought their eyes need to be moved back a bit to the sides of their heads so they're more like cows or pigeons.

Sam.