Crime?

[Veknironth]

Well, I was thinking, how many large cities have at least one mage and one psychic on their constabulary in order to almost immediately solve crimes. With a few relatively common spells and powers you could track people down quickly. For the psychic, object read can get you started and once you start uncovering suspects Words of Truth and Telepathy are going to ferret out ALL the information. Or, just a psychic with Truth Serum from an alchemist.

Also, the judicial system would be pretty quick. Words of Truth plus "are you guilty of the crimes of which you are accused?" would make for very short trials.

-Vek
"That would be a good detective team as well."

[kiralon]

As far as the descriptions of the cities go none are really mentioned, so I made a forensic mage as a mind mage can easily get by those spells and powers. Object read only works if you get something personal of the criminal so its less useful, but for general criminals it would work well. You take a hair sample from each crim and you can then also track them down whenever you want to.

[Axelmania]

I don't know how happy the common folk would be with this brand of justice. How does the laymen know that the supposedly trustworthy wizard is indeed casting 'Words of Truth' and not 'Compulsion' to incite a false confession?

[Razorwing]

Most people don't trust Mages or Psychics because of their "strange" and "unnatural" abilities. This is true of even those in positions of power (kings and such) who are reluctant to give such individuals positions that they might abuse and threaten their own power bases. True, most medieval kingdoms have much more relaxed judicial systems than a modern society does, but still... using magic to find criminals will seem unnatural to most... and a waste of time for most mages or psychics. It is only with truly serious crimes (such as assault or murder of nobles) that a mage or psychic might be contacted to find the one responsible... though anyone powerful enough to commit such a crime will likely be influential enough to prevent or hinder such an investigation. The killing of common folk just doesn't warrant this kind of resource (it's not like these people are important... or so the upper class are likely to think).

[ShadowLogan]

Well, I was thinking, how many large cities have at least one mage and one psychic on their constabulary in order to almost immediately solve crimes. With a few relatively common spells and powers you could track people down quickly. For the psychic, object read can get you started and once you start uncovering suspects Words of Truth and Telepathy are going to ferret out ALL the information. Or, just a psychic with Truth Serum from an alchemist.

Also, the judicial system would be pretty quick. Words of Truth plus "are you guilty of the crimes of which you are accused?" would make for very short trials.

-Vek
"That would be a good detective team as well."

It is also worth considering that, megaversally speaking, the True Atlanteans have access to these spells/powers (in theory), but haven't discovered the true identity of the Sunji hunting them. That sort of bodes ill for the idea that that these powers/spells would work for crime fighting reliably.

Take object read for example, there is a per level % chance of getting something (even at Level 15, it isn't a slam dunk). Then there is the issue of the target making their saving throw (if they chose to resist or if they can even choose not to resist).

Then there is the perception of how psychics and mages may be viewed by the population at large. A psychic could choose to lie about the results of their probes. Mage could choose to use the wrong spell, though regulars might notice an incorrect incantation (like "doesn't it usually go rabu-simba-tu and not simba-bu-rabu?") even if they don't know how spell casting works.

[Veknironth]

Well, as far as not trusting the system goes, I don't know that there's a system that has been invented which has no concerns about validity. You're always going to have people think it's corrupt. I agree people would fear mages and such, which is why I posited it in large cities. The Western Empire seems to me to be the place where this could work. You could use Words of Truth all around to ensure people not lying, although that still suffers from conspiracy talk, "Person A didn't REALLY have words of truth". Any system of justice is based on a degree of trust with the enforcers of the law. If you have mages and psychics accepted as members of society, why not use their skills to catch a murder or weed out corruption?

But those are concerns about how it would be perceived. I'm more opining on its efficacy. It would take out a lot of the uncertainty that has plagued investigations through out mankind's history. Also, there is no save vs Object Read (page 170 Main book).

It would also be useful for rooting out corruption in a ruling coalition. Is Itomas surrounded by anyone who plots against him? He could routinely round up ministers and such and use his telepathy along with Words of Truth to weed out traitors and spies. I can hear you guys typing about the wizard casting the spell being a traitor, so in this instance he casts Words of Truth from a scroll. Now, you say the scroll maker is also on the take so you have a group of alchemists (western empire) and use their scrolls against each other. I suppose every Alchemist in the Empire might be against him, but he could also have the scrolls tested on himself to test their efficacy. He prepares a script and has someone read it word for word. There is a mute guard who stands ready to kill the script reader if there are any alterations to the script.

-Vek
"Just imagine what the Elves and Dwarves had in the age of magic."

[ShadowLogan]

While Object Read has no saving throw it does have a Base Skill that can be just as effective as someone making a "save" when you consider the percentages and level advancement:
Impressions: 56%+2% per level (at Level 15 that is 84%)
Images: 48%+2% per Level (at Level 15 that is 76%)
Present: 38%+2% per Level (at Level 15 that is 66%)

You can only "Obejct Read" an item once, so if you fail you need to get another psychic. The only bonuses for the skills would come from IQ? So depending on the level and the luck of the die (mechanically speaking) Object Read isn't a guarantee.

[Axelmania]

I'm guessing a big reason that object read fails is because Sunaj kill with T-Weapons (which disappear, unreadable) and then probably do stuff like set fires to burn the evidence. Not sure if you can object read ashes.

[eliakon]

The biggest problem I can see with creating a system based on the routine use of enforced truth is that it is actually corrosive to trust.
By this what I mean is that if you make one situation where everyone is required to always tell the enforced truth... then you run into the problem of getting anyone to believe you in any other situation. After all, if your word isn't good enough for court, why should they believe you either... so I am just going to need you to testify under Truth that you will follow this contract...
And so it goes. Pretty soon you get into a situation where no one trusts anyone because if your NOT speaking under Truth then the question is "what are they hiding"...
Which is not a good place for a society long term.