Trying to find out if an object is demonic?

[sirogit]

If a player in a game were trying to search an object to find if it's really a demon, and that object was not a demon, what would the roll be?

The way I figure it, if a character fails an attempt to find out if something is a demon, the degree they fail is how much they evidence they find that would point towards the wrong answer, and thus would be applied to the Currency.  

If I rememeber correctly, discovering a telltale is Lore vs Demon's power -10? So failing a roll on discovering a weak demon has the same effect as succeeding a roll on understanding that it's an ordinary object.

Should you roll 1 for the mundane object as there's a quite low chance for anyone to mistake a regular object for a demon save for the most inexpierenced Sorcerers?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Couple things ...

1. That [Power-10] thing is an error. To spot a demon's Telltale, the roll is Lore vs. a single die. Demon Power has nothing to do with it.

2. I confess it's odd to me to imagine the in-play circumstances such as you describe ... I think that if a player-character were to use Lore for checking something out in terms of demon-ness, I would call for some description of their actions in detail.

In other words, using Lore as a "detect-demon vision" power, to be played all around the room like infrared or something, would not really be part of sorcery in most games I'd be involved in.

3. But OK, to answer your question straightforwardly, and if the player told me, "Sure, I take the house plant, put it in the chalked symbol I drew on the carpet, and chant the four names of demonic identity over it," or something like that ...

Then I'd roll one die in opposition (exactly as if it were a demon, you see) and proceed from there. Failure would mean that the sorcerer perceives the thing to be potentially all demonic, when it isn't.

Best,
Ron