4.1.10 Degree of concealment

The degree of concealment of an enchantment determines how obvious the enchantment is to onlookers and to magical detection.

The minimum value that can be given to the degree of concealment of an enchantment is zero.

The degree of enchantment has two effects:

A concealed enchantment will not register on a detection enchantment unless the Power of the detection enchantment is greater than the degree of concealment of the concealed enchantment. For example, a telekinesis enchantment with concealment 5 would only be detected by detection enchantments of Power 6 or above; and
A concealed enchantment will be less obvious to onlookers than a normal enchantment. A normal onlooker needs to make a dice roll against PE + relevant magical skill at a difficulty to notice the enchantment. For this dice roll, the onlooker can use the highest of his score in the same magical skill as the enchantment, the opposing magical skill, Truth magic, Counter magic or Enchancement magic. An onlooker with latent or active magic talent gains a +4 bonus to the dice roll to sense the magical enchantment. The difficulty varies depending on the degree of concealment. It is also easier to perceive an enchantment at the time of casting than it is to perceive the enchantment during the remainder of the enchantment:

Degree of concealment	Obviousness of initial casting	Obviousness over remainder of duration
0	Obvious to all senses (e.g. flash and bang). [Trivial - difficulty of -1].	Obvious to all senses (e.g. glow and faint sound). [Trivial - difficulty of 0].
1	Obvious to all senses (e.g. flash and bang). [Trivial - difficulty of -1].	Obvious to some senses (e.g. glow or faint sound). [Very easy - difficulty of 2].
2	Obvious to all senses (e.g. flash and bang). [Trivial - difficulty of -1].	Obvious to some senses (e.g. glow or faint sound). [Reasonably difficult - difficulty of 5].
3	Obvious to all senses (e.g. flash and bang). [Trivial - difficulty of -1].	Not obvious - [Difficult - difficulty of 8].
4	Obvious to some senses (e.g. glow or faint sound). [Very easy - difficulty of 1].	Not obvious - [Extremely difficult - difficulty of 12].
5	Obvious to some senses (e.g. glow or faint sound). [Reasonably difficult - difficulty of 4].	Not obvious - [Heroic - difficulty of 16].
6	Not obvious - [Difficult - difficulty of 7].	Not obvious - [Nearly impossible - difficulty of 20].
7	Not obvious - [Extremely difficult - difficulty of 11].	Not obvious - [Impossible - difficulty of 25].
8	Not obvious - [Heroic - difficulty of 15].	Not obvious - [Impossible - difficulty of 25].
9	Not obvious - [Unbelievably difficult - difficulty of 19].	Not obvious - [Impossible - difficulty of 25].
10	Not obvious - [Nearly impossible - difficulty of 24].	Not obvious - [Impossible - difficulty of 25].

If an enchantment is being invested into an item, the caster chooses how much of the concealment relates to the dormant enchantment and how much relates to its manifestation when it is invoked. Essentially, the caster can set different degrees of concealment for that relating to the dormant enchantment (i.e. that which makes it difficult to know the item contains an enchantment) and that relating to the manifestation of the enchantment when it triggers or is invoked (i.e. that makes it difficult to perceive the manifestation of the enchantment). For the purposes of working out the difficulty of the enchantment, the degree of concealment used is the average of that relating to the dormant enchantment and that relating to the manifestation. For example, Charles is a Fire magician and is investing a Fire attack spell into a door so that if anyone apart from him opens the door they will get fried. He wants to make the enchantment as obvious as possible when it is invoked (to provide the maximum deterrance) but wants to make it difficult for other magicians to analyse and defuse the enchantment. He, therefore, chooses to put Concealment 7 onto the dormant enchantment and Concealment 0 onto the manifestation, making the average degree of concealment 3 1/2. To perceive the dormant enchantment, a character would need to make a dice roll against their PE + relevant magical skill at a difficulty of 25 or use a Power 8 or higher detection enchantment.