Lifesense

Lifesense is the ability of a creature to sense the presence of a living creature as a "glow" of variable magnitude (similar to a light source). The stronger the spark of life within a creature, the greater the intensity of its glow. Lifesense does not generally distinguish between the same types of creatures, making it virtually impossible to tell creatures of similar life auras from one another. In other words, a skeleton using lifesense cannot tell the difference between two common human farmers. This partially accounts for why unintelligent undead can be easily distracted from an individual creature when a second source of life shows up nearby. While most creatures with lifesense are unable to distinguish between individual creatures of similar aura, intelligent creatures (with an intelligence or wisdom higher than 12) may be able to notice subtle distinctions in the life auras they see, allowing them to identify different individuals. While lifesense is sometimes considered a form of sight, it is not subject to conventional forms of blindness. Most undead creatures have lifesense.

The perceived intensity of a creature’s life aura is determined by the type of creature and the level of life that that creature represents. The stronger the life aura, the further the glow illuminates.

• Lower order creatures such as plants only register as small sparks (1ft). Slightly higher in intensity are the sparks of unintelligent animals (10ft).
• Intelligent creatures have even brighter sparks (30ft).
• High-level creatures (such as heroes) register as the brightest sparks (60ft).
• Divine beings have greater sparks which show with a brightness that outshines all other life auras around them (100ft or more).

The size of the creature (other than divine beings) can be perceived with lifesense. The auras of different races or species vary enough that they can be distinguished by even unintelligent undead. This accounts for why some undead enjoy certain “flavors” of creature.

Life auras are a reflection of the soul and do not reflect the actual physical appearance of a creature. In fact, some undead have been known to call a creature’s life aura quite beautiful, even when the creature may physically be considered ugly. A life aura can change based on important past deeds and events, and the creature’s philosophy towards life. Because of the life aura’s connection with the soul, Lifesense is sometimes called Soulsense. This, however, this is not entirely accurate because soulless creatures may still show some semblance of a life aura.

Lifesense can be used to establish Line of Perception. Solid objects (such as walls) block the perception of Lifesense, however the "glow" of a life force can bleed around corners and reflect of surfaces similarly to how a light source would.