Twinkletoes

Question: Using Microscopic Precision and a decent amount of Perception, could you use Divine Balance to run long distances over dust floating in the sunlight, raindrops falling from the sky, or even just oxygen atoms?

An interesting question with a lot of moving parts. Let's break it down.

For one thing, this is a difficult question to answer because Epic Perception doesn't have a specific way of measuring how far into the microscopic a Scion can see. We have a nice handy table for how far a Scion can see in distance, but we don't have one for how tiny and focused a Scion's perceptions can get. We've been batting the idea around some between us for a while, wondering whether we should map out a table for Epic Perception, detailing how small an object a Scion can see at different levels, or whether we should provide a set of Perception knacks for microscopic matters so that it's a specialization rather than a default Perception power. Microscopic sight really isn't something that comes up in ancient mythology the way seeing unimaginable distances does, but it's also something that I think we can all agree someone with lots of Perception should be able to do. We've leaned one way, leaned the other, and also proposed maybe doing both, sort of like Perception already has a distance chart but can also augment it with things like Telescopic Senses. A Storyteller who wants to answer this question has to first know exactly how much Epic Perception they would require a Scion to have to be able to actually see atoms (one assumes a lot).

So anyway, that's a question every Storyteller is apt to answer differently anyway. We'd love to hear how you think Epic Perception should handle microscopic perceptions, since we're still monkeying with the system ourselves.

Anyway, back to the question. Microscopic Precision allows a Scion to manipulate incredibly tiny objects, and Divine Balance allows him to stand on anything he chooses, even if it shouldn't be able to hold him. Together, the two knacks should allow Scions to be able to stand or walk on incredibly tiny items, appearing to others that they were almost levitating - standing on a strand of spider-silk or balancing on the back of a dust mite.

However, practically this is not going to be possible very often. Even if we ignore the Epic Perception question, other considerations make it impractical to use on a regular basis. Microscopic Precision was designed to complete tasks involving manipulation small objects, and as a result it costs a point of Legend to use; the length of time that Legend covers is left ambiguous so it can be used in different kinds of projects, but it's meant for a single task, not for a general whole-scene constant usage. How would you decide to cost that out - once for the whole scene seems too permissive, but would a Scion need to spend for each individual mote of dust? In addition, we'd rule that a Scion trying to pull this off might also need Omnidexterity in order to manage this with his feet, which are not generally flexible enough digits for most Microscopic Precision tasks.

I wouldn't say that we wouldn't allow a Scion to do this if all the stars aligned right, but we would probably require it to be a special circumstances stunt rather than a regular mode of operation, at least before things like Ultimates throw usual definitions out the window. We'd love to allow a Scion to do it when they pull it out as an awesome stunt in an appropriate scene, but we wouldn't let them do it all the time. We wouldn't want it to be run-of-the-mill; we'd want it to be something that was an impressive and rare feat.

This is one of those things that has so many interpretation variables that different Storytellers will probably all come up with different answers, however, so check around your local table!