Let's just say one is coming.

I did not need to hear that....



(Said as someone who was indiscrete in Savona)

As a player of a Psionic caster, I have to ask...how the hell could you keep it secret? The CTN is ridicuous. Even barring that, uhm...eyeballs are kind of a dead giveaway. Granted, you could Alter Appearance...which is a detectable, ongoing magical effect. My method of subtle casting is knowing th escape routes.

Agreed, subtle casting is largely impossible at low tiers, especially for psionicists. I have hopes that they might eventually have some talents for people who worry about this kind of thing to make it easier.

Eyeballs at very close range are a dead giveaway. The difference between gray and clear is very subtle based on the drawing and hard to be certain of unless you are up close and personal and are specifically looking for it. Using Alter Appearance is certainly a worse way of doing it because having a binding spell up is a giveaway that you're a caster of some sort. Now again, the range on Discern Residue is very limited and constantly recasting would be taxing not to mention mind-numbingly repetitive.

In terms of Harvesters, here's what I think of as appropriate reactions

1. Eldritch casters - fear and paranoia. The boogeyman IS real and really IS out to get you.
2. Elder casters - slightly lesser fear and paranoia. Toned down Eldritch because they strike me (perhaps incorrectly) as having more of a chip on their shoulder
3. Primal casters - fear and paranoia outside of "safe" environments. Generally speaking not only are the harvesters after them if less fervently, so are the various churches.
4. Psionic casters - nervousness, yeah they're not the focus of Ymmandragoran interest / ire, but really, is it worth tempting fate? And for my own psionic caster at Arcanicon, as soon as it was clear there were Harvesters in the city, I stopped casting completely.
5. Sorceror Priests - not sure there's a typical reaction here. On the one hand they're part of the larger church and considered divine, so poaching them is likely to have ramifications. That certainly provides some measure of reassurance. On the other hand, if I'm the SK the SSPs are EXACTLY what I'd want to study/understand as they embody what he strives to master and hint at secrets on the nature of magic beyond the understanding of most mortal practitioners.
6. Divine casters - harvesters?*shrug*

Now if you fall into one of the less interesting categories to a harvester they probably don't invest a lot of thought or attention on you... unless of course you meddle in their affairs in which case dealing with you could provide insights and gets rid of a thorn in the side of the Ymmandragoran agenda. Heck, I would expect or at least found it completely appropriate for anyone who helped out against the Harvesters at Arcanicon - with or without arcane talent - to have earned their notice if any of their people got away. Clean the board with them and potentially no one gets it.

I'd also consider adding two check boxes to the Notice sheet - one for "annoyed" and one for gifted. In a subsequent attack anyone who merely annoyed them would be beaten, maybe killed or just left for dead. They'd serve as a warning to others who meddled in their affairs. For the gifted, the goal would be to harvest. Depending on how a PC behaved, they could be gifted, have done a good job of hiding it and merely earned Ymmandragoran ire. Which would make for an interesting connundrm - if the Harvesters are approaching you, do you use your gift and confirming you're a target for more than their ire or risk not using it and risk them being able to determine your gifted anyway?

That's my read. I'm curious how others see interactions with and reactions to Harvesters.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

Even if (hypothetically) campaign staff told me that there was no chance of my PCs' being Harvested (in truth, no one has ever told me that), I would still role-play it as any of my appropriate PCs' being concerned about the serious potential danger of Harvesters. I like the story of Ymandragore and the Harvesters, and role-playing and story motivate my enjoyment of the game. I admit that a few players seem to care only about the actual results and would be less paranoid if they (for any reason) were convinced there was no chance of being Harvested.

My Primary character is Psionic and my understanding has always been that the threat from Harvesters is fairly minimal, so I have played him fairly open with his casting. He is more interested in staying away from the dreaded inquisition and the val'emmen fanatics

My tertiary PC is pure Arcane Eldritch. I have not actually played him yet so I am not sure yet how he will treat it. He is a young man of about 21, who has suffered greatly from the wasting that eventually effects Eldritch casters. It came on early and strong and left him in the body of a 70 yer old. he knows he only has a few years left and that the SK has a cure. His motivation is that if the SK can find a cure, then so can he.

I am not sure yet if he will hide so he can continue his search or flaunt his abilities so that he can possibly capture harvesters for questioning. With the time remaining to him, it really is a all or nothing gambit and he is a bit desperate (but not yet enough to seek SK for aid --- notice the Yet)

All I can say, story wise I thing a greater (and possibly stronger) Ymandragonean presence will be a good thing.