Locate Creature: How known is Known To You?

[GodOfCheese]

Locate Creature:
The spell can locate a creature of a specific kind or a specific creature known to you. It cannot find a creature of a certain type. To find a kind of creature, you must have seen such a creature up close (within 30 feet) at least once.

How known is Known to You?

If I am scrying on Bad Guy and see one of his henchmen in the background, is the henchman now Known To Me enough to Locate Creature on him?

Now: what if the henchman is in disguise at the time of the scrying? Does it matter?

 

[Dross]

I'm not backed up by RAW on this, but the dreaded "common sense" monster.

My general take on this (since it does not neccesarily hold up all the time) is "known" is roughly equivalent to being able to decribe the subjuect unambiguously to a third party. This does mean that there needs to be a DM call on occasion.

As for a disguise, um, only if the henchman is still in that disguise since that is how you "know" him?

 

[Cameron]

Umm... In the Biblical sense of the word, perhaps?

 

[GodOfCheese]

Umm... In the Biblical sense of the word, perhaps?

heh.

Mostly this is a thought experiment, but here are the specifics of how it's coming down in-game:

The party has just uncovered a shapeshifter of some kind in their midst, possibly a Doppelganger. He fled before they could apprehend him.

One of the PCs has a scroll of Locate Creature and is asking me if he can use it to find the fleeing creature. Another question came up of using the scroll to find the PC he replaced, but for reasons that are complicated, is considering using it to find someone they saw in a crystal ball.

I'm thinking that Locate Creature should be able to find the fleeing shapechanger but I'm on the fence about the Scryed character.

 

[Cameron]

heh.

Mostly this is a thought experiment, but here are the specifics of how it's coming down in-game:

The party has just uncovered a shapeshifter of some kind in their midst, possibly a Doppelganger. He fled before they could apprehend him.

One of the PCs has a scroll of Locate Creature and is asking me if he can use it to find the fleeing creature. Another question came up of using the scroll to find the PC he replaced, but for reasons that are complicated, is considering using it to find someone they saw in a crystal ball.

I'm thinking that Locate Creature should be able to find the fleeing shapechanger but I'm on the fence about the Scryed character.

I'd allow both, assuming the PC knows the name of the guy he scried.