Dual Natured Critters and Assensing Options

[Mantis]

Shouldn't all dual natured critters have the assensing skill in their default stat blocks? It seems odd to me that nearly every critter gets Perception but the dual natured ones don't all have the astral equivalent, assensing. This is especially perplexing since the assensing skill is not defaultable. This means a dual natured critter without the skill can't even tell anything about the astral environment they spend their lives interacting with.

[JanessaVR]

Shouldn't all dual natured critters have the assensing skill in their default stat blocks? It seems odd to me that nearly every critter gets Perception but the dual natured ones don't all have the astral equivalent, assensing. This is especially perplexing since the assensing skill is not defaultable. This means a dual natured critter without the skill can't even tell anything about the astral environment they spend their lives interacting with.

That’s a very good point. I'll add it to our house rules.

[Sendaz]

Giving them Assensing does seem sensible, one could simply rule that Dual Natured Critters are allowed to use their Perception in place of a separate Assense skill for use on the Assensing test.

So a Hellhound would roll 7 dice, 3 from their Perception and 4 from Intuition, giving them on average between 2-3 hits when scoping out the astral landscape or a cornered runner.

Enough to potentially tell if something is Awakened or not and if it is bigger or smaller than them mojo-wise, but usually isn't going to be sniffing out betaware or better (requiring 4+ hits)-which could leave a nasty surprise for their handlers who think the mundane guy they got holed up behind the dumpster isn't cybered because Pyrofido said he's clean, or only rarely go bird dogging on the TM (with 5 hits).

[Mantis]

Giving them Assensing does seem sensible, one could simply rule that Dual Natured Critters are allowed to use their Perception in place of a separate Assense skill for use on the Assensing test.

So a Hellhound would roll 7 dice, 3 from their Perception and 4 from Intuition, giving them on average between 2-3 hits when scoping out the astral landscape or a cornered runner.

Enough to potentially tell if something is Awakened or not and if it is bigger or smaller than them mojo-wise, but usually isn't going to be sniffing out betaware or better (requiring 4+ hits)-which could leave a nasty surprise for their handlers who think the mundane guy they got holed up behind the dumpster isn't cybered because Pyrofido said he's clean, or only rarely go bird dogging on the TM (with 5 hits).

This is exactly the house rule I put in place to handle this 'oversight'.