Concealment Spirit Power, Hiding in the bushes... Options

[Kanada Ten]

The + loudness would have to overcome the +8 to go through the walls in the first place, so at best it's a TN9.

[Necro Tech]

Just to add my two cents, there is no base target number for perception. To see a person standing in the middle of a well lit room while you are facing them is not 4 or 2 or anything else. Its "-". A spirit concealing you in this condition would only use its essense and only if you were standing still and quiet. You smack someone and no more concealment. It does not make you disregard reality. Its called conceal, not ignore.

[James McMurray]

You forgot the modifiers for it being on the same floor, having other odors present (we're smoking a cigar), the listener having on gloves and wiping his nose with a cold.

The perception test modifiers are seperated for a reason. However, here's how I view it:

1) The characters make a perception test.
2) Look at their numbers
3) If they get high enough to hit a TN of 4 + all sound modifiers they hear it.
4) If they get high enough to see it past all sight modifiers, they see it.
5) If its something they can smell and they get high enough, they smell it.
6) If its something in their mouth, they can taste it if they roll high enouhg.

So if you have a force 9 spirit hiding a rocker and his band in the same room with you, you'll roll your perception test. Say you get 1,2, 4, 5, 8, and 13

The target numbers are:

- visual: 4 + 9/force - 4/action is obvious = 9
- sound: 4 + 9/force -6/drums are like autofire -2/lead singer's yell = 5-
- smell: 4 + 9/force -4/the guitarist is into grunge and hasn't bathed in a month +2/other odors (our cigar) are present = 11
- taste: lets skip this one for now :eek:

That means you got

visual: 1 success, there's something there but you're not sure what it is. Just a faint purple haze over the stage

Sound: 3 successes, Its definitely a band, and you're pretty sure its Jimmy and the Whalers

smell: 1 success, something in this room reeks and it isn't your cigar, but you can't quite tell if its sewage, someone that didn't bathe, or a toxic water elemental.

[James McMurray]

[Crimson Jack]

[toturi]

The only Canon time a PC can choose to take a Perception Test is if he chooses to Observe In Detail. However, the GM can choose to make the players roll Perception whenever he deems necessary.

[Necro Tech]

[Crimson Jack]

[mfb]

dude, you're penalizing twice for the same thing. the shambler's action--lumbering down a corridor--is obvious. the lighting situation--pitch black--makes it less likely that someone will note that obvious action. that's why there are seperate modifiers; in this instance, for example, the walking pile of corpses sloshing down the corridor at the runners is made less obvious by the poor (well, non-existant) lighting.

[Crimson Jack]

What are you talking about? You do understand the concept of our house rule, right? I'm referring to making a test that requires hearing only, not simply noticing it using all of one's sensory abilities. In this particular case, sight has nothing to do with noticing the sound of the shambler. Nothing. In fact, the lack of sight might actually be a benefit to hearing a strange noise in the dark.

Please keep in mind that we're not talking about a rushing current of water... simply a gentle water current. Enough to make a noise modifier, but not enough that the players have to scream at the top of their lungs over. The players were not sloshing through knee deep water either. The distracted modifier had everything to do with the team fumbling for lighting gear during this test. I believe that made them distracted since they weren't actively listening, nor concerned with what was or was not in front of them in the tunnel. Odor doesn't come into play in this hearing test either... because for one thing, the shambler was far enough away from them at the point of the test and the other reason being that everything in the sewer smelled like crap, literally.

I did say it was a house rule after all. I don't disregard the catch-all perception test either. This was just a case where the sight mod didn't matter AT ALL when I wanted to tell if they could simply hear the critter.

[mfb]

okay. i thought you were saying that you wouldn't apply the Action Very Obvious visual mod because the Full Darkness negated it, or somesuch.

[Crimson Jack]

Nay. :)