Sensory Levels

[Cantriped]

Some time ago, during the course of the discussion in the thread "New powers that you think would simplify Hero" Chris Goodwin posted an idea for treating light as an environmental Game Element similar to Temperature Levels. I thought the idea was very interesting, and I promised to explore the idea further...

 

So in a highly uncharacteristic move on my part, I am presenting my explorations on the subject herein. I humbly request all of your opinions on the subject. I want to know if you feel the HERO System would benefit from having this Game Element published as an Optional Rule, and the impact that such a publication would have on your games, and on the system as a whole.

 

SENSORY LEVELS
Sensory Levels are an environmental Game Element, much like Temperature Levels, but which affect every character's ability to percieve the affected area with the selected sense group. This Game Element relates to, or expands upon, the PER roll modifiers given for each sense (CC 135-136; FHC 159-160). Every character has a broad "Comfort Zone" with a given sense group in which they suffer no penalties to PER rolls with the relevant senses. For every step above or below a character's Comfort Zone the Sensory Level of the affected area is, they suffer a -1 penalty to PER rolls made to percieve targets within the affected area with the relevant sense. Suddenly being moved from a lower Sensory Level to a higher Sensory level causes the character to suffer the effects of a Flash to the relevant sense. This Flash effect rolls a number of dice equal to twice the difference between the old Sensory Level and the new Sensory Level. Under normal circumstances the Sensory Level of an area typically ranges from between four levels below the Comfort Zone to four levels above it (or from -4 to +4, with 0 being the Comfort Zone). Every Sense Group has a related type of Sensory Level, all of which are summarized below:

 

Light Levels:  "Light Levels" represent the presense or absense of sources of light. The Light Levels below the Comfort Zone represent darkness, with the -4 Light Level being equal to Dark Night (CC 135; FHC 159). The Light Levels above the Comfort Zone represent brightness, with the +4 Light Level representing a blindingly bright source of light.

 

Noise Levels:  "Noise Levels" represent how well sound travels through the area. The Noise Levels below the Comfort Zone represent areas in which sounds are dampened, with the -4 Noise Level being an area in which every sound is almost completely muffled. The Noise Levels above the Comfort Zone represent areas in which sounds are amplified, with the +4 Noise Level being an area in which every sound becomes deafeningly loud.

 

Smell/Taste Levels:  "Smell/Taste Levels" represent the presense or absense of strong odors and tastes. The Small/Taste Levels below the Comfort Zone represent areas with little or no smell or taste, with the -4 Smell/Taste being an area which is almost odorless and tasteless. The Smell/Taste Levels above the Comfort Zone represent an area filled with strong odors or tastes, with the +4 Smell/Taste Level being an area with an overpoweringly strong odor or taste.

 

Touch Levels:  "Touch Levels" represent how well tactile sensations are transmited in the area. The Touch Levels below the Comfort Zone represent areas in which sensations such as temperature, moisture, and texture are numbed, with the -4 Touch Level being an area in which such sensations are almost impossible to discern. The Touch Levels above the Comfort Zone represent areas in which the sensations described above are amplified, with the +4 Touch Level being an area in which every such sensations become overpoweringly strong.

 

Psion Levels:  "Psion Levels" represent the presense or absense of strong psychic auras and energies. The Psion Levels below the Comfort Zone represent areas with weak psychic auras, with the -4 Psion Level being an area which is nearly devoid of a psychic aura. The Psion Levels above the Comfort Zone represent areas with strong psychic auras, with the +4 Psion Level being an area with an overpoweringly strong psychic aura.

 

CHANGE ENVIRONMENT
The following new combat effect is available for the Change Environment power (CC 53; FHC 63).

 

CHANGE ENVIRONMENT TABLE
Value   Combat Effect
3          Sensory Levels (to raise, or lower, a single Sensory Level by one step; see text)

 

SENSORY LEVELS
A character can use an Area of Effect Change Environment to alter a particular "Sensory Level" (see below) of an affected area. When a character uses this power, they may raise (or lower) the Sensory Level of the affected area; which can modify PER rolls made to perceive targets within the affected area.

 

ONLY TO COMFORT ZONE
Applies To:   Change Environment with the Sensory Levels combat effect.
Value:            -0
Limits the Change Environment power to only raising (or lowering) the Sensory Level to the Comfort Zone, and not above (or below).

 

Edited to include the modifier described above.
 

Edited December 2, 2016 by Cantriped

[IndianaJoe3]

I suggested something very similar to Light Levels for 6e.

[steriaca]

Sounds good. But make shure this doesn't replace Darkness (which is probably why the Hero honchos don't have this under Change Environment).

[JohnnyAppleseed098]

This is something that I will most definitely use. It makes a lot of sense. 

[Ndreare]

This is something that I will most definitely use. It makes a lot of sense.

 

Lol, I see what you did there.

;-)

[JohnnyAppleseed098]

Lol, I see what you did there.

;-)

[whitekeys]

Cantriped, great post. Perhaps you could expand with a few examples. For me, light, noise, odours make a lot of sense, but "touch level" and "psion levels" weren't as obvious. I'm coming up with some right now, but maybe you had some in mind yourself. 

 

Further points/questions:

 

1. You mentioned each character has a broad standard comfort zone for free. Does a character get to choose what their standard comfort zone is during character creation, as in a character from another planet capable of seeing in lower light levels? And what was the comfort zone you had in mind for Normal humans on Earth? Or is it: define the special effect of your Sensory Level Comfort Zone, which for each character is their own personal 0, and environments are defined as a bonus/penalty, rather than a static level, unique to each character?

 

For example, a human would consider a dark cave a "-4 Environment" but a Dwarf would consider it a "-1 Environment"

 

2. Is the -4 level (devoid of X) ... a good thing or a bad thing? Like, for light... I assume that represents darkness. But it doesn't quite seem to work for some of the other sense. For example, regarding light, +4 would be blinding brightness, -4 would be darkness (and you probably realize that this has the same game effect but a different special effect); regarding sound, +4 might be a loud concert, -4 might be outer space; regarding smell, +4 would be a really fetid Troll cave wherein you could smell nothing else but Troll stink, flashing or penalizing your sense of smell, but what is -4? Strong winds that blow away all scents such that you can't perceive them?

 

3. Regarding Noise levels, have you given any thought to a building with many rooms? A noise coming from a distant room might be muffled, and characters attempting to Perceive noises from far away would consider the whole area (building) a -3, say, Noise Level. But noises within the room they currently occupy wouldn't be at a penalty?

 

4. For the Change Environment power, I assume that characters wanting to increase/decrease the Sensory Level or an area beyond one level, simply buy the power "again" for another 3 CPts?

[Cantriped]

Cantriped, great post. Perhaps you could expand with a few examples. For me, light, noise, odours make a lot of sense, but "touch level" and "psion levels" weren't as obvious. I'm coming up with some right now, but maybe you had some in mind yourself. 

 

Further points/questions:

 

1. You mentioned each character has a broad standard comfort zone for free. Does a character get to choose what their standard comfort zone is during character creation, as in a character from another planet capable of seeing in lower light levels? And what was the comfort zone you had in mind for Normal humans on Earth? Or is it: define the special effect of your Sensory Level Comfort Zone, which for each character is their own personal 0, and environments are defined as a bonus/penalty, rather than a static level, unique to each character?

 

For example, a human would consider a dark cave a "-4 Environment" but a Dwarf would consider it a "-1 Environment"

 

2. Is the -4 level (devoid of X) ... a good thing or a bad thing? Like, for light... I assume that represents darkness. But it doesn't quite seem to work for some of the other sense. For example, regarding light, +4 would be blinding brightness, -4 would be darkness (and you probably realize that this has the same game effect but a different special effect); regarding sound, +4 might be a loud concert, -4 might be outer space; regarding smell, +4 would be a really fetid Troll cave wherein you could smell nothing else but Troll stink, flashing or penalizing your sense of smell, but what is -4? Strong winds that blow away all scents such that you can't perceive them?

 

3. Regarding Noise levels, have you given any thought to a building with many rooms? A noise coming from a distant room might be muffled, and characters attempting to Perceive noises from far away would consider the whole area (building) a -3, say, Noise Level. But noises within the room they currently occupy wouldn't be at a penalty?

 

4. For the Change Environment power, I assume that characters wanting to increase/decrease the Sensory Level or an area beyond one level, simply buy the power "again" for another 3 CPts?

 

Examples:  ​To be honest, beyond Light levels, the other levels exist primarily for the sake of internal consistency (like the conceptual existence of invisibility to touch). In terms of special effect, you could use most of the same SFXs used for Darkness powers to the relevant sense group, except these effects are not strong enough to be absolute like Darkness is. However, I'll do my best to provide an example for each range of each level below, but bear with me is a few of them are a little wacky... I didn't study much physics in art school.

Light Levels:  ​+4 = inside a giant lightbulb; -4 = a cloudy moonless night.

Noise Levels:  +4 = desolidified within a material through which sound travels much more quickly than air, or locked in a room into which sounds are being recorded and broadcast to amplify each other; -4 = desolidified within a material through which sound travels much more slowly than air, or locked in a room into which sounds are being recorded and broadcast to cancel each other out.

Smell/Taste Levels:  +4 = Swimming through the Bog of Eternal Stench; -4 = locked in a room within which all of the air has been filtered of all smell producing molecules.

Touch Levels:​  +4 = swimming through a warm, sandy substance (something with higher than body temperature, lots of texture, etc); -4 = becoming partially intangible, but not desolidified.

Psion Levels:  +4 = an area haunted by the voices of countless slain soldiers, loud enough to interfere with your ability to hear living minds through telepathy; -4 = an area so devoid of background psychic energy that even your own thoughts reverberate painfully loudly in your mind.

 

Point 1:  At the GMs Option, yes, a character could have a comfort zone above or below the human normal of "0". In this regard Sensory Levels borrow heavily from Temperature Levels. The default comfort level of characters is based upon normal human ranges of perception. So for example, animals who see better at night than during the day might have an effect comfort zone of -2; meaning that at the sensory level of -4, they only suffer a -2 penalty, but at +4, they suffer a -6 penalty.

 

Point 2:  ​In general any level above or below the comfort zone is penalizing (just like with Temperature Levels). -4 isn't actually any worse than +4, except for the possibility of being Flashed when moving from -4 to +4 (which as the rules are written above, doesn't happen in reverse).

 

Point 3:  In the situation you describe here the fact that Range Modifiers apply to all Perception Rolls covers most of the penalty a character should be suffering, however if a character inside a room were attempting to eavesdrop through a wall, the Sensory Level of the material the wall is made from might further modify the roll.

 

Point 4:  The related Change Environment combat effect can be bought multiple times. For example a "Dancing Lights" spell might shift the sensory level of the affected environment up by 4 sensory levels. I forgot to include it in the initial write up above, but the manuscript I am working on also includes a -0 modifier which that limits the Change Environment combat effect to raising/lowering the sensory level to the Comfort Zone (so that you can create light, without creating blinding light). I will be editing the original post to add it momentarily.

[Crusher Bob]

The flash effect may be too large.  Theoretical hero 'strobelight' which has the "change environment -8 reduction in light levels AOE: 8 meter radius" (36 active points) and the same ability, but for light can produce 16d6 AOE 8m radius flashes by taking two actions.  Or just one if it happens to already be dark.  Making it a 1d6 flash for every level of difference makes a change environment for brightness about as expensive as a 1d6 flash with a -1/2 limited power, but it's still cheaper because of lower base active points.

[Sean Waters]

Maybe you don't make it a Flash, maybe you impose a PER penalty for each level you switch suddenly?  That would mean that someone with enough sense levels is not going to be taken down by that kind of sense level switch: they will still be affected, but by much less.

 

That also has the advantage that it does not trample into Flash or Darkness territory.

 

The penalty could be (say) the difference in penalty levels x2, or difference in levels +2.

 

It also avoids the potential problem that Flash Defence would probably not work against rapidly changing sense levels.  You could buy PER (only to avoid penalties for sense level switches) to simulate a character whose senses adapt quickly.