Telescopic

[Quickleaf]

Okay, so...I'm trying to build a PC with telescopic senses. Literal eyes with zoom. I'm having trouble deciphering the "telescopic" sense modifier though. Does it, or does it not make it easier to perceive someone/something at range?

 

The power write-up states that Telescopic doesn't help the character perceive a thing, it just makes it easier to perceive a thing. Please help me understand. Thanks! :-)

 

"For every 3 Character Points spent, a character receives +2 to PER Rolls with a single Sense Group — but the bonus only applies to offset the Range Modifier as it affects PER Rolls with that Sense Group. Telescopic doesn’t help the character perceive, locate, or identify an object, it merely makes that object easier to perceive at a distance." 6E1 P. 214

[Steve Long]

No problem. Here's how Telescopic works. As you probably know from running combats, the HERO System rules have a Range Modifier (6E2 38) that makes it harder to hit a target that's far away from a character. The Range Modifier also applies to attempts to perceive things at Range (6E2 11). So, for example, a character trying to see something that's 17-32 meters away from him suffers a -4 penalty to his Sight PER Roll. If he has the Telescopic Sense Modifier, either for his Normal Sight specifically or all Sight Group Senses in general, the Telescopic reduces or eliminates the penalty imposed by the Range Modifier. So yes, Telescopic makes it easier to perceive things at Range.

 

So let's suppose that your PC, Eagle-Eye, has spent 6 Character Points to buy Telescopic for his Sight Group Senses, thus providing himself with a +4 Sight Group PER Roll bonus to offset the Range Modifier. His teammate, the Scarlet Swashbuckler, hasn't bought any Telescopic for his Sight. They arrive at a bank robbery as the robbers are speeding away in their car -- they're currently 25m away. Neither character has enough movement to catch up to the car, so they both try to see and memorize the license plate number so they can track it down later. Each of them has INT 15, so they both have a Sight PER Roll of 12-. The Swashbuckler suffers the -4 Range Modifier, reducing his PER Roll to 8- (a mere 26% chance to succeed). But Eagle-Eye's Telescopic (+4) cancels out the Range Modifier (-4), so his PER Roll remains a 12- (a 74% chance of success). Predictably, the Swashbuckler fails his roll -- but Eagle-Eye does not, and saves the day!