Fellow GM's - help define spacial awareness

[Kzinbane]

I have a PC that wants to have spacial awareness. I'm curious how other GM's (or players) see this as working. In the Fred write up it's not completely clear (pun intended) if it allows one to sense through objects or not, or around corners or not. The PC is of the view that it acts like N-ray vision.

Since it costs 22 points it should be somewhat more useful than N-ray (10 points). As an unusual sense it can't be flashed so that does provide some benefit - but not 12 points in my mind.

I need to come to a decision on how it's going to work so he and I can agree on it before gametime.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Fellow GM's - help define spacial awareness

 

Spatial Awareness is N-Ray. Its a powerful ability, particularly vs opponents based on Sense Affecting Powers that didnt think to include Spatial Awareness in their affected senses selection.

 

If not using a Simulated Sense Group you need to make it Ranged.

 

FYI however, this kind of question is more appropriate for the HERO System Discussion area.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Fellow GM's - help define spacial awareness

 

Here are some key FAQ entries for Spatial Awareness:

 

Q: Why doesn’t Spatial Awareness have Range?

 

A: Because a character could define it as belonging to a Sense Group that already provides Range. If a character wants Spatial Awareness to stand on its own, without simulating any Sense Group, he definitely needs to add Range to it.

 

Q: If a character buys Spatial Awareness based on the Touch Sense Group (he can mystically feel the environment, sense fluctuations in the dimensional eddies, or something like that), does he need to add the Ranged Sense Modifier to the power?

 

A: By definition, Spatial Awareness allows you to sense your surroundings without having contact with them. Touch, as a Sense, by definition requires contact (even if it’s just the contact of, say, air or water on skin). Unless you can find a way to reconcile those statements, you shouldn’t buy Touch-based Spatial Awareness.

 

Q: If a character buys Spatial Awareness as part of the Sight Group, could he buy it without paying for the Targeting Sense Modifier?

 

A: With the GM’s permission, yes. However, this is essentially the same thing as N-Ray Perception (Sight Group), without the need to define a reasonably common substance the Sense cannot perceive through. Therefore, some GMs may consider this abusive and require the character to use N-Ray Perception, or to define a reasonably common substance the Spatial Awareness cannot perceive through.

 

Q: Can N-Ray Perception or Spatial Awareness, if bought for the Sight Group, see through walls?

 

A: Yes. Both Senses are built as “Detect Physical Objects.†If they simulate the Sight Group, that means the character can see the wall, but he can also see other normal physical objects out to the Range of his Sight, regardless of intervening objects that would block normal Sight. The description of N-Ray Perception, for example, specifically refers to perceiving through walls. (With N-Ray, you would have to define a reasonably common substance the Sense cannot perceive through.)

 

PER Roll modifiers that affect the Sight Group may or may not affect one of these Senses, depending on special effects and the situation. The more “physical†a modifier is, the more likely it is to cause difficulties. Ordinary nighttime darkness would probably have little or no effect, since it’s not a physical object. On the other hand, fog is a physical object, and would probably have an effect.

 

N-Ray Perception and Spatial Awareness cannot ignore the effects of Sense-Affecting Powers. Suppose they’re defined as part of the Sight Group. A Sight Group Flash blinds the character and makes them useless. Darkness to Sight Group blocks them, Invisibility hides a character from them, and Images creates “objects†they think are “real.†To buy a form of N-Ray Perception or Spatial Awareness that wouldn’t be blocked or thwarted by Sense-Affecting Powers this way, you have to buy the Enhanced Sense on its own, without linking it to any Sense Group (even if, as a special effect, you refer to it as being a “vision†or the like). For example, you could buy:

 

N-Ray Vision: Detect Physical Objects (INT Roll), Discriminatory, Range, Sense, Targeting Sense. Total cost: 32 points.

 

That’s a lot more expensive than N-Ray Perception simulating a Sense Group, but it’s also a lot more useful.

 

 

Q: How can you determine whether a Sense can perceive through physical objects, like walls?

 

 

 

A: This isn’t really a matter of establishing a hard-and-fast rule. It’s more an issue of considering what’s being detected, the nature of the Sense Group, and the special effects involved, and then applying your common and dramatic sense.

 

First, consider what the Detect is for. Typically, if it perceives something physical (such as Gold), it’s usually reasonable for other physical objects (like walls) to block perception of it. In some cases, the broader the category of perceivable objects, the less likely that axiom is to hold. For example, Detect Physical Objects (used to create things like N-Ray Perception and Spatial Awareness) would be useless if it couldn’t perceive all physical objects in the vicinity without being blocked by any of them.

 

Second, consider the Sense Group involved. If a character can “see†magic, it stands to reason that most things which block Sight block his Detect Magic, too. If he can “smell†water, anything that blocks Smell probably inhibits his Detect Water as well. This isn’t a universal rule, of course, but it’s a good guideline to follow in most instances.

 

Third, consider the special effects involved, particularly when you’re building a power. If you want to create a power that can Detect Magic without being blocked by physical objects, build it so that you don’t have to assign it to a Sense Group that would ordinarily have difficulty perceiving through physical objects. Then the whole issue becomes moot.

 

Last (but certainly not least), keep common sense and dramatic sense in mind. No set of rules can (or should) define everything, particularly not for such an abstract yet important topic as senses and perception. If your common sense tells you a Detect shouldn’t be able to perceive through walls, don’t let it (or, if you’re a player, decide that’s how your character’s power works and apply it that way). If your common sense tells you a Detect doesn’t make much sense (no pun intended) if it can’t perceive through walls (as with N-Ray Perception), then you should let it do so, even if that means reworking it a bit so that its effects are more obvious to another person who glances at your character sheet.

[Kzinbane]

Re: Fellow GM's - help define spacial awareness

 

Spatial Awareness is N-Ray. Its a powerful ability, particularly vs opponents based on Sense Affecting Powers that didnt think to include Spatial Awareness in their affected senses selection.

 

If not using a Simulated Sense Group you need to make it Ranged.

 

FYI however, this kind of question is more appropriate for the HERO System Discussion area.

 

Hey KS, thanks for the FAQ section and reply - I did look for the FAQ but missed it somehow. My decision to post here instead of the HERO system area was specifically to get GM's to provide their take on it. Many of the rules have various interpretations, if one comes up that I particularly like - even if not "official HERO" then I may want to run with that.

Anyhow thanks again!

[Sean Waters]

Re: Fellow GM's - help define spacial awareness

 

Spacial awareness is N-Ray plus: they are the same base build but SA has more bells and whistles. It has targetting and sense, so it makes little 'sense' to attach it to a sense group that already has them, like sight, or indeed to any of the normal senses, which have sense already.

 

If a character had an unusual detect, then you might want to attach SA to that, if not you'd need to add range to make it any use and define it as its own sense group. The big plus there is that flash,darkness, shapeshift, images just won't really work against the character.

 

You start by defining how it works though: if it is based on 'seeing through stuff' just buy N-Ray, or scratch build the power would be my advice.