LoS and Teleport

[Tonio]

If I teleport from directly in front of someone to several hexes behind them, do I break their LoS to me? I understand they don't have to literally be looking at me, and I'm pretty sure running or flying behind them wouldn't break LoS (they could track me as I go). And I'm sure they could re-establish LoS easily, especially since TP has no "invisible power effects", but for the purposes of maintaining a Continuous Power (or maintaining a UAA Power), does LoS break? No obstacles in the way, just Teleporting out of visual arc.

[Steve Long]

If there were such a thing as a HERO System “bar exam,” this question would be in the multiple choice part pretty much every year. It’s just the sort of odd-but-entirely-plausible issue bar exam committees love.  Take +2 XP out of petty cash for bringing some philosophical joy to everyone’s weekend (or at least mine ).

 

There are actually two issues here, I think, and I’m going to restate them for purposes of clarity:

 

1.  Suppose that a character establishes Line Of Sight to a target. The target then moves behind the character in some fashion so that he’s no longer within the character’s “zone of perception.” However, there’s no obstacle or other impediment preventing the character from perceiving the target if he were perceiving in the proper direction. An example would be if the target Flies or Teleports behind  a character who can only see straight forward. Does this break LOS for purposes of maintaining Constant Powers, UAA powers, and the like?

 

2.  If a character breaks Line Of Sight between himself and someone who’s maintaining the use of a power on him (such as a Constant Power, UAA power, or even some Mental Powers), when does the maintained power stop affecting him? Does it occur immediately, at the end of the Segment, or at some other time?

 

And the answers are:

 

1. As a default rule, the situation described does not break LOS for purposes of maintaining powers. As noted on 6E1 149, “a character doesn’t literally have to “keep his eye on” a target at all times to maintain LOS; he just has to be able to do so if he’s perceiving in that direction.” That general rule resolves the issue in most circumstances, I think. However, in campaigns that strictly enforce the optional Facing rules (6E2 26), GMs may want to be more strict about this. They could either allow such movement to break LOS automatically, or require the character to make an EGO Roll (or some other appropriate roll) to maintain it.

 

2. As a default rule, the maintained power typically stops affecting the target immediately. However, the GM should grant common sense and dramatic sense exceptions if appropriate for the campaign (such as when LOS is only broken for the blink of an eye, is re-established in the same Segment, or the like).