Darkness field on an Opponent

[sturmrider]

How do you handle an AoE Darkness field say of 8 meters that is placed on an opponent. Does he instantly know the shortest way out and walk out or if not does he walk in a straight line till he is out of it. Finally does he grope around moving randomly till he finds his way out. I found nothing in the rules on this and it is great his DCV is 0, but if he moves in the next phase you may not get the chance to take advantage of this.

[Tech]

We as human beings constantly and subconsciously rely on our senses moment by moment. Being in darkness where an opponent cannot see doesn't give the opponent an automatic "This is a Darkness attack, not a Flash attack" awareness. They cannot see. Ever play a game where you're blindfolded and you have to tag someone? It's not easy.

 

A suggestion: I'd say have them make an INT roll to see if they can remember which direction they are facing and/or the area. If not made, a random roll could be made by the GM as to which direction they're actually going as to opposed to which direction they actually are going. I usually just go with the flow and make a judgment call on an individual basis.

 

Really, the special effects of the darkness are so varied that what I just suggested may not apply.

[Hugh Neilson]

This is an issue in any game on a map.  How does the character know he is precisely one half move away from melee distance, or for a range penalty breakpoint?  How did the character with the Darkness power know which space to target in order to just catch that enemy on the fringe, while leaving his teammate out of the darkness field?

 

I've toyed with the idea of "no grid" gameplay.  You don't get to measure until after you declare your action.  Maybe that is "I will move towards LAZER - if I get close enough in a half move, I will punch him, and if not I will do a Move Through".  And sometimes the result will be just missing an enemy with an AoE, or just catching a friend.

 

Another result will be people seriously looking at Absolute Range Sense

 

But a third will be slower gameplay as we measure everything or maybe not - how much time gets spent counting out hexes in various possible configurations while making a "split second" decision on a combat action?

[Brian Stanfield]

2 hours ago, sturmrider said:

How do you handle an AoE Darkness field say of 8 meters that is placed on an opponent. Does he instantly know the shortest way out and walk out or if not does he walk in a straight line till he is out of it. Finally does he grope around moving randomly till he finds his way out. I found nothing in the rules on this and it is great his DCV is 0, but if he moves in the next phase you may not get the chance to take advantage of this.

 

6e2 7 will answer some of your questions. There are no specific rules about movement while blinded, but some suggestions are made such as moving 2m per phase to slowly feel one's way out of the darkness without hitting anything. A couple other problems present themselves: while the person at the center of the Darkness is at 1/2 DCV and cannot see out of the Darkness, you can't actually see into (or through) the Darkness either, and so can't really target that person. He could do a full move to get out of the Darkness (without really knowing how big the area really is), but the GM will have to make several judgments all at once, as @Hugh Neilson suggests. Perhaps randomize the person's move (a Perception check is impossible in Darkness) with an INT roll; also, consider not revealing the radius of the darkness to the victim, so they can't metagame a strategy to get out of the darkness; in other words, since they can't see out of or through the Darkness they are stricken with, they can't determine whether the Darkness targets only their own sense group, or if it's an AOE, or any other factor because they just can't see; this may have to be honestly roleplayed by the character to prevent these meta gaming problems. 

[Doc Democracy]

The best thing to do is think what you would do in a game if the GM suddenly told you that you could not see anything.

 

Personally, I would be falling back on what I think the character knows and might be able to determine.

 

Does the character remember where the exits were? (INT roll)

Is the character able to smell anything? (PER roll)

Is the character able to feel drafts etc? (PER roll)

Can he tell where folk are by the sounds they are making? (This is where SFX of powers become VERY important; PER roll)

If he can remember where the exits are, can he orient himself properly to reach one?

 

Mostly the character will not be thinking about how far he needs to travel to get out the darkness field, he is more likely to be thinking about immediate dangers, whether he can get somewhere safe, or possibly even to either a friend or enemy. 

 

Obviously my favourite flying brick character (Osprey) might simply decide to fly full speed in one direction, crashing through anything in the way (if he was satisfied that there were no innocents likely to be harmed)...

 

Once you satisfy yourself what you would do, you can work out what an NPC might do (though everything can be altered depending on the character's complications).

 

Doc

[sturmrider]

Thanks guys for all the great suggestions. A lot to think on. Thanks again.