Topic: Situational Awareness

[gandalf970]

I would like to compile a list of Situational Awarenesses you use.  Here are the ones I use.

Guard Duty
Urban (Crowd Walking)
Outdoor Travel

[markc]

  I do not use the skill but instead use others in the book or provide a bonus to perception or alertness if a profession gives a bonus to Sit Aware.
MDC

[jdale]

I took one for "magical disorientation." For quick recovery from spells like leaving, spin, etc. (My character has a magical item that, when thrown, causes a Spin effect centered where it hits. If I'm ready and used to the effect, much less disorienting for me than them.)

Scouting (i.e. you're the person out in advance), watch (i.e. your the person up by themself standing guard), and sleeping (i.e. wake up quickly if there's a disturbance) are some others.

[jaranka]

Sit. Awareness Combat I think is a popular one.  We use it to learn things about our opponents in combat, like if they're stunned, what kinds of injuries they have, who are they going to attack, etc.

[markc]

I think if you go to the archive and do a search you will find a topic like this from way back when.
MDC

[Kristen Mork]

Here's my list:

Combat (keeping track of who's where)
Emotional (assessing a person's emotional state)
Social (assessing group dynamics)
Spellcasting (determining that a spell is being cast, and possibly the target)
Triage (determining who needs healing, also includes stun status)
Urban (keeping track of people and objects moving in chaotic urban environments)

For guard duty I use surveillance.  For outdoor travel I use Survival.  For magical disorientation I use Targeting.  For scouting I use Sense Ambush (for traps and enemies).  For sleep, I use Alertness.

[providence13]

Here's a quick list of our most popular..

Combat Awareness
Sleep Awareness
Translocation Awareness
Meditation Awareness

[mistrornge]

I have started using Combat Awareness to allow the players to once per turn at 0% costing no action ask a question about something in their environment. 
Is my enemy stunned?
Approximate % of hits?
Is he attacking me next?
I only allow them to ask about a single opponent. 

[markc]

I have started using Combat Awareness to allow the players to once per turn at 0% costing no action ask a question about something in their environment. 
Is my enemy stunned?
Approximate % of hits?
Is he attacking me next?
I only allow them to ask about a single opponent.

 I use Alertness for this.
MDC

[providence13]

I have started using Combat Awareness to allow the players to once per turn at 0% costing no action ask a question about something in their environment. 
Is my enemy stunned?
Approximate % of hits?
Is he attacking me next?
I only allow them to ask about a single opponent.

+1
 This also applies to allies for us. But I have waxed and waned on it taking 10%Act.

[mistrornge]

Alertness is an unconscious realization something is wrong versus my take on combat awareness which is more active single question per round.
We end up using both for different events. 
I wanted a way for them to get information on an opponents status after I stopped telling that an opponent was stunned for X number of rounds.

Do you as GMs tell your players how long they are stunned when attacked?

[Kristen Mork]

Do you as GMs tell your players how long they are stunned when attacked?

Nope, but I also didn't want it tied to Situational Awareness: Combat because that skill gets overused (IMHO) already.

[markc]

  No I do not tell my players how long the target is stunned ... or the results of any other penalties, unless the penalty is something like broken leg which they know is -100.
MDC

[yammahoper]

I share info all the time, not always, but more often than not at leaste.  Such info greatly assist the player inmaking wise decisions.  This is a game after all, not a tactical simulation.  Most fights are by my design  meant to seem a challenge but really just be a 20 minute diversion to enjoy a small fight then move on.  I do try describe the damage as best I can, but since players often read attack tables, and figuring DB is a simple excercise in basic math (My total attack was 212 and I am looking up 118 result versus AT 14...).

Knowing a foe is stunned for two rounds may allow a player to ignore the stunned villian and turn against another, but ey, it happens in movies and stories all the time.  We have all seen the fighter take on four foes, hit two, and they are out of the fight for a brief bit: there's stun in action...unless there is a big vat of oil to dump and roll in...hmm, I suddenly wanna see Transporter again.

[providence13]

My players share the work load of books. I don't mind at all. Just because the players know that the opponent is stunned x rounds, most of the time the character doesn't know; pretty decent players.  If I feel that it's an issue or impacting their judgement, I ask for Combat Awareness.
Any one who has had jury duty can role play. 

Plus, Stun Removal/Stunned Maneuvering isn't that hard to get. Just because the players think that the opponent is incapacitated, doesn't mean they are..

[Lord Garth]

Since I'm pretty good at algebra, I do all the calculations and someone else looks up the tables. Sometimes a player might not be sure of the result, but when I re-do numbers slowly and with them we always reach the same number.

Since my games start at level one but usually keep running until the low 20s fights end up being pretty epic, not the case at low levels, and they involve a lot of NPCs and monsters. So I off-loaded NPC book-keeping in combat to players a couple of years ago and it both keeps them occupied while they are not at the centre of the action and speeds up combat times.

Yeah, they do know stuns, no parry and what not, but while it does affect realism it does in my games promote team-play in combat, which I prefer. As usual, it's a matter of taste.

[GrumpyOldFart]

My players share the work load of books. I don't mind at all. Just because the players know that the opponent is stunned x rounds, most of the time the character doesn't know; pretty decent players.

Yeah, that. I'm lucky, a bit of my group is players whose RPG experience goes all the way back to the late 70s.... and the rest of the group is their (our) children and even a couple of grandchildren now.

It's interesting and cool when the bulk of your gaming group still has the enthusiasm and energy that goes along with teenage or college age players.... and yet those youngsters are all 10 to 20 year experience gamers. It's cooler still when the lessons rub off on the really young ones well and early. Can you imagine a 10 year old in his 2nd game having his character die, and his reaction being almost entirely enthusiasm for applying lessons learned to his next character? No grumbling about how unfair it is that he died, etc.

I've seen gamers in their 40s not do that well.