Senses

Senses define how you can perceive the world around you. Many skills and abilities are defined by senses, Awareness and Investigation being the two most prominent.

The Senses category includes those senses you can use to Observe a target. You may have other senses, but they're not precise enough to allow you to pinpoint a target or their movements.

Unless noted, all characters have the Vision and Hearing sense. 

Sense Types

Senses include:

• Darkvision: You can see in complete darkness, though only in black and white. Darkvision can be natural, or the result of technology or magic (see: night vision goggles). You lose the benefits of this specific sense in areas of Normal or Bright Light, as your eyes default back to standard Vision, as well as if you are Blinded or Dazzled.  Darkvision does not have a maximum range unless specified by the source. 

• Hearing: You can hear the environment around you. This is the baseline auditory sense for most creatures. You lose this sense if you are Deafened or standing in an area affected by a Silence spell.

• Echolocation: A supernatural or technological upgrade to hearing. You can pinpoint the exact locations of objects and creatures around you through sound waves. You lose this sense if you are Deafened.

• Scent: You can identify the environment around you through olfactory clues. You lose this sense if you are exposed to powerful scents. Scent usually only extends to a certain Range, and only reveals creatures with an aroma.

• Terror Sense: A horror can detect the terror wafting off sapient creatures. A horror can detect all creatures within 1 range suffering from the Frightened condition. This is a metaphysical sense, and manifests in horror as the sound of a thudding heart, ragging breath, or frightened whimpers. 

• Tremorsense: You can identify the environment around you through feeling the vibrations of a solid surface. Tremorsense only works if you are on the exact same continuous surface as the target. Tremorsense is negated by flight or levitation.

• Vision: You can see the environment around you. Vision comes in two forms: standard vision and low-light vision. You lose this sense if you are Blinded or Dazzled.

  • Low-Light Vision can see in Dim Light as well as if it were Normal Light

  • Standard Vision cannot see in Dim Light, and treats all creatures and objects in Dim Light as if they have Concealment.

Sense Qualities

Senses come in 3 qualities: Precise, Imprecise, and Vague

Precise Senses

A precise sense (like standard human Vision) can detect the world in nuanced detail.can detect the world in nuanced detail. If you detect a creature with a precise sense, they are Observed, and you have no penalties in targeting them. You detect creatures automatically with a precise sense unless they are using Stealth or are obscured by the environment, in which case you must use the Seek (1 Action) basic action to find them.

Imprecise Senses

An imprecise sense (like standard human Hearing or Scent) cannot detect full details. You can usually sense a creature automatically with an imprecise sense, but they gain the Hidden condition against you until you can locate them with a Precise sense. At best, an imprecise sense can be used to make an unnoticed creature merely Hidden—it can never make a creature Observed.

Vague Senses

A vague sense (like a feeling of being watched, or a basic supernatural tingling) alerts you that something is there, but isn’t useful for zeroing in on it. At best, a vague sense can alert you to the presence of an Unnoticed creature, but doesn't make them Hidden or Observed.

Illumination

Vision is the most important sense for most humans and other supernatural creatures. . The amount of light in an area directly impacts combat and Stealth. There are four levels of light: bright light, normal light, dim light and darkness. 

A source of light emits Normal Light out to its listed range, and sheds Dim Light to double that radius. Unless otherwise noted, illumination doesn't emit bright light.

Bright Light

Bright light is light strong enough to cause people to squint in pain, put on sunglasses, or sheek shelter. This includes a bright, snowy day, or an area illuminated by floodlights or powerful industrial lights, or the Moon's surface in direct sunlight. Most creatures gain the dazzled condition in Bright Light. A creature can’t use Stealth in an area of bright light unless it is invisible or has solid cover. 

Normal Light

Normal light is a typical, partly cloudy day or a well-lit building. In normal light, creatures and objects can be observed clearly by anyone with imprecise vision or better. 

Dim Light

Areas in shadow or lit by weak light sources are in dim light, including outdoors on a clear night, or inside a building lit only bt streetlights through windows. Creatures and objects in dim light have the concealed condition, unless the seeker has darkvision or low-light vision, or a precise sense other than vision.

Darkness

A creature or object within darkness is Hidden or Unnoticed unless the seeker has Darkvision or a precise sense other than vision. A creature without Darkvision or another means of seeing in darkness has the Blinded condition while inside it, though it might be able to see illuminated areas beyond the darkness. If a creature can see into an illuminated area, it can observe creatures within that illuminated area normally. Sudden exposure to Bright Light after being in darkness forces the Dazzled condition for a short time., as determined by the GM.

Three  States of Awareness

In gameplay, there are three different states of awareness that you can have with regard to another creature, which determine, for example, whether you surprise it when you engage it in combat or whether you can target a creature with an attack. These states of awareness are described below.

Unnoticed

When you are unaware of another creature, you don’t even know it is present. Generally, this occurs because the creature is hidden, you failed your Awareness check to notice it, and the creature hasn’t yet performed any actions that would alert you to its presence. You cannot directly attack a creature you are unaware of, but it is subject to area effects. 

Hidden

When you are aware of another creature’s presence, you don’t necessarily know exactly where it is. Typically, this occurs when the hidden creature has taken an action that revealed its general presence in the area but has since successfully used Stealth to hide its exact location. If you have succeeded at an Awareness check to notice a creature with an imprecise sense, you are aware of the creature’s presence. You cannot directly attack a creature if you are only aware of its presence, but it is subject to area effects affecting its location. In order to directly attack such a creature, you must succeed at a DC 11 Flat Check before rolling your attack; if you fail the flat check, your attack automatically misses. 

Observed

When you are observing a creature, you can directly perceive the creature with a precise sense. Generally, this occurs when a creature is visible, when the situation makes it impossible for the creature to use Stealth to hide, or when you have succeeded at an Awareness check to search for the creature using a precise sense. You must be observing a creature to use a ranged effect that targets a specific creature without requiring an attack roll to hit. You can also make normal attacks, including ones using ranged abilities, against creatures that you are observing. Again, it is subject to area effects that affect its location.

A creature currently being observed can’t attempt a Stealth check without first breaking that observation. To break observation, the creature must either mask itself from your precise senses (with darkness, fog, invisibility, or the like, but not with effects such as displacement that still leave a clear visual indicator of its location), move somewhere it can’t be observed (a place with cover, for example), or use Deception to create a distraction to momentarily break your observation of it.