Quote:
Originally Posted by Harald B
On a related issue: since you suggest Search is not it, what is the skill to use to search for an item that's been hidden in a room? And what would be the skill to thoroughly search a room for interesting items? Under investigative circumstances this could come into play quite often..
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Rooms are so big that you need separate skills for different things (on top of basic Perception for things sitting out in the open):
- Architecture for hidden features of the room itself.
- Carpentry to notice something odd with the woodwork.
- Criminology to find macroscopic evidence left behind by a criminal.
- Electrician to spot something strange about the lights or wiring.
- Forensics to discover traces of blood, explosives, fibers, etc.
- Masonry to identify unusual stonework.
- Observation to "case the joint."
- Tracking to pick up on footprints on the floor.
- Traps for traps and secret doors.
These do overlap some, of course. The GM could allow a single Detective! roll for all of it, I suppose, but as that skill implies, this would be cinematic. Real detectives ask forensic scientists, firemen, the locksmith, etc. to take a look for a good reason. A detective might have Criminology and Observation, and maybe Tracking (if he works outdoors a lot) or Forensics (if he works in a lab some of the time). He
would have Search, but for patting down suspects, not for poking in cupboards. They're not really closely related.