Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Detect Advantage: Transient or Switchable?

Kelly Pedersen · 05-03-2017, 10:45 AM

I was building an ability using Detect, and it occurred to me that I'm not sure whether Detect is normally transient (that is, it works once when activated, does its thing, and turns off on its own) or switchable (meaning, its activated by the user, and stays on until they choose to turn it off again).

I think the description in Basic leans more towards transient - you get one Sense roll, which potentially finds whatever, then turns off. If you want to keep sensing stuff, you have to keep making new rolls every turn. But I could see an argument to be made for switchable, allowing you to make one Sense roll when you first turn Detect on, and then, as long as you keep concentrating, you can keep detecting things inside your range, "noticing" them whenever they come within the range established by your first Sense roll.

What do people think? Is Detect transient or switchable by default? And if it's transient, what would be the appropriate value of an enhancement to make it switchable? I'm thinking +50%, personally, but that's just a hunch.

05-03-2017, 10:45 AM	#1
Kelly Pedersen Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada	Detect Advantage: Transient or Switchable? I was building an ability using Detect, and it occurred to me that I'm not sure whether Detect is normally transient (that is, it works once when activated, does its thing, and turns off on its own) or switchable (meaning, its activated by the user, and stays on until they choose to turn it off again). I think the description in Basic leans more towards transient - you get one Sense roll, which potentially finds whatever, then turns off. If you want to keep sensing stuff, you have to keep making new rolls every turn. But I could see an argument to be made for switchable, allowing you to make one Sense roll when you first turn Detect on, and then, as long as you keep concentrating, you can keep detecting things inside your range, "noticing" them whenever they come within the range established by your first Sense roll. What do people think? Is Detect transient or switchable by default? And if it's transient, what would be the appropriate value of an enhancement to make it switchable? I'm thinking +50%, personally, but that's just a hunch.