Natural Camouflage

[Stupid Jedi]

How would you simulate the natural camouflage of animals? I can find nothing on it (either under Stealth or Camouflage skill). Most animals have coloration that blends into their normal habitat, but no mention is made. I can see two options:

1. Assign a modifier to Vision rolls to spot the animal, based on how good its natural camouflage is (anywhere between 0 and -6 sounds reasonable to me).

2. Give each appropriate animal the Camouflage skill (benchmark level roughly equal to its Perception).

Option #2 is probably more in the spirit of the GURPS rules, but #1 is simpler. Thoughts?

[NorthSaber]

I guess you could use Chameleon with an accessibility limitation limiting the bonuses / penalties to certain terrains / habitats / seasons.

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by NorthSaber

I guess you could use Chameleon with an accessibility limitation limiting the bonuses / penalties to certain terrains / habitats / seasons.

Sounds over-complicated.

I think you're on the right track, Stupid Jedi: #2 sounds like a good option, and very in the spirit of GURPS... but if you don't want to write out an entire stat block, then GM fiating a modifier isn't going to break anything.

[Kromm]

A perk works, too. Fur is, after all, a perk. I'm not sure why stripes or what-have-you would not be. Per p. B100, "A perk can provide a modest bonus (up to +2) to an attribute, skill, or reaction roll in relatively rare circumstances." And indeed, we go up to +3 for Penetrating Voice. I'd say that +2 or +3 to Camouflage (or -2 or -3 to enemies' Vision rolls) when you're in an extremely specific type of terrain and vegetation isn't unfair for 1 point. In most settings, 1 point could buy you a camouflage outfit as Signature Gear, and it would be at least as good and probably more generally useful.

[Bruno]

Camouflage skill is specifically using things that are not your body to hide yourself - anything from covering yourself in mud and then rolling in leaves on up would be Camouflage. Certainly, some animals DO use the skill in this sense (some arthropods collect junk and glue it to their backs to blend in)...

but an animals natural coloration isn't the Camouflage skill. It's more like a racial kill bonus with Stealth - it makes it easier for them to blend in

[Stupid Jedi]

Originally Posted by Kromm

A perk works, too. Fur is, after all, a perk. I'm not sure why stripes or what-have-you would not be. Per p. B100, "A perk can provide a modest bonus (up to +2) to an attribute, skill, or reaction roll in relatively rare circumstances." And indeed, we go up to +3 for Penetrating Voice. I'd say that +2 or +3 to Camouflage (or -2 or -3 to enemies' Vision rolls) when you're in an extremely specific type of terrain and vegetation isn't unfair for 1 point. In most settings, 1 point could buy you a camouflage outfit as Signature Gear, and it would be at least as good and probably more generally useful.

Great suggestion. The Natural Camouflage Perk combined with Stealth would be potent.

[laserdog]

Originally Posted by Stupid Jedi

2. Give each appropriate animal the Camouflage skill (benchmark level roughly equal to its Perception).

Option #2 is probably more in the spirit of the GURPS rules, but #1 is simpler. Thoughts?

For animals that are black, like panthers and such, i could see speccing it out using camoflage with appropriate "only when dark" type modifiers, since it'd be useful so often.

But for animals with actual specific patterns, definitely a perk.

Although, it begs the question, what do the "obvious" coloring features common in the males of many avian species count as? Maybe an incompetance (stealth)?