Situational Awareness Talent

[JulianLW]

Is this too munchkin? Any suggestions?

Situational Awareness Talent: Body Language, Detect Lies, Intelligence Analysis, Observation, Tactics, Tracking.

Reaction Bonus: Emergency services personnel, soldiers, and anybody with Combat Reflexes.

Alternative Benefit: +1/lvl to Visualization or Intuition rolls.

5 points/level.

[AlexanderHowl]

I would instead have the skills being Fast-Draw, Observation, Search, Shadowing, and Tactics. I would also replace the alternative benefit with +1/level to rolls to recover from Partial Surprise.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

It really seems to depend on what sort of situations you are "more aware of". This seems more like something that needs a list of talents, like "combat situational awareness", "social situational awareness", etc.

[whswhs]

I would not include Intelligence Analysis. That's not a perceptual skill, but an analytical one; you exercise it away from the immediate situation, sitting in a room with documents spread around you.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

It really seems to depend on what sort of situations you are "more aware of". This seems more like something that needs a list of talents, like "combat situational awareness", "social situational awareness", etc.

I agree with this, particularly if the intention is to keep it at a cost of [5].

I'd see Conflict Situational Awareness, Crisis Situational Awareness, and Social Situational Awareness as possibilities with some skills appearing on all lists.

[Sam Baughn]

This seems to have too much overlap with Perception, both in concept and in the skills affected.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by Sam Baughn

This seems to have too much overlap with Perception, both in concept and in the skills affected.

Having too much overlap between a base attribute and skills is kind of what talents do.

[Jareth Valar]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I agree with this, particularly if the intention is to keep it at a cost of [5].

I'd see Conflict Situational Awareness, Crisis Situational Awareness, and Social Situational Awareness as possibilities with some skills appearing on all lists.

Actually, it's currently 6 skills, which is still 5/level. It doesn't pop up to 10/level till 7 skills.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by Jareth Valar

Actually, it's currently 6 skills, which is still 5/level. It doesn't pop up to 10/level till 7 skills.

GURPS can be too granular, sometimes. What's wrong with a formula and a table?

[Pursuivant]

The scope of the talent depends on how your define "Situational Awareness".

At least for fighter pilots, SA is covered by traits such as 3D Spatial Sense, Combat Reflexes, Peripheral Vision, the Hot Pilot talent from GURPS Space, and specialized Tactics (Aerial, Aerospace, or Space).

For ground pounders, SA is covered by Combat Reflexes, Peripheral Vision, and a high Tactics skill.

For recon types, SA is covered by high Per score and Observation skill.

As written, your talent is a bit too powerful in that it gives reaction bonuses from an effectively very large and commonly encountered group of people and makes fairly powerful advantages even more powerful, all for just 5 points/level.

It's also a bit unfocused since bonuses are divided between seemingly unrelated "social," "combat" and "outdoor" skills.

If you're looking for a "Personal Combat Situational Awareness" advantage, the logical skill choices are Body Language, Observation, and Tactics. That gives a talent worth 3 points/level.