Waking up

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

I think 'almost instantly' could possibly include a couple of seconds that you aren't fully aware of, as you gain consciousness.
...

Not for me. Others have noticed how I will immediately wake up fully conscious. Breathing slowly and deeply to suddenly talking, sometimes startling them.
And I most certainly do NOT have Combat Reflexes.
I had always assumed slow-waking was due to sleep disorders, caffeine addiction, or sleep debt. I was long an adult before learning that was the norm.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I've woken up like that. Most of the time because I went to bed expecting something important in the morning, or because turning off my 3 AM alarm quickly is very important to maintain good relations with those in the house.

Of course, in those situations, the first few seconds are dominated by 'scripted' actions that may rely more on knowing the layout of my bedroom by heart rather than actual awareness.

Same here. I used to launch myself across the room and shut off my alarm before I'd even really woken up.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Same here. I used to launch myself across the room and shut off my alarm before I'd even really woken up.

I used to sleep walk with unusual coordination and clarity. I've let the cat out, and had full conversations with people in the middle of the night completely asleep.
I even once apologized for falling asleep in someone's room while asleep. I eventually woke up standing in the living room. Very surreal.

[Bruno]

Sleep walking is endemic in my family, and while I escaped the normal version the various parts of my brain and conciousness definitely don't "boot up" in the right sequence. Worse, it's a slightly difference sequence from day to day (or sometimes utterly disordered). I've had full fledged sleep paralysis, and generally have to cope with 30-odd minutes after "waking" where I'm still partly paralyzed and various parts of my brain are misfiring.

However, the net effect is that I can, if things go "right", go from asleep to doing meaningful things VERY rapidly - you really don't need ALL of your brain to be awake to do a lot of tasks, particularly routine ones. I may not remember them later because the parts of my brain necessary for remembering crap are still asleep, and I may not be capable of speech or operation of some kinds of technology (doorknobs, once - I could turn off the alarm, but couldn't operate the doorknob).

The downside is that if things go wrong, I can be stuck with a sort of mosaic-unconsciousness for upwards of an hour even with the alarm going off, my eyes open, and clearly seeing things.

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

When I set up my alarm clock, it takes me a few minutes before I'm fully woken up.

When someone knocks on the door, I'm up and running in seconds, and if it's a friendly face and not, say a serial killer who knocked on the door, I relax and go back to drowsiness for a few minutes. But I guess it's instinct.

[Tomsdad]

Yep I agree some version of SOP perk to allow people to do certain things instantly in certain situations.

Otherwise I like the total surprise with combat reflexes giving partial surprise (but those with CR would aloe be prime candidates for the perk mentioned)

[Flyndaran]

Combat Reflexes already allows instant waking when danger appears.

[Anders]

I would price this as an Immunity [5], and allow bonuses to the "unfreeze roll" based on that cost.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Combat Reflexes already allows instant waking when danger appears.

does it?

Combat Reflexes: 15 points

You have extraordinary reactions,
and are rarely surprised for more than
a moment. You get +1 to all active
defense rolls (see Defending, p. 374),
+1 to Fast-Draw skill, and +2 to Fright
Checks (see Fright Checks, p. 360). You
never “freeze” in a surprise situation,
and get +6 on all IQ rolls to wake up,
or to recover from surprise or mental
“stun.” Your side gets +1 on initiative
rolls to avoid a surprise attack – +2 if
you are the leader. For details, see
Surprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).
Combat Reflexes is included in
Enhanced Time Sense (p. 52). If you
have ETS, you cannot also take
Combat Reflexes.

You get the benefit to actually wake up, (same as for recovering from mental stun), but I think there's a difference between waking up and waking up and acting normally in combat.

I'd certainly count being attacked while you sleep as qualifying as a surprise situation in GURPS terms (being unaware of the attack), and CR would give it usual bonus to that

[Doormatthew]

It actually spells out the rules for waking up pretty nicely in Basic Set. It's on page 393. Being woken up counts as Total Surprise. CR eliminates the 1d second "freeze" and gives +6 to the IQ roll to recover. A character with CR and even an average IQ would most likely be up and fully-funtional after a single turn. A character without CR might find themselves stunned for the entire battle if their IQ isn't very good and their luck with dice is worse.