[Basic] Skill of the week: Observation

[johndallman]

Observation is the Per/A skill of covert observation, noticing interesting things without being obvious about it, even if it's visible that you're present. The defaults are Perception-5 or Shadowing-5, and Shadowing is the only skill that defaults to Observation. The skill appeared at GURPS 4e.

Observation is enhanced by Hyperspectral Vision and Ultravision, and is part of the Detective! Wildcard skill. It can counter Camouflage, Disguise, Filch, Pickpocket, and Sleight of Hand, and Intelligence Analysis reminds us that Observation is the skill for gathering intelligence by small-o observation. Gathering information close up is Forensics or Search; Observation is always at a distance.

With a successful roll, you get information about things and people that have not been deliberately hidden. If they have, you need to win a contest against the skill (usually Camouflage, Shadowing or Stealth) that has been used to conceal, which is done by the GM, rather than the player. That argues for the GM making all Observation rolls. Understanding whatever you observe may require another skill, such as Intelligence Analysis. On a failure, you miss something important. On critical failure, someone notices you casing the joint, and does something about it. There's some overlap with Traps skill, since security cameras are traps, and thus spotted with Per-based Traps skill (B226-7).

There are lots of modifiers: applicable Accute Senses, usually Vision, modifiers that would apply to Perception rolls, penalties up to -10 for really advanced concealment, and bonuses up to +10 for appropriate surveillance equipment, which may require a skill roll to use successfully. More applications of Observation are under Sense Rolls on B358.

Kromm made a significant clarification to Observation here (scroll down a little). Its "strategic" use is in information-gathering, as explained in the skill description, where you need actual Observation skill, or to use a default. Its "tactical" use is for countering Stealth, Camouflage, etc., where you use full Per unless your Observation skill is better, which is mostly explained under the skills it counters.

Observation is a common skill on templates for guards, investigators, reporters, scouts and spies, often as an alternative to Search, although a party will want both skills. Action 2: Exploits calls it out as the broad skill for noticing stuff, and AtE 2: The New World uses it for spotting minefields, ambushes, and giving an ally guidance in combat. DF2 has it as an option for spotting secret doors, and DF16 has too many applications to list. Observation is a prerequisite for Precision Aiming in Gun-Fu and Tactical Shooting, and High-Tech points out that it's needed for comprehensive mapping, and a countermeasure to intrusion detection systems and drug smuggling. Pulp Guns 2 describes flashless ammunition, as a counter to an observer trying to spot a sniper. Monster Hunters 1: Champions uses it for spotting disguised weapons. Power-Ups volumes 2, 3, 6 and 7 have examples that use this skill, and Powers, Enhanced Senses and The Weird have abilities that boost it. Psionic Powers uses it for realising that someone has been affected by psi; Social Engineering for searching for people and assessing the mood of a crowd, and Back to School for learning a skill by watching people use it. Supers uses Observation for spotting concealed bases, and possibly in spotting crimes to fight. Tactical Shooting uses it for general tactical awareness, walking a burst, assessing enemies, making range cards, helping a sniper by spotting their fall of shot, spotting someone shooting at you, and spotting concealed weapons.

What have you spotted that was awesome in a game?

[RogerBW]

To me the canonical use of observation is "casing the joint" – as in Asterix and the Cauldron, pp. 37-39. (Sadly no legal public version I can find to link to.) Finding out how many guards there are, when they change shifts, that sort of thing. My players are generally fond of lying up some distance from the target and finding out as much as they can before charging in, which helps keep their characters alive so I'm not complaining.

It's an odd skill - I'd normally expect GURPS to separate "notice the thing" from "interpret the thing". But I can see it makes sense this way.

[Phil Masters]

The movie I always remember when discussing Observation skill is Ronin. Robert de Niro puts on a textbook demonstration of passive and augmented Observation when setting up the operation.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

To me the canonical use of observation is "casing the joint" – as in Asterix and the Cauldron, pp. 37-39. (Sadly no legal public version I can find to link to.) Finding out how many guards there are, when they change shifts, that sort of thing. My players are generally fond of lying up some distance from the target and finding out as much as they can before charging in, which helps keep their characters alive so I'm not complaining.

It's an odd skill - I'd normally expect GURPS to separate "notice the thing" from "interpret the thing". But I can see it makes sense this way.

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

The movie I always remember when discussing Observation skill is Ronin. Robert de Niro puts on a textbook demonstration of passive and augmented Observation when setting up the operation.

Yeah, pretty much this. I'll also add that it's the skill that could let you locate security cameras, how good the security measures are on a building (e.g., pressure plates), general physical security (e.g., fences or reinforced doors), etc. The former wouldn't include anything that's been specifically hidden away, while the latter is pretty obvious unless you pay a lot extra. You can, for instance, see most reinforced doorframes just from the way they are constructed.

You can also use it to discern access and egress and estimate how long it might take you to get there (this would be an IQ-based roll though - or that's how I've done it). (Finding your way around the building would probably be an Urban Survival roll though.) You could also use this skill to observe an area and figure out when it's the most or least crowded.

Where it gets tricky is when you use Observation to spot hidden details. I've found that it almost always bogs a game down with the "Please roll to see if my character notices anything else about the [target]." What I usually like to do is use their original margin vs. the target's original margin to conceal [X]. This way you don't get the weird situation "Yeah, you spotted the machine gun nest in the wall, but forgot about the cameras." That of course is not RAW, but a GM trick that makes my life easier.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

The movie I always remember when discussing Observation skill is Ronin. Robert de Niro puts on a textbook demonstration of passive and augmented Observation when setting up the operation.

The scene where he knocks over a metal bollard to gauge the bodyguards' reactions? How would one GURPS that out? Straight Observation rolls? Use Tactics, Streetwise, Intel Analysis or something else as a Complementary Roll, or as a "concept" roll?

BTW- Props to the OP, johndallman, you've kept this Skill of the Week series trucking along for 2 years it seems, and you're already into the O's. I admit I thought it would peter out before now, so good work, chap!

ETA: Looking through the stats on that list of threads, the topics with the most replies were Artillery/Forward Observer, a good, wargamey skill, but then Cooking, Connoisseur, Linguistics and Housekeeping! Perhaps GURPS' focus on combat is misplaced...

[whswhs]

I tend to think of Observation as the skill of noticing things without other people realizing that you're looking. If you just want to obviously look, you roll Per to spot things; if you want to look without being obvious, you roll Observation, and then a critical failure means you were obvious.

Further, Per is largely passive; you look over the scene and maybe something jumps out at you. Observation is active and directed; you look over the scene and you have an idea of what's where, and you aren't distracted by the things that jump out at you from noticing the things that you really care about.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Further, Per is largely passive; you look over the scene and maybe something jumps out at you. Observation is active and directed

As Holmes said to Watson "You see, but you do not observe."

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I tend to think of Observation as the skill of noticing things without other people realizing that you're looking. If you just want to obviously look, you roll Per to spot things; if you want to look without being obvious, you roll Observation, and then a critical failure means you were obvious.

Further, Per is largely passive; you look over the scene and maybe something jumps out at you. Observation is active and directed; you look over the scene and you have an idea of what's where, and you aren't distracted by the things that jump out at you from noticing the things that you really care about.

Exactly as I see it.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

ETA: Looking through the stats on that list of threads, the topics with the most replies were Artillery/Forward Observer, a good, wargamey skill, but then Cooking, Connoisseur, Linguistics and Housekeeping! Perhaps GURPS' focus on combat is misplaced...

I am not covering actual combat skills. They get plenty of discussion already, and I don't have much to add to them.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

The distinction seems difficult to me, really. Any of the things Observation lets you see should also be possible to see with an appropriate sensory check. And there are other skills that could be used to make sure you're unobtrusive about it.

So what do you actually need Observation for? I don't know.

Observation is being organised and efficient about using Per (the way that unarmed combat skills are being organised and efficient about using DX to punch people). You want to watch the bank from the cafe opposite? Fine, but without Observation, you're prone to looking rather obvious as you drink your coffee; with it, you're a shopper dawdling over the newspaper, and yet you see just as much. Make a Per roll and you can say there are "a bunch of guards" in the bank; make an Observation roll and you can say how many and how their duty roster system seems to work.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

The scene where he knocks over a metal bollard to gauge the bodyguards' reactions? How would one GURPS that out? Straight Observation rolls? Use Tactics, Streetwise, Intel Analysis or something else as a Complementary Roll, or as a "concept" roll?

I'd just treat the trick with the metal sign simply as the special effect on a good Observation roll. (Though he may well be using Tactics or Soldier as a complementary skill.) He gets a good assessment of the guard team's responses, but he still just looks like a clumsy tourist. And he comes back from the morning's work with a clear idea of what his team are up against.