Danger Sense

[naloth]

I find Danger Sense a bit vague... I would rather use:

Example #1: Good directional awareness of things that might be a danger to you. The range penalty for attacks that will contact you is zero and you get a direction and intensity good enough for an appropriate defense.
- Detect (Danger, Common, 20 base; Reflexive +40%; Passive Use Only* -20%) [24]

Example #2: A feeling when you're in danger but rarely enough (crit success) to tell you the direction or severity. This is enough to place you on alert but unless you can correlate it to an activity you're doing you won't know why you're in danger. Basically the same as default Danger Sense.
- Detect (Danger, Common, 20 base, Reflexive +40%; Passive Use Only* -20%; Vague -50%) [14]

*Based off Unconscious, but w/o Uncontrollable since it works in a predictable fashion but cannot be actively used.

As a function of Detect you could drop the Passive Use to scan for threats or add Precise to get more details.

[Tinman]

In our campaign Danger Sense allows a defence but at a -4.
If one has Precognition they defend with no penalty.

Also note that DS is not automatic, it requires a per roll.

[kirbwarrior]

I can't remember where in the books it is, but Danger Sense (on a successful roll) will let you know an attack is about to hit you, and let you defend at -2, similarly to runaround attacks.

[Captain Joy]

Originally Posted by gesus

But DS doesn't provide details about a threat (except on crit), so you still don't know about attack from behind, you just know that something dangerous is happening. So in your turn you can spend part of round looking around and then locate that particular threat. Or you can just start running, or dropping behind cover etc. It's player's decision based just on DING! caused by DS.

This is exactly the way one of my GM's ran one of my character's Danger Sense, and it was a blast. He would casually say, "You suddenly have a very bad feeling." Immediately I would react; because I knew if I didn't, this GM would have no problem having some sniper blow my head off.

So, IMHO, yes: tell the player their Danger Sense just went off, but no way should you tell them it's because they're about to be attacked from behind. To my understanding, this is the RAW application of Danger Sense.

[Retcon]

Can someone please explain Danger Sense as I have never been wholly clear?

For example-
If a character is approaching a room that will activate a trap upon entry, at which point would Danger Sense warn them ?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Retcon

For example-
If a character is approaching a room that will activate a trap upon entry, at which point would Danger Sense warn them ?

The way I do it, is I warn them before they enter the room, but just that they sense danger (except on a crit. of course), so they don't know if it's a trap in the room, an ambush from behind or what. On the other hand they will get a defense roll of some kind (probably a dodge) against the trap, if they end up tripping it anyway.

[Retcon]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The way I do it, is I warn them before they enter the room, but just that they sense danger (except on a crit. of course), so they don't know if it's a trap in the room, an ambush from behind or what. On the other hand they will get a defense roll of some kind (probably a dodge) against the trap, if they end up tripping it anyway.

Makes Sense. Thanks!

That was the kind of answer I was hoping for.

I was trying to think of any characters I have come across in fiction with 'non-Power' versions, and how it worked with them. Jimmy The Hand in the Riftwar series felt that a small tower he encountered was somehow 'off' so refrained from entering.

Basically the entire construct was one giant camourflaged booby-trap.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Retcon

Can someone please explain Danger Sense as I have never been wholly clear?

For example-
If a character is approaching a room that will activate a trap upon entry, at which point would Danger Sense warn them ?

Dr. Kromm (GURPS line editor Sean Punch) commented a while back in a thread about Danger Sense in "dungeon fantasy"; it seems relevant here:

Originally Posted by Kromm

The PC doesn't receive free details except on a critical success, but he should get to react sensibly to the threat. He has perhaps a 1- to 2-second warning that something isn't right. This lets him try whatever countermeasure is allowed when one is prepared to face that same threat: avert his gaze from Medusa, hold his breath vs. gas, make a Dodge roll against a missile, try a Stealth roll before the ogre turns the corner and sees him, etc. He can also shout or gesture to teammates, but to be entirely fair, they should have about a second less to react.

The key control isn't to make Danger Sense uselessly vague or unable to help teamates. The key control is to make Danger Sense what it's supposed to be: the last-minute warning before the inevitable danger, which is already on its way, hits home. It allows a defensive response. Danger Sense isn't meant to be a sense like Detect, where you can hover your hand over items and say, "Hm, this one is dangerous. This one isn't."

Example: Dan Danger, thief extraordinaire, has Danger Sense. He comes upon two doors in the dungeon. Little does he know, the right-hand one is booby-trapped. The GM secretly rolls for Danger Sense and gets a success. He tells Dan's player, "You're not comfortable with this setup. Ladies and tigers come to mind." Only on a critical success would he say, "The door on the right feels dangerous to you."

Dan can opt to hover around each door, and even grasp the knobs. However, he'll get no further warning. He can't use Danger Sense to guess the right door. For that, he should've bought Intuition.

Eventually, Dan mans up and pulls the right-hand door open. The GM decides that since the Danger Sense roll succeeded earlier, Dan is alerted. He gets a Dodge vs. the poisoned crossbow bolt that shoots out at him. Dan dives and yells "TRAAAAAP!" The bolt misses him and streaks toward Mitsy the Barbarian. Mitsy has only a secondhand warning, so the GM gives her a dodge at the usual -4 for being stunned; that's still better than no dodge, but not what Dan got.

Dan's player could, of course, have opted for other measures. Suspecting gas, a blast, or a projectile, Dan could've told his pals to stand around a corner 40' away, and then borrowed Mitsy's adamantine bustier (more a pavise to him), held his breath, had Father Doom cast Resist Fire on him, and then opened the door. Of course, the GM could say that all that fussing took long enough that orcs show up and attack while Dan is alone 40' away, Doom is fatigued, and Mitsy is down to her tiger-fur bikini top.

[The Benj]

I feel like if Danger Sense will let you defend against attacks from behind, what's the point of Peripheral Vision (which has the same cost)?

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by The Benj

I feel like if Danger Sense will let you defend against attacks from behind, what's the point of Peripheral Vision (which has the same cost)?

Danger sense merely let's you do it. PV let's you use any defense, at no penalty.