[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: No Depth Perception and One Eye

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Well yeah, but mine does. How the actual flapjacks have I not seen this glorious object? Can you honestly think of anyone that you personally know who would appreciate this more? :D

It doesn't look that good with the glasses, so I only wear it for special occasions, when everything I want to see is pretty close up. :)

[Gold & Appel Inc]

So you are publicly admitting that you have knowingly withheld a justifiable black sharkskin eyepatch and medically-necessary monocle combo? And you have run our group's only steampunk campaign? I am sorely tempted to roll SAN in a GURPS thread, Sir.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

While I agree it doesn't affect fine motor skills when used for tiny manipulations . . .

Watching myself chopping vegetables this morning, I realised I do most of that using proprioception rather than visual sensing. With a work area and tools that I know well, I'm reasonably dexterous, but I need to be much slower and more careful if I just move to the other side of the kitchen.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Watching myself chopping vegetables this morning, I realised I do most of that using proprioception rather than visual sensing.

Poor Proprioception could be a Quirk, or possibly a very limited form of Bad Sight, Ham-Fisted, Klutz, Numb, or One Eye/NDP depending on the exact effect you're going for.

Superior Proprioception is probably best modeled as some combination of increased DX, Manual Dexterity, Perfect Balance, or Talent.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Poor Proprioception could be a Quirk

Mostly it's just low DX; it would make almost all DX checks harder. You could compensate by watching yourself, but that usually translates to low skill as well.

[JustAnotherJarhead]

I too am here on these forums with only the functional use of one eye. A complication of a surgery at a Veterans Hospital, attempting to correct a Detached Retina, the surgery it's self was most likely text book, but I had a stroke in the blood supply to the retina... after 49 years of binocular vision, i am now a cyclops and Seeing the world quite differently now.

I drive, reasonably well, chop veggies in the kitchen, read this forum and most other things pretty much the same as before, but toss me your car keys and thats a challenge to catch them, so there is the whole depth perception thing. I find myself using Clues to replace true depth perception, so there is quite a bit of alternate learned technique to overcome the disability.

I am looking forward to test combat skills, like archery, firearms etc... although i am reasonably sure that fencing is out for now, I'm pretty sure that will never be good, but I can still swing an Axe, and I can still work on cars, it's just a bit slower for the mechanical stuff.

i have an eye patch, but because I also need glasses at 50 for both near and far vision correction, it doesn't look good, but now i really want a nice shiny snakeskin patch as an option. People don't visually have any clue that I can't see, so the no peripheral vision on the one side is a problem at times, SO I thought instead of ignoring someone off to my right side, and they thinking I'm rude, If I had the patch in place, they would reposition to attempt to make eye contact with my good eye, so there is that aspect of patch vs; no patch.

So in a short synopsis, I'd say all penalties that any game assign, are probably fair .

[Bruno]

I'm autistic so "eye-contact" is a bit of a mystery to me - does having one eye (and for the sake of the question, an eye patch or other visual signal of only one eye) change how making eye contact works?

I know when your eyes don't align it seems to throw other people off, which can be an issue with a prosthetic eye if it doesn't move, or doesn't move well.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'm autistic so "eye-contact" is a bit of a mystery to me - does having one eye (and for the sake of the question, an eye patch or other visual signal of only one eye) change how making eye contact works?

It's probably reasonable to have some loss of Appearance attached to losing an eye, it probably doesn't otherwise strongly affect anything unless there's other scarring that is paralyzing some face muscles.

[Plane]

I see eye contact as sort of an approximation. I think it's less than "my left eye and your right are are staring on parallel lines, and my right eye and left eye are staring on parallel lines". I don't think anyone can truly be that perfect...

I think it wold still be eye contact for example, if two people were focusing on staring at the bridge of each other's noses, directly between each other's eyes...

I think perhaps it might be more than "our eyes are in each other's peripheral vision" which could merely reflect ONE eye seeing an eye, but without the other. Like when things are fuzzy and out of focus when they do not coincide with both eyes' fields-of-view.

The problem with that of course, is that is how everything looks to someone with one eye, which would make them immune to eye contact by that definition (needing 2 eyes' focus).

I wonder if one of the Fantasy-line books has any guidelines on how to cover a sort of Perseus v. Medusa sort of fight where "I can look at your body fine but I must avoid looking at your eyes as I try to decapitate your neck" is a requirement.

It seems like you could rate this in degrees where an Affliction requires:

1) target observes my hex (+4)
2) target observes my chest (-0)
3) target observes a limb (-2)
4) target observes an extremity (-4)
5) target observes my neck (-5)
6) target observes my nose (-6)
7) target observes my eye (-9)

The harder something is to observe, the easier it should be to intentionally (or even unintentionally) avoid observing it, so it should be a higher-value limitation.

Mechanically maybe if you want to avoid something the problem with a basic penalty to perception is it still makes more-perceptive characters more-vulnerable. That makes sense for accidental exposure (you don't know to avoid the Gorgon's Gaze) but not for intentional avoidance: you should actually be better at avoiding the gaze because you're more perceptive of other cues as to where her eyes might end up, like the movements of the torso+neck indicating that.

[Ultraviolet]

Greetings

I really like these "XX of the week" threads, initial posts as well as all the users sharing experience and opinions.

Just as the thread started I was writing a reply, but the computer apparently ate it.
It was odd that this was the Disadvantage of the week, because just the night before I had read up on it, so see how hampered a character would be.
I play in a Cliffhanger campaign, where another player just introduced a new character - a WWI veteran - but he chose One Hand because he found One Eye too crippling.
But unless I'm designing a sharp-shooter or race car driver It's really not that bad.

I'm unsure how to interpret the Appearance aspect of One Eye.

If you start with this trait, assume it's already figured into your appearance...So if Joe Average-Face, with nothing positive or negative chosen for Appearance, is designed with One Eye, he is still average. Hn could have one eye his whole life, or list if 5 minutes before the actual play began.

But if he loses an eye in his first fight in the game, he suffers an additional Disadvantage of negative Appearance?

Also, it sounds like some of the real people suffering from this cope quite well in many of the situations mentioned as penalized in game mechanical terms. Perhaps one should allow a one-eyed character to purchase some Techniques to buy off some of the penalties for some skills?