Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

I don't know that it's possible to simulate such distinctions in GURPS. You cannot have the situation where a cinematically perceptive Sherlock Holmes is unable (zero chance) to perceive, because it is absolutely below his threshold of sensory perception, but which a very keen-nosed blood hound can perceive (and may in fact have a very high probability of perceiving).

That's due to having everything on the same linear scale, the roll and the sensory acuity. Most RPG systems do it that way, if they even allow for differentiated senses (some just have a single Perception attribute of skill, and allow for no embellishments).

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

BTW, anyone paid any attention to / had experience with the option of buying Acute Sense for more inhuman senses: Scanning Sense, Vibration Sense, Detect?

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

It seems an obvious thing to me to do. Anything that's sense-like ought to be able to be made more Acute. I'd immediately fire a GM who said "no" to such a suggestion. No mercy, no second chances, fired!

The only argument against it is that in some cases 2 CP/lvl might be too expensive, e.g. for a 10 CP Detect. In some cases it might be better to use an Enhancement. But that's not the same as saying "no".

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

I once zapped past a TV docu which seemed to feature an astronomer with unusually good eyesight. I even vaguely seem to recall that he may have had an unusual eye anatomy, with some blood vessels being placed behind his retina instead of in front of it as with normal people. Although that does sound rather extreme. And it was shown on the Discovery Channel, which isn't always as editorially selective as, e.g., DR K or DR2.

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

The thing to use for that is the Reliable enhancement, which gives +1 to the roll for +5% cost (Power-Ups 4). I think this is what you use for anything where you're buying a complete ability, rather than improving a sense that you have by default.

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

Well, yes, that's what I'd assume too, but I don't see anything particularly wrong with the GM instead insisting on 2 CP/lvl for Acute Danger Sense or the like, functioning as a sub-attribute of PR, similar to Acute Vision.

On something like Detect (Gold) from DF3, which IIRC is base cost 10 CP, paying 20% extra per +1 to effective PR is rather expensive, but it's only objectively wrong if the GM says "no" and completely refuse the player to make the better.

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

I don't think that Reliable quite fits in this case. It would kind of work for a system that performs one invariant function, like a burglar alarm, where the issue is "do you or don't you notice the little man behind the curtain." And that would suit, for example, Detect Gold or Detect Poison or Detect Intruders. But full-on Detect can give you not just presence, but intensity/amount, direction, possibly distance, and kind and composition. Calling all that "reliable" strikes me as a bit much.

And for Scanning Sense, of course, there's also the ability to measure speed and direction of motion.

What I'd do is have Acute Detection, Acute Scanning, and Acute Vibration Sense, I think, at 2/level. Maybe Scanning could be split up into Radar, Ladar, Sonar, Para-Radar, and so on.

Bill Stoddard

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

By and large, we don't don't care about the range in variation between my exceptionally smart cat and my cat that kept forgetting how to stay out of traffic so that my exceptionally smart cat had to go out and keep rescuing him. It's not that the variation isn't there.

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

If people were going to play cats more often we'd want rules for that sort of thing. Or bunnies. . . .

Bill Stoddard

Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Acute Senses
 

In particular, if people were going to play cats or bunnies of realistic intelligence rather than boosting them to human range.