[SE] Cutting Out technique
 

The prerequisites for the Cutting Out technique (SE pg81) list "any Per-based social interaction skill." AFAIK the only Per-based social interaction skills are Body Language and Detect Lies. Is this technique intended to be allowed for only those two skills, or could one learn it for other social interaction skills that have been floated to Per(i.e. a Per-based Diplomacy roll?)

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

It reads to me like your first suggestion, but I could be wrong. Maybe Bill can clarify his intent?

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

The latter. See the detailed rules on p. 25; the intent is that you can use Cutting Out with any Influence skill -- or even a not-quite-Influence skill like Carousing or Administration -- floated over to Per. This takes a -4, which can be bought off with the Cutting Out technique.

It's just important that we state the "Per-based" part, because that's what the technique is bought up from.

Remember that every single skill in GURPS can be floated to another attribute where that makes sense. So if you have Intimidation, you also have Per-based Intimidation (and DX-based Intimidation, HT-based Intimidation, and so on).

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

Interestingly, I just re-read the relevant section Approachability says to make a straight Per-based skill roll, rather than at a -4, if I'm reading it correctly. Is this errata?

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

No, it's not. Approachability specifies that you can't use it to single one person out of a tight-knit small group, as they will all have the same reaction. Cutting Out bypasses this limit, letting you single out one particular person as the one who can be detached from the group—the teacher calling on one student, the sergeant glaring at one recruit, the flirt catching the eye of one potential target. This is a harder task and is done at -4.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?

Do you 'spot him so hard' the enemy surrenders? /mindboogle






PS: I get the idea, but that one example really makes my head spin trying to find a use.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

You pick out the one guy in a close-knit group who's a little more vulnerable to intimidation. You try to intimidate him, at +1 to your Intimidation roll. This doesn't intimidate his mates.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

Ok, I think I understand that section better now. The unmodified Per-based roll would be used for large groups, where it's a "target rich" environment, and Cutting Out would be used when there's a small group where you would like to be able to select the person easiest to influence, correct?

Are there any guidelines for deciding when a group should be labeled small or large?

Additionally, in the Influence Skills section, it mentions the GM including a negative modifier for inappropriate Influence skill usage. For a character with multiple Influence skills, would making a similar Per-based skill roll help the character to decide which skill would be most well-received by in a certain situation, or would this be covered better by the mechanics in the Motivation section?

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

Are they interacting strongly with each other, to the point where it's hard to break in? Do they have a strong sense of group identity such that they will tend all to respond the same way?

I think that's probably a matter for Cultural Familiarity, or perhaps a Common Sense roll vs. IQ. It doesn't seem like it should require an actual skill to recognize that a skill isn't appropriate. Note that a persistent habit of using a particular Influence skill even when it's unsuitable is a quirk, worth -1 point.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

Floating skills is often used to cover activities other than a skill's central function that fit under the skill but don't fit the attribute the skill is attached to, rather than to cover somehow performing the core functionality of the skill in a wildly different manner from the usual.

IQ-based Guns comes up a lot, and it's not to shoot people by thinking really hard about it.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

I see you thinking about reaching for your gun, a P38 judging by the way it has changed the hang of your jacket. Let me just stop you right there and point out that even if you did manage to get the gun out, pointed at me, and unload every round in the extended mag you think I didn't notice before my buddy on the hill up there with the sniper rifle puts a hole through your left eye, it wouldn't matter because you carry yourself like a cop trained to shoot center mass and I'm wearing kelvar. So why don't you just put your hands up real nice and slow-like and let's have this conversation like civilized people.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

Yeah, okay that works. Accept, I'm not down with the character making the 'same' skill roll twice and getting bonuses from himself.

If another character made the first roll as an Aid Another/Team Player thing... yeah, that I'm okay with. Unless I'm running a solo game, then I'd consider letting one person give themselves bonuses.

Also, that's clearly a 'Cut Out', so... not sure how I missed that.

Re: [SE] Cutting Out technique
 

That's exactly how it's supposed to be used. The bonus works just like the standard one from approachability: You pause to look over the crowd or the small group, taking a base time of 10 minutes. Then you roll to spot a suitable target. If you succeed, you get a more favorable reaction than if you picked someone at random. Or, if you choose to use an Influence skill, you get a bonus to the skill, but that's secondary to the reaction bonus.