Statting accessibility "except when watched" and mechanics thereof?

[Extrarius]

In many different horror settings, creatures often seem to have many times their normal power the second all eyes are off of them. For example, vampires 'wooshing away' either moving many times faster than normal or using some kind of warp, or a strong monster can only bang on blast doors until nobody is observing, then suddenly it can break through in a few hits.

In order to stat this kind of accessibility to a reasonable modifier, I feel like first we need to define when exactly it applies.
Some examples of being watched:

• Engaged in combat with somebody, such that they're closely monitoring your movements both for defensive and offensive reasons. (Unless they're restricted to 'Do Nothing' maneuvers)
• Somebody using Aim or Evaluate against you, even if you're not fighting.
• Somebody using Observation, Body Language, or other skills on you that require close attention.

There should also be ways to "break out" of being watched. If you have a single watcher, something like throwing sand in their face might give you a second or two unobserved. Having some kind of Innate Attack(Wall), Obscure, Mental Illusion, or equivalent mundane countermeasures (running around a corner, a smoke grenade, etc) seems like they should allow breaking the "Watched" status at least in some circumstances.

How would you rule this kind of accessibility, and how would you price it so that players might see it as a different flavor of "Emergencies Only" that easily applies when working alone (or with allies, who would learn not to "Watch" to person with such abilities) but not in the company of opponents, especially not when opponents know of your limitations?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Extrarius

In many different horror settings, creatures often seem to have many times their normal power the second all eyes are off of them. For example, vampires 'wooshing away' either moving many times faster than normal or using some kind of warp, or a strong monster can only bang on blast doors until nobody is observing, then suddenly it can break through in a few hits.

In order to stat this kind of accessibility to a reasonable modifier, I feel like first we need to define when exactly it applies.
Some examples of being watched:

• Engaged in combat with somebody, such that they're closely monitoring your movements both for defensive and offensive reasons. (Unless they're restricted to 'Do Nothing' maneuvers)
• Somebody using Aim or Evaluate against you, even if you're not fighting.
• Somebody using Observation, Body Language, or other skills on you that require close attention.

There should also be ways to "break out" of being watched. If you have a single watcher, something like throwing sand in their face might give you a second or two unobserved. Having some kind of Innate Attack(Wall), Obscure, Mental Illusion, or equivalent mundane countermeasures (running around a corner, a smoke grenade, etc) seems like they should allow breaking the "Watched" status at least in some circumstances.

How would you rule this kind of accessibility, and how would you price it so that players might see it as a different flavor of "Emergencies Only" that easily applies when working alone (or with allies, who would learn not to "Watch" to person with such abilities) but not in the company of opponents, especially not when opponents know of your limitations?

The first thing I'd do is ask what advantage it's for. Mind reading (except when watched)" is much more restricted than Warp (except when watched) because Mind Reading requires a person to be there. It would require you to see a person who hasn't seen you so how good's your Stealth?

[Bruno]

Check out Ghostly Movement, page 20 of GURPS Horror for 4e, which features Accessibility, Only if Unobserved, -20%. It's a build for Warp for e.g. the way a slasher movie villain vanishes if you don't keep an eye on him, and appears somewhere mildly implausible for an ambush without anyone ever hearing him.

[Extrarius]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The first thing I'd do is ask what advantage it's for. Mind reading (except when watched)" is much more restricted than Warp (except when watched) because Mind Reading requires a person to be there. It would require you to see a person who hasn't seen you so how good's your Stealth?

Typically, such advantages are self-empowering advantages, like movement speed or abilities, significantly greater strength, and other "monster super powers".

Mind reading "except when watched" might not be as big a limitation as it seems, because if you can set up an interrogation-style environment, you just need the mind reader to walk around behind the interrogated while others allies are distracting them. I do, see, though, that different kinds of powers might warrant different limitation values, as is done for some other limitations.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Check out Ghostly Movement, page 20 of GURPS Horror for 4e, which features Accessibility, Only if Unobserved, -20%. It's a build for Warp for e.g. the way a slasher movie villain vanishes if you don't keep an eye on him, and appears somewhere mildly implausible for an ambush without anyone ever hearing him.

I like that there is a canonical "Only If Unobserved", but I wish it went into fleshing out mechanics for what that means. When player characters have such abilities, or have the option of taking such abilities, the exact details matter more.

[AlexanderHowl]

I treated it as no sapient entity is looking at the character.

[Apollonian]

The classic example of this is, of course, Invisibility. (c.f. Mystery Men)

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

The classic example of this is, of course, Invisibility. (c.f. Mystery Men)

That one was harsher though because it was only useful against cameras.

[Extrarius]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I treated it as no sapient entity is looking at the character.

How do you determine that when it isn't somebody actively staring at them?

If there is a melee going on, and the character is near it but not participating, would you say nobody is looking, or would you make rolls (either basic rolls or a contest) to see if anybody counts as "looking", or something else?

What if the character was participating in a melee that had separated into a few 1-v-1 fights each a few yards apart, and the character in question felled his opponent the previous turn. It seems likely nearby fighters would keep an eye on a nearby combatant, but can they divide their attention in a way that avoids penalties in combat while also stopping the other character from being unobserved?

What about a character in a crowded market, where they're not being watched, but are probably seen momentarily by different people going about their own business? I'd guess they can't use their power, but how much of a distraction is required to allow it?

[Plane]

If you're using "One Foe" you need to make penalized perception checks to notice anything anybody other than your chosen foe is doing. If you're walking through a crowd of people with their eyes clued to their tablets it's probably a similar situation. If everyone fails their roll you'd probably be fine.

To try and actively stay out of view of someone not already looking at you is I think the "Stealth" skill. To slip out of view of someone who already sees you would be its "Disappear" technique. Needing to succeed in these against each member of a big crowd would be a lot of rolling, maybe mass combat rules could be adapted here?

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Extrarius

How do you determine that when it isn't somebody actively staring at them?

If there is a melee going on, and the character is near it but not participating, would you say nobody is looking, or would you make rolls (either basic rolls or a contest) to see if anybody counts as "looking", or something else?

I think what I'd do, to simplify matters a bit, would be to roll a Quick Contest of the character who wanted to be unobserved's Stealth or Shadowing, against the highest Perception or Observation among all other parties (which would include allies), giving the opposition a +1 for every other person in the combat. So if there was one person looking to be unobserved, and 8 other people in the fight, the person with the best Observation/Perception would roll with a +7 bonus.