Splitting Sensitive and Empathy into components?

vicky_molokh · 12-10-2014, 03:37 AM

Greetings, all!

I'm curious: how would one split Sensitive and Empathy into components. Specifically, I'm looking for limitations like

Only to get a general 'feel' about the person.
Only to identify Reaction Roll results (which may or may not be a subset of a general feel).
Only to detect possession/impostors/etc.
Only to detect lies*.

I'm not sure whether possession-detection is part of general feel, but I suppose for simplicity the two can be classed as non-intersecting categories.

* Note: please don't offer to 'just buy Detect Lies/Body Language' - if you recommend that, you very likely didn't pay enough attention to the important differences between the way the three work.

Thanks in advance!

ErhnamDJ · 12-10-2014, 11:54 AM

The part where you make an IQ roll to get a "feel" for someone looks like Detect to me, with a limitation to get lied to about it if you fail.

I would then handle the skill bonuses with one of the normal ways of acquiring skill bonuses, probably a Talent or possibly a wildcard.

Flyndaran · 12-10-2014, 01:29 PM

An ability to know aspects of people without them expressing such differences would require Mind Reading. If they merely express them too subtly for others to notice under normal circumstances, then I would peg it as some (hyper) specialization of Psychology.

On the face of it any form of detect X sounds like Detect X. As that's painfully obvious, I doubt that's what you wanted as a suggestion.

David Johnston2 · 12-10-2014, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Greetings, all!

I'm curious: how would one split Sensitive and Empathy into components. Specifically, I'm looking for limitations like

Only to get a general 'feel' about the person.
Only to detect possession/impostors/etc.
Only to detect lies*.

This is the kind of idea I don't understand. How could you get a general feel about someone and not notice when they have been replaced with a totally different person? They aren't separate functions in the first place. As for just detecting lies...buy more detect lies.

Flyndaran · 12-10-2014, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

This is the kind of idea I don't understand. How could you get a general feel about someone and not notice when they have been replaced with a totally different person? They aren't separate functions in the first place. As for just detecting lies...buy more detect lies.

This isn't John, vs. John's mind controlled to act non-John like vs. John is having a major personality change.

In 1985 around February, my personality changed so much that if anyone even slightly believed in the supernatural or alien abductions, they would emphatically state I had been replaced.

vicky_molokh · 12-11-2014, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

This is the kind of idea I don't understand. How could you get a general feel about someone and not notice when they have been replaced with a totally different person? They aren't separate functions in the first place.

Say if the feel about John was 'a traitorous and selfish kind of person', and the one who replaced him is also a 'traitorous and selfish kind of person'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

As for just detecting lies...buy more detect lies.

Why are you offering me Detect Lies if the note about it and Empathy working quite differently was in the OP from the very beginning?

12-10-2014, 03:37 AM	#1
vicky_molokh GURPS FAQ Keeper Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kyïv, Ukraine	Splitting Sensitive and Empathy into components? Greetings, all! I'm curious: how would one split Sensitive and Empathy into components. Specifically, I'm looking for limitations like Only to get a general 'feel' about the person. Only to identify Reaction Roll results (which may or may not be a subset of a general feel). Only to detect possession/impostors/etc. Only to detect lies. I'm not sure whether possession-detection is part of general feel, but I suppose for simplicity the two can be classed as non-intersecting categories. Note: please don't offer to 'just buy Detect Lies/Body Language' - if you recommend that, you very likely didn't pay enough attention to the important differences between the way the three work. Thanks in advance! __________________ Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper Last edited by vicky_molokh; 12-11-2014 at 01:02 AM.

12-10-2014, 11:54 AM	#2
ErhnamDJ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: OK	Re: Splitting Sensitive and Empathy into components? The part where you make an IQ roll to get a "feel" for someone looks like Detect to me, with a limitation to get lied to about it if you fail. I would then handle the skill bonuses with one of the normal ways of acquiring skill bonuses, probably a Talent or possibly a wildcard. __________________ "For the rays, to speak properly, are not colored. In them there is nothing else than a certain power and disposition to stir up a sensation of this or that color." —Isaac Newton, Optics My blog.

12-10-2014, 01:29 PM	#3
Flyndaran Untagged Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon	Re: Splitting Sensitive and Empathy into components? An ability to know aspects of people without them expressing such differences would require Mind Reading. If they merely express them too subtly for others to notice under normal circumstances, then I would peg it as some (hyper) specialization of Psychology. On the face of it any form of detect X sounds like Detect X. As that's painfully obvious, I doubt that's what you wanted as a suggestion. __________________ Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.