MGT Only: Why does the Tactical Awareness skill only detect foes?

[l_c_jackson]

The Mongoose Core Rulebook V1 (2008) introduces a new psionic skill for the Clairvoyant talent called "Tactical Awareness" (copied below) that is not listed in the MegaTraveller Players Manual. The same description (below) appears in both "Spacecraft and Worlds" 2017, and the "Core Rulebook Update 2022" (so it's obviously not a typo).

1. Why does the name oversell the ability (as per question 2)? If the current description is to stand then the skill name would more accurately be "Foe detection".

2. Why does the skill not reveal both allies, nor bystanders? To live up to the skill name surely it should cover both of these.

3. Minor quibble, what happens if an enemy changes sides? Under the current description I assume that they would just disappear from clairvoyant view.

4. And finally, is the assessment of a sophont as "hostile" possible without also using telepathy? I can see how a hybrid skill requiring two different psionic talents could become complicated!


TACTICAL AWARENESS

With this ability, the character can perceive dangers and foes around him using his clairvoyant abilities. This enhanced spatial perception allows him to ignore the effects of darkness, smoke, fog or other environmental effects that impede vision. He may also detect hidden foes within range. The Effect of the check how long the enhanced awareness lasts in rounds.

 

[Ash]

I would rule that it would detect everyone and kind of "filter" foes and potential foes.

Otherwise the power is useless and superceeded by life detection which has longer range and is easier in the normal time frame of life detect (1d6 x 10 sec), but could be made the same speed as Tactical awareness (1d6 sec) with normal penalties that brings it inline with the same difficulty.

 

[l_c_jackson]

I would rule that it would detect everyone and kind of "filter" foes and potential foes.

Otherwise the power is useless and superceeded by life detection which has longer range and is easier in the normal time frame of life detect (1d6 x 10 sec), but could be made the same speed as Tactical awareness (1d6 sec) with normal penalties that brings it inline with the same difficulty.

Yes, that expansion of the skill to match the name would be my preference also.

 

[Commander Truestar]

Would rule that the ability triggers based on "Intent"
Where a foe has the intent to cause you harm - specifically you or generally your party - then it triggers.

That said, I would consider it:
1) a subset of telepathy if it is in fact "intent based", as I described and also based on proximity?
2) or Clairvoyance-based if it can happen at any time regardless if your proposed foe is nearby or parsecs away - as in "This foe is someone of danger in your future"

 

[l_c_jackson]

Would rule that the ability triggers based on "Intent"
Where a foe has the intent to cause you harm - specifically you or generally your party - then it triggers.

That said, I would consider it:
1) a subset of telepathy if it is in fact "intent based", as I described and also based on proximity?
2) or Clairvoyance-based if it can happen at any time regardless if your proposed foe is nearby or parsecs away - as in "This foe is someone of danger in your future"

The skill is an odd one. You need both telepathy to read hostile intent, and you also need clairvoyance for it to be in any sense "tactical" (that is, to do with your surroundings). That's how I feel at this early stage in the symposium. I might change my mind later.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Sounds like it's a modified Danger Sense. Or a variant of Life Detection.

 

[Commander Truestar]

This also sounds like a GM's nightmare.
Every time you want them to have an encounter, they get a roll, which warns them either way
Every time you manage to "hide the roll" and they "don't sense" an event coming, if you have a rules lawyer, you get the "did we get the roll?"

The list goes on.

At the very least, I would use a modifier on the Initiative roll in the player team's favor which I would not tell them about.
Let that affect "surprise" or not

 

[coliver988]

Sounds like it's a modified Danger Sense. Or a variant of Life Detection.

tingling Spidersense!

 

[Grav_Moped]

This also sounds like a GM's nightmare.
Every time you want them to have an encounter, they get a roll, which warns them either way
Every time you manage to "hide the roll" and they "don't sense" an event coming, if you have a rules lawyer, you get the "did we get the roll?"

The list goes on.

At the very least, I would use a modifier on the Initiative roll in the player team's favor which I would not tell them about.
Let that affect "surprise" or not

Make, and log, the rolls in advance.
Cross out each advance roll as it's used (and note both the real-world time the roll was expended and the in-game event it represented, so you can point it out to the players later).

They can't hear dice you rolled ahead of time...

 

[bookwyrm]

They can't hear dice you rolled ahead of time...

You can't hear dice being rolled in the past.

But you can sense the results in the Force. (Yeah, I had to go there.)

 

[Commander Truestar]

Make, and log, the rolls in advance.
Cross out each advance roll as it's used (and note both the real-world time the roll was expended and the in-game event it represented, so you can point it out to the players later).

They can't hear dice you rolled ahead of time...

In space, no one can hear your dice....

 

[kilemall]

Would rule that the ability triggers based on "Intent"
Where a foe has the intent to cause you harm - specifically you or generally your party - then it triggers.

That said, I would consider it:
1) a subset of telepathy if it is in fact "intent based", as I described and also based on proximity?
2) or Clairvoyance-based if it can happen at any time regardless if your proposed foe is nearby or parsecs away - as in "This foe is someone of danger in your future"

Future warning is more precognition, a potential ability fraught with referee peril.

 

[Grav_Moped]

You can't hear dice being rolled in the past.

But you can sense the results in the Force. (Yeah, I had to go there.)

In Traveller, it's all in your mind, though.

 

[bookwyrm]

In Traveller, it's all in your mind, though.

You can't hear the dice being rolled in the past.

But you can sense the results with Psionics. (Yeah, I went here also.)