Perception Rules

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Perception is a new rule introduced in the Nightbane^tm RPG on page 66. I have personally found it to be very useful in many aspects, so I present the rules here for the convenience of others who may not wish to purchase Nightbane^tm but need some way of resolving perception issues.

Perception Rolls: These are used to simulate the character's five senses in situations where noticing things might be important. Roll 1d20 and add in the character's bonuses. If the roll ties or succeeds, the character has noticed something. It is a good idea for GMs to copy down the bonuses of his PCs so that he can roll in secret when desired.

Perception Bonuses: Bonuses to perception are gained from a high I.Q. attribute. To determine the bonus, use the same bonus table as the M.E. (so an I.Q. of 19 would net you a +2 bonus on perception). Bonuses may also be gained by selecting a particular O.C.C. or R.C.C. Lastly, all characters get a +1 to perception at levels three, six, and nine.

Situations:

Easy (4 or better) - Hearing a loud noise, finding a bright colored object against a white background, etc.
Moderate (8 or better) - Looking for someone in a well-lit area or a crowded room, hearing a slight noise, smelling a trace of smoke, etc.
Challenging (14 or better) - Looking for something in bad light, hearing something over a noisy background, trying to identify a damaged corpse, etc.
Difficult (17 or better) - Finding something in the dark, hearing a snake sliding over a carpet, smelling a faint trace of perfume on a jacket, etc.

Perception Rolls and Skills: This is also useful for GMs, as it provides a more realistic way of resolving contests of skill. This method is most often useful with Espionage skills like Prowl, Detect Ambush, Detect Concealment, and Tracking (among others).

When a perception roll is attempted against a skill roll, treat it as a combat roll (using d20's) where the higher roll wins. In case of a tie, the person making the perception check wins (my own rule). To convert a skill percentage into a bonus, divide the skill by 15% and round down. See the below table for quick conversions:

01-29% Gives a +1 bonus
30-44% Gives a +2 bonus
45-59% Gives a +3 bonus
60-74% Gives a +4 bonus
75-89% Gives a +5 bonus
90% or more gives a +6 bonus

In a perception contest, if the person doing the perceiving wins he is positive of hearing that snake or smelling that smoke. If he fails he has no awareness of the event/object, so the GM should probably roll for the character secretly.

Example: When prowling up on a guard, a player converts his character's skill into a bonus and adds that to the roll of a d20. The guard would then roll a d20 and add in his perception bonus. If the guard wins he knows someone is sneaking up on him. If the character wins, he can knock out the guard or whatever else a player might have planned.

Other Information: A hacker might need to make a perception roll to notice if data has been altered. A mechanic might need to make a roll when he is checking out a car for a bomb. However, these tasks do not rely so much on senses as they do on experience and knowledge. In these situations I convert the character's skill into a bonus (as shown above) and let the player use the higher bonus (perception bonus or skill bonus). I find this is a very useful aspect of the perception rules that allows skills to be used competitively. I use the concept for much more than just perception.

You may also decide that perception should, in some way, affect the save throws against illusions. If so, I suggest you look at what I have written on magical illusions. Naturally, you GMs should feel free to modify whatever you feel like is necessary to fit your needs.