 March 3, 2008 - 10:46pm | I want to enhance the Dralasite's Lie Detection ability for the AER. It is clear that many find this ability to be little used if at all, so I'd like to discuss how to expand the ability more to make it more useable. How can you see the Dralasite Lie Detection ability being expanded? d20 Future expresses their ability by giving them a +2 (+10 in SF) bonus to "Sense Motive". My first thought is to have it, instead of being a 5% to detect lies (people sure are gullable in Star Frontiers), make it a +5 to lie detection checks and provide some indicator about how lie detection is performed in another section. Also, with d20 Future calling it "Sense Motive", this could allow it to be broadened and expressed as "an uncanny knack to read others". So maybe, instead of just "lie detection", we can call it "sense motive" and make it a kind of empathy. How far can such an ability be stretched? |
March 14, 2008 - 12:40pm | I meant that 01 to 03 is special. Yeah, Smoot, all that is pure tedium. Star Frontiers has always abstracted the particulars. I don't think we'd want to turn it into the Universe RPG (There's a reason that game failed miserably). |
 March 14, 2008 - 12:46pm | Can you clarify how it is different from rolling a 04 or 05? I am a little confused here... Maybe an example? |
March 14, 2008 - 12:47pm | And thanks for the compliment RumRogue! I think my more extended comments would make for a good sidebar, and then the main rule can be Corjay's text - more or less. |
March 14, 2008 - 12:56pm | I tend to be opposed to sidebars for most things, let alone Star Frontiers. GURPS thrives on sidebars. I don't think Star Frontiers should. Also, no offense, but I think your offering was along the same lines as Smoot's idea to populate a table. The thing I think we should focus on is keeping it simple in the tradition of Star Frontiers. Populating a table and long explanations all about a single ability that is simply meant to detect whether what someone said is deceptive or not is unnecessary. The ability is simple, so I think it best to keep explanation simple. It's not something people should spend a lot of time on. Just roll and go. |
March 14, 2008 - 1:18pm | Can you clarify how it is different from rolling a 04 or 05? I am a little confused here... With a roll of 04 or greater, within the Dral's ability, the Dral simply knows that the character is being generally deceptive. But with a roll of 03 or less, the Referee tells the Dralasite what specific points were deceptive. For instance, on a roll of 04 a Dral could detect that somewhere within a young woman's discourse, she is being deceptive, but would have no clue about what specifically. But if the roll was 03 or less, he could determine that the offhand comment about her husband being good to her was the only deceptive thing.Maybe an example? |
March 14, 2008 - 1:48pm | I think that is a little too specific... As a ref, I might want to reveal the better result on any roll or, maybe not and I want to be vague even if the Dralasite rolled a 01. I think it is similar to Smoot's fail degrees in that it is additional parsing of rolls. Let's keep the success as simple as possible. |
March 14, 2008 - 1:54pm | I agree. Maybe I can make a Referee's Note stating something like: "The Referee may choose to treat the particulars of deception based on the degree of success or failure." |
March 14, 2008 - 2:13pm | "The Referee may choose to treat the particulars of deception based on the degree of success or failure" - or something like that. Excellent - done. |
March 14, 2008 - 3:04pm | Here's how it would look with the simplicity pointed out here. I have also further reduced the wording and made it easier to read. I've also expanded it a tad to include mood. Let me know how you like it. Detect Deception. A Dralasite's sensitive outer membrane and dark vision makes them
able to pick up a combination of smells, light, and vibrations. By paying attention, the Dralasite may identify a person's mood and when they are being
dishonest and/or manipulative, earning them the
reputation of being lie detectors. The
Dralasite has a
5% chance, plus modifiers, to detect deception or other moods during each complete
dialog or answer by the speaker. This may be improved with experience
points. When the player requests to detect deception, the Referee makes
the roll in secret. If successful, the Dralasite senses deception,
if any, but cannot
determine what the truth is from those deceptions. REFEREE'S NOTE The Referee may apply +5 modifiers if the Dralasite
knows the individual personally and/or if the person has an obvious
reason to deceive. The Referee may choose to reveal particulars of the deception based on the degree of success or failure. |
 March 14, 2008 - 5:33pm | Looking good. You could always put an example in there as well. That might help those who are still confustimicated. The way you have the Ref's Note is what I was actually thinking of when I stated sidebar. I just couldnt think of better terminaology. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
March 14, 2008 - 6:32pm | Try this: Detect Deception.
A Dralasite's sensitive outer membrane and dark vision makes them
able to pick up a combination of smells, light, and vibrations. By
paying attention, the Dralasite may identify a person's mood and whether
they are being
dishonest and/or manipulative, earning them the
reputation of being lie detectors. The
Dralasite has a
5% chance, plus modifiers, to detect deception or other moods during each complete
dialog or answer by the speaker, face-to-face. This may be improved with experience
points. When the player requests to detect deception, the Referee makes
the roll in secret. If successful, the Dralasite senses deception,
if any, but cannot
determine what the truth is from those deceptions. Example: Drom is observing a security guard who is speaking about the reason why he is making rounds at this time. Drom makes an attempt to detect deception at 7%. A roll of 06 reveals that the security guard is indeed being deceptive. So then Drom begins asking the security guard a series of questions, attempting to detect deception with each answer, narrowing his questions to pin down the security guard. Realizing that he has been found out, the security guard pulls his laser pistol. REFEREE'S NOTE The Referee may apply +5 modifiers if the Dralasite
knows the individual personally and/or if the person has an obvious
reason to deceive. The Referee may choose to reveal particulars of the deception based on the degree of success or failure. |
March 15, 2008 - 2:47pm | Nicely done. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
June 26, 2008 - 5:02am | Alright, so we have people here agreeing to use a kind of Sense Motive+ that is a combination of their unique senses as an empathic ability to "read others" through some or all of the following means: smell the variances in body perspiration sense heartbeats and breathing patterns detect flush interpret stance and actions tone and pitch ... the increase in temperature, and smell of smoke from their burning pants (sorry, couldn't resist  )
|
 June 26, 2008 - 2:48pm | The rancid smell of their burning f...never mind.... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
