Do you favor general or specific perception skills in TTRPGs?
>>98097505It depends on the context. If it's a fantasy game, a skill to sense magic is immensely useful. It's a detective game, general perception is better for analyzing a crime scene.
>>98097505Worldbuilding?
>>98097505General. Compartmentalizing senses is just a cheap way to drain character resources.
>>98097505As a player I prefer general. Allows more utility for different situations and more creative license in describing actions. When world building, writing, trying to incorporate home-brew I didn't personally design for GMing, or doing upper mid or high level games then I prefer specific. It's more evocative, easier to edit, easier to isolate and tune. And in the case of higher level play, it gives something to do with things like skill points besides damage skills and gives a better sense of growth imo.
>>98097505General but with the option to specialize based on a particular sense. Usually hearing or scent.
>>98097505Basic perception/awareness tied to an attribute.Dedicated time searching as a skill.Noticing certain kinds of details determined by a relevant knowledge or technical skill combined with the perception/awareness stat.Lie detection/people reading as its own skill.
General if skills are a bonus added to primary stats, specific if skills are a replacement for a stat roll because no stat covers it or a character wouldn't be expected to be able to do without specific training.
>>98097505Try to tie what you're perceiving to an actual skill if at all possible. For example, if you're checking if someone who is observing the performance of an athlete notices something unusual about their movements, the character's athletic skill should play a significant part in determining the outcome of the roll. Knowing what you're looking at will make it easier to tell when something is out of place.
I like the idea of having granular detection skills, like Listen. But while I can imagine someone having finely tuned listening skills, I can't imagine someone being unable to hear things unless they're deaf, which is not a matter of expertise.
The quality of the system is directly proportional to the ratio of the number of pages dedicated to skills to the number of pages dedicated to the magic system.
>>98099049Even in a system where everyone uses magic?
>>98097505I think this is pretty much solved. Look at d&d, anima, exalted, etc and they have the same two or three>Instinctively sense danger>Deductively notice details>(Optional) identify magicMight be a hot take but I dislike "sense motive" type skills that tell you if someone's lying. I might permit a deduction roll to notice someone acting uncharacteristically emotional or illogical but besides that, players should deduce things by character's presented actions and motivations.
