Recon Stunts (Action)
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| Heroic Action Role-Play |
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Recon stunts cover basic hide-and-seek abilities.
Group Stealth
Inherent
Sneaking and sometimes other activities using Recon are often a group activity. It can be advantageous to watch out for each other when sneaking, but having several people sneaking also increases the likelihood of being spotted. Each character involved in group Sneaking makes a Recon check with a penalty equal to the number of members in the group (including themselves). Use the best result as the Recon check for the entire group. Characters with Scout or an Invisibility power only give half the normal penalty (rounded up).
Recon Defense
Trigger Action (Defense)
When a Recon stunt is made against you, you can defend. This adds +3 to the Recon skill used as the difficulty for the current shot. In a situation where shots are not counted, defending means you are not fully participating - you play defensive rather than engaging in the situation - which means you can't initiate actions or make stunts of your own.
Scan
Basic Action
You look around, trying to spot hidden enemies and dangers. Make an opposed Recon check against an enemy trying to Shadow or Sneak. Scan cannot find someone using Surveillance unless you are actively out scouting for them. If there is a large area where enemies could potentially be hidden, you have to select an area with a diameter in meters equal to your Recon to scan with a single action. You can also find makeshift traps, difficulty is the Create of the trapper. Spotting a carefully built trap requires Examine.
Shadow
Basic Action
A variant of Sneak, shadowing involves covertly following another creature as they move. Shadowing assumes the mark cannot readily recognize pursuers. If the setting lacks crowds or plentiful concealment, shadowing has to be done at greater range, which is generally harder. A check is needed to start shadowing and at obstacles, such as narrow passages, open areas without cover, or when changing mode of transport. Shadowing focuses more on hiding more than on sneaking, you get a -3 penalty (instead of the usual Sneak bonus) on skill checks against your quarry as you are focusing on staying out of sight and not on getting into a good position. You can shift from shadowing to Sneaking at any time, but must then act immediately or your quarry will simply move away. Shadowing is best done by a team. If, instead of a single shadower trying to continue to past an obstacle, another team member is present and can take over, the Recon check to shadow is Routine.
Sneak
Basic Action
Make a Recon roll and compare it against the highest Recon rating among the opposition. If you fail and it is important to know who spotted you, observers can make opposed Recon rolls to see who noticed you first, but generally this is a moot point as long as the enemy is able to communicate. You must be in some plausible place of concealment to sneak, but the GM is encouraged to be lenient on this. Basically you need to give a suitably cinematic description of your stunt.
Who counts as "opposition" here depends on circumstances. Any creature that has you within it's Mind meters count, as do creatures whose last action was against you or someone in your vicinity. If no-one qualifies as an observer by these criteria, the difficulty is the highest Mind of those present. If no-one is present success is automatic. Situations with distant observers are better covered by Surveillance.
If successful you are under cover and hiding, effectively invisible. You cannot be selected as the target of an attack. You gain Advantage against area attacks and interactions. Any attacks you make in the shot where you exploit your sneaking has Advantage and your attacks do not allow Trigger Actions. This advantage can also apply to many interactions and perhaps other opposed stunts at the GM's whim.
You stop sneaking if you take damage, are hit by an attack, or if you are the target of a successful stunt, but see Suppress Reaction below. You need not make additional Recon rolls to stay hidden and can perform other actions as long as you remain still and under cover, but opponents can actively use Scan to find you. You become visible if you call attention to yourself, move, or take an action that directly affects someone other than yourself. You can do perception checks, such as Scan, without revealing your location. If you start hidden, move (thus revealing yourself), and then successfully sneak again on the same action, enemies have only a vague idea you are in the vicinity. A sneaking creature that affects a situation passively by trying to hinder someone Moving Through an Enemy or by counting as an ally for abilities like Flank Attack stops sneaking.
If you have a wide, solid obstacle between you and any observers, the Recon check to sneak is Routine or even automatic at the GM's discretion. As an option, you can focus on hiding more than on sneaking. In this case, Recon checks to sneak are Routine, but you get a -3 penalty (instead of the usual Advantage) on skill checks as you are focusing on staying out of sight and not on getting into a good position.
Suppress Reaction
Trigger Action
When you are Sneaking and hit by an attack or affected by a stunt you are normally spotted. You can use this reaction to try and suppress your reaction and thus remain hidden. Make a Recon check against the damage value of the attack or the skill of the attacker. On a success, you remain hidden.
Surveillance
Hours
You stay hidden at a distance (from 10 meters to several kilometers away, depending on terrain), trying to keep a place or person under surveillance while remaining safely hidden. You are far away and under cover, enough that foes will only find you if you fumble or if they start an active search in your area, but you have a limited perception of what goes on. If your opponent's security measures are strong, you have to focus more on hiding and will notice less. Range as such is not a factor, but tighter security keeps you at a distance while also making the task harder. Surveillance of a person is harder than of a place. Depending on what surveillance methods you use, it might be pretty easy for the enemy to prevent or disrupt your surveillance, such as by unpredictably changing modes of transportation or using a secret passage. Paranoid enemies might use such methods even if they don't know they are under surveillance.
To gain information this way you make an opposed check against the targets' Recon. You gain valuable information based on the outcome of this roll; if the outcome matches the target's Mind you gain clear and important insights into the target's activities. On a failed roll, you learn obvious details and trivia; if the negative Outcome matches your Mind you learn misleading information or the target notices your spying. If organized security exists, use the Recon value of the chief of security. Depending on the security present your opponent might use other skills to defend, such as Create for an electronic counter-surveillance system.
Waylay
Trigger Action
When you are successfully Sneaking and an opponent moves adjacent to you, you can attack that opponent with a Melee or Shoot attack. You gain the Advantage for Sneaking but break stealth and are no longer Sneaking after you Waylay an opponent.