Potestas

Perception

Every character can attempt to avoid being seen or noticed by other characters. The character's Sneak is the active Ability; the potential observer's Perception is the resisting Ability. If there is more than one potential observer, the one with the best Perception score provides the resisting Ability: if that character doesn't notice, less perceptive colleagues will not either.

A Resolution Roll is required only when there is a reasonable chance that the character could be noticed. If the character is attempting to conceal more than one thing (e.g. walking quietly and wearing a disguise), more than one Resolution Roll may be required. If circumstances change while the character is attempting to use Sneak, a second Resolution Roll may be required. Note that characters cannot do the impossible no matter how good they are at Sneak (e.g. a short woman cannot pretend to be a tall, muscular man).

Example: Alcuin is pretending to be a monk and trying to walk quietly and unobtrusively across a bridge. The guard at the far end of the bridge may notice Alcuin trying to move quietly when he approaches the bridge, but will not have a chance to notice that Alcuin isn't really a monk until he is almost across. If Alcuin manages to cross the bridge without being noticed by the guard, there is no need to check if the guard sees through the disguise. If, however, a second guard with a higher Perception score joins his colleague at the end of the bridge, a new Resolution Roll is required.

Circumstances may modify the Target Number. In some cases the active character is entitled to a Risky Success (e.g. when stealing someone's purse, a Risky Success means the character has taken the purse but been noticed in the process). The Difficulties given in the table below presume the active player is using Sneak: if the active player is using Perception, reverse all Difficulties (i.e. Easy is Hard, Very Hard is Very Easy).

Example: Johannes, a young burglar from Teran, finds himself on the run from the guards of Baron Nikolaos of Analika. He finds a group of fishermen returning from the docks and attempts to pass himself off as one of them. As a foreigner, Johannes is unfamiliar with the type of person he is impersonating: however, fishermen are similar the world over, so the GM assigns a+2 Difficulty modifier. Johannes isn't really dressed as a fisherman and hasn't time to chance into something more appropriate, so the GM adds a further +2 Difficulty modifier. Things will only get worse for Johannes if one of the guards insists on questioning him: his foreign accent will make it impossible to pass himself off as a local.

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