Alertness

Structure

Alertness covers environmental awareness, detection, and preternatural senses: noticing when something is off, whether by sight, sound, smell, or a change in your surroundings.

Alertness uses Perception. DCs are set by the GM.

At Skilled, you begin choosing Awareness Abilities. At each mastery level from Skilled through Grand Master, you choose one ability which enhances your combat awareness.

Mastery Progression

Untrained: Danger Sense + Secret Doors + Discernment

Danger Sense: Spot environmental hazards, traps, and ambushes. Listen at doors, windows, or thin walls for faint noises. Notice changes in your surroundings. You must be in quiet conditions to hear through barriers. When you are ambushed, roll a Perception trial against the ambush's DC as it is sprung; on a success, you make no Startle trial. While you sleep, you still roll to notice danger, with Impotence; on a success, you wake before it reaches you.

Secret Doors: Find hidden passages, concealed compartments, and secret mechanisms with Perception + Alertness trials against a DC the GM sets.

Discernment: Read people through careful observation of behavior, body language, and reactions, with a Perception + Alertness trial against a DC the GM sets. A target who is hiding their thoughts or lying to you sets the DC instead: you roll a Perception trial against their Presence Mastery DC. Discernment counters Stoic and Deceit.

Basic: Stalking + Treasure Sense

Stalking: Notice and follow the signs of something's passing: prints in a ruin's dust, a snapped fern, a face in a crowd, someone slipping down an alley ahead of you. Stalking is a Perception + Alertness trial against a DC the GM sets, by how old the trail is and how much has crossed it. If you know your quarry, the GM may grant Dominance or a similar bonus, such as through the applicable Creature Lore for monsters, Wilderness (Hunting and Foraging) for beasts, or Thievery (Savvy) or Lore (Cultural Lore) for people. A person trying to lose you uses Sneaking, and Stalking counters it.

Treasure Sense: A feel for where valuables hide: coins sewn into a lining, a gem in a cushion, a false bottom in a chest, and sometimes a sense that something precious is near. Searching is a Perception + Alertness trial against a DC the GM sets, by how well the item is hidden and how far away it is.

Skilled: Awareness Ability (choose one) Choose one of the following. Unchosen abilities become available at Expert, Master, and Grand Master.

Ethereal Sight

Spend 1 Exploration Round to detect invisible creatures or supernatural presences in your vicinity. In combat, you gain Dominance on trials to detect creatures Concealed by magic.

Sixth Sense

You gain Dominance when making Startle trials.

Vigilant

Creatures gain no benefit from flanking you while you are not Helpless or Impaired from a Startle trial.

Watchful Eye

You can use your Perception tier to modify armor resistance instead of Agility while not Helpless. If you are already using Agility, you gain +2 to armor resistance instead.

Expert: Awareness Ability Choose one of the remaining Awareness Abilities you have not yet selected.

Master: Awareness Ability Choose one of the remaining Awareness Abilities you have not yet selected.

Grand Master: Awareness Ability You gain the remaining Awareness Ability.