FATE Da Cool Shit! Skill: Perception

Special:

• Perception is the de facto skill for determining turn order in a physical conflict. Descending order by rank.

Overcome: You don’t really use Perception to overcome obstacles too often but when you do it’s used in a reactive way: noticing something in a scene, hearing a faint sound, spotting the concealed gun in that guy’s waistband. The GM will not call for Perception rolls left and right to see how generally observant the PC's are; that’s boring. Instead, Perception rolls are called for when succeeding would result in something interesting happening and failing would result in something just as interesting.

Create an Advantage: You use Perception to create aspects based on direct observation - looking over a room for details that stand out, finding an escape route in a debris-filled building, noticing someone sticking out in a crowd, etc. When you’re watching people, Perception can tell you what’s going on with them externally; for internal changes, see Intuition. You might also use Perception to declare that your character spots something you can use to your advantage in a situation, such as a convenient ESCAPE ROUTE when you’re trying to get out of a building, or a SUBTLE WEAKNESS in the enemy’s line of defense. For example, if you’re in a barroom brawl you could make a Perception roll to say that you spot a PUDDLE ON THE FLOOR, right next to your opponent’s feet that could cause him to slip.

Defend: You can use Perception to defend against any uses of Stealth to get the drop on you or ambush you, or to discover that you’re being observed.

Example Stunts:

• Danger Sense. You’re especially adept at perceiving imminent threats. Your Perception skill works unimpeded by conditions like total concealment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in situations where harm is intended for you.
• Body Language Reader. You can use Perception in place of Intuition to learn a target’s aspects through observation.
• Reactive Shot. You can use Perception instead of Shoot to make an unaimed shot in knee-jerk reaction to a sensory stimulus (such as a movement in the shadows or a cough behind you), but you must react before eliciting details of the circumstance.