Sense Ratings
Creatures perceive the world through a wide spectrum of senses: visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and beyond. To capture everything from bat echolocation to a wraith’s fear sense, each sense is rated on three clear, intuitive axes:
Sensory Ratings
In this vast fantasy world, creatures can have senses that are significantly different from a human. In Quest of Destiny, senses are defined using a rating system that describes the accuracy, precision, and detail provided by a sense, in addition to the shape of the field of perception.
Level of Detail (1-5)
Measures how finely a sense distinguishes information. Higher values indicate sharper discrimination:
| Rating | Examples | Awareness Adjustment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 - Excellent | Pinpoint tiny details such as reading small text, recognizing individuals or detecting fine textures. | Eagle's Sight | +6 |
| 4 - Good | Identify objects, shapes and moderate patterns like distant faces, distinct odors or subsurface root structures. | Human's Sight | +4 |
| 3 - Average | Pick out large forms and general characteristics: creature silhouettes, broad sound patterns or basic scent trails. | Dog's Sight | +2 |
| 2 - Poor | Notice only major changes such as sudden movement, loud noises or strong odors. | Rabbit's Sight | 0 |
| 1 - Very Poor | Detect only basic presence: light versus dark, vibration versus stillness or vague warmth. | Mole's Sight | -2 |
Spacial Accuracy (L/M/H)
Spatial Accuracy measures how precisely a sense can locate and track a source in space. This axis determines whether a creature merely detects presence, needs effort to pinpoint, or automatically focuses on a target.
| Rating | Examples | Awareness Adjustment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| H - High | The sense delivers accurate, real-time spatial data without any Sensory Skill Checks rolls required. Sources are pinpointed by exact bearing and distance, allowing automatic targeting and fluid movement relative to objects. | Human's Sight | +1 |
| M - Medium | The sense provides a general direction and approximate range but may wobble on fine angles. To lock onto and target an object or creature, the perceiver must succeed on a Sensory Skill Check, reflecting the uncertainty in exact distance or bearing. | Human's Hearing | -1 |
| L - Low | The sense confirms something is present within its field but offers only a vague indication of where it is. Distance estimates are unreliable and directional clues are blurred, making precise targeting or tracking impossible. | Human's Smell | -3 |
Field of Perception (degrees)
Field of Perception defines the angular width or directional spread of a sense in degrees. It determines how much of the surrounding environment the creature scans at once. Narrower fields focus on specific arcs, while wider fields provide broader awareness.
| Rating | Examples | Awareness Adjustment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 360 - Circle | No blind spots. The creature detects stimuli from any bearing without needing to turn. Senses like this perceive omnidirectionally. This can provide significant advantages in detecting threats, preventing flanking maneuvers, and overall situational awareness. | Human's Hearing | +2 |
| 180 - Half Circle | Covers the front hemisphere. The creature is aware of anything appearing ahead within a broad arc, but cannot sense behind it unless it turns. | Human's Sight | 0 |
| 90 - Cone | A narrow cone centered on the facing direction. Suited for active scanning or tracking tasks, such as following a scent trail ahead or focusing a limited sonar cone. Stimuli outside this cone are ignored until the creature reorients. | Owl's Vision | -2 |
| 10 - Line | A very tight, beam-like focus that extends straight out from the creature. Used for pinpoint inspection or precision targeting | Human's Taste | -4 |
Sensory Codes
Each sense can be summarized with a code:
Example: 4H-180 indicates good detail, high accuracy, and a 180° spread.
Human Baseline
An ordinary human's five senses appear as:
| Sense | Code | Awareness Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | 4H-180 | 5 |
| Hearing | 3M-360 | 3 |
| Olfactory | 3L-360 | 1 |
| Tactile | 3L-360 | 1 |
| Taste | 2L-10 | 0 |