Recognizing the enemies skill??

[garhkal]

So would it be a con roll to fool someone?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Hyfigh]

Con seems the best suited.
I suppose if your players wanted it bad enough, you could even work up a "Size-up" skill, or some-such.

[cheshire]

Interesting idea. One thing that I rather liked from a MUD I used to play back in the day was a "consider" skill. It allowed some perception as to how you matched up with a person.

It's not terribly unrealistic. If you have considerable training in a combat-oriented skill it allows you to take a look at others within a few seconds and get a handle on their relative abilities. For example in my historical swordsmanship, you can tell if someone has had training, but is unpracticed and rusty, or if they'd had rushed/sloppy training but had lots of practice, and so on just by how they line themselves up and the way the hold themselves and their weapon.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Fallon Kell]

Sometimes you also just have a sense. Even without combat training, sometimes you just get a feeling about someone that they could drop you dead in two blows. I'd say it's a standard perception check with added difficulty modifiers based on unfamiliarity with combat. Also, I'd make the veteran stormtroopers easier to detect than the royal guard. He completes his mission, and part of his mission is to blend in.
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Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System

[garhkal]

It might also depend on whether the pc (or npc) has encountered that type of soldier before.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[jmanski]

I'm going to use a baseball analogy here since my son is playing high school ball: you can tell if a person (player, in this instance) is good or bad within a few seconds or so just by watching their level of coordination, but it takes time to get more detail. Our varsity catcher, for instance, looks pretty good until you really watch him for an inning or so and you start to see some holes in his game (he uses his hands instead of blocking pitches in the dirt, for instance).

So I think there needs to be a time element if you allow such a thing, progressing from good/bad to can shoot/can't shoot or some such thing.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[DougRed4]

As someone who works in law enforcement (and with a lot of ex-military people), I completely agree with what a number of you have said: that one can tell a lot based on how one carries themselves, how they're dressed, how alert and aware they are of their surroundings, and how they carry their equipment (and even what condition that equipment is in). I don't find characters "sussing that out" to be power gaming, or meta gaming (at all).

I'd allow a Perception roll, with the possibility of Tactics, depending on how they described what they wanted to do/know.

One other thing combat experienced persons do is position themselves, especially where they will sit in an establishment (I do this, as do others I've talked to). So they won't sit with their backs to anyone, and they'll ofen have a good view of all entrances. They likely also will have calculated where all of the exits are. Little things like this, as well as things like stance, posture, and more can tell one tons of information about their potential adversary.

I wouldn't tell my players what die code the person has. But I would say "The stormtrooper on the left carries himself like a savvy combat veteran".
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[cheshire]

[Naaman]

[jmanski]

Some on purpose....
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[Dromdarr_Alark]

I just describe what the enemies look like and the sort of swagger they have. It's fun to watch the players overreact or assume the enemy is harmless.

I don't think it's necessary to create a whole new mechanic for judging enemies.

[Naaman]

Its always fun to allow a player to draw a false conclusion. For a certain type of game, however (one in which duels are frequent, or at least monumental), sizing up you opponent can add a lof of tension and flavor to the game.

[Dromdarr_Alark]

Good point ^^^

I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll.

[jmanski]

[Dromdarr_Alark]