Recognizing the enemies skill??

[Darth_Hilarious]

If the party runs into the stormie's in their off duty uniforms a PC might see badges and awards ribbons like RL military wear and a savvy PC might recognize that "Hero of Wherever" badge and realize that this ain't no ordinary stormie.
_________________
People keep telling me that I'm crazy. I keep telling them "No I'm not, I don't get a check".

Revenge is beneath me , but accidents DO happen .

[garhkal]

But do the imps even hand out badges/medals??
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[jmanski]

And would anyone else know what they mean?
_________________
Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[Dromdarr_Alark]

Clone troopers had different markings and uniforms (shoulder pads and belts) to denote rank. Maybe some of that tradition carried over into the Empire.
_________________
"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."

[vanir]

I introduced our PC Party to a vet squad of 5 Stormies that had badges and battle honours fastened to their armour, which looked exceptionally well fit for their individual builds, modified for perfect individual tailoring. They also hung hatchet-like vibroaxes and several other personalized weapons on their belts. They were on unusual assignment as bodyguards to some low level darksiders from Imperial City, not quite Imperial Guardsmen qualifying but deserving of something above average.

The PCs accepted these alterations from the typical Stormtrooper template readily and were extremely wary of the skill level and equipment quality of these particular examples.
They were right to do that

Okay so anyway a 3D STR as opposed to an average human 2D is 50% more lethal force brought in an all out effort and would be like looking at someone all cut and sportsmanlike compared to someone flabby and lazy by default but at least he has his health. It's like that: obvs.

My standard Stormie is revised for 15D and normally 3D STR so vets and higher stat ones don't particularly stand out in physical bearing, but they'll have personalized equipment like 3-foot vibroblades and 2-foot vibroaxes that kind of shout, "Hey I'm a genuine threat".

Amongst most standardized and uniform troops it's utterly obviously who the veterans, which are typically NCOs, and the officers are. You just have to watch them for a few seconds but in game terms that really means the guy with the higher attribute scores looks more impressive than the guy with the 12D template. That simple.

Where it gets super hard to tell threat level is with darksider force users. Ones that are terrifying are sometimes the easiest to take down once the action starts. Others that seem mid-level suddenly turn around and dominate the entire PC Party when the dice are rolled. You can just never tell, sometimes even when you look at their sheets, sometimes the dice rolls just make some better than others all by itself during gameplay and that's just the way the GM has to rule it and adapt to.

[garhkal]

[shootingwomprats]

I have been watching the current discussion and waiting to comment.

The majority of ideas make sense in a very specific instance or eclectic group.

Does this mean that everyone should be able to discover this information? No it does not. You cannot make a roll to know how tough someone is. You can look at them and see their exterior and then formulate an opinion.

If you are from one the eclectic groups can you again see how tough or what training they have? Again NO. You MIGHT ascertain they MIGHT have a certain type of training. What exactly they know and how good they are at it? NO.

Bottom line, its a case by case instance that the GM must work out based on character concepts not a game mechanic that is essentially a "freebie" for information to gauge whether one can beat someone's @$$.
_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[vanir]

yeah but I'm still a tad more wary of an arnold schwarzenagger lookin combatant than I am a peewee herman lookin one. I think we could infer these are merely the kind of visual impressions the PCs are asking for when roleplaying the sizing up of opponents by asking the GM what their character sees about them.
Sure it is case by case though, you could have people who brawl for pretty much max human STR variation in damage who look more athletic than heavily built and even quite ordinary looking wearing regular clothes among regular folks, a regular looking guy with 4D STR but most would guess was probably 2D+2 or something like that until they saw them in action.
But to be honest if I have an NPC in powersuit battlearmour with a 4D STR I do tend to describe him to players as huge. Really big guy, moves like he weighs as much as a speeder in that armour but walks in it like he has the strength of a Wookiee. PCs don't often need to ask who's the biggest death of the many deaths approaching.