360 degree vision has two main effects: it makes a specific stealth tactic harder, and it allows defense when attacked from behind. Both of these are fairly niche. GURPS' stealth rules are hand-wavy enough that sneaking up behind rather than using cover is pretty rare, and while attacking from behind can be important, in practice it rarely happens. And even then, it's usually got a caveat that allows a defense of some sort anyways.
But don't just trust me. Twelve years ago on the Steve Jackson Games forums we discussed the advantage, and no one was willing to defend its cost. Everyone suggested its value was somewhere in the [10]-[15] range.
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It's all his fault. Him and his brothers and uncles |
So why am I bringing this up again? First off, I think that having a specific blog page proposing a house rule is more useful to a lot of people than a forum thread suggesting a quarter-dozen different pricing options.
Second? Because I'm getting ready for a campaign where there are only three non-human races and one of them requires 360 degree vision. So I've got to deal with the pricing somehow.
So why am I going for [10] rather than [15], as some suggested back in the forum thread? Because defending against attacks from behind and gaining an advantage on some stealth checks is just not worth [15]. That's still a huge number of points, and in my gut it feels like too much to me. Additionally, I'd hate to go ahead and make this change and then find out that I tweaked it too little: a slight overcorrection is better than a slight undercorrection. If you're going to make a change to a rule so people will use it, it's best if they actually use it. I also have a hard time imagining it being too cheap. The worst that can happen is that the dedicated "Eye Guy" is impossible to sneak up on. Which is probably just fine.
I hope you find this useful. Let me know if that's enough to get any of your players to take it: it's a pretty niche ability even at [10]. Happy Gaming!
