Hi,

Im new to the game and had a quick question regarding combat awareness.

What is required of the player if he wants to evaluate an enemy to determine if he has cover or is wearing armor. Simple things like....

He is standing behind a barricade, which is concealing certain body parts (and knowing which body parts are concealed)...

He is not wearing a helmet (His head is exposed and should not gain protection from his armor)...

Is this free action, accomplished with basic observation while performing other actions like shooting or aiming?

Does it require a skill test (while in combat this will consume actions)?

As far as I know, there are no rules for this, exercise your common sense.

That being said, I'd say that simply looking at something would be part of virtually any standard action. Is the enemy behind cover? This you can plainly see . Is he wearing a helmet? Again, this is something you can plainly see. These things should not, in my interpretation, be considered Actions.

Noticing certain things, however, could call for an Awareness check. That thing he is covering behind, the enemy in the distance, is that wood, or corroded plasteel? What about that soldier over there, is he really not wearing any protection at all on his right leg? That.. what the.. is.. is that guy wearing a bucket on his head instead of a helmet? What the.. I.. goddammit, these heretics, I swear.

These things could call for Awareness checks, most of which should be free, but they could also be considered Half-Actions if they require afterthought, and I'd personally judge this to also have the Concentration subtype.

But there's no adamant rules for it, no.

Thanks for the response.

I'll will recommend to my DM that determining basic conditions (is there armor or cover) should be effortless, but discerning specifics about those conditions (type of armor or cover) should require some level of effort during combat.

Picking out details is generally the Scrutiny(Perception) skill.

As Fgdsfg said, some scrutiny actions are easy enough that you don't need to spend time or roll. The rule of thumb I'd use is that If you think that the assessment the player is considering would take three or four seconds of squinting, then make it a half action and an easy roll.

For example;

The fact that the Dominate trooper in cover on the left has a lasgun does not require a check. He is, after all, shooting it at you. The fact that he is in cover does not require a check either. Even guardsmen rarely fail to see the side of a house.

Spending time to do a proper scrutiny check for a half action, however, might reveal (a) that he has a bandolier of grenades at his belt - and he's probably not far off effective throwing range of the squad, and (b) that the cinderblock wall he's behind might stop a lasbolt but that a shot on full power will probably punch straight through it.