Lip Reading

[Sludig]

I don't know if it's come up in other games before, but it has in my games a couple of times, what skill? I've been using analysis, but wondering if there is a actual skill to be used. *sigh*

[Antilles]

Hmm... I'd say the Sense Motive/Innuendo check is closest to lip reading... at least of the established checks. No harm in making a 'Read Lips' check and attaching it to whatever skill you feel fit the most.

[Krensky]

Hmm... I'd say the Sense Motive/Innuendo check is closest to lip reading... at least of the established checks. No harm in making a 'Read Lips' check and attaching it to whatever skill you feel fit the most.

Sense Motive works, try this:
READ LIPS
(Wis; Secret; Language, Vision)
Time Varies (Take 10 with permission or a recording, Take 20 with a recording) • Base Error Range 0

You may use this check to read lips. This skill require adjudication by the GC, as most successes will still have gaps in them. The base difficulty of a read is DC 20, but this is modified by a number of factors. See table below.
With a successful  Read Lips check you understand enough of what the target is saying to determine the basics of what he said, although some details and phrases may be garbled or missed. With failure, you pick out a few words, but not enough to understand what he is saying. At the GC's discretion, the few information gained on a failure can be useful as a vague clue or hint.
Cooperative: Yes.
Synergy Skills: Analysis, Cultures, Notice, and Search.
Retry: Yes if working from a recording. You may also retry successful checks in order to gain a better understanding, each repeat providing a +5 to your roll and revealing more of the speech (per GC's discretion).
Threat: You read almost everything the target says, missing only a few minor details.
Critical  Success:  You read the subject perfectly, picking up every word.
Error: You misread a number of words and phrases of the subject's speech. This may leave the message garbled, misleading, or simply nonsensical (per the GC’s discretion).
Critical  Failure:  You misread almost all of the subject's speech and manage to assemble the information you do gain into a plausible and completely misleading version.

Circumstance	DC	Error Range
Subject is unknown to reader	+10	+2
Reader has interacted with or watched the subject casually	+5	+1
Reader has studied the subject's speech patterns	+0	+0
Reader intimately familiar with subject	-5	-1 (Minimum 1)
Reader does not have a clear view of the subject's face	+5	+1
Reader has an ideal view of the subject (clear view of face, straight on angle, etc)	-2	-1 (Minimum 1)
Subject is further then one Visual range increment away	+2/RI	+1/RI

[ThunderMonkey]

As a lip reader (since I'm 60 percent deaf I have to compensate somehow)... I'd go along with that. I have to know the person individually or be really versed with the profession (like coaches and athletes) and their speech patterns in order to follow them. Once I got it down, I can pretty much pick up with what they're talking about.

Two funny real-life incidents...

I was taking a lunch break (when I was working a pizza place) and a couple of my coworkers were taking a break as well. I said something snarky to my coworkers who were dating at the time and they went to sat down. I'm about 25 to 30 feet away from them and I saw the girl lean over and whisper "Why is he such an asshole?" He replied "He [something] enjoys being an asshole."

I walked behind them and bent down to say: "And I enjoy reading lips too."

At a party, my fraternity brothers wanted to know if I could read lips at a party to find out what some girls were saying about them. I had to introduce myself to the girls and make small talk for a bit to get some basics. Then I went to the other side of the room. After a brief boring conversation about school... (I had a better view of Girl A and people kept walking in front of me.)
I start to translate in real time...
Girl A: "So, what do you think about the guys here?"
Girl B: "(Something) a couple are cute, nothing really (something)." (Based on her facial expression it wasn't positive.)
Girl A: "What about those guys we met earlier?"
Girl B: (Something). (Again, facial expression ranged from ambivalent to negative.)
Girl A: "That guy that came over seem (something)... and why does he seem to be repeating everything I say."

(Needless to say, I failed my Blend check too).

And now... back to your regularly scheduled program.

[Krensky]

And I realized there's no DC guidelines to that... I'll take care of that presently.

[Desertpuma]

Thunder, I have a feeling you could have a blast parties with that gift. ... Do you ever read what coaches are saying on the sidelines at pro sports games?

[Krensky]

Ok, updated with DC info and clarified that failure can still provided information. Does that feel right, ThunderMonkey? I thought about adding a Concentration tag, but that prevents the Take 10 or 20. I'm trying to decide if a a recording really would let you take 10 or 20.

[Black Cheese]

I'm probably going to be alone in thinking this, but cinematic lipreading seems almost boss enough to me to be a feat, or, alternately, a Cultures focus. You'd get the Cultures focus free with the Deaf talent, obviously.

[glimmerrat]

Maybe get lipreading AND a type of signing as a single culture?

After all, French and German come under the same culture focus, and they're not even the same damn language group...

[ThunderMonkey]

Do you ever read what coaches are saying on the sidelines at pro sports games?

All the time. Usually it's a bunch of explicitives.

[ThunderMonkey]

Ok, updated with DC info and clarified that failure can still provided information. Does that feel right, ThunderMonkey? I thought about adding a Concentration tag, but that prevents the Take 10 or 20. I'm trying to decide if a a recording really would let you take 10 or 20.

Brilliant.

Yeah, a concentration tag would muddle the attempt.

[Krensky]

Maybe get lipreading AND a type of signing as a single culture?

After all, French and German come under the same culture focus, and they're not even the same damn language group...

Properly, sign language and braille are already covered by the culture focuses. Both are regionally distinct. Cultures (North America) would cover braille, American Sign language, Quebec Sign Language, Mexican Sign Language, Maritime Sign Language, Cuban Sign Language, Salvadoran Sign Language, and maybe a dozen others.

[glimmerrat]

Mmmm maybe the rules can be read that way, but i don't think i'd go for that in my games. Still, if it works for you, whatever!