Essay: Danger Sense
Tl;dr? Yeah, I’m good at that.
I’ve been making a lot of mention of this particular superpower of Ricochet’s lately, because it covers a lot of ground. Because of that, I figured it might be smart to essay a bit and explain exactly what his Danger Sense is and can do.
So, what is the Danger Sense? Simply put, it’s an instinctive early-warning system that alerts Ricochet to-you guessed it-danger. Physically, it manifests as a tingling sensation at the base of his skull, with the feeling’s intensity proportional to the severity of that danger-extreme threats can actually cause him physical pain. How it functions is never made clear, but it seems to be some sort of extrasensory perception similar to clairvoyance.
The Danger Sense reacts to both immediate (a bullet flying towards him) and potential (a disguised supervillain passing on the street) threats. What’s considered a threat can vary greatly, too-a physical attack, a psychic intrusion, or someone peeking while he’s changing into/out of costume all would qualify. It doesn’t matter if the attack is randomized or generated by computer (thereby lacking malicious intent)-so long as it poses any danger, it registers. When coupled with Ricochet’s superhuman reflexes and agility, the Danger Sense dramatically increases his “evasion stat” (to use RPG terms), allowing him to dodge even automatic-weapons fire given sufficient distance from the shooter. It can trigger even when he’s asleep, but distraction and fatigue both reduce its effectiveness.
I call the Danger Sense a type of clairvoyance because it essentially boils down to an increased sense of spatial awareness. It leaves him instinctively aware of his position relative to the other objects-people, structures, furniture, and what have you-present in his surroundings, and Ricochet mainly employs this awareness in two ways. The first is navigational-Danger Sense is what allows Ricochet to ricochet, to perform complex acrobatic maneuvers while moving at superhuman speed, because he can feel how close he is to an obstacle and use his agility and reflexes to surmount it. This also lessens his handicap under low-visibility conditions like darkness, smoke, or fog, and alerts him to booby traps, potential pitfalls (i.e., quicksand), or enemies lying in wait.
The second way Ricochet employs this increased spatial awareness is in targeting-an aspect of the Danger Sense guides his aim while he’s using his throwing disc weapons. For comparison: River Tam is enough of a supergenius to “do the math” and mentally calculate variables in angle and trajectory, and as a result is a crack shot. Ricochet can do the same, but in his case the Danger Sense cheats for him, working as an on-board calculator that gives him the same information instinctively which she obtained mathematically. He just knows that if he throws a disc at such an angle, with so much force, with so much spin, it will fly true. Ricochet has enough practical experience in employing this talent that he can predict his discs’ paths even as they ricochet off of other objects-like walls or trees or other enemies-allowing him to chain a series of hits and carom shots all in one throw.
So what does all this mean for how I play Ricochet in camp? Well, in terms of fisticuffs it spells out why he’s a dodge machine and can accurately target an angry basilisk in total darkness. I do try to make sure he takes his lumps, though, because it’s totally possible for him to get hit, and hit hard-Danger Sense is not a get out of beatings free card (lasers, anyone?). If he’s distracted, tired, obviously slower than your character/’s attack, if it’s fair, IF IT’S FUNNY-there’s a helluva good chance your hit will land.
Most importantly for things like character interactions, though, is that the Danger Sense puts Rico into that pesky “vaguely psychic” category, as he can very easily clue on to those people whose intentions are somewhat, shall we say, nefarious… Provided whichever villain/sociopath/cannibal/predator is targeting him at all-Danger Sense only reacts to a threat posed to Ricochet personally. In some ways, it’s touchier than standard telepathy, because things like surface thoughts or idle mental chatter don’t fool it-if what you’re doing is dangerous for him, Ricochet will know it. More of a godmodey annoyance is that it can be triggered by a merely potential threat-if you’re not doing anything bad at the moment but might in the future. On the other hand, though, all it tells Rico is that you’re dangerous-not why, or what you’re planning, or any details like that.
In the interest of not stepping on anybody’s toes, Ricochet’s not going to blab about things like “that Hannibal Lecter guy pinged my Danger Sense LIEK WHOA (and all I did was talk to him about The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross)!” unless I hear otherwise from you. In the same token, though, I don’t expect to him to get caught with his pants down (too often) by people in the Sekrit Bad Guy Club should they do something naughty. If you anticipate a conflict or just want to apprise me of something, please comment here and let me know.
I’ve been making a lot of mention of this particular superpower of Ricochet’s lately, because it covers a lot of ground. Because of that, I figured it might be smart to essay a bit and explain exactly what his Danger Sense is and can do.
So, what is the Danger Sense? Simply put, it’s an instinctive early-warning system that alerts Ricochet to-you guessed it-danger. Physically, it manifests as a tingling sensation at the base of his skull, with the feeling’s intensity proportional to the severity of that danger-extreme threats can actually cause him physical pain. How it functions is never made clear, but it seems to be some sort of extrasensory perception similar to clairvoyance.
The Danger Sense reacts to both immediate (a bullet flying towards him) and potential (a disguised supervillain passing on the street) threats. What’s considered a threat can vary greatly, too-a physical attack, a psychic intrusion, or someone peeking while he’s changing into/out of costume all would qualify. It doesn’t matter if the attack is randomized or generated by computer (thereby lacking malicious intent)-so long as it poses any danger, it registers. When coupled with Ricochet’s superhuman reflexes and agility, the Danger Sense dramatically increases his “evasion stat” (to use RPG terms), allowing him to dodge even automatic-weapons fire given sufficient distance from the shooter. It can trigger even when he’s asleep, but distraction and fatigue both reduce its effectiveness.
I call the Danger Sense a type of clairvoyance because it essentially boils down to an increased sense of spatial awareness. It leaves him instinctively aware of his position relative to the other objects-people, structures, furniture, and what have you-present in his surroundings, and Ricochet mainly employs this awareness in two ways. The first is navigational-Danger Sense is what allows Ricochet to ricochet, to perform complex acrobatic maneuvers while moving at superhuman speed, because he can feel how close he is to an obstacle and use his agility and reflexes to surmount it. This also lessens his handicap under low-visibility conditions like darkness, smoke, or fog, and alerts him to booby traps, potential pitfalls (i.e., quicksand), or enemies lying in wait.
The second way Ricochet employs this increased spatial awareness is in targeting-an aspect of the Danger Sense guides his aim while he’s using his throwing disc weapons. For comparison: River Tam is enough of a supergenius to “do the math” and mentally calculate variables in angle and trajectory, and as a result is a crack shot. Ricochet can do the same, but in his case the Danger Sense cheats for him, working as an on-board calculator that gives him the same information instinctively which she obtained mathematically. He just knows that if he throws a disc at such an angle, with so much force, with so much spin, it will fly true. Ricochet has enough practical experience in employing this talent that he can predict his discs’ paths even as they ricochet off of other objects-like walls or trees or other enemies-allowing him to chain a series of hits and carom shots all in one throw.
So what does all this mean for how I play Ricochet in camp? Well, in terms of fisticuffs it spells out why he’s a dodge machine and can accurately target an angry basilisk in total darkness. I do try to make sure he takes his lumps, though, because it’s totally possible for him to get hit, and hit hard-Danger Sense is not a get out of beatings free card (lasers, anyone?). If he’s distracted, tired, obviously slower than your character/’s attack, if it’s fair, IF IT’S FUNNY-there’s a helluva good chance your hit will land.
Most importantly for things like character interactions, though, is that the Danger Sense puts Rico into that pesky “vaguely psychic” category, as he can very easily clue on to those people whose intentions are somewhat, shall we say, nefarious… Provided whichever villain/sociopath/cannibal/predator is targeting him at all-Danger Sense only reacts to a threat posed to Ricochet personally. In some ways, it’s touchier than standard telepathy, because things like surface thoughts or idle mental chatter don’t fool it-if what you’re doing is dangerous for him, Ricochet will know it. More of a godmodey annoyance is that it can be triggered by a merely potential threat-if you’re not doing anything bad at the moment but might in the future. On the other hand, though, all it tells Rico is that you’re dangerous-not why, or what you’re planning, or any details like that.
In the interest of not stepping on anybody’s toes, Ricochet’s not going to blab about things like “that Hannibal Lecter guy pinged my Danger Sense LIEK WHOA (and all I did was talk to him about The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross)!” unless I hear otherwise from you. In the same token, though, I don’t expect to him to get caught with his pants down (too often) by people in the Sekrit Bad Guy Club should they do something naughty. If you anticipate a conflict or just want to apprise me of something, please comment here and let me know.