Evidence Analysis

Evidence Analysis
Use: Macro
skill.
Sample specializations: Clue
analysis, physical evidence, forensic evidence, researched evidence, deductive
reasoning, puzzle solving, forgeries 
The
evidence analysis skill
measures a character’s ability to analyze physical evidence and deduce
information about events that occurred in the past. A detective might be able
to look at a room and guess how many people have been in it recently, for
example, or she might be able to look at an object and determine something
about where it was made. The skill may also be used to solve puzzles of both
the physical and mental kind. The evidence must first be detected, either
through the find skill,
player characters roleplaying a search or by being rather obvious, such as a
corpse in the middle of a room. Evidence may also be gathered by research
(another use of the find skill),
questioning witnesses or from analyzing the efforts of other investigators. The
difficulty of an evidence analysis skill
check is usually determined by the gamemaster using the Difficulty Number Scale,
taking into consideration the nature of the question(s) being asked and the
actual course of events that the character is attempting to deduce. In some
cases, an attribute or skill of another character may determine the difficulty.
For example, figuring out a riddle left at a crime scene might have a
difficulty equal to the Perception
attribute, or a skill such as scholar(riddles),
of the person who left the riddle behind. Some example difficulty numbers are
provided in the following chart:
EVIDENCE ANALYSIS CHART
Physical evidence Difficulty
Object
is familiar or evidence is fairly clear (a knife at a murder scene, lock picks
near an open door) 8
Object
is somewhat familiar or evidence is only partly clear (a bloodstain near a
closet where a body is hidden) 10
Evidence
is reasonably obscure (water stains on a carpet forming a faint trail from the
door to the window) 12
Evidence
is unusual or not obviously related (Window sill is cold indicating that
someone opened it recently) 15
The
success level of the evidence analysis check
should be used to gauge how much useful information the character receives from
analyzing the evidence. If the character receives minimal or average success,
she can identify all of the objects or physical evidence by generic type:
A
weapon, rope, a poison, or blood for example. If she gets a good success,
she knows precise information on the origin of the object, substance, or
evidence, and specific information on its type. If she gets a superior success,
she knows to what use all of the objects in the room were put. With a spectacular success
she can accurately reconstruct events from the evidence, fitting in all the evidence
to the explanation. Good players may be able to discover this information on
their own through roleplaying and solid induction. The gamemaster can encourage
such behavior by feeding them a quality level of information at a time when
they are on the right track.