Battlefield Awareness

Awareness

Presence

Reasoning

Intuition

Short Description

Stay alert to enemy tactics, decoy maneuvers, and shifting threats in the chaos of combat.

Success Criteria

Effects

Modifiers and Restrictions

Action Examples

This will often be an opposed roll against the opponent that is doing a tactic or a decoy maneuver on their action phase. You must tell the GM that you will use the skill.

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Good for countering a lot of offensive skills such as feints etc.

Long Description

Battlefield Awareness gives you real-time tactical insight during combat. It allows you to process multiple stimuli at once. Use it to anticipate movement, maneuvers, recognize shifting momentum, or counter coordinated attacks. When successful, you can warn allies, reposition advantageously, or negate tactical advantages of your foes.

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The skill often involves opposing rolls against Stealth, Flanking Maneuver, Decoy Tactics, or similar enemy strategies.
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Pair effectively with:

Flanking Maneuver (to set up or defend against coordinated positioning)
Danger Sense (to preempt hidden threats)
Tactical Coordination (to immediately act on what you’ve perceived)

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Sequencing

Potential Counters

How to use this page

All the information above is intended as a guide to help you navigate the many situations that can arise during your game. Since it's both impossible—and frankly uninspiring—to plan for every possible outcome, players are encouraged to think creatively when using their skills. Game Masters, in turn, are encouraged to embrace and support that creativity.

Whenever possible, aim to resolve situations through narrative choices, logical thinking and role playing. If that’s not feasible, agree on a Difficulty Rating (DR) using the provided Success Criteria and Modifiers. These are not rigid rules, but suggestions - starting points to help you find the right level of challenge. The player describes their intended action, and the Game Master proposes a DR. This should be open to brief discussion at the table, ideally resulting in consensus. If not, the Game Master has the final say.

It’s important to emphasize that all suggested effects, modifiers, and action examples are exactly that: suggestions. If you’re unsure how to resolve something, they offer a reliable fallback—but wherever possible, we encourage you to push boundaries. That’s where some of the most memorable and exciting moments in play are born.

Sequencing and Potential Counters are far from exhaustive. With hundreds of skills, spells, and tech modules in the game, the possibilities are too vast to list. You’re encouraged to explore combinations that make sense in your story and setting and in the situations that arise in your game. Sequencing and countering are core to Cosmic Odyssey - they’re where strategic depth meets dramatic flair, and where legendary moments often take shape. Even if no sequencing and counters are mentioned, some certainly exists and can be smartly utilized.

So explore boldly, improvise wisely, and enjoy the game as it unfolds around your choices.