Searching People and Spotting Hidden Weapons

Basic rule on searching people & spotting hidden weapons in Cyberpunk 2020

Author: Andrew James

Use this rule if you want to determine if somebody can smuggle a weapon past a guard.

REVISED table…

Awareness Difficulties for searcher:

Base Difficulty to spot/find 15
   
Visual Search Mod
Efforts made to hide object +5 (only if Concealability required is met)
Concealability > required +5
Concealability < required -5
Dark/Impaired Visibility +3
Using Thermograph -5
Under Stress/In Combat +3
Drunk, Drugged or Tired +4
   
Manual Search – Object Size Mod
P Concealability +0
J Concealability -5
L Concealability -10
N Concealability NA
   
Manual Search – Time Spent Mod
Cursory (1 Round) +5
Brisk (2 Rounds) +0
Standard (3-6 Rounds) -5
Detailed (Up to 1 min) -10
Very Detailed (1 to 2 mins) -15
Semi Strip Search (3 to 5 mins) -20
Strip Search -25
Searcher is Intimidated/Fearful +3
Searcher is completely in Control -3
Under Stress/In Combat +3
Drunk, Drugged or Tired +4
   
Spot hidden weapon examples:  
Spot J concealability pistol under a jacket 15 (average roll)
Spot J concealability pistol under a longcoat 20 (difficult)
Spot J concealability pistol under a jacket, efforts made to hide it (taped to small of back) 20
Spot J concealability pistol in a pocket 10 (easy)
Spot P concealability knife under a longcoat 25 (very difficult)
Spot P concealability knife under a longcoat, efforts made to hide it 30 (near impossible)
   
Find hidden weapon with manual search examples:  
Find heavy SMG (L) under a longcoat with a brisk search 5
Find heavy SMG (L) under a longcoat with a cursory search (3 secs) 10 (easy)
Find pistol (P) with a standard search 15 (average)
Find pistol (P) with a very detailed search 5

This means an L concealability weapon is virtually impossible to get past a manual search, unless the searcher is drunk, very inept, or fumbles.

Example: Kaine wants to sneak his Fed Arms Super Chief (J) into a club, he’s not really spent any effort trying to hide it, so it’s in a shoulder holster under his jacket (Diff 15 to spot).
The bouncers aren’t searching everyone, but they are keeping an eye out for any suspect characters: Bouncer 1 (INT 3, Awareness +4) rolls a 5 for a total of 12, and doesn’t notice the Super Chief, but Bouncer 2 (INT 6, Awareness +6) gets a 8 (total: 20) spots the bulge and pulls Kaine from the que for a manual search.
He decides to give Kaine a standard search (-5), the Super Chief’s Con is J (-5), Bouncer 2 rolls a 2 (6+6+2=14) and finds the Super Chief, but luckily for Kaine doesn’t find the BudgetArms C-13 strapped to his ankle (P con +0, effort made to hide it +5, standard search -5, diff to find 15, diff to spot 20).