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).