New chat, as requested.

hello i like gurps

discuss

I concur, I also like GURPS, discuss.

Gurps makes me happy.

Compare and contrast.

GURPS!

It's good for what ails you!

GURPS, apply directly to forehead!

GURPS - the best RPG rules for exploring the Multiverse!!

Change my mind ...

GURPS is very flexible and one can use it for almost anything you want.

I've been away from gaming for a while, so my rules knowledge is fuzzy at the moment.

My gut feeling is that what I want to build is some sort of malediction or innate attack, but I'm not entirely sure of the pieces.


Some Context: In the old Gauntlet video games, you could be tagged "it." This meant that all creatures would target your specific character and essentially ignore everybody else.

More Context: I wanted to post this idea in the DF Megadungeon thread on the SJ Games fora.

The Idea: I have an idea for a Dungeon Fantasy encounter which would involve an undead skull. In my head, I imagine it as a modified version of either a Flaming Skull or a Horrid Skull. Upon entering a room, the skull will activate and use an "attack" which tags one of the PCs as being "it." When this happens, blue portals will activate and (modified) Horde Zombies will swarm out: seeking the destruction of whomever is "it."

-Whomever is "it" will be relentlessly pursued.
-The zombies get a bonus on attacks against whomever is "it."
-The zombies are a little faster than normal zombies, but they only move toward and attempt to attack whomever is "it."
-The zombies have some limited ability to sense the general direction of whomever is "it."
-The Skull cannot use the "It" attack again while someone is currently "it." The attack only recharges after the target dies.



Whomever is "it" can "tag" somebody else and transfer being "it" to a different target. (But the Horde Zombies are immune to being "it." Fleeing to a different room and tagging a random NPC or wandering monster does work though, and may be a tactic to use.)



I'm completely aware that DF Monsters need not follow the rules. I think it may be best to simply describe what the ability does and not bother working out actual rules for it. However, I'm curious if there is a legitimate way to do this.

Also, I am trying to figure out the general in-game function of how the attack works. Doing so will help flesh out if there are defenses against the attack or other ways way to get rid of the effect.

My initial thought was to have the Skull shoot some sort of "fireball" at a target, with the only valid defense being to dodge (because a parry or block would still mean being touched by the attack.) I think a visual element will help convey to the players what happened to cause the effect.

I have also considered making the attack some manner of aura or malediction, but I don't know what makes sense as an ability to attempt resisting the attack. I would like to avoid an attack which simply hits and allows no defense. I also prefer the visual cue of a beam or some ball of energy.


Rough Ideas for the creature(s)

Party Skull - stats as a Flaming Skull, but with the following changes: IT:Diffuse changes to IT:Undead; speed is increased to 10; the flaming bite attack is replaced with the ability to make someone be "it"

Party Zombies - stats as Horde Zombie, but with the following changes: +2 Cosmic bonus to attacks, skill checks, and ability checks versus whomever is "it"; increase Speed to 6; increase move to 5; gains Absolute Direction (It) which functions as Absolute Direction in regards to "It" rather than North; extra noisy (see below)

As I envision the skull, it is wearing a jester hat. The zombies are dressed in some manner of festive party clothing. This causes them to be extra noisy because of worn bells (or similar item). Upon seeing whomever is "It," some of them are compelled to blow into a kazoo (or similar party favor) to announce their arrival.

So if one of the Non-IT characters goes over and smashes the crap out of the skull, what happens?

I'm undecided.

Idea 1: It removes the "It" condition. (I'm favoring this idea.)
Pro: I believe that would seem most intuitive.
Con: I'm not sure this is exactly a con, but the skull doesn't have much of a way to fight back.
-Part of the challenge could be being able to attack the skull (which can fly and move quickly).
-I've considered giving the skull a weak secondary attack. It would be a ranged attack which doesn't inflict damage, but is an annoyance in some way. I was thinking dbl knockback modifier, with the idea being that the skull just tries to avoid contact.


Idea 2: The skull is dead and the "It" condition cannot recharge, but the target remains marked as "It" until the condition is transferred to someone else or the zombies are killed.
Pro: Possibly more challenging.
Con: I feel as though this is counter-intuitive from an in-game problem-solving perspective. My gut feeling is that it would be unfun for a player to do what seems logical and to have it not work without explanation.

Other things I've considered as optional details for encounters
-If the skull is attached to a specific room, smashing the skull releases a psychic scream and the room begins to do a cliche 80s movie crumble. (This would be made intentionally very obvious, with plenty of time to safely leave.)
-Given the party theme, a secret (lore) way to deactivate the skull might be to offer a gift or sing a festive song associated with whatever occasion for which the skull and zombies are dressed.

1. can be pretty difficult, especially if the skull can fly up out of reach.

Applying a wet blanket might cause the hex to be lifted and the skull to go back to it's pedestal. The zombies either dissipate or all sigh and go back into their respective closets.

The '80's crumbling room might be cool too. It takes out any Zombies still inside the room.  The room could reset in some period of time too. It might be worth having a significant treasure hidden in the room as well.

The skull gives all the monsters Intolerance ("It") when activated. When destroyed, it stops sending out this psychic (or whatever) pulse.

Question:

If a Wizard casts Minor Healing on Fred multiple times in the same day, I understand it that the Wizard's casting is at -0 the first time; then -3 the second time; then -6 the third time and so on and so forth, is that right?

What about Major Healing?  The book suggests its always at -3 no matter how many multiple times you cast Major Healing on the same person in the same day.  Was it Steve Jackson's intent to make the penalty exponentially worse also, like Minor Casting?

The community's wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Sara

"-3 per casting" means -3 per time you've already cast it.  It was a badly carried over copypasta error from 3e.  It's meant to be identical in this regard to the Minor Healing spell.

Thank you Eeyore!

One of my players asked about my Favorite characters. Now I'm longing to play a GURPS Cyberpunk character who's not had a good record of games lasting.

In reply to Rockwolf66 (msg # 17):

How many CP? We have a kind of Shadowrun thing happening in Interstellar wars universe in one thread at the moment...

Currently at 175cp. He's been in a few games. He's actually intended for late TL8 ~ Early TL9 games.

In reply to Rockwolf66 (msg # 19):

So TL 10 might just work depending on the level of Cyberware or Bioware he has. G:ISW have about TL8 for that...

He's made for a High TL:8/ Low TL:9 setting. You get high tech stuff like cyberware but your local gang member is likely to have something like a Lorcin L-25.

His original GURPS setting was a near future Pacific Northwest. The character does have a backstory and both friends and enemies.

Can anyone point me to the rule for a person breaking a chain that is shackling them to a wall? (or better yet give me the rule!) Figure a TL 3 iron link chain affixed to a neck collar and affixed to a ring well mortared into the stone wall.

Generally, breaking objects are treated the same way as breaking people.  Objects are given DR and HP, usually with the injury tolerance (homogeneous page B60) with failure possible at 1/3 HP and imminent at 0 HP.  Generally, iron would have a DR of 4 and HP dependent on weight.  It depends on how complicated you want to make it, really.  You could treat the whole chain as one object that is easy to hit (SM 0/-1) with a high HP (around 24 HP), or treat every link and the ring well as individual objects which are much more difficult to hit (SM -4/-7) though with much less HP (maybe 6).

Rules for damage to objects are on page B483 and the Object HP table is on B558.

Hope that helps.

GURPS Action 2 Exploits and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2 Dungeons come in handy here.

Forcing:  Quick Contest of ST vs objects DR+HP, Character gets +2 for having the right equipment (like a crowbar) and bonuses from Forced Entry (+1 if at DEX +1, +2 at +2).  Success busts a link or overcomes the wall attachemnt.  Repeated attempts have a cumulative -1 and cost 1 FP apiece.



Treat chains as bars of the same material and thickness.  For ropes... eh, this isn't very realistic.  I'd honestly triple a rope's stat for this QC.

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 24):

But ropes would have very little DR to represent vulnerability to wear...

I'm not discussing wear, I'm mentioning "bursting".  IE forcing a door, snapping restraints, yanking chains from walls, in one sudden burst of violence.

If someone is assaulting a rope over time, ie wear, just use the rules as presented in GURPS Basic as Raddek mentioned.  But against a sudden snap or yank?  Rope's elasticity should be represented, which the rules I quoted from Action and DF do not well represent (because they were explicitly written for kicking in doors).

Thanks for everyone's wisdom! I appreciate it! :)

And it's occured to me I've never played straight up Yrth GURPS Fantasy.
I have the books but I have never played the setting.

Until recently, neither have I.  One reason I suppose that there are not as many "stock" Yrth games and campaigns out there is due to the very nature of Gurps.  The toolbox aspect of the system makes it so desirable for a GM to make their own world.

Also, unlike some other systems, the basics of Gurps Fantasy are not hardwired into a specific setting (or settings).  Plus, Yrth (the setting) is not so extremely detailed.  While the detail can be interesting, all it takes is one canonista to make things less fun when the GM changes things.

Another thing that some players and GMs don't like about Yrth is the inclusion of real world religions and much less of classic mythology (or ones completely made for a specific setting).

These are just a few things that come to my mind as to why there are fewer Yrth set games as opposed to home brewed settings.

I do know of at least one Yrth set game (and it is great) here on Rpol, but I'm sure there are more.

I have been running one for years, changing here and there as people or groups come and go.
Right now i have one player, Blue Dwarf and he can provide his thoughts on Yrth camapigns, he has been in many of mine.

I concur, if you want absolute GURPS by the book, no changes, everything in the open, you need to be playing D&D.
The system is a giant guide, which you can take or leave as you wish, change as you see fit and have a good time.
I for one, think the story is the reason to game and the mechanics are just to facilitate the story, not drive it.
I sometimes push players in a direction, but they are free to refuse to go there, althought that may be come a part of the story.
Anyway, Yrth is a decent background for a Mediaeval or early Renaissance game.

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 30):

In my experience so few people actually know or understand history of religions in reality they may as well be fantasy, hence the inclusion of real life religions by name, but in reality far from them simply gives real life names to fantasy religions. I don't see why that should offend people. I always saw Yrth as a subset of dungeon fantasy...with low magic. Perhaps it is the low magic part that is off-putting to players.

I get the whole, Real World Religion bit as Even practitioners of the "same" religion can disagree on some major points.

There is currently a discussion in the Wanted-GMs section about a GURPS Fantasy game. I'm somewhat interested and working on a possible character. A Nomad from the Northlands. Celtic flavored Paganism isn't that "hard" then again most of it is reconstructed from myths.

A medieval Fantasy Gun mage? Your character I can see, but some of the others are in a different game world from anything I'd run.
Character my one player is running might fit with yours.

Yeah from my reading a Gunmage would be highly inapropriate for a Banestorm based GURPS Fantasy game.

Creidne is a Pagan and does not have Christian morals. However she does know how to deal with Nobles.

In reply to Rockwolf66 (msg # 34):

Are you suggesting Dastavka as a suitable game? No magic there...that anyone knows about, anyway.

Bluedwarf, no,I think we were talking a Travesty & Response sort of game.

The thing of it is that Creidne fully believes in magic and the Supernatural. She's sort of intended for the sort of Sword and Sorcery tails as Conan By Robert E Howard or Silverglass by J F Rivkin.

Yeah, I tend to run Low Fantasy, not the Conan sort of stuff.

With Creidne I do want some adventure. She has a Vow to fufill. However I also want to explore her and her relationships with her allies and the world around her. The idea is that you have this Barbarian chieftain's daughter who has traveled to more "Civilized" lands to make a name for herself and possibly earn her fortune. To put an Honest and honorable woman in a place that is not as honest and Noble as it tries to portray itself as.

Yeah her world has, eles, dwarves, orcs and magic but that's not the real focus.

Oh can you tell me more about this game?

Actually it's a world background. We have run several differing games inthe same world. Perhaps six or seven, but you are welcome to look over the basic stuff, some of which may be moot at this point.
Just look up Travery and Response, if you have an issue seeing something, let me know.

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 41):

Game link here

link to another game

I have been in a few, if not most, of the games there.

Travesty and Resposne was one of the best games ive played on RPoL, for what it's worth.

"You may ask anything but 'Why'." - Travesty and Response GM

As a fellow GM if I'm asking a question as a Player (or my Players asking of me as the GM) a 'Why' is perfectly valid.  Often, once I've gotten the answer it's illuminating, I might disagree with a ruling, but knowing why can change my mind, or if nothing else, I'll stop asking questions like that if they're of a similar nature.

I get some GMs get tired of "being questioned", but I don't play under a "My Way Or The Highway" GM (nor am I one such, I do accommodate to degrees, but Rules Are Rules is something I abide by).  Bluedwarf can attest (we're in the same game here), I've got GMs who forget rules all the time.  Sometimes due to edition changes, like if you've been running your game since 2e, through 3e, now 4e, and into DFRPG...  things shift.  I understand.  I get caught flatflooted by rules I've forgotten.

Taking a questions in stride and answering the 'Why' is just good GMing IMO.  But yes, I can see the other side of the coin, that's why the ban button exists.  Someone makes a nuisance of themselves, gets repeated talkings, and persists?  Banned.  But they'll know 'Why'.

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 44):

Oh I wouldn't take that as Fiat, lots of peope ask why. Somettimes it is just because that's the world I put together or doing whatever the player wants to do is just  like walking around naked in Washington DC.  It just doesn't fit with the time and place.
Bluedwarf and I have been gaming together for about 6-7 years now I think. Each of us playing in each others games.

The actual saying 'You may ask anything but 'Why'" came from my old Geman teacher. The second half of it is "Or I will ask you why you do certain thingsin English" ... I am sureyou could see the potential difficulty there ;-). But yes, itis irritating when somebody wants to be Billy the Kid banestormed into a late medieaval campaign. Playable? Maybe, but I know the player isn't going to like the probable response to Billy at all... Now if he chose to come as someone who is less 'guns solve everything' and more inclined to conceal his technology, it might be a neat sside plot.

As always, it's my game, but I am certainly ammenable to  ideas.

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 45):

Yeah, I can attest to getting (and giving) a lot of clarification through the games.

I’m creating an advantage that includes Enhanced Move with the limitation that the modified Move doesn’t exceed the character’s Base Move. How much would that limitation be worth?

In reply to Mad Mick (msg # 47):

In what situations does it give a benefit, and how much?

I’m doing a GURPS conversion of Morrowind. I’ve poached a lot of ideas from a TES GURPS conversion and some threads on the SJ Gmsa forum.

TESIII books describe people learning to move more easily while wearing different types of armor. It’s not realistic, but I’m trying to keep that Morrowind flavor. A few NPCs will also have various levels of these abilities. I’m aiming for four advantages based on armor type familiarities (Unarmored, Light, Medium, and Heavy).

So here, for instance, is the Medium Armor advantage:

Medium Armor [18/level]
Training that allows the user to learn to evade attacks more easily, take less damage, bear weight more easily, and move further when wearing medium armor. 1 level may be bought at character creation, and up to 2 more levels may be learned from a trainer.

Enhanced Dodge 1, Extra Move 1, DR 1 (-30%, medium armor)

The idea is while wearing medium-class armor, someone trained in familiarity with medium armor will have extra levels of Enhanced Dodge, Extra Move, and DR. However, it doesn’t make sense that they would potentially have greater Move while In medium armor than they would out of it. The advantage also seems really expensive.

I’m taking these ideas primarily from two books. The first is Cherim's Heart of Anequina:



And from Bone, Part One:


This message was last edited by the GM at 03:38, Fri 26 Nov 2021.

This also gives them greater Move over rough terrain.

I'd honestly just use Lifting ST or something to represent "higher encumbrance breakpoints" or whatever.

Instead of Increased Move, look to Payload.  It removes the armor as weight so Encumbrance isn't penalized for wearing it, so it shortcuts needing Enhanced Defenses as well.

It's a simpler build and also removes any unnecessary, "No, you don't get Inc Move over Rough Terrain, or through water, etc".

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 51):

I would think a much more realistic approach is to have the practice give lifting strength. This will increase the ability to carry, and hence wear, armour before it becomes hindrance to movement. This would resemble a specific type of weight training, and be applicable to slaves...

Payload is the KISS option that requires less bookkeeping and gives the same effect in game of being used to wearing and moving in armor without providing any other benefit.

I had seen Lifting ST mentioned before, but I hadn’t considered Payload. Interesting!

Payload is "semi-realistic".  While armor training does generally increase your ability to "maneuver" (run, walk longer before tiring, etc) while carrying a load in general, in my experience it really wasn't the same.  You get used to the drape of the weight, the way the armor fits, and you adapt to moving in it.  Getting used wearing 50 pounds of chain armor is not the same as carrying 50 pounds in a backpack.

Edited in by GM:


Please don't edit my posts this way again in the future.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Sat 27 Nov 2021.

So in my free time, I'm running a Solo game using the incredibly awesome Mythic GM Emulator which I highly recommend.

For the game mechanic part, I'm using Gurps of course.

I have a scene where an Ancient Bronze Dragon is attacking a Scarlet Brotherhood battle ship.

I want to use Mass Combat to expedite the resolution, but I am stuck...

Can anyone direct me to, or give opinions of, what the TS value of an Ancient Bronze Dragon, that can fly and has a potent breath weapon?  If I can't find anything, I'll probably try to calculate the Dragon as a Blackhawk attack helicopter, but would rather check in with you Gurps veterans...

Your help is appreciated!  :)

Go with a Giant Flying Monster (p. 19). One of the examples is "a large dragon" so that fits!
This message was last edited by the player at 16:30, Sat 27 Nov 2021.

Fantastic, thanks so much!

Being "more comfortable in armor than out" might just be flavor text, but if you want them to have greater capacity in armor, then just use Payload to remove the Armor weight from Encumbrance, then slap some Enhanced Move and Enhanced Defenses, maybe even combat Talent all with the Accessibility "Only While Wearing Armor".  If you want it to be a specific set of armor, not just any armor, then increase the Accessibility slightly (like no more than an additional -5%) and slap some crunch text about them needing so much time practicing and wearing the armor to become "bonded".

In reply to Girl Interrupted (msg # 56):

You could also download and install a copy of GURPS Character Sheet (Free), which has a Monsterous Western Dragon template

Link is :  https://gurpscharactersheet.com

Or, get a copy of the GURPS Dragons book and it is one Page 146.

Would someone be so kind as to educate me on how 'pi' damage works?

Let's say Alice fires her 9 mm Glock which inflicts 2d+2 pi...

Let's say she rolls an 8.

Assuming no armor/DR, what would the ultimate net damage be if she hit:

     (a) head
     (b) torso
     (c) arm

Thanks All!  :)

In reply to Girl Interrupted (msg # 61):

Assuming she's shooting a human, she'd do 8 points of damage in all three cases.

Pi is pretty much the gun version of Cr: run of the mill, standard damage. They split it off as it's own thing for dealing with special situations like Unliving or Homogenous targets, or with specific types of armor like Ballistic Vests.

"pi" damage is "piercing".  It's mostly tacked onto bullets (or other very fast moving smaller projectiles) because those sort of weapons/projectiles do not work exactly the same way as standard crushing, cutting, and impaling attacks do.

There are four flavors of pi, each has it's own wounding modifier, but they all enjoy the same hit location and overpenetration benefits, and suffer the same "flexible armor blunt damage penalty".


While you can kinda say "pi is equal to crushing, pi+ is equal to cutting, and pi++ is equal to impaling", that isn't exactly the case and might cause you to overlook the Hit Locations benefits pi damage enjoys that crushing and cutting sometimes miss out on (and vice versa).

Now for your example, I'ma be real with you, I need more info so I'll just supply it... also I'm broadening out your example to show the differences between pi and crushing.  Also, only using pure Basic Set rules, no optional things from other sets (except some made up armors).

Alice and Ecila are fighting a mob of foes, Alice has her trusty Glock (doing 2d+2) and Ecila has a stout shillelagh (and also doing 2d+2 because... I said so).  For ease of example let's say they're both hitting, no misses, and the mooks are too dumb to defend.  They also both deal 8 damage with each attack...

They take the first mook group (HP 10, no armor, auto fail HT checks), hit each of their mooks in the Face, the Torso, and the last in an Arm.

The four that take face and torso hits take 8 injury [(8 damage - no armor)x1 wounding mod*], all four take Major Wounds (over half their HP in one shot, Basic Campaigns pg 420), fail their HT checks, are Stunned and Knocked Down.  The two mooks who take arms hits both take 6 injury [(8 dam - 0 DR)x1 wm; capped at [(1/2 HP) + 1] for a limb], both have their arms crippled, both took a Major Wound (crippled extremities are treated as Major Wounds even if below "1 past half HP", say for a hand, foot, tail, etc), fail their HT checks, are Stunned and Knocked Down.

*  The way damage is applied may sound simple (and it kinda is) but I see it trip up experienced Players and GMs all the time, so I'll lay it out real quick:  Damage is the amount rolled on the dice, so Alice's Glock does 2d+2 pi, and when she rolls an 8, that 8 is the damage.  the "pi" is her wounding modifier, it controls some Hit Location benes as well as directly influencing the injury.  To find injury, (the amount of HP loss a target suffers from an attack) first take the damage, subtract any DR, then apply the wounding modifier, the result is the injury the target takes.

I say this only because I've seen far too many people say things like "I hit, they take 13 cutting injury!" when they meant "13 damage with a cutting wound multiplier" and I've seen Players go ahead and "helpfully" multiply the damage by the wounding modifier without bothering to account for an enemy's armor... or forget to apply the wound modifier to damage they take after subtracting DR, etc.  Yeah, it's a bit to keep track off, but just hoping a quick refresher here helps some people...




The next wave gets interesting, they have armor!  (HP 12, DR 2 heavy leather "jakcets", DR 4/1 ballistic vests, and DR 2/1 "impact" helmets with face masks - good against crushing)

Again Alice and Ecila take on three each, hitting Face, Torso, and Arm, again 8 damage each time...

Alice drops the face shot guy with one hit (7 injury after DR 1), deals with the arm guy after two shots (6 + 1 injury = 7 injury cripples), and ends up having to dodge around till she lands six hits on 'torso dude' as his leathers and concealed ballistic vest give him an effective DR 6 against her Glock's pi damage.  But he does finally reach HP 0 and whiff his Unconsciousness Check.

Elica also has to juggle her foes a bit, everyone needing two hits, the face dude drops with HP -2 after the second hit (6 injury is not a Major Wound with HP 12), torso guy drops at HP 0 after two attacks (taking 5 injury + 5 injury, and then whiffing their Unconsciousness check), and like with Alice the arm guy takes two hits.

To stop belaboring a point, "pi" and "crushing" are very similar, I could have used different weapons like impaling and cutting to showcase those difference (or pi-, pi+, or pi++), but I was kinda sticking with your setup.  Armor and Hit Locations will make a difference, but well, you kinda chose poor Hit Locations to show off that difference.  "Head" isn't a Hit Location, that's Face or Skull, both are different...

Frex if they were both making Skull shots on their foes, the foes have an additional DR 2 and take a x4 wounding modifier (and are at -7 to hit).  Face hits don't have Skull DR or the extra wounding modifier (are -5 to hit and cannot be hit randomly from behind).

Eye shots would also be an interesting set up, Alice can target eyes as she has a piercing attack, however Ecila with her crushing attack cannot (and would be making Face shots instead).

Neck and Vitals both also work differently as Hit Locations for them, Alice enjoys the Vitals, to hit -3, getting a x3 wounding modifier while Ecila cannot target them, and they can both target the Neck at -5, but Alice has no benes where Ecila gets a x1.5 wounding modifier (crushing and corrosive get x1.5, cutting enjoys x2 on the Neck).



The other major difference is that piercing (piercing, impaling, or tight-beam burning damage with a ranged attack†) damage "enjoys" Overpenetration (Basic Campaigns pg 408), which sometimes is not so very enjoyable (if there are things behind your target you don't want getting shot up).  With Overpenetration if you hit with significant enough damage (anything in excess of the foe's HP + front and rear armor) "blows through" and the projectile will continue to travel into another target.

Frex if Alice were rocking a Bolt Action 7.62 rifle (7d pi) hitting the first mooks (HP 10) at range for an average 21 damage... then... the first mook in front would take 21 injury but the round would Overpenetrate 11 damage into any mooks behind him as well.  If they were wearing DR 2 heavy leather, then the first mook would take 19 injury, and the round would Overpenetrate 7 damage (HP 10 + DR 2 front + DR 2 back) into the next mook.


† I personally also apply Overpenetrate to cutting attacks, and to melee versions of those attacks if and when appropriate.  So say a long spear being heroically thrust through two enemies that are tightly inline, the giant's sword swinging through multiple hexes worth of foes, the Jedi's lightsaber loping through their foe and the floor, ceiling, walls...
This message was last edited by the player at 17:59, Sat 23 Apr 2022.

Wow, involved, but cool!  Gurps is awesome!

Thanks evil and gor

Help! I have a clever player unfamiliar with Gurps magic who wants to do the below.

Can anyone help me figure out how many fatigue this would cost?

He wants to build a bridge using Shape Earth to create a 1 inch thick, 2 foot wide, 200 yard long bridge out of lava stone.

If he has a level 16 in Shape Earth, can anyone tell me how many fatigue that would cost?

He says 4 fatigue.  I'm seriously doubting that.

Also, question #2: IF he managed to create that, would the 1 inch thick bridge hold the weight of say, a 250 pound man walking across, or is the spell designed to ensure that normal breakage doesn't occur.

Lastly, question #3, If he casts at 1 less fatigue per list fatigue cost because of his high skill of 16, but he's maintaining 2 other spells which reduces his skill now to 14, does he still get the high skill reduction of fatigue or not?

I hope someone can figure this out, because I am stumped.

The answer to Question 2 is No... not over 200 yards [600 feet or 2 football fields].
Not over even a quarter of that distance.

The cost is 1 per cubic yard of earth shaped [has to be there first] and twice that for stone.
Does he have a large supply of Lava Rock?

A cubic yard is 46,656 cubic inches if I remember my math, so each shaped cubic yard gives him 162 feet of "bridge", times 4 is 648 feet in length, so he is correct in that it will be "long" enough, and will cost him at least 8 FP and then 4 more to maintain after a minute or it's a sudden let down. To move  600 feet will take him several minutes I'd think. Thus he risks running out of FP and again, what a let down.

I'll leave the rest to people more familiar with magic tricks than I, but my 2¢ is no, he cannot do it.

Does shape earth affect rock too?  From the description it sounds like they mean earth (dirt).  I would think you would make the form from earth you want, then cast earth to stone.  But I'm not sure.

Also, at 1" thick I'm thinking there's no way the stone bridge could support you over 2 football fields.  You could make the bridge in a lattice honey comb pattern so you could increase thickness and still be able to traverse it.  But stability is also a concern.  I'm thinking the weight of this thing would create a lot of stress at it's two anchor points.  I'm not a structure engineer, but it could collapse the moment you step on it.  But again, I'm not sure.

In reply to jason254 (msg # 67):

The ability to shape Earth does not automatically make him a civil engineer...to make it strong enough to span that should require a civil engineer roll at least, with a lot of penalties. Also, he would have to shape it all at once, otherwise the part previously shaped would fall into the abyss...the strength of arcs relies on having both ends connected.

But 1 inch thick straight across will never support its own weight, let alone the weight of a person. That is a flat bridge, and he will need a much thicker arc. You can calculate the thickness required if you want, or just make a ruling on it, but even in a fantasy world I would insist it needs to be at least a foot thick and multiply the required length by 1.5 to allow for the arc, but only tell them what they need after they pass an engineering roll.

That's 3.70370...yds³ of stone.  This will matter in a moment.  For future reference I keep this page in my bookmarks:
https://www.calculator.net/volume-calculator.html


According to DFRPG Spells (it's handy) it costs 1 FP per cubic yard of earth (minimum 2), double the cost for stone, hextuple for worked stone (like a stone wall).  Duration 1 minute.

Simple math says round up, 4yds³ times 2 is 8 FP, 4 maintain; or for him 7 to cast, 3 to maintain.

Stone has a Move of 1, so however far to the bridge point and then 200 seconds, or 3 minutes twenty seconds plus however far away the obsidian is from the chasm.  So they're spending 16 FP, minimum.


You are correct.  if he gives you guff about "raising it up from the lava all at once and that's only like XX feet down, it should take a lot less time!"  Then ask him to start making HT checks for breathing in fumes and the intense heat of being in a volcano,...


It won't even support it's own weight.  Obsidian is incredibly fragile.

Maybe if it was say 6 foot thick moorings, a 30* grade, and tapered to a foot thick at teh top span... and the PC had Engineer (Civil) or Architecture and made a decent roll.  Let me put it to you like this:  A steel bridge as described would flex and bend under it's own weight at the center and probably tear free from it's moorings under it's own weight (but I doubt this mage would even bother with moorings).  It's simply too long and has no support structures.  So he has to maintain it for it too keep it's shape and not fall apart.

Look at bridges, they have supports for a reason.

Now, it's up to you if the spell will "hold up people" if he maintains it while they are crossing.  For me, I use the Rule of Cool which says "Yes, but he also has to pay for the weight of the people", if he has Levitate, I'd just charge him that, otherwise call it another 2 cubic yards of stone weight per person the bridge has to hold aloft at a time...


Maintained spells only reduce "Effective Skill Level", cost reduction is off of Known Skill Level, so he's rolling against a 14, but still gets the FP reduction of having Skill 15+.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:53, Thu 07 July 2022.

Wait, wait, wait...  does he mean obsidian or pumice?

Because the first is simply laughable, but the second is hilarious.  My sides need to know how far to launch into space over this one...

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 70):

I was thinking Granite or Basalt, but hey, there are many options.

Does anyone know the write-up/rules for

"Born War Leader" ?

Thank you!

In reply to Girl Interrupted (msg # 72):

Born War-Leader 5 points/level

Intelligence Analysis, Leadership, Savoir-Faire (Military), Strategy, and Tactics. Reaction

Bonus: Military officers, tribal war-leaders, soldiers, and other professional warriors.

Alternative Benefit: As for Born Tactician (above). Alternative Cost: 5 points/level.

Sources: GURPS Banestorm, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1, and GURPS Monster Hunters 1.

Thanks. So, let's say I pick Born War Leader +2, do I get a +2 on any specific skills?  Or is it only a reaction bonus?

In reply to Girl Interrupted (msg # 74):

You get +2 on the skills Intelligence Analysis, Leadership, Savoir-Faire (Military), Strategy, and Tactics. Reaction

Thank you!  Sorry for being a ditz!

In reply to Girl Interrupted (msg # 76):

All good.

So, let's say Fighter A rapid strikes and succeeds both attacks. Opponent declares an All Out +2 retreating dodge.

Does Opponent get to add the +2 to BOTH of the 2 successful rapid strikes or just one?

Looking at Campaigns, the +2 bonus to the defense applies for the entire round:

Thanks! As I suspected!

So, this animal's bite causes 1d+1{4} cut (0.5) damage

Could someone educate this confused GM what that means?

I get the 1d+1 part, but what's the rest of it mean?

Thanks!

{4} cut (0.5)

This is my understanding
The part in the curly braces {} is average damage for the roll...in case you wanted combat to run faster.

cut is the damage type see page 379 in the Campaigns guide.

(0.5) is the armor divisor. Again see page 378 in the campaign guide.

In reply to Galen (msg # 82):

Unless the (4) is the armour divisor, and the (0.5) is the damage multiplier?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:06, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

Well, cutting damage modifier is generally 1.5, but they could have changed it.

Where is this stat line coming from? Is it from a GURPS book?

1d+1 = dice of damage rolled. roll 1d6 and add 1 to the total.

{4} = no clue.

cut = wound modifier. multiply penetrating damage by 1.5 for cutting attacks.

(0.5) = armor divisor. If the attack strikes armor, divide the armors DR by the indicated amount.


Examples using this stat block:

You roll and get a 3.
Damage becomes 4 (3+1)
The target is an arm that is not covered in armor, so the target takes 4 x 1.5 = 6 points of cutting injury.

Same thing as above, but they have DR 1 armor on the arm.
4 - (1 / 0.5) = 2, so the target takes 2 x 1.5 = 3 points of cutting injury.

Same thing as above, but they have DR 2 armor on the arm.
4 - (2 / 0.5) = 0, no damage gets through the armor.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:07, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

I searched for Gurps animals. Here's a Komodo Dragon:


Komodo Dragon
ST 11      DX 12      IQ 3      HT 12

Lifting ST 12
Basic Lift 14.4 kg      HP 12      FP 10      Will 10      Per 12

Bulk 9      Weight 45 kg      SM 0      Length 2.3 m

Basic Speed 6
Basic Move: 5
Land Move: 5 (6 sprint)
Water Move: 3
Attacks
Attack Damage Reach
Bite 1d{4} cut (0.5) 0
Claw 1d/2+1 cut 0
Tail 1d{:6} cr 1
DR: 3

<--- This {4} thing I'm confused about. I 'get' the rest.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:55, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

What book or pdf file is that komodo dragon write up from?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:58, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

I got it from this site. One of the coolest resources I've found online:

http://panoptesv.com/RPGs/animalia/animalia.html

Ah, so its not an official write up of a komodo dragon, its something from a fans page that they think it should be.

When I use that sites page to "print" the template, I do not get a "{4}".

Actually, playing with the site, that symbol if for a house rule they use.

I would not use that page since everything on it is completely house ruled.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:14, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

I love how it generates animal stats though.  I'll just ignore the squiggly "4" thing.

As long as you understand that those stats are created using house rules and not the rules found in any of the GURPS 4e catalog, go nuts! :D

Nuts it is! :)

Thanks for your help

So, I thought somewhere I read that a Knife can only do so much damage. Not sure its out there, but I THOUGHT I saw it...

Is there a limitation on the impaling or cutting damage of a large knife?

It says a large knife does swing-2 cutting damage.

So would a 20 Strength fighter who has 3d+2 swing be able to slash people with his knife for 3d cutting damage?

This message was deleted by the player at 01:43, Thu 23 Feb 2023.

All weapons have a max "damage" limit of 3 times the ST requirement.

Large Knife ST requirement is ST 6.

That means the damage output is capped at ST 18.

So your ST 20 person with 3d+2 swing damage would only do damage as if they had ST 18 = 3d swing.

So the knife would damage would be 3d-2 cut.


Basic Set page 270 tells you more
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Thu 23 Feb 2023.

In reply to Zoncxs (msg # 95):

Zoncxs thank you so much! I must have overlooked that rule.

In reply to Zoncxs (msg # 95):

Oh this is information is based.

I'd like to hear how other GM's handle diplomacy. To me it is too powerful a skill as it allows the player to replace multiple other skills (streetwise, fast-talk, merchant, etc) with a diplomacy roll with no result being less than neutral. To me this makes no sense as it would assume a diplomat could never make a mistake and make a situation worse and yet there are real life examples of such issues happening.

What are your takes on this skill?

I'm going to be blunt with this: Diplomacy is an expensive skill, if a player has it, it means they had to forfeit something else. So, it's OK if they substitute others skills with it, to save the situation.

But remember, there's context behind things.

IIRC, Diplomacy can help you stand NEUTRAL in the worst of situations, but that's it.

If you are in a hood with aggressive thugs, what you need is streetwise to make the right advancements, I doubt they would tell you were to find the good stuff using diplomacy; the most you can get is getting away unscarred and with the option of coming back, later.

How could you use diplomacy to convince the guards in a museum that you were not robbing if they found you with Mona Lisa in your bag? That'd clearly be fast-talk.

Diplomacy for haggling is a weird option, but let’s say they could get standard prices if the vendor is abusive. A deal? Not likely, that would require merchant.

So, I'm playing a solo rpg hexcrawl.

A prehistoric carnivore is SM 6!  And it is attacking Martin a SM 0 human.
Just so I'm clear, what are the modifiers that the monster has to hit Martin and what are the modifiers Martin has to hit the monster?

It would be +6 for Martin to hit the monster and no change for the monster to hit Martin (Campaigns, pg 372)

This for a standard attack. There are other rules for grappling, pining, etc.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:02, Sun 09 Apr 2023.

I understand the + 6 but what about the -6 for monster vs human?  Doesn’t a sm 0 human have -2 to hit a SM -2 halfling?  Or am I reading this wrong?

The SM is the modifier from a base of human-sized, not relative size between the monsters. So the +6 SM monster would have -2 to hit the -2 SM creature.

Ah got it, thanks!

I'm full of questions this week...

What is the penalty for firing at full move rate?  Is it -1 X the missile weapon's Bulk?

For example, if a soldier with a guns skill of 14 is carrying an M16 at a full run (move 5) and the M16 is a -6 bulk, is his shot (not counting other modifiers) 14-6 = 8 to hit?

Not sure if this was already answered, but reading the Move and Attack rules on B366, seems like you are spot on.  I had thought there was an additional modifier of -4 and a cap of 9, but seems like that's just for melee, whereas ranged attacks use the -2 or bulk, whichever is worse, without the cap.