A problem I've run into in Supers games (both GURPS and in other systems) is transportation for the team. In the comics, this is often provided by some iconic aircraft used by the team: The Avengers have Quinjets, the X-Men use a VTOL SR-71 Blackbird, etc.
For a Supers GM, getting the heroes to the adventure can require a little planning. I've seen a GM invent a "friend with a helicopter" on the spur of the moment, just to handwave getting us all to where the adventure could happen. For heroes with flight or other transportation powers, this isn't much of a problem, but the Green Arrows and Wolverines need a little help.
My suggestion here is that, if any of the PCs have a power set that could be extended to provide transportation for the team, for the GM to offer a price break on the power which helps the GM resolve the team transportation problem. This could be allowing an Alternative Ability, or a -80% Limitation, on something like Warp (for teleportation or magic powers) or Flight (for telekinetics or air elementalists). This helps the GM with the logistics of getting the PCs where he/she wants them, while also allowing the player to leverage that same ability for other problem-solving, like bringing medics or scientists to an adventure location, evacuating civilians or refugees, etc, in ways that aren't dependent on GM fiat.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Super-Strength in GURPS - Part 1
Continuing my trend of weighing in on the GURPS topics that everyone has already discussed to death, we come to a favorite: Why doesn't GURPS handle super-powered characters with high Strength better?
OK, so what's the problem?
It can be summarized as "Bricks versus Blasters". To my mind, GURPS does a great job of describing characters with superpowers. It's the point cost disparity between characters who seem like they should be roughly comparable that gets my goat (and I'm hardly alone). Supers point budgets can easily go into several hundred points. What does that get you if you're a "Blaster" (in other words an energy projector like Cyclops of the X-Men or DC's Firestorm)? Well, 100 points of vanilla Innate Attack buys you a 20d ranged blast to annihilate your foes with. That averages 70 points of damage, enough to take an average person past -5xHP and into "you're just dead" territory instantly, no Death Checks need apply.
Now, our "Brick": 100 points of Strength buys you a mighty ST of ... 20. Hmm, that's obviously going to be trouble -- let's buy just Striking ST instead for a purer comparison.
100 points of Striking ST gives an effective ST of 30 for fightin', with base thrust damage of 3d, and swing 5d+2 to base your hand-to-hand attacks off of. There's no way to punch with Swing damage, so let's give our brick some help to maximize that Thrust damage: Blunt Claws for +1/die and a high Boxing skill for +2/die, netting us 3d+9, which is convertible to 5d+2. Oh, and a punch is actually thr-1 damage, so that's really 5d+1, averaging 17.5 points of damage. Compared to the Blaster's 70 points of damage (usable at range), 17.5 damage in Close Combat only doesn't seem like a good deal for those 100 points.
Maybe Innate Attack is too cheap.
Yeah, this is a reasonable critique of 4e GURPS. My buddy Erik suggested just doubling the price of Innate Attack in Supers games as a first pass at reconciling the point disparity, which I whole-heartedly endorse. By itself, it doesn't do enough though.
Didn't GURPS Supers solve this with Super-Effort?
Not well, to my mind. I find the Super-Effort solution presented in GURPS Supers unsatisfactory, as it's unnecessarily complex and introduces some odd effects. Effectively, it's a package of 1 normal ST and an exponential amount of Lifting ST or Striking ST resolved using the Speed/Range Table whenever you spend 1 FP for it, so 10 ST (Super-Effort +300%) [400] buys you +10 ST most of the time, or +100 ST when you spend 1 FP (because 100 is 10 steps up the Speed/Range Table).
This results in complex split-ST notation (ST 30/120), and since results are now exponential, the math curve means that, past a certain point, bricks will outperform all other damage-dealing methods.
So what would be a satisfactory solution?
There are a number of ways to try and tackle this problem. I'll categorize them as
1) Solutions from Basic & Powers
2) New Advantages or Techniques
3) Repricing ST
These will be explored in future posts. Didn't I warn you? Discussed to death.
OK, so what's the problem?
It can be summarized as "Bricks versus Blasters". To my mind, GURPS does a great job of describing characters with superpowers. It's the point cost disparity between characters who seem like they should be roughly comparable that gets my goat (and I'm hardly alone). Supers point budgets can easily go into several hundred points. What does that get you if you're a "Blaster" (in other words an energy projector like Cyclops of the X-Men or DC's Firestorm)? Well, 100 points of vanilla Innate Attack buys you a 20d ranged blast to annihilate your foes with. That averages 70 points of damage, enough to take an average person past -5xHP and into "you're just dead" territory instantly, no Death Checks need apply.
Now, our "Brick": 100 points of Strength buys you a mighty ST of ... 20. Hmm, that's obviously going to be trouble -- let's buy just Striking ST instead for a purer comparison.
100 points of Striking ST gives an effective ST of 30 for fightin', with base thrust damage of 3d, and swing 5d+2 to base your hand-to-hand attacks off of. There's no way to punch with Swing damage, so let's give our brick some help to maximize that Thrust damage: Blunt Claws for +1/die and a high Boxing skill for +2/die, netting us 3d+9, which is convertible to 5d+2. Oh, and a punch is actually thr-1 damage, so that's really 5d+1, averaging 17.5 points of damage. Compared to the Blaster's 70 points of damage (usable at range), 17.5 damage in Close Combat only doesn't seem like a good deal for those 100 points.
Maybe Innate Attack is too cheap.
Yeah, this is a reasonable critique of 4e GURPS. My buddy Erik suggested just doubling the price of Innate Attack in Supers games as a first pass at reconciling the point disparity, which I whole-heartedly endorse. By itself, it doesn't do enough though.
Didn't GURPS Supers solve this with Super-Effort?
Not well, to my mind. I find the Super-Effort solution presented in GURPS Supers unsatisfactory, as it's unnecessarily complex and introduces some odd effects. Effectively, it's a package of 1 normal ST and an exponential amount of Lifting ST or Striking ST resolved using the Speed/Range Table whenever you spend 1 FP for it, so 10 ST (Super-Effort +300%) [400] buys you +10 ST most of the time, or +100 ST when you spend 1 FP (because 100 is 10 steps up the Speed/Range Table).
This results in complex split-ST notation (ST 30/120), and since results are now exponential, the math curve means that, past a certain point, bricks will outperform all other damage-dealing methods.
So what would be a satisfactory solution?
There are a number of ways to try and tackle this problem. I'll categorize them as
1) Solutions from Basic & Powers
2) New Advantages or Techniques
3) Repricing ST
These will be explored in future posts. Didn't I warn you? Discussed to death.
Super-Colleges for GURPS Magic
Super-Colleges for GURPS Magic
Many years ago, preparing for a GURPS 3e game set in the time of Alexander the Great, I was looking for a way to group GURPS Magic spells into fewer colleges than the book presented. I liked the idea of wizards with talents focused more on some areas than others, but found the existing 20+ colleges too specific.
Aaron Kavli had done some work on a GURPS treatment of Harn's magic as "convocations", which I took as inspiration to group GURPS colleges into these super-colleges. For the Alexander campaign, I actually forbade any generalized Magery and instead required all mages to purchase Magery by Convocation only. This, obviously, is a campaign switch that should be adjusted to taste.
GURPS Thaumatology (p.42) suggests that reducing the number of colleges to 9 makes Single-College Magery a -30% disadvantage [7 pts/level], so we'll go with that here.
If you're planning to forbid standard Magery, you might do what I did then and reduce it to a flat 5 pts per level as a campaign setting, both to sweeten the pot a little for players who are sad about standard Magery, and to preserve GURPS pentaphilia.
Richard Cochener from the GURPS forums had an interesting suggestion, to allow overlap between super-colleges so that some GURPS colleges appear in 2 different convocations. He suggested the following alternate breakdown. I didn't go with it, but these groups feel good as well.
In conclusion, it's possible to give standard GURPS Magic a little different flavor just by grouping colleges together in ways that fit your campaign and your idea of how mages should work. Even if you don't want to tweak Magery itself, groups of colleges can be a fun way to theme spellbooks found as treasure, or to use as limitations on Powerstones and Manastones, etc etc.
Many years ago, preparing for a GURPS 3e game set in the time of Alexander the Great, I was looking for a way to group GURPS Magic spells into fewer colleges than the book presented. I liked the idea of wizards with talents focused more on some areas than others, but found the existing 20+ colleges too specific.
Aaron Kavli had done some work on a GURPS treatment of Harn's magic as "convocations", which I took as inspiration to group GURPS colleges into these super-colleges. For the Alexander campaign, I actually forbade any generalized Magery and instead required all mages to purchase Magery by Convocation only. This, obviously, is a campaign switch that should be adjusted to taste.
GURPS Thaumatology (p.42) suggests that reducing the number of colleges to 9 makes Single-College Magery a -30% disadvantage [7 pts/level], so we'll go with that here.
If you're planning to forbid standard Magery, you might do what I did then and reduce it to a flat 5 pts per level as a campaign setting, both to sweeten the pot a little for players who are sad about standard Magery, and to preserve GURPS pentaphilia.
| Convocation | GURPS Colleges |
|---|---|
| Earth Secrets | Earth, Making & Breaking, Metal spells |
| Cool Water | Water, Cold, Darkness, Silence spells |
| Whispering Wind | Air, Movement, Sound (but not Silence) |
| Bright Flame | Fire (not Cold), Light (not Dark), Illusion (not Creation) |
| Ways of the Mind | Comm. & Empathy, Knowledge, Mind Control |
| Nature's Ways | Animal, Plant, Food |
| Ways of the Body | Body Control, Healing |
| Wizard Ways | Enchantment, Meta-Spell, Protection & Warning |
| Grey Arts | Creation, Gate, Necromancy |
Richard Cochener from the GURPS forums had an interesting suggestion, to allow overlap between super-colleges so that some GURPS colleges appear in 2 different convocations. He suggested the following alternate breakdown. I didn't go with it, but these groups feel good as well.
| Convocation | GURPS Colleges |
|---|---|
| Earth Secrets | Earth, Making & Breaking, Metal, Plant spells |
| Cool Water | Water, Cold, Darkness, Silence spells |
| Whispering Wind | Air, Comm. & Empathy, Movement, Sound (but not Silence) |
| Bright Flame | Fire (not Cold), Light (not Dark), Illusion (not Creation), Knowledge |
| Ways of the Mind | Comm. & Empathy, Illusion (not Creation), Knowledge, Mind Control |
| Nature's Ways | Animal, Earth, Plant, Food |
| Ways of the Body | Body Control, Healing, Necromancy |
| Wizard Ways | Enchantment, Meta-Spell, Protection & Warning |
| Grey Arts | Creation, Gate, Mind Control, Necromancy |
In conclusion, it's possible to give standard GURPS Magic a little different flavor just by grouping colleges together in ways that fit your campaign and your idea of how mages should work. Even if you don't want to tweak Magery itself, groups of colleges can be a fun way to theme spellbooks found as treasure, or to use as limitations on Powerstones and Manastones, etc etc.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Out Of The Abyss (5e) - Introduction and Session 1
Started running a D&D 5e game back in August 2017, using the published hardcover Out Of The Abyss. I'll post session summaries here. I won't post anything the players can't see, but if you're not playing the adventure, this will include spoilers, so read at your peril.
PC Roster:
Airut Surma, a female half-drow bard
Dagon, a male bronze dragonborn barbarian
Endra Hammerpants, a female hill dwarf fighter
Jaeq Hael, a male human rogue, ahem, locksmith
Remi Embersight, a female halfling sorcerer
Out Of The Abyss takes the unusual position of starting the PCs in a Drow slaver cell, in the Underdark and without their equipment. No less than ten NPCs are also present in the cell; if you're planning to run this game, I strongly recommend perusing the internet for key bits of GM assistance that are available.
Endra and Remi's players decided that they knew each other prior to being captured, with Remi serving as an accountant of sorts for Endra's clan. The other PCs were captured separately by the drow. For most of the captured, it has taken several weeks of underground travel to reach this place.
The PCs and ten NPCs are being held in a drow cave outpost called Velkynvelve, under the command of Ilvara Mizzrym, a priestess of Lolth. The dark elves are assisted by a dozen or so quaggoths, shaggy savage creatures who act as guards and warriors for the drow.
The other prisoners are:
Buppido, a male derro
Prince Derendil, a male quaggoth (or polymorphed elf)
Eldeth Feldrun, a female shield dwarf
Jimjar, a male deep gnome
Ront, a male orc
Sarith Kzekarit, a male drow
Shu’ushar The Awakened, a male kuo-toa
Stool, a myconid sprout (renamed Shroom by the PCs)
Topsy, a young female deep gnome
Turvy, a young male deep gnome
Endra, Buppido, and Sareth are allowed out as a work party, and gather information about the layout of the place. Ront tries to bully Remi out of the mushroom slop they're being fed by the drow, and Dagon interposes, leading to a brawl that goes on for some time until the drow guards shoot poisoned bolts into the cell, poisoning Ront and critting Dagon.
Some friendly treatment of Shroom reveals that he can emit "rapport spores" that allow him and anyone within 30' to communicate telepathically for an hour. This overcomes some of the language difficulties in the cell, and plans are laid for a breakout.
PC Roster:
Airut Surma, a female half-drow bard
Dagon, a male bronze dragonborn barbarian
Endra Hammerpants, a female hill dwarf fighter
Jaeq Hael, a male human rogue, ahem, locksmith
Remi Embersight, a female halfling sorcerer
Out Of The Abyss takes the unusual position of starting the PCs in a Drow slaver cell, in the Underdark and without their equipment. No less than ten NPCs are also present in the cell; if you're planning to run this game, I strongly recommend perusing the internet for key bits of GM assistance that are available.
Endra and Remi's players decided that they knew each other prior to being captured, with Remi serving as an accountant of sorts for Endra's clan. The other PCs were captured separately by the drow. For most of the captured, it has taken several weeks of underground travel to reach this place.
The PCs and ten NPCs are being held in a drow cave outpost called Velkynvelve, under the command of Ilvara Mizzrym, a priestess of Lolth. The dark elves are assisted by a dozen or so quaggoths, shaggy savage creatures who act as guards and warriors for the drow.
The other prisoners are:
Buppido, a male derro
Prince Derendil, a male quaggoth (or polymorphed elf)
Eldeth Feldrun, a female shield dwarf
Jimjar, a male deep gnome
Ront, a male orc
Sarith Kzekarit, a male drow
Shu’ushar The Awakened, a male kuo-toa
Stool, a myconid sprout (renamed Shroom by the PCs)
Topsy, a young female deep gnome
Turvy, a young male deep gnome
Endra, Buppido, and Sareth are allowed out as a work party, and gather information about the layout of the place. Ront tries to bully Remi out of the mushroom slop they're being fed by the drow, and Dagon interposes, leading to a brawl that goes on for some time until the drow guards shoot poisoned bolts into the cell, poisoning Ront and critting Dagon.
Some friendly treatment of Shroom reveals that he can emit "rapport spores" that allow him and anyone within 30' to communicate telepathically for an hour. This overcomes some of the language difficulties in the cell, and plans are laid for a breakout.
Monday, January 8, 2018
"Rule of Three" for GURPS Magic
The "Rule of Three" is a houserule for magic that has been working quite well. The original goal was to eliminate skill 15 as a breakpoint for reduced energy cost, and instead assess a skill penalty for casting magic "on the cheap". It really took off when I realized how nice it is to have the same penalty (-3) for all sorts of things - no more looking up penalties!
- Halving of casting time (round up, minimum 1 second),
- Reduction of energy required by 1,
- Casting without chanting, or
- Casting without arcane gestures.
Note that spell resistance and chance of critical failure are based on adjusted spell skill!
Spell maintenance is normally at full energy cost, which requires no further rolls. If reduced cost is desired, the mage can re-roll the spell skill at -3 per point of energy reduced. This must be repeated for every maintenance cycle where reduced cost is desired.
Effects in play: This has allowed for more varied character builds, since optimizing for skill-15 with 1 pt in the spell is no longer necessary. Resisted spells are typically cast at full energy cost, while utility spells are almost always cast as cheaply as possible - this does make the rolls a little more interesting, since players like to drop skill low enough to save energy, but high enough that they'll probably make the roll and not waste 1 FP.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Partial DR for Low Tech Armor in GURPS
Hit locations in GURPS (face, chest, abdomen, hand, leg, etc) strike a nice balance between complexity and playability. Back in high school, I played a lot of Aftermath, which used 30 hit locations and was overly detailed. GURPS' 13 locations* is a lot more manageable.
Still, we sometimes want to model real-world armor that doesn't nicely fit the 13 hit locations. For example, one might have greaves that cover the shin and knee, but not the thigh, or a Viking helmet with a nasal guard that is otherwise open-faced.
One way to do this is to randomly determine if the partial armor is in the way, which is the approach used by Low-Tech. If you have partial armor, like cheekguards for the Face location, then there is an X in 6 chance to have the armor count against a particular hit. While this models the armor coverage well, it's also a bit cumbersome in play, and GURPS combat resolution is already slower than I would like.
A different approach, that I've used successfully in a TL3/4 campaign, is to assign fractional DR values to the partial coverage. So, a DR 6 nasal on a helmet that would apply to Face DR 1/6 of the time just becomes DR 1 for the Face. DR 2 leather bracers that only cover half the arm (the forearms) end up being DR 1 for the Arms as a whole.
This makes a lot of historical and fantasy armor much easier to use in play. DR 2 tall boots that come up to the knee? They give DR 2 to the Foot and DR 1 to the Leg. A mail hauberk with enough length to cover the thighs? Just apply half the mail's DR to the legs.
What about layering armor? If the pieces don't actually overlap, it can be done with no penalty, so tall boots that cover the calf work well with a long hauberk that protects the thigh, each providing the Leg location some protection.
If this approach seems a bit abstract, and not exacting enough, it's worth keeping in mind that armor values already represent an average for the location. No armor is without variation over its area of coverage; there are always a few gaps, differences in thickness, and potential angles of weakness. To my mind, one of the things a damage roll represents is "shot placement" - how well the attack lines up, not only to cause injury, but also to penetrate any barriers to injury. With this in mind, a "partial DR" approach seems like a nice balance, allowing for interesting (and historical) armor choices while retaining fast resolution at the table.
A small sample of armors that provide partial DR, using Low-Tech armor values:
* 13 lines on the location chart, 11 entries in the random hit table, or 16 locations if you count the left and right eye/hand/foot separately.
Still, we sometimes want to model real-world armor that doesn't nicely fit the 13 hit locations. For example, one might have greaves that cover the shin and knee, but not the thigh, or a Viking helmet with a nasal guard that is otherwise open-faced.
One way to do this is to randomly determine if the partial armor is in the way, which is the approach used by Low-Tech. If you have partial armor, like cheekguards for the Face location, then there is an X in 6 chance to have the armor count against a particular hit. While this models the armor coverage well, it's also a bit cumbersome in play, and GURPS combat resolution is already slower than I would like.
A different approach, that I've used successfully in a TL3/4 campaign, is to assign fractional DR values to the partial coverage. So, a DR 6 nasal on a helmet that would apply to Face DR 1/6 of the time just becomes DR 1 for the Face. DR 2 leather bracers that only cover half the arm (the forearms) end up being DR 1 for the Arms as a whole.
This makes a lot of historical and fantasy armor much easier to use in play. DR 2 tall boots that come up to the knee? They give DR 2 to the Foot and DR 1 to the Leg. A mail hauberk with enough length to cover the thighs? Just apply half the mail's DR to the legs.
What about layering armor? If the pieces don't actually overlap, it can be done with no penalty, so tall boots that cover the calf work well with a long hauberk that protects the thigh, each providing the Leg location some protection.
If this approach seems a bit abstract, and not exacting enough, it's worth keeping in mind that armor values already represent an average for the location. No armor is without variation over its area of coverage; there are always a few gaps, differences in thickness, and potential angles of weakness. To my mind, one of the things a damage roll represents is "shot placement" - how well the attack lines up, not only to cause injury, but also to penetrate any barriers to injury. With this in mind, a "partial DR" approach seems like a nice balance, allowing for interesting (and historical) armor choices while retaining fast resolution at the table.
A small sample of armors that provide partial DR, using Low-Tech armor values:
| Coifs and Helmets | ||||||
| Armor | Location | DR | Cost | Weight | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier's Helm | Skull (3-4 only) and partial Face | 4 (Face 2) | $185 | 4 lbs | Standard Byzantine infantry helmet; Cheap skullcap with nasal and hinged cheekguards | |
| Northman Helm | Skull (3-4 only) and partial Face | 6 (Face 1) | $525 | 4 lbs | Conical skullcap with nasal; Cheap version is $250, 5 lbs | |
| Open helmet, Light | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 4 (Face 2) | $430 | 3.5 lbs | Open bascinet with nasal and earless cheekguards; Cheap is $230, 4.5 lbs | |
| Open helmet, Med. | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 8 (Face 4) | $1005 | 8 lbs | Open bascinet with nasal and earless cheekguards; Cheap is $460, 9 lbs | |
| Open helmet, Heavy | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 12 (Face 6) | $1580 | 12.5 lbs | Open bascinet with nasal and earless cheekguards; Cheap is $690, 14 lbs | |
| Barbute, Light | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 5 (Face 3) | $575 | 4.5 lbs | Bascinet with rigid cheekguards and nasal; -4 Hearing; Cheap is $290, 6 lbs | |
| Barbute, Med. | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 8 (Face 5) | $1005 | 8 lbs | Bascinet with rigid cheekguards and nasal; -4 Hearing; Cheap is $460, 9 lbs | |
| Barbute, Heavy | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 11 (Face 7) | $1440 | 11.5 lbs | Bascinet with rigid cheekguards and nasal; -4 Hearing; Cheap is $635, 12.5 lbs | |
| Barbute, X-Heavy | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 14 (Face 9) | $1870 | 15 lbs | Bascinet with rigid cheekguards and nasal; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $18,700, 11 lbs | |
| Spectacle Helm | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear), Eyes, and partial Face | 6 (Face 5) | $750 | 6 lbs | Bascinet with cheekguards, nasal, and eye protection; -4 Hearing; No Peripheral Vision | |
| Spectacle Helm, Heavy | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear), Eyes, and partial Face | 10 (Face 8) | $1350 | 11 lbs | Bascinet with full cheekguards, nasal, and eye protection; -4 Hearing; No Peripheral Vision | |
| Dwarven Helm | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 6 (Face 1) | $2500 | 4 lbs | Open-faced with ear coverage; Hardened; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $25K, 3 lbs | |
| Dwarven Helm, Heavy | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 9 (Face 1) | $4375 | 7 lbs | Open-faced with ear coverage; Hardened; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $44K, 5 lbs | |
| Dwarven Helm, X-Heavy | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 12 (Face 2) | $6250 | 10 lbs | Open-faced with ear coverage; Hardened; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $62,500, 7.5 lbs | |
| Dwarven War Mask | Eyes and Face | 4 | $500 | 0.8 lbs | No Peripheral Vision; Hardened; -1 add'l Fatigue after fights due to restricted breathing | |
| w/heavier plate | - | per +1 up to 15 | +$250 | +0.4 lbs | ||
| Visored Bascinet w/Visor up | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 6 (Face 1) | $780 | 6.5 lbs | Open-faced bascinet with ear coverage, with flip-up Visor; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $7800, 4.5 lbs | |
| w/Visor down | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear), Eyes, and Face | 6 | - | - | Ready action to flip up/down; No Peripheral Vision when down; -1 add'l Fatigue after fights due to restricted breathing | |
| Visored Bascinet, Heavy, w/Visor up | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 9 (Face 1) | $1250 | 10 lbs | Open-faced bascinet with ear coverage, with flip-up Visor; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $12,500, 7.5 lbs | |
| w/Visor down | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear), Eyes, and Face | 9 | - | - | Ready action to flip up/down; No Peripheral Vision when down; -1 add'l Fatigue after fights due to restricted breathing | |
| Visored Bascinet, X-Heavy, w/Visor up | Skull (3-4 & 5 rear) and partial Face | 12 (Face 2) | $1720 | 14 lbs | Open-faced bascinet with ear coverage, with flip-up Visor; -4 Hearing; Single-piece is $17,200, 10.5 lbs | |
| Long hauberks (Full torso and groin coverage, plus sleeves and thigh coverage) | ||||||
| Armor | Location | DR | Cost | Weight | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bezainted long hauberk | Chest and Abdomen (9-11), Arms, partial Legs | 2 (3 vs cut) | $300 | 38 lbs | Layered leather reinforced with iron discs; half DR on legs | |
| Light mail long hauberk | Chest and Abdomen (9-11), Arms, partial Legs | 3 (1 vs cr) | $1000 | 24 lbs | Concealable (Holdout-1); half DR on legs; Dwarven option: Hardened, +1 DR, Cost x5 | |
| Fine mail long hauberk | Chest and Abdomen (9-11), Arms, partial Legs | 4 (2 vs cr) | $1800 | 30 lbs | Half DR on legs; Dwarven option: Hardened, +1 DR, Cost x5 | |
| Heavy mail long hauberk | Chest and Abdomen (9-11), Arms, partial Legs | 5 (3 vs cr) | $2400 | 36 lbs | Half DR on legs; Dwarven option: Hardened, +1 DR, Cost x5 | |
| Bracers (Partial arm coverage) | ||||||
| Armor | Location | DR | Cost | Weight | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Leather bracers | Partial arms | 1 | $50 | 4 lbs | Alchemically treated cuirbouilli, does not count towards swimming encumbrance | |
| Light plate bracers | Partial arms | 2 | $375 | 3 lbs | Cheap is $200, 4 lbs | |
| Medium plate bracers | Partial arms | 3 | $625 | 5 lbs | Cheap is $300, 6 lbs | |
| Medium plate bracers | Partial arms | 4 | $875 | 7 lbs | Cheap is $400, 8 lbs | |
| Heavy plate bracers | Partial arms | 5 | $1125 | 9 lbs | Cheap is $500, 10 lbs | |
| Extra-heavy bracers | Partial arms | 6 | $1375 | 11 lbs | Cheap is $600, 12 lbs | |
| Extra-heavy bracers | Partial arms | 7 | $1625 | 13 lbs | (no Cheap version) | |
| Greaves (shin and knee coverage, front only, can combine with thigh armor) | ||||||
| Armor | Location | DR | Cost | Weight | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Leather greaves | Partial legs, front only | +1 | $50 | 4 lbs | Alchemically treated cuirbouilli, does not count towards swimming encumbrance | |
| Light plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +1.5 | $250 | 2 lbs | Cheap is $150, 3 lbs | |
| Light plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +2 | $375 | 3 lbs | Cheap is $200, 4 lbs | |
| Light plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +2.5 | $500 | 4 lbs | Cheap is $250, 5 lbs | |
| Medium plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +3 | $625 | 5 lbs | Cheap is $300, 6 lbs | |
| Medium plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +3.5 | $750 | 6 lbs | Cheap is $350, 7 lbs | |
| Medium plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +4 | $875 | 7 lbs | Cheap is $400, 8 lbs | |
| Heavy plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +4.5 | $1000 | 8 lbs | Cheap is $450, 9 lbs | |
| Heavy plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +5 | $1125 | 9 lbs | Cheap is $500, 10 lbs | |
| Heavy plate greaves | Partial legs, front only | +5.5 | $1250 | 10 lbs | Cheap is $550, 11 lbs | |
| Extra-heavy greaves | Partial legs, front only | +6 | $1375 | 11 lbs | Cheap is $600, 12 lbs | |
| Extra-heavy greaves | Partial legs, front only | +6.5 | $1500 | 12 lbs | Cheap is $650, 13 lbs | |
| Extra-heavy greaves | Partial legs, front only | +7 | $1625 | 13 lbs | (no Cheap version) | |
| Footwear | ||||||
| Armor | Location | DR | Cost | Weight | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Boots | Feet, partial Legs | 2 | $80 | 3 lbs | Half DR on Legs | |
| Soft High Boots | Feet, partial Legs | 1 vs cut only | $60 | 2 lb | +1 to Stealth, half DR on Legs | |
* 13 lines on the location chart, 11 entries in the random hit table, or 16 locations if you count the left and right eye/hand/foot separately.
Monday, August 21, 2017
GURPS DFRPG changes to Slam damage
So the PDFs for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game box dropped ahead of time, which is exciting. My very, very superficial readthrough so far suggests it's mostly a consolidation of the Dungeon Fantasy line, with armor significantly tweaked, and the addition of a dedicated compendium for Spells, hand-picked and modified for DF usage. I didn't see as much simplification from GURPS DF as I was (frankly) expecting.
It's early days yet, so the fans will be finding more changes, but one that jumps out is a new formula for Slam damage. I've always found the base 4e formula unsatisfying due to its breakpoints, and some awkward phrasing that begged to be replaced by a little lookup table, so this is a very welcome change. Let's see how the new formula adds up!
Old (B371):
HP x Velocity = Damage
01-25 = 1d-3
26-50 = 1d-2
51-99 = 1d-1
100-149 = 1d
150-249 = 2d
250-349 = 3d, etc
New (DFRPG Exploits p.40):
thr-2, modified /per die/ by velocity off the Speed/Range table
1 yard = -2 per die
2 yards = flat
3-4 yards = +1 per die
5-6 yards = +2 per die
7-9 yards = +3 per die, etc
All a bit abstract, you say? Let's do some examples, and compare Old vs New.
ST 7 Goblin at 5 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d-3. Pretty similar.
ST 7 Quickling at 15 yards
Old: 1d / New: 1d. OK, didn't expect those to equal out.
ST 10 Spearman at 5 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d-2. No change.
ST 10 Wolf (B458) at 9 yards
Old: 1d-1 / New: 1d-1. No change.
ST 12 Man At Arms at 4 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d-2. Seriously? Identical again?
ST 12 Super Speedster at 40 yards
Old: 5d / New: 1d+4. Wow, here's a big difference. Using the Speed/Range table means pure speed no longer multiplies your damage, because logarithms.
ST 15 Slow Brute at 3 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d. Significant for DF purposes. A slow Slam by a big guy is more viable than before.
ST 15 Fast Brute at 7 yards
Old: 1d / New: 1d+2. Still holding true at faster speeds. Big, strong Slammers will have a stronger advantage than before, at fast or slow speeds.
ST 20 Minotaur at 6 yards
Old: 1d / New: 2d+1. Wow, average damage more than doubled.
ST 24 Heavy Warhorse (B460) at 8 yards (Medium encumbrance)
Old: 2d / New: 2d+5. Not as dramatic as the minotaur, but enough damage to reliably injure even a man in heavy plate.
ST 45 Elephant (B460) at 8 yards
Old: 4d / New: 5d+13. Average damage more than doubles.
OK, the results are in, and Velocity is dethroned as the king of Slam damage under these rules. Now, it's all about muscle. I'm quite surprised how little damage itself changes for ST 7-12 at normal speeds, but the increase for high ST is dramatic. I'm especially happy to get rid of the old breakpoint where a small difference turned a 1d Slam into a 2d Slam. Go GURPS!
It's early days yet, so the fans will be finding more changes, but one that jumps out is a new formula for Slam damage. I've always found the base 4e formula unsatisfying due to its breakpoints, and some awkward phrasing that begged to be replaced by a little lookup table, so this is a very welcome change. Let's see how the new formula adds up!
Old (B371):
HP x Velocity = Damage
01-25 = 1d-3
26-50 = 1d-2
51-99 = 1d-1
100-149 = 1d
150-249 = 2d
250-349 = 3d, etc
New (DFRPG Exploits p.40):
thr-2, modified /per die/ by velocity off the Speed/Range table
1 yard = -2 per die
2 yards = flat
3-4 yards = +1 per die
5-6 yards = +2 per die
7-9 yards = +3 per die, etc
All a bit abstract, you say? Let's do some examples, and compare Old vs New.
ST 7 Goblin at 5 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d-3. Pretty similar.
ST 7 Quickling at 15 yards
Old: 1d / New: 1d. OK, didn't expect those to equal out.
ST 10 Spearman at 5 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d-2. No change.
ST 10 Wolf (B458) at 9 yards
Old: 1d-1 / New: 1d-1. No change.
ST 12 Man At Arms at 4 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d-2. Seriously? Identical again?
ST 12 Super Speedster at 40 yards
Old: 5d / New: 1d+4. Wow, here's a big difference. Using the Speed/Range table means pure speed no longer multiplies your damage, because logarithms.
ST 15 Slow Brute at 3 yards
Old: 1d-2 / New: 1d. Significant for DF purposes. A slow Slam by a big guy is more viable than before.
ST 15 Fast Brute at 7 yards
Old: 1d / New: 1d+2. Still holding true at faster speeds. Big, strong Slammers will have a stronger advantage than before, at fast or slow speeds.
ST 20 Minotaur at 6 yards
Old: 1d / New: 2d+1. Wow, average damage more than doubled.
ST 24 Heavy Warhorse (B460) at 8 yards (Medium encumbrance)
Old: 2d / New: 2d+5. Not as dramatic as the minotaur, but enough damage to reliably injure even a man in heavy plate.
ST 45 Elephant (B460) at 8 yards
Old: 4d / New: 5d+13. Average damage more than doubles.
OK, the results are in, and Velocity is dethroned as the king of Slam damage under these rules. Now, it's all about muscle. I'm quite surprised how little damage itself changes for ST 7-12 at normal speeds, but the increase for high ST is dramatic. I'm especially happy to get rid of the old breakpoint where a small difference turned a 1d Slam into a 2d Slam. Go GURPS!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)