Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#32): Damage Resistance, Nictitating Membrane

Otaku · 02-14-2017, 04:51 PM

Last Week: Cultural Adaptability, Cultural Familiarity, Xeno-Adaptability
Next Week: Danger Sense, Precognition, Psychometry

This week we’ll be covering Damage Resistance, Limited Defenses, and Nictitating Membrane. Damage Resistance is a pretty deep topic in its own right, which is part of why I fell behind my posting schedule. It has many, many Enhancements and Limitations that cause it to act almost as an entirely different Advantage, so we’ll be covering those in some detail as well. Limited Defenses aren’t a trait at all, but a ruleset that seems too detailed not to discuss, and will come up again later with other traits. Nictitating Membrane seems too closely related to Damage Resistance to be worth discussing on its own, even if we already have a full plate. I would have liked to include Injury Tolerance, but that is also a robust topic like Damage Resistance.

Basic

Damage Resistance (p. B46-47) is an Exotic, Physical trait that represents one’s body being capable of absorbing damage without ill effect. The baseline version of this trait costs 5 CP per level and absorbs one point of damage (from physical or energy based attacks). This takes place after applying any other source of DR you might be wearing, but before applying damage modifiers. It does not apply to eyes, windows, or (presumably) similar bits, nor does it reduce damage taken from sources like mental attacks, starvation damage, etc.

While labeled “Exotic”, some mundane possibilities do allow (or require) purchasing DR; various creatures can have natural DR 1 through DR 5 with the lower end representing tough skin or a pelt and the upper end representing things like the shell of the giant tortoise. Many objects can and will have DR as well, and if you’re a robot, super-powered being, supernatural entity, or other unnatural creature then you may be able to purchase DR as well. There are many Modifiers listed just for Damage Resistance, with all but Absorption being found on p. B47 (Absorption is on p. B46).

Ablative is a Limitation that causes DR to stop damage just once. It is not lost permanently, but it does take time to heal, at the same rate as your HP, including effects like Regeneration. This trait can represent a variety of things, from natural armors to force fields, and can also be used to fake high HP for characters that defy usual HP guidelines, like Supers. -80%

Each level of your DR enhanced by Absorption still stops one point of damage, but also generates one temporary Character Point that initially goes into a reserve pool just for them. If your reserve is full, your DR still protects you from damage but will not generate more temporary CP. This temporary CP may be spent on certain things, but whether you spend it or not it drains away at a rate of 1 CP/second. Unspent points drain away first. Once spent, you may not reallocate this temporary CP, and traits purchased are lost as the CP drains away; I am uncertain if you lose a purchased trait the instant the first of its CP is lost or when the very last point drains away. What you may purchase depends on how much you paid for this Enhancement. For +80% you may spend this CP to recover lost HP and FP at 2 CP/point or 3 CP/point, respectively, or you may increase one of your traits (determined at character creation). For +100% you may spend it on any of your traits or healing. CP spent on healing is permanent, draining your reserve of those points immediately. Finally, you are not able to absorb damage directly from your own ST or attack abilities. This cannot be combined with Reflection (see below). +80% or +100%

If you purchase your DR with the Can’t Wear Armor Limitation, you either can’t or won’t wear anything over it. -40%

The Directional Limitation means that instead of protecting from all sides, your DR is only good versus damage coming from a specific direction. The cost varies according to direction and humanoids may only take it for the front or back. Front is -20%, Back, Right, Left, Top, or Underside are -40%.

The Flexible Limitation represents non-rigid DR and thus leaves you vulnerable to blunt trauma. -20%

The Force Field Enhancement causes your DR to project a short distance from your body, enough so that it also protects your eyes and anything you are carrying. Your Force Field DR will apply before worn armors and will protect against things like touch attacks. +20%

The Hardened is a leveled Enhancement that counteracts armor divisors. Each level of this trait shifts the armor divisor down by a step until it reaches 1 (which means no Armor Divisor). The steps are as follows: Ignores DR, 100, 10, 5, 3, 2 and 1.

Limited only applies to a particular kind of damage, which is where Limited Defenses kicks in. The categories for Limited Defenses are Very Common at -20%, Common at -40%, Occasional at -60%, and Rare at -80%.

The Partial Limitation allows you to represent DR that only protects one Hit Location. The value is -10% for Torso Only, or -10% per -1 of penalty to hit that location. When dealing with something that comes in multiples, like arms, and only one is protected, all limbs of that type are protected; the value of the limitation doubles if only one is protected.

DR purchased with the Reflection Enhancement doesn’t just stop damage, but reflects it back at the source, one point of damage per point of DR with Reflection. The attacker gets no defense roll unless it knows such a thing is likely, namely if this is not the first attack being reflected back. Reflection only works against direct hits, not area effects, and cannot be combined with Absorption (see above). +100%

The Semi-Ablative Limitation is a less severe form of Ablative (see above) and cannot be combined with it. Semi-Ablative DR is lost at one point of DR per 10 points of damage it stops. Damage penetration doesn’t matter, and it heals at the same rate as your HP (as with Ablative). -20%

The Tough Skin Limitation is just what it sounds like; your Damage Resistance score comes from having tougher skin than normal, which means all the drawbacks of Flexible (see above) apply, plus a few more. Even without breaching your Tough Skin DR, scratches can deliver poison, and touches can deliver spells, mess with pressure points, carry electric shocks, etc. You cannot combine this with Flexible because it includes it, and you cannot combine it with Force Field (see above) because they are opposites.

Nictitating Membrane (p. B71) is an Exotic, Physical trait usually represented by a transparent lens that you may open and close like an eyelid, which protects your eyes from various irritants. This grants +1 DR/level for your eyes and +1 to HT rolls concerning eye damage.

Other Supplements

GURPS Powers Seems to mostly explain the above in greater detail, giving examples of where it makes sense to add DR or Nictitating Membrane to a Power, or Abilities built using either trait. GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks lists some of the Perks that include having DR (Iron Body Parts) and some that can serve as an Unusual Background justifying DR (Fur, Scales, Special Exercises). Other Perks may require DR before they can be taken (Striking Surface).

Useful Links

Pending. I regret to inform you that I simply ran out of time, so feel free to suggest even obvious ones.

02-14-2017, 04:51 PM	#1
Otaku Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: South Dakota, USA	[Basic] Advantage of the Week (#32): Damage Resistance, Nictitating Membrane Last Week: Cultural Adaptability, Cultural Familiarity, Xeno-Adaptability Next Week: Danger Sense, Precognition, Psychometry This week we’ll be covering Damage Resistance, Limited Defenses, and Nictitating Membrane. Damage Resistance is a pretty deep topic in its own right, which is part of why I fell behind my posting schedule. It has many, many Enhancements and Limitations that cause it to act almost as an entirely different Advantage, so we’ll be covering those in some detail as well. Limited Defenses aren’t a trait at all, but a ruleset that seems too detailed not to discuss, and will come up again later with other traits. Nictitating Membrane seems too closely related to Damage Resistance to be worth discussing on its own, even if we already have a full plate. I would have liked to include Injury Tolerance, but that is also a robust topic like Damage Resistance. Basic Damage Resistance (p. B46-47) is an Exotic, Physical trait that represents one’s body being capable of absorbing damage without ill effect. The baseline version of this trait costs 5 CP per level and absorbs one point of damage (from physical or energy based attacks). This takes place after applying any other source of DR you might be wearing, but before applying damage modifiers. It does not apply to eyes, windows, or (presumably) similar bits, nor does it reduce damage taken from sources like mental attacks, starvation damage, etc. While labeled “Exotic”, some mundane possibilities do allow (or require) purchasing DR; various creatures can have natural DR 1 through DR 5 with the lower end representing tough skin or a pelt and the upper end representing things like the shell of the giant tortoise. Many objects can and will have DR as well, and if you’re a robot, super-powered being, supernatural entity, or other unnatural creature then you may be able to purchase DR as well. There are many Modifiers listed just for Damage Resistance, with all but Absorption being found on p. B47 (Absorption is on p. B46). Ablative is a Limitation that causes DR to stop damage just once. It is not lost permanently, but it does take time to heal, at the same rate as your HP, including effects like Regeneration. This trait can represent a variety of things, from natural armors to force fields, and can also be used to fake high HP for characters that defy usual HP guidelines, like Supers. -80% Each level of your DR enhanced by Absorption still stops one point of damage, but also generates one temporary Character Point that initially goes into a reserve pool just for them. If your reserve is full, your DR still protects you from damage but will not generate more temporary CP. This temporary CP may be spent on certain things, but whether you spend it or not it drains away at a rate of 1 CP/second. Unspent points drain away first. Once spent, you may not reallocate this temporary CP, and traits purchased are lost as the CP drains away; I am uncertain if you lose a purchased trait the instant the first of its CP is lost or when the very last point drains away. What you may purchase depends on how much you paid for this Enhancement. For +80% you may spend this CP to recover lost HP and FP at 2 CP/point or 3 CP/point, respectively, or you may increase one of your traits (determined at character creation). For +100% you may spend it on any of your traits or healing. CP spent on healing is permanent, draining your reserve of those points immediately. Finally, you are not able to absorb damage directly from your own ST or attack abilities. This cannot be combined with Reflection (see below). +80% or +100% If you purchase your DR with the Can’t Wear Armor Limitation, you either can’t or won’t wear anything over it. -40% The Directional Limitation means that instead of protecting from all sides, your DR is only good versus damage coming from a specific direction. The cost varies according to direction and humanoids may only take it for the front or back. Front is -20%, Back, Right, Left, Top, or Underside are -40%. The Flexible Limitation represents non-rigid DR and thus leaves you vulnerable to blunt trauma. -20% The Force Field Enhancement causes your DR to project a short distance from your body, enough so that it also protects your eyes and anything you are carrying. Your Force Field DR will apply before worn armors and will protect against things like touch attacks. +20% The Hardened is a leveled Enhancement that counteracts armor divisors. Each level of this trait shifts the armor divisor down by a step until it reaches 1 (which means no Armor Divisor). The steps are as follows: Ignores DR, 100, 10, 5, 3, 2 and 1. Limited only applies to a particular kind of damage, which is where Limited Defenses kicks in. The categories for Limited Defenses are Very Common at -20%, Common at -40%, Occasional at -60%, and Rare at -80%. The Partial Limitation allows you to represent DR that only protects one Hit Location. The value is -10% for Torso Only, or -10% per -1 of penalty to hit that location. When dealing with something that comes in multiples, like arms, and only one is protected, all limbs of that type are protected; the value of the limitation doubles if only one is protected. DR purchased with the Reflection Enhancement doesn’t just stop damage, but reflects it back at the source, one point of damage per point of DR with Reflection. The attacker gets no defense roll unless it knows such a thing is likely, namely if this is not the first attack being reflected back. Reflection only works against direct hits, not area effects, and cannot be combined with Absorption (see above). +100% The Semi-Ablative Limitation is a less severe form of Ablative (see above) and cannot be combined with it. Semi-Ablative DR is lost at one point of DR per 10 points of damage it stops. Damage penetration doesn’t matter, and it heals at the same rate as your HP (as with Ablative). -20% The Tough Skin Limitation is just what it sounds like; your Damage Resistance score comes from having tougher skin than normal, which means all the drawbacks of Flexible (see above) apply, plus a few more. Even without breaching your Tough Skin DR, scratches can deliver poison, and touches can deliver spells, mess with pressure points, carry electric shocks, etc. You cannot combine this with Flexible because it includes it, and you cannot combine it with Force Field (see above) because they are opposites. Nictitating Membrane (p. B71) is an Exotic, Physical trait usually represented by a transparent lens that you may open and close like an eyelid, which protects your eyes from various irritants. This grants +1 DR/level for your eyes and +1 to HT rolls concerning eye damage. Other Supplements GURPS Powers Seems to mostly explain the above in greater detail, giving examples of where it makes sense to add DR or Nictitating Membrane to a Power, or Abilities built using either trait. GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks lists some of the Perks that include having DR (Iron Body Parts) and some that can serve as an Unusual Background justifying DR (Fur, Scales, Special Exercises). Other Perks may require DR before they can be taken (Striking Surface). Useful Links Pending. I regret to inform you that I simply ran out of time, so feel free to suggest even obvious ones. __________________ My GURPS Fourth Edition library consists of Basic Set: Characters, Basic Set: Campaigns, Martial Arts, Powers, Powers: Enhanced Senses, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, Power-Ups 6: Quirks, Power-Ups 8: Limitations, Powers, Social Engineering, Supers, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races, one issue of Pyramid (3/83) a.k.a. Alternate GURPS IV, GURPS Classic Rogues, and GURPS Classic Warriors. Most of which was provided through the generosity of others. Thanks! :) Last edited by Otaku; 02-21-2017 at 04:27 PM.