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Old 06-11-2015, 09:39 AM   #12
kabson
 
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Somewhere outside London, UK
Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by T.K. View Post
I don't see why would you want to do something like this... could you add some context so we can try to further pin what you're looking for?
Fair question. This stems from a few thoughts about abstracting away some areas of GURPS. In this case money during character creation, or advantages that add money.

That lead me to ponder... If you're spending cp to get money, and that money is used to buy benefits for the character, then are you actually getting your cp's worth? I thought armor was a good place to start as it's a big-ticket item and relatively simple to design. (I wouldn't want to see all equipment as points, just some of the character-defining items that are so important during character creation).

So, a suit of basic plate costs, say, $2500, then, that would be 5pts of signature gear... How does that compare to ~5 DR with those heavy parentheses of limitations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by T.K. View Post
Your best bet is Signature Gear, imo. Keep in mind Gadget rules specifically say that you _shouldn't_ build purchaseable gear with character points or charge players CPs for such mundane items...
Ultimately I think you're right, the advice not to do this is sound. But curiosity got the better of me, and I thought some of you GURPS forum regulars might enjoy the challenge.

Quote:
Originally Posted by T.K. View Post
BUT If you really want to build armor for points, I'd do something along these lines:

Plate Set

DR 8 [40] + Noisy 2 [-4] + Restricted Vision: No Peripheral Vision [-15] (Cannot Wear Plate Armor, -20%* ; Nuisance Effect: Weights 80 pounds, -15% ; Nuisance Effect: Difficult to stealth and easy to notice, -5% ; Nuisance Effect: Fully armored/Looking for trouble/-2 Reactions, -10% ; Preparation Required: 1min to don armor, -20% ; Breakable: Needs Special Repair, -25% ; Can be Stolen: Not immediately work for the thief, -5%) [5]

* DR has a limitation of "Cannot Wear Armor" as -40%. Since I want to portrait that the character cannot use another Plate set but CAN use a Leather or Cloth set under his Plate set, I'm judging that limitation is only worth half it's normal value, thus using 20% only and allowing the use of a supposed Leather/Cloth set produced this way to represent layering.

So, basically, a complete Plate set that covers all your body (except eyes) giving DR 8 but is noisy giving -2 to stealth rolls, reducing peripheral vision as a Legion Helm, needs to be donned which takes 1min and weights 80 pounds costs 5 CPs.
That's very much the kind of thing I was hoping for. Thank you. I especially like the 'looking for trouble' penalty.

If we really get into the mechanics, could 'weight' as a nuisance effect become -1 move? Or even a modified ST penalty? (oh, wait. No, that's terrible. That's bypassing the encumbrance system, which is an entirely different kettle of fish).

Last edited by kabson; 06-11-2015 at 10:12 AM. Reason: oh wait...
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