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Old 12-19-2011, 01:13 PM   #7
munin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Vermont, USA
Default Re: Immunity to specific disadvantage

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty View Post
Perk. Compare some of the 5-point immunities, such as "Immunity to All Age-Based Attacks." Such things are clearly broader than "Immunity to Attacks That Inflict Low Pain Threshold." ...
I'll accept it being a perk on authority, but I wouldn't say Immunity to All Age-Based Attacks is "clearly broader" than Immunity to LPT. LPT can be inflicted by a number of natural sources (radiation, drugs, even hangovers), whereas age-based attacks are limited to supernatural means or ultra-tech methods like a proteus nano-virus. So adventurers could encounter an infliction of LPT in any setting, whereas age-based attacks are much more limited.

There are also a number of disadvantages involving resistance rolls I would feel very uncomfortable about allowing characters to be immune to for just a perk. Can you take Immunity to Attacks That Inflict Blindness [1] so as to be immune to anything where you need to roll to resist blindness? Having immunity to attacks which inflict Infectious Attack basically grants immunity to all Infectious Attacks -- one specific Infectious Attack (e.g., the one specific zombie plague in a zombie setting) would be worth only a perk, but all of them? (vampires, lycanthropes, multiple kinds of zombies, etc.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
If things like poison ivy/oak count as a poison, then real people can have immunity to it like my family.
In terms of GURPS rules I think it makes sense to count such as poisons, but I think (and you may know more about this than I do) the jury is still out on whether people are actually immune or just need more exposure to develop a response (although that may be defined as losing your Immunity).

But also in terms of GURPS rules, people who haven't suffered any ill effects from poison ivy may simply be Resistant to it rather than immune (after all, effective HT 10 + Resistant +3 gives an 84% chance for no effects, though rolls against poison ivy may be at a penalty), so if one was trying to use the lack of response as evidence of a trait you would need many exposures to really rule out Resistant in favor of Immunity (or especially to differentiate Resistant +8 from Immunity).

Please don't conduct these tests! : )

Last edited by munin; 12-19-2011 at 04:46 PM.
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