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Old 10-08-2015, 10:22 AM   #5
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Real world HP and FP equivalents

For damage, I tend to think in terms of the effects. For general injury, how many of these could a typical person take before they'd tend to need to collapse and stop fighting? Divide heath 10 by that number to find the damage points I'm thinking of. So a weapon that would usually "one-shot" someone probably averages at least 10 points of damage. Two hits to take someone out? Probably more like 5-6 points average.

And for minor injuries, I think "would ten or so of these probably take me/someone out?" If so, it's 1 point - if "no, even 20 of these wouldn't make someone collapse" then it's probably no even a point of actual damage.

If I'm thinking of a head or limb injury, then I similarly "reverse-engineer" based on the likely effects.

I also take into account my understanding of the healing rules. A lot of the "damage" in GURPS is actually the effect of shock rather than flesh destruction. This is why doing first aid well restores some points of damage from each wound immediately - it's recovery from shock and/or preventing bad healing and minor infections. And as an expert GM, I also take into account the optional bleeding and disease rules...

Similarly for fatigue, I work backwards from the effects and the point at which I think someone would collapse, and/or how long I'd think they'd need to rest to recover to 100%. I take into account condition (Fit, Very Fit, etc) and other house rules I use.

Really though, I try to have good detailed rules that I've thought about in advance and satisfy my maniacal hunger for detail, and that give me formulas to use so I usually don't have to think about it during play, except in the other direction (as I usually explain what's happening in English rather than game terms and numbers).
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