A little confused about Resistant

Grayson · 12-07-2006, 04:32 AM

I am a little confused about the Advantage, Resistant, and I am hoping that someone can clarify things for me. I get that Resistant is the Advantage that is used to represent a resistance or immunity to things that basically only affect the living (e.g. toxins, disease, etc.).

However, there is something that seems like a bit of a contradiction. In GURPS Powers pg. 72 (1st paragraph) we are reminded that "Resistant and Immunity only helps against threats that offer a resistance roll." Yet on page 439 of GURPS Basic (green box labeled Poison Examples) cyanide states that "there is no HT roll to resist!" Of course this makes sense since cyanide is basically a death sentence. However, it seems to me that Immunity to Toxins or Immunity to Metabolic Hazards would still protect someone from cyanide, especially since cyanide is built as a Toxic Attack. Is this just a case where the gm lets common sense rule? It seems that the intent is to allow Immunity from cyanide even though it doesn't allow a roll.

Blood Legend · 12-07-2006, 06:50 AM

Odd..I was just looking at that page a few hours ago.

I'd say it was simply overlooked.

I read somewhere that appleseeds have cyanide in them :3

Kromm · 12-07-2006, 10:43 AM

If you're immune, you're immune. If you merely have a bonus, though, you still need to roll . . . and if there's no roll, the bonus isn't doing you a lot of good. This is in fact why +3 is 1/3 cost and +8 is 1/2 cost. Immunity isn't +anything, and technically worth a lot more than a bonus.

If you prefer, think of "no roll to resist" as "HT-20" or something . . . so no human has a useful chance.

Anthony · 12-07-2006, 10:45 AM

Hm. Doesn't Immunity to Metabolic Hazards protect you from Toxic innate attacks? They don't have a resistance roll either.

Bruno · 12-07-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony

Hm. Doesn't Immunity to Metabolic Hazards protect you from Toxic innate attacks? They don't have a resistance roll either.

That's more a feature of Toxic innate attacks, rather than ItMH. 's why they cost less, among other things.

Diogenes · 12-07-2006, 11:11 AM

According to what the Good Doctor Kromm wrote, an immunity conferred to you by Resistant would protect you, but no other version. No +3, no +8. Immunity only.

Grayson · 12-07-2006, 08:22 PM

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply to my post. It was Powers page 72 that was giving me a bit of problems. Kromm's clarification of what was meant by "no roll" cleared it up for me. Thanks again.

Hai-Etlik · 12-07-2006, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony

Hm. Doesn't Immunity to Metabolic Hazards protect you from Toxic innate attacks? They don't have a resistance roll either.

No, it protects you from Toxic or Fatigue attacks with Blood Agent, Respiratory Agent, etc.

Most toxic attacks have "metabolic" modifiers, but those that don't are not affected.

Captain-Captain · 12-07-2006, 09:58 PM

Just for contrast, would you allow immunity to antimatter for normal characters? There are some unhealthy situations where buying REsistant isn't plausible for the character. This applies to some poisons though cinematicaly and in 4 color campaigns, it's a perfectly reasonable advantage.

12-07-2006, 04:32 AM	#1
Grayson Join Date: Dec 2005	A little confused about Resistant I am a little confused about the Advantage, Resistant, and I am hoping that someone can clarify things for me. I get that Resistant is the Advantage that is used to represent a resistance or immunity to things that basically only affect the living (e.g. toxins, disease, etc.). However, there is something that seems like a bit of a contradiction. In GURPS Powers pg. 72 (1st paragraph) we are reminded that "Resistant and Immunity only helps against threats that offer a resistance roll." Yet on page 439 of GURPS Basic (green box labeled Poison Examples) cyanide states that "there is no HT roll to resist!" Of course this makes sense since cyanide is basically a death sentence. However, it seems to me that Immunity to Toxins or Immunity to Metabolic Hazards would still protect someone from cyanide, especially since cyanide is built as a Toxic Attack. Is this just a case where the gm lets common sense rule? It seems that the intent is to allow Immunity from cyanide even though it doesn't allow a roll.

12-07-2006, 06:50 AM	#2
Blood Legend Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: The Fine Line Between Black and White	Re: A little confused about Resistant Odd..I was just looking at that page a few hours ago. I'd say it was simply overlooked. I read somewhere that appleseeds have cyanide in them :3 __________________ . ( )( ) -This is The Overlord Bunny o(O.o)o -Master of Bunnies O('')('') -And Destroyer of the Hasenpfeffer "This is the sort of relatively small error that destroys planetary probes." ~Bruno

12-07-2006, 10:43 AM	#3
Kromm *GURPS* Line Editor Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Montréal, Québec	Re: A little confused about Resistant If you're immune, you're immune. If you merely have a bonus, though, you still need to roll . . . and if there's no roll, the bonus isn't doing you a lot of good. This is in fact why +3 is 1/3 cost and +8 is 1/2 cost. Immunity isn't +anything, and technically worth a lot more than a bonus. If you prefer, think of "no roll to resist" as "HT-20" or something . . . so no human has a useful chance. __________________ Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> *GURPS* Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just *GURPS* News]

12-07-2006, 10:45 AM	#4
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: A little confused about Resistant Hm. Doesn't Immunity to Metabolic Hazards protect you from Toxic innate attacks? They don't have a resistance roll either.

12-07-2006, 11:11 AM	#6
Diogenes Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Vienna, Austria	Re: A little confused about Resistant According to what the Good Doctor Kromm wrote, an immunity conferred to you by Resistant would protect you, but no other version. No +3, no +8. Immunity only. __________________ I'm looking for human(e)s. Role-playing in Vienna: Athenaes Siegel (German)

12-07-2006, 08:22 PM	#7
Grayson Join Date: Dec 2005	Re: A little confused about Resistant Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply to my post. It was Powers page 72 that was giving me a bit of problems. Kromm's clarification of what was meant by "no roll" cleared it up for me. Thanks again.

12-07-2006, 09:58 PM	#9
Captain-Captain Join Date: Aug 2004	Re: A little confused about Resistant Just for contrast, would you allow immunity to antimatter for normal characters? There are some unhealthy situations where buying REsistant isn't plausible for the character. This applies to some poisons though cinematicaly and in 4 color campaigns, it's a perfectly reasonable advantage. __________________ ...().0...0() .../..........\ -/......O.....\- ...VVVVVVV ..^^^^^^^ A clock running two hours slow has the correct time zero times a day.