Slam Damage is Very Weak

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by starslayer

David, fearing exactly that, should be trying to strike at vitals in hit and run techniques, or find some rocks and start throwing.

Never bring a sword to a sling fight.

Is ST 20 enough? For Goliath was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass; and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. Not to mention the rest of his gear, helmet and greaves and target of brass. On the other hand, one bearing a shield went before him. No doubt Goliath was right on the edge of an Encumbrance category and didn't want that extra weight until it became necessary.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by starslayer

2. Goliath has 20 HP, David has 6; even if Goliath is only doing 2 extra damage from his ST by using dubious slams, because for some reason both forces have decided to use slams, David will expire long before Goliath is even slowing down.

David also only needs to take 4 damage before being launched one yard due to knockback from damage, making a DX roll to stay standing, and generally being pretty unhappy with his life (and the Major Wound roll, and the 1/2 Move and Dodge).

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Never bring a sword to a sling fight.

Is ST 20 enough? For Goliath was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass; and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. Not to mention the rest of his gear, helmet and greaves and target of brass. On the other hand, one bearing a shield went before him. No doubt Goliath was right on the edge of an Encumbrance category and didn't want that extra weight until it became necessary.

I don't think this is meant to be the literal David and Golith. As I'm also sure David was stronger than 5 year old also.

[Blood Legend]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

I don't think this is meant to be the literal David and Golith. As I'm also sure David was stronger than 5 year old also.

This is correct, though now I'd like to know what Goliath would look like in GURPS terms.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

This is correct, though now I'd like to know what Goliath would look like in GURPS terms.

http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert...shekel.en.html

....says that a shekel is 0.025 lbs. that measn his coat of "mail" (probablyu scale or lamellar) is 125lbs and his spearhead weighs 15 lbs.

Then.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath#Goliath.27s_height

...makes him either 6'9 or 9' 9. For the weight of the armor I'd make him the 9 foot +.

A simple squaring of Goliath's height increase makes him ST 23 (as a minimum). For that ST anything less than c.200lbs of gear is Light Encimbrance.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Body slamming is intended to be a poor way to deal real injury between people, because it is.

Unless of course you're a Communist gender-flipped Superman. Then it's awesome.

[B9anders]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Unless of course you're a Communist gender-flipped Superman. Then it's awesome.

Stalina does not like to slam tanks either. She prefers the Human Missile technique.

[JCurwen3]

I've wondered this before, but if you have the Move and SM to hit like a bullet... shouldn't there be a point when your slam counts as some kind of piercing damage? Especially if you're slamming head first with a pointy helmet.

Now imagine a human sized hero that can shrink to bullet size and retain their mass and damage and HP and all that, and can move towards a target at the velocity of a bullet. Is this still just "crushing" damaging? If so, what would it take for them to make these sorts of slams impaling or piercing?

And isn't any cutting damage just the result of "crushing" where one dimension is appropriately thin enough relative to the other dimension and the target to count as a cut?

[B9anders]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

I've wondered this before, but if you have the Move and SM to hit like a bullet... shouldn't there be a point when your slam counts as some kind of piercing damage? Especially if you're slamming head first with a pointy helmet.

Now imagine a human sized hero that can shrink to bullet size and retain their mass and damage and HP and all that, and can move towards a target at the velocity of a bullet. Is this still just "crushing" damaging? If so, what would it take for them to make these sorts of slams impaling or piercing?

And isn't any cutting damage just the result of "crushing" where one dimension is appropriately thin enough relative to the other dimension and the target to count as a cut?

See the Human Missile technique in Supers.

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by B9anders

See the Human Missile technique in Supers.

Thanks, I'd missed that, that's really helpful!