Cinematic Sex Appeal feint?

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Hello all!

So basically, I've been wondering if anything breaks if I allow cinematic characters with high sex appeal to try to use that skill instead of a weapon skill for a feint, distracting their opponent with their beauty. Of course, it would probably be a higher skill than combat skill if the character took appearance levels, but it would only work in characters who would be attracted to said character (say a massively sexy girl could distract hetero men and lesbian women, a massively sexy man the opposite, but a sexy elf of either gender would be unlikely to pull it off on a Yuan-Ti for instance.), so I figure it would even out and could be in genre for a cinematic setting, but what does the hive mind says?

Thanks all!

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

So basically, I've been wondering if anything breaks if I allow cinematic characters with high sex appeal to try to use that skill instead of a weapon skill for a feint ...

Power-Ups 2: Perks has a family of perks for allowing this with non-combat skills. See p5 under "Acrobatic Feints".

Of course, in the right campaign, you could say that this ability comes automatically with any non-combat skill at some specified skill level, and thus buying a perk for it is unnecessary.

[Imbicatus]

I'd treat it as a perk. One point is a cheap cost to do this, but it takes a certain kind of focus to try to vamp someone while they are trying to kill you.

[whswhs]

Checking Chapter 7 of GURPS Social Engineering, "From Persuasion to Force," I see that it says that if you are making both the Influence roll and the combat roll, you should use the rules for ruses from GURPS Martial Arts—or perhaps those for Deceptive Attack. If you are using Sex Appeal to set a foe up for someone else's attack, see p. 70 of GURPS Social Engineering.

Another way to handle it mechanically occurs to me. First you buy the perk that lets you use an Influence skill entirely nonverbally; you aren't going to have time in combat to deliver come-on lines. Then you make an Influence roll vs. your foe's Will. If you win the Quick Contest, you apply your margin of success as a penalty to one of your foe's rolls. Normally this might be a penalty to their next attack—they don't strike with full force because their mind isn't on fighting; if you wanted to apply it to their defense, I might halve the penalty.

[malloyd]

This is an existing perk (search for Sexy Feints). Relevant rules for substituting pretty much any skill the GM wants to allow into a Feint, Beat or Ruse are on Martial Arts p.101. I'd expect Sex Appeal to be a Ruse (or Dirty Trick, compare B.405) resisted by IQ or Will based skill, rather than a Feint, resisted by DX.

If you wanted to allow it to anyone without a perk as a campaign option, sure why not, as long as it fits the tone of the game. Blends right in to a campaign already allowing Bulletproof Nudity after all.

[Seneschal]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Power-Ups 2: Perks has a family of perks for allowing this with non-combat skills. See p5 under "Acrobatic Feints".

Of course, in the right campaign, you could say that this ability comes automatically with any non-combat skill at some specified skill level, and thus buying a perk for it is unnecessary.

Oh yes, Parry (Erotic Art) is a recurring joke in my gaming group. In fact, in cinematic campaigns, we often allow all kinds of substitutions - Dodge based on half-Dancing skill, screamin-your-head-off melee attack based on Will, etc. GURPS is simulationist enough that abilities work off the same scale, so nothing breaks, and it injects a bit of comedic flavor.

[vicky_molokh]

If I recall correctly, Kromm said that since Sex Appeal is normally resisted with Will, Sexy Feints are also resisted with Will as opposed to the normal Feint resistance. I'm not 100% sure I'm recalling correctly, so this is best checked through the forum.

Edit: ah, found in a backup of private messages:

Originally Posted by Kromm

From : Kromm
To : vicky_molokh
Date : 2008-02-09 00:36
Title : Re: Clarification about the Feints thread
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On feints and what resists them, it's pretty simple: if the feint is based on a DX-based skill, mostly meaning combat skills, the resistance to that feint must allow a DX-based option, even if the feint moves the initial roll to a different attribute. So feints with things like Acrobatics, Dancing, and Karate can always be resisted by DX-based combat skill, even if the specific feint is, say, an IQ-based Acrobatics or Dancing roll to distract, or a ST-based Karate roll to beat.

If, however, the feint is based on a non-DX-based skill that normally doesn't run up against the enemy's DX, it's fine to use the attribute that normally resists that skill as the basis for the resistance roll against the feint. So feints with Intimidation and Sex Appeal, since they're usually resisted by Will and not DX to begin with, might well be resisted by a Will-based skill roll.

You can resist feints using your best Feint level, as always. However, you're limited to using the attribute base that that sort of feint normally allows to resist: DX for standard feints, DX or ST for beats, etc. So in your example, you'd start with Feint-18, but make a DX-based roll: 16 instead of 18.

[GodBeastX]

Had a game that allowed Erotic Art as a grappling skill. 007 Golden Eye was the inspiration.

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Maybe I could call such a feint "My fists are up there!"?