[Space] Alien creation - multiple limbs and Bad Grip

[Krinberry]

Hey, just a quick question about the alien generation rules in the Space book; on page 154 (Alien Creation V) when determining the # of manipulators, it's possible to create a creature with 2 or more sets of manipulators, some with Bad Grip and some without. But there's no modifier for Bad Grip on Extra Arms (just Weak, which applies to ST rather than DX), and the actual Bad Grip disadvantage explicitly states it's overall and doesn't apply to individual limbs. Am I missing something, or is there just a gap here in terms of baked in rules?

I guess this also applies to the High Manual Dexterity option, which follows the same potential 'applied differently to different sets of manipulators' rule.

[David Johnston2]

If you've got two limbs with normal manipulation then the extra limbs aren't really a handicap. It's just a feature that the lower limbs aren't what you want to do surgery or wiring with.

[Flyndaran]

They are limited arms, so shouldn't they get a discount?
I know that the disadvantage says "overall - not per hand", but I'm not sure I agree that that's fair.

[Bruno]

I've used Temporary Disadvantage for this.

[Krinberry]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've used Temporary Disadvantage for this.

Hmm, I guess that could work, would just need to be noted on the docs. In the short term between when I posted and now, I ended up going in the interim with just extrapolating based on how the Extra Arms rules talk about turning the enhancements and limitations there into proper advantages and disadvantages, meaning that Bad Grip ends up being a -25% limitation on Extra Arms and High Manual Dexterity a 25%/level enhancement, which does seem reasonable but definitely isn't in the actual rules.

(I know I can just treat it all as 'just a feature' but that doesn't sit well with me, especially if I end up with a combination of Bad Grip and High Manual Dexterity, for example)

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

They are limited arms, so shouldn't they get a discount?.

They could, if the extra limbs aren't useful for wrestling or holding shields. It depends on what you decide the bad grip actually is. It's kind of an abstraction.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

They could, if the extra limbs aren't useful for wrestling or holding shields. It depends on what you decide the bad grip actually is. It's kind of an abstraction.

Yeah, remember that in Gurps, you get what you pay for. And if you get less than what you pay for, don't pay for it. I'd usually buy such limbs as extra legs, because that's what the creatures usually use them for. unless you want them to be grappling experts who can use those extra hands for widespread manipulation.

You might be saying "I don't want anything! The table is telling me what to do!"

Well, take charge of the random results. The results alone won't give you a fully fleshed out creature, just the shape of one. Feel free to tweak it in the ways you want so you can build the creature you want and need. It doesn't take long.

[Krinberry]

Thanks folks, I think that gives me enough to work with; my biggest concern was that I was doing something wrong because I was missing something obvious, but that's not the case. I'll tweak on a case by case basis as needed.

Thanks for the help! This is a good community.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've used Temporary Disadvantage for this.

I use half the value of Temporary Disadvantage instead, since taking Temporary Disadvantage (Bad Grip) would normally mean that, when you use the advantage, you'd get Bad Grip applied to all your limbs. Half the value seems reasonable to me for "you get Bad Grip, but only on the limbs with this limitation".