Deconstructing Power Blow

Desthro · 03-02-2016, 02:05 PM

Power Blow is one of the few abilities in GURPS that has multiplicative effects rather than flatly additive effects. I am trying to find ways to double, triple, quadruple, or perhaps even ?pentuple? things, (for a price of course,) and Power Blow is the only skill that really does what the doctor ordered.

It sits behind a prohibitively high skill penalty, -10 to use instantly and a further -10 to triple rather than double ST, in addition to the 1 FP cost.

With IQ at 10, and 72 points, you can double your strength ~98.1% of the time , and for 112 points, you can triple it 98.1% of the time. With the FP cost of course. If you include Trained by a master, we're looking at 112 and 142 points respectively.

If we were to break this down into an advantage, it is fairly close in price to Altered Time Rate which has a similar effect of doubling your output (among it's other shenanigans.)

So for striking ST, 100 points seems pretty reasonable to double it, 200 for a triple, 300 for a quadruple, and so on. If it was a pricier advantage, maybe just set it to 20x cost for each +100%?

Refplace · 03-02-2016, 03:20 PM

Is Striking ST the only doubling you looking for?
Besides Power Blow anything that adds per die adds also does this and those are much cheaper.

corwyn · 03-02-2016, 03:31 PM

Warrior's Blessing in Path Magic is also multiplicative, though only +50%, but seems incredibly overpowered compared to the alternate use - +1 to defenses/+2 to dodge.

munin · 03-02-2016, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desthro

… So for striking ST, 100 points seems pretty reasonable to double it, 200 for a triple, 300 for a quadruple, and so on. If it was a pricier advantage, maybe just set it to 20x cost for each +100%?

Another thing to look at is Super-Effort where it costs 50 points to (roughly) double your super striking strength (which also requires 1 FP per use): Striking ST +2 (Super-Effort, +400%) [50]. Plus some buy-in to get your super strike up to your normal strike.

Desthro · 03-02-2016, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Refplace

Is Striking ST the only doubling you looking for?
Besides Power Blow anything that adds per die adds also does this and those are much cheaper.

I try to find options that are more universally applicable, it just happens that effective striking ST is one of the options i'm looking for. It's for a campaign setting where muscle-powered weapons and damage from muscle-powered melee weapons can double or triple under certain circumstances. I fully expect to see striking-ST scores in the hundreds to maybe even thousands.

I am using striking-ST as a spells-as-advantages alternative to puissance on items like swords and what not, and I'd like to have an ability that magnifies that conveyed attribute.

The problem I'm having is that it is a flirted-with subject in GURPS and deviates heavily from the linear scaling they are fond of using. I'm aware of weapon master bonuses, and karate/boxing/brawling for unarmed combat damage. I'd really like to avoid being forced into innate attack because doubling innate attack damage under certain circumstances (broadly mind you) is difficult when you have to add a linked innate attack for every single situation where the doubling happens. =/

Maz · 03-02-2016, 03:55 PM

If it's gear that give these benefits, why do you need to stat it up at all? Can't you just say "it doubles ST" end of story? Or do the players have to pay CP for access to the gear?

Desthro · 03-02-2016, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maz

If it's gear that give these benefits, why do you need to stat it up at all? Can't you just say "it doubles ST" end of story? Or do the players have to pay CP for access to the gear?

The main idea was to streamline damage bonuses. I would be more than happy to say the object doubles ST and call it that if it was a one-off thing. The gear is just one part of it. I was trying to consolidate damage bonuses into something far more manageable. So innate striking-ST on the sheet has to be paid for (as to be expected), striking-ST granted via an item is free CP-wise cause magic, and since I am a huge fan of spells-as-advantages, if they want to build an affliction that buffs up a party member, I need to use something like striking-ST as an attribute to model the enhanced damage.

If it was just a one-off thing I'd not bother asking the question in the first place =P

AlexanderHowl · 03-02-2016, 08:22 PM

A few suggestions concerning Power Blow.

First, if you have a character that is wanted to purchase Power Blow, you can have them take the perk Unusual Training to use Power Blow with a suitable limitation (May not move or step while doing so), which would make it comparable to the Push Skill that can be taken with T'ai Chi Chuan. That would save 29 points, though Trained by a Master is a great advantage if it is allowed in your campaign.

Second, your character should really maximize Will if you want to learn Power Blow effectively. You effectively gain one level of Power Blow for every level of Will, so I would suggest getting a Will 20. It also improves Autohypnosis, Intimidation, Meditation, etc.

If you do both, your character can get a Power Blow of 25 for an average of 100 (20 points of combat skills, 1 point of Unusual Training, 50 points of Will, 24 points in Power Blow). Your character is more effective than purchasing Power Blow-25 straight out. As a GM, I would never allow a character to purchase above Power Blow-25, as I would never allow a character to be so imbalanced.

Desthro · 03-02-2016, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

If you do both, your character can get a Power Blow of 25 for an average of 100 (20 points of combat skills, 1 point of Unusual Training, 50 points of Will, 24 points in Power Blow). Your character is more effective than purchasing Power Blow-25 straight out. As a GM, I would never allow a character to purchase above Power Blow-25, as I would never allow a character to be so imbalanced.

I am aware of the benefits and point-break of purchasing will over the skill straight out.

This game involves character builds upwards of 5000 points, I'm not worried about Power Blow being above skill-25 when the characters are going to be so powerful that power blow is the least of my worries. Like, I want to build an advantage that LETS them do it! LOL I am trying to make a new advantage that doubles, triples, etc. the effects of a scalable ability like Striking ST, or lifting ST, DR, Perception, Will, Altered Time Rate, etc. Does 20x cost seem appropriate? 25x? 30x?

AlexanderHowl · 03-02-2016, 10:09 PM

5000 points? You really want characters that can crack the Earth? Anyway, just add Super-Effort, +400%, to the applicable traits.

03-02-2016, 02:05 PM	#1
Desthro Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Albuquerque	Deconstructing Power Blow Power Blow is one of the few abilities in GURPS that has multiplicative effects rather than flatly additive effects. I am trying to find ways to double, triple, quadruple, or perhaps even ?pentuple? things, (for a price of course,) and Power Blow is the only skill that really does what the doctor ordered. It sits behind a prohibitively high skill penalty, -10 to use instantly and a further -10 to triple rather than double ST, in addition to the 1 FP cost. With IQ at 10, and 72 points, you can double your strength ~98.1% of the time , and for 112 points, you can triple it 98.1% of the time. With the FP cost of course. If you include Trained by a master, we're looking at 112 and 142 points respectively. If we were to break this down into an advantage, it is fairly close in price to Altered Time Rate which has a similar effect of doubling your output (among it's other shenanigans.) So for striking ST, 100 points seems pretty reasonable to double it, 200 for a triple, 300 for a quadruple, and so on. If it was a pricier advantage, maybe just set it to 20x cost for each +100%?

03-02-2016, 03:20 PM	#2
Refplace Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Yukon, OK	Re: Deconstructing Power Blow Is Striking ST the only doubling you looking for? Besides Power Blow anything that adds per die adds also does this and those are much cheaper. __________________ My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries

03-02-2016, 03:31 PM	#3
corwyn MIB Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, SK	Re: Deconstructing Power Blow Warrior's Blessing in Path Magic is also multiplicative, though only +50%, but seems incredibly overpowered compared to the alternate use - +1 to defenses/+2 to dodge. __________________ MiB 7704 Playing: GURPS Nordlond Dragons of Hosgarth Running Savage Worlds Tour of Darkness (Vietnam + Mythos)

03-02-2016, 03:55 PM	#6
Maz Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Denmark	Re: Deconstructing Power Blow If it's gear that give these benefits, why do you need to stat it up at all? Can't you just say "it doubles ST" end of story? Or do the players have to pay CP for access to the gear?

03-02-2016, 08:22 PM	#8
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Deconstructing Power Blow A few suggestions concerning Power Blow. First, if you have a character that is wanted to purchase Power Blow, you can have them take the perk Unusual Training to use Power Blow with a suitable limitation (May not move or step while doing so), which would make it comparable to the Push Skill that can be taken with T'ai Chi Chuan. That would save 29 points, though Trained by a Master is a great advantage if it is allowed in your campaign. Second, your character should really maximize Will if you want to learn Power Blow effectively. You effectively gain one level of Power Blow for every level of Will, so I would suggest getting a Will 20. It also improves Autohypnosis, Intimidation, Meditation, etc. If you do both, your character can get a Power Blow of 25 for an average of 100 (20 points of combat skills, 1 point of Unusual Training, 50 points of Will, 24 points in Power Blow). Your character is more effective than purchasing Power Blow-25 straight out. As a GM, I would never allow a character to purchase above Power Blow-25, as I would never allow a character to be so imbalanced.

03-02-2016, 10:09 PM	#10
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Deconstructing Power Blow 5000 points? You really want characters that can crack the Earth? Anyway, just add Super-Effort, +400%, to the applicable traits.