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Old 02-24-2018, 08:43 PM   #1
Otaku
 
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Default [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#54): Extra Legs

Previous Thread: Extra Head, Extra Mouth
Next Thread: Extra Life

If you're new to this series or just want to leave feedback about it, check out the Introduction Thread. If you need help finding something we've already discussed, johndallman is maintaining an index of which traits we've discussed. This is especially handy if the trait you are searching for happens to have been part of a multi-subject review.

Basic

Extra Legs (p. B54-55) is an Exotic, Physical Advantage. This is another trait that is exactly what it says... mostly. You have to remember how GURPS defines legs*, and that characters are always built from the human norm; in this case, "Extra Legs" means having more than two standard human legs. Default legs in GURPS can strike for thurst/crushing damage at Reach 1. This is not a leveled trait, but it does have three options:
  • Having three or four legs costs 5 CP, and you can lose one leg but still move at half Move; losing two legs still causes you to fall down.
  • Having five or six legs costs 10 CP means your Move drops by 20% per leg lost until you're down to three legs, at which point your move is 40% normal. If you lose another leg at this point, you fall.
  • Having seven (or more!) legs costs 15 CP, and means losing a leg "only" reduces your Move by 10%, at least until you're down to three legs. At that point, your Move is 40% of its normal value and losing one more leg causes you to fall (the same as with five or six legs).

There are two Special Modifiers for Extra Legs, and they are found on p. B55. First is "Long", which you may recognize from Extra Arms; for +100% per +1 to SM, Extra Legs modified by this trait are longer than your body (and overall SM) would suggest. This affects Reach as well as the character's capacity to navigate certain obstacles. "Cannot Kick" is just as it sounds; even if the leg technically could kick, it isn't able to do so for damage. This costs -50%. Also just like Extra Arms, if you need to modify the legs of a creature without Extra Legs, treat Long as an Advantage or Cannot Kick as a Disadvantage equal to 1/10th of its value as a Modifier, expressed as points instead of a percentage e.g. the members of Longleg Tribe from One Piece would take "Long Legs [10]" as an Advantage.

Other Supplements
  • GURPS Powers contains fleeting mentions of Extra Legs, usually just while explaining more advanced rules not centered around them.
  • GURPS Update mentions Extra Legs, but we'll cover it in detail in the next section.

Past Editions

For the Third Edition, we'll reference the entry for Extra Legs on page 55 of Compendium I. This is in the section for Racial and Super Advantages, the equivalent of "Exotic" Advantages under these rules. Third Edition GURPS defines "legs" in a similar manner, and most of the Advantage is the same. As the entry in GURPS Update mentions, the differences are in how movement is affected by losing legs.
  • Having three or four legs still cost 5 CP, and works the same as in Fourth Edition.
  • Having five or six legs still costs 10 CP, but each leg lost reduces Move by 2 until only three legs are left, at which point Move is 2.
  • Having seven or more legs still costs 15 CP, but each leg lost reduces Move by 1, and Move is 2 when the character is down to three legs.

Instead of being Modifiers, Cannot Kick reduces the cost of Extra Legs by 5 CP, while extra Reach increases the cost by 10 CP. Seems pretty obvious why these changed, as you can get some very odd results unless you have the right Move combined with the right amount of legs. Also worth noting, and GURPS Update brought this to my attention, is that under the Third Edition rules, "Centauroid" was a Disadvantage worth 0 CP. I found it on page 101 of Compendium I. This trait was mostly a bookkeeping trick, to remind GM's and players that such creatures were likely to have Taboo traits, and should buy Extra Legs and (if applicable) Inconvenient Size separately. I'm not surprised it didn't make the jump to Fourth Edition.

Useful Links

Feel free to suggest any existing threads or other, appropriate links on this matter.

Discussion Starters

This is (usually) a generic list of questions for those who want to participate in the discussion but need a little help. If you already know what you want to say, feel free to skip these. ;)
  • Have you ever taken Extra Legs for one of your PCs or NPCs? If you used Third Edition Rules, how about Extra Legs or Centauroid? How did it work out?
  • Is there anything either of traits do really well?
  • Is there anything you think these traits could or should do differently?
  • Any related traits you believe are necessary for full discussion? Go ahead and bring them up, but remember that this is a thread for Extra Legs, and since I mentioned it in the Third Edition section, Centauroid.
  • Any thoughts on how the 4e version of these traits compares to them in earlier editions?

*In GURPS, if a limb cannot be used to manipulate an object but can be walked on, it counts as a leg. Of course, a simple reality-check lets me know that some folks can at least manage very easy object manipulation with their foot or feet, and some can even learn to use their feet like hands, this is, of course, a simplification. I'm enough of a nitpicker to mention it, but even I'm not stressed out by it.
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Last edited by Otaku; 03-06-2018 at 07:06 AM.
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Old 02-25-2018, 03:26 AM   #2
johndallman
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Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#34): Extra Legs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Otaku View Post
If you need help finding something we've already discussed, johndallman is maintaining an index of which traits we've discussed.
If you use this link to link to the index, it will go straight to the Advantage of the Week part, rather than requiring the reader to scroll down.

Oops - the subject line should say #54, not #34. Could a kindly moderator oblige?

Last edited by johndallman; 02-25-2018 at 03:30 AM. Reason: Subject line
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Old 02-25-2018, 09:21 AM   #3
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Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#34): Extra Legs

Extra Legs also make crippling any given leg much easier
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Old 02-25-2018, 10:10 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#34): Extra Legs

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Originally Posted by Kalzazz View Post
Extra Legs also make crippling any given leg much easier
How so? I don't recall seeing that in advantage writeup
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Old 02-25-2018, 10:38 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#34): Extra Legs

I don't have my books handy on phone, but am fairly sure in Campaigns for critters with > 2 legs, crippling a leg requires HP / number legs
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Old 02-25-2018, 12:24 PM   #6
Otaku
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#34): Extra Legs

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
If you use this link to link to the index, it will go straight to the Advantage of the Week part, rather than requiring the reader to scroll down.

Oops - the subject line should say #54, not #34. Could a kindly moderator oblige?
Edited link in original post. Also, johndallman is correct; not sure how or why I keyed in 34 instead of 54, but this is indeed supposed to be #54. An edit would be appreciated. ^^'
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