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Old 10-12-2017, 03:11 PM   #11
gudmo
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
A ST 1 creature with SM -5 will still do more damage unarmed than with a weapon.
Well it's the -SM to damage for the small weapons I'm having trouble with... It does not scale well.
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Old 10-12-2017, 03:15 PM   #12
Colarmel
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Northeast Kansas
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by gudmo View Post
Well it's the -SM to damage for the small weapons I'm having trouble with... It does not scale well.
The Gulliver rules referenced above do okay for this, to the extent you want regular strength pixies mixing it up in melee with big-folk. I'd argue that the pixie way is blades covered in poison, but if you really want pixies to go around clubbing people with sticks, and to have that make sense, that's the best option. So base damage on ST 10, multiply by ST/10
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Old 10-12-2017, 06:26 PM   #13
malloyd
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by Hellboy View Post
A redesign of GURPS with a baseline of 6 inch tall characters instead of 6ft would be pretty interesting. Would also make 4E bunnies/burrows feasible.

If we scaled so ST10 is where ST1 is now then would formerly ST10 humans be at ST20 due to geometric doubling?
I get ST 63.2 (2 x 10^(3/2)).
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Old 10-12-2017, 06:34 PM   #14
malloyd
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
While this is true, it's not related to the problem, which is that manufactured weapons get their damage adjusted by SM, and natural weapons do not.
Sort of my point. Manufactured weapons scaled to the same proportions as human ones would realistically be so weak that something Pixie sized with that much strength couldn't use one without breaking it. Yes they should also break their own limbs pretty much any time they apply their full ST to anything at all - that's the central realism gap here, they're *too strong*.
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Old 10-12-2017, 06:47 PM   #15
Colarmel
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Northeast Kansas
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
Sort of my point. Manufactured weapons scaled to the same proportions as human ones would realistically be so weak that something Pixie sized with that much strength couldn't use one without breaking it. Yes they should also break their own limbs pretty much any time they apply their full ST to anything at all - that's the central realism gap here, they're *too strong*.
Except that GURPS Strength is also a descriptor of physical endurance. HP is a function of Strength and so we can assume that however strong they are, their bodies are built to hit that hard. In the case of pixies this is because they're made of more magic than meat.

At least, that's how I sleep at night.
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Old 10-12-2017, 07:33 PM   #16
malloyd
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by Hellboy View Post
Colarmel brought up the 3x ST rule. A ST 1 weapon would already be limited to hitting with ST 3 so there isn't really a need to penalize damage further. It feels like double dipping.
I believe the basic anchor point for reducing damage with scale is the damage values of those weapons that actually are approximately scaled versions of each other. Going from a thrusting greatsword to a small knife drops damage from Sw+3 cut/Th+3 imp to Sw-3 cut/Th-1 imp, so -6 to swing and -4 to thrust for something around a -6 SM change in blade length.
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Old 10-13-2017, 03:06 AM   #17
gudmo
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

Seems to me that anyone that can hold a blade almost as long as he/she is... In this case a 6 inch Pixie with a 6 inch blade does a helluva lot more damage with it than it's fists. Worried about breakage? Faerie quality and Orichalum.

The SM penalty to weapon damage is the part I find excessive, If pixies are exceptionally strong for their size why are they "weaker" when wielding a weapon?

Even with a staff (Made from orichalum?) the part of the pixie being so strong that it'll break the weapon makes little sense. I can swing a branch and break it on your head but I might still inflict more damage than if I'd just punched you.

Thank you all for your input, I think this is a dilemma only solved with errata or a decision from SJGames, until then one can make his own house rules or use the Gulliver rules..
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Old 10-13-2017, 10:06 AM   #18
Colarmel
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Northeast Kansas
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

It's true, a branch is large enough to increase damage, but it's because it's long enough to give leverage. Hit someone with a toothpick. Swing it, as hard as you can. Or a match. Even if it doesn't break, it's too small to do any damage, it in fact does less damage than your hands.

The one place I think the rules are goofy is on thrust damage. On swing it makes perfect sense. But that toothpick used to poke someone causes more damage than poking them with your finger. When you are talking about thrust, smaller isn't necessarily worse. But swing gets more damage because it applies leverage. The power of leverage is proportional to the size of the lever.
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Old 10-13-2017, 11:21 AM   #19
sir_pudding
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

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Originally Posted by gudmo View Post
Seems to me that anyone that can hold a blade almost as long as he/she is... In this case a 6 inch Pixie with a 6 inch blade does a helluva lot more damage with it than it's fists. Worried about breakage? Faerie quality and Orichalum.

The SM penalty to weapon damage is the part I find excessive, If pixies are exceptionally strong for their size why are they "weaker" when wielding a weapon?

Even with a staff (Made from orichalum?) the part of the pixie being so strong that it'll break the weapon makes little sense. I can swing a branch and break it on your head but I might still inflict more damage than if I'd just punched you.

Thank you all for your input, I think this is a dilemma only solved with errata or a decision from SJGames, until then one can make his own house rules or use the Gulliver rules..
A pixie wielding a sizable branch doesn't do less damage, but that isn't a pixie scaled staff. A pixie scaled quarterstaff is 8 inches in length and 1/6 inch in diameter; it's smaller than a chopstick. It isn't that it will break, it is just getting smacked with a twig isn't going to do much before it breaks. Orichalcum doesn't make much difference, because being smacked with a metal chopstick still isn't going to do much.

There's no errata needed here, this is as it should be. If instead of a pixie you imagined a heavyweight boxer either punching you or smacking you with a chopstick, you can see that doing more damage with a punch makes sense. If you want your pixie to do real damage with a melee weapon, use an oversized weapon.

Really though DF pixies are better off using spells.

Last edited by sir_pudding; 10-13-2017 at 11:28 AM.
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Old 10-13-2017, 11:28 AM   #20
Kalzazz
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Default Re: Pixie Weapon Damage

Using LTC2 rules the SM -6 staff will do straight Sw damage

Problem is it's Min ST will be tiny

If you want brawny tiny things doing credible melee damage, then you really need to get the DM to allow 'Rules Exemption 3x Min ST' as a perk
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