Boiling water

[Aneirin]

Sorry, can't seem to find rules regarding this!

With water it has rules for that (chance of him to flinch) but what about damage?

I was thinking 1d-3 burning

I was thinking of it causing an affliction as well, HT-5 or the victim suffers from agony if any damage gets through. Wasn't sure how long for (2d seconds seem reasonable)

Essentially getting hit in the face with boiling water would end the fight for most people. But that may make it too damaging if it doesn't hit the face.

Maybe only hits to the face are at -5 to resist agony whilst anywhere else
it is a HT roll to resist agony for 1d seconds.

If sugar is added it gives an additional -2 to the HT roll, and it becomes cyclic doing 1d-3 burning damage every second for 3 seconds.

I am sure there is a much, much better way to do it though. ideas?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Aneirin

I was thinking 1d-3 burning

That sounds about right, though it could go a point either way.

I was thinking of it causing an affliction as well

Careful. Burning oil lacks extra affliction effects, and you don't want this to be more effective.

[Flyndaran]

For humans, yeah. It would hurt far more than its damage would suggest.
Maybe twice damage for shock penalties, with a minimum of one.

[Celjabba]

It was discussed here in the past:

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...=boiling+water

Hope this help

Celjabba

[Blood Legend]

My gut reaction is 1d-1, giving a chance of causing 3rd degree burns which I think boiling water is capable of.

Most burns I received from boiling water were more or less gurps-healed within a week, which seems about right against 1 or 2 damage with HT 10, unfit and what I'd call half-contact.

[Flyndaran]

Gurps healing rates are not even in the ballpark of reality.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Gurps healing rates are not even in the ballpark of reality.

Really- I've always found them to be fine if not exactly mimic reality. Do remember that 'healing' is different from 'don't feel it at all any more', and a lot of major injuries also involve crippling.

Example: I nearly cut off my finger in a cooking incident. I got treatment and healed from it in about 4 days- the wound was sealed and about as resistant to injury as it was before the incident. However for a good period afterwards I found it very painful to exert myself with that finger, and I am only getting back full feeling now.

In GURPS terms I did ~1-4 damage to my finger (blade actually stopped on bone, had I hit between the segments I would likely have severed it), it took 4 days to heal, and I picked up a the quirks of 'wounded: finger' and 'numb: finger'. I bought off wounded: finger with earned CP from my adventures in woodshop instruction- and seem to be earmarking some more CP for getting rid of numb


Back to water: Boiling water is nasty- I would make it do the same damage as fire, but no chance to set aflame. I would not apply any special extra effects or damage.

[munin]

Originally Posted by starslayer

... I would not apply any special extra effects or damage.

Same.

That boiling water to the face would end the fight for many people is already well-represented by the fact that any head injury risks knockdown and stunning (p. B420). Most people would have the same reaction to being shot in the face or having their face sliced with a sword.

For some methods of handling pain after the initial adrenaline surge wears off, see Realistic Injury (GURPS Martial Arts, pp. 136-139). It doesn't address face attacks specifically, but you should be able to get some ideas from it.

[Kromm]

I agree with using the rules on p. 136 of Martial Arts to represent the ongoing pain and disability, and would do that rather than assign an affliction (I've been doused with boiling fat, and the lasting pain came later – several minutes after I had time to swear, stand up, rip off the fat-soaked garment, and generally act on adrenaline). As for healing times, I also concur with the assertion that "looks and feels good" isn't the same as "healed the HP." Missing HP mostly represent a weakened ability to lose more HP . . . that is, you pass out or die more easily. Once your body's ability to sustain further shock and trauma has recovered, the fact that a wound might hurt and/or look grisly isn't terribly relevant, although the GM could be nasty and treat the penalties (to DX, Move, etc.) on p. 136 of Martial Arts like crippling and have them take months to recover on a failed HT roll (p. B422).

That last comment gets at what's probably the "missing link" in the current rules: If your body part isn't outright crippled – which could be as much because of pain as because of broken bones or crushed tissues – then injury over progressively larger thresholds could cause successively worse attribute penalties that represent lasting pain, and these would be no quicker to recover than full crippling. For instance, a blown HT roll could leave you at -1 to -3 to DX for 1d months. For added verisimilitude, make the -3 level last 1d-1 months, the -2 level last 1d-2 months, and the -1 level last 1d-4 months, all minimum one month, and then divide the recovery time by the number of steps of badness and have function recover at that rate; e.g., crippling for 5 months means "crippled" for 1.25 months, -3 to DX for 1.25 months, -2 to DX for 1.25 months, and -1 to DX for 1.25 months.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Kromm

That last comment gets at what's probably the "missing link" in the current rules: If your body part isn't outright crippled – which could be as much because of pain as because of broken bones or crushed tissues – then injury over progressively larger thresholds could cause successively worse attribute penalties that represent lasting pain, and these would be no quicker to recover than full crippling. For instance, a blown HT roll could leave you at -1 to -3 to DX for 1d months. For added verisimilitude, make the -3 level last 1d-1 months, the -2 level last 1d-2 months, and the -1 level last 1d-4 months, all minimum one month, and then divide the recovery time by the number of steps of badness and have function recover at that rate; e.g., crippling for 5 months means "crippled" for 1.25 months, -3 to DX for 1.25 months, -2 to DX for 1.25 months, and -1 to DX for 1.25 months.

Hmm. Maybe the extreme Fatigue rules from Pyramid by Douglas Cole could be adapted for HP.