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Old 01-13-2018, 11:53 PM   #1
Sorenant
 
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Default Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

How do I make an Innate Attack that applies magic damage on top of the normal unarmed attack? For example, 2d damage on top of 1d punch. And when I say unarmed attack I mean any thrust attack done with the character's limbs using Brawling, Boxing or Karate, no matter if barehanded, using brassknuckles or wearing boots.

This question have been asked a lot, I've digged up some of them in search for answer but none of them seems to agree with each other. Some say "Follow-up (Punch), +0%" is enough, others said you need "Linked, +20%" or "Aura, +80%". I've also seem suggestions to use "ST-Based, +100%" or treat as alternative attack buying at 1/5 of the cost but these two would make the attack purely elemental. I'm looking for something that would be part normal crushing, part magical damage. Hopefully it would also work with Clinch, as in you use Karate to grab enemy's face and the fire damage burns him while doing so.
Using game examples: Kong Taoluo from Kikokugai uses what seems like Clinch (Karate) to grab his cyborg enemies and discharge what GURPS describes as Surge damage modifier to burn their cybernetics; the elemental punches from Pokemon; Roa and Kishima Kouma from Melty Blood can respectively dish electric and fire damage with their unarmed moves.

Last edited by Sorenant; 01-14-2018 at 12:11 AM.
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Old 01-14-2018, 04:52 AM   #2
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Default Re: Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

There are three RAW ways to just add damage to melee attacks: Imbuements, Modifying ST based attacks and Universal followup modifier.

Imbuements are described in powerups 1: Imbuements. Different pages for the different elements.
Modifying ST based attacks in in Powers p 146
Universal followup is in powerups 4 enchantments p 14.

The option is to make an attack that is either ST based or include also the base damage, or make the attack one part and the extra damage linked damage. In all cases you make the attack melee range and give it a feature that it uses the karate(or whatever) skill.

ST based is either ST based or ST Based limited. As described in powerups 4 enchantments p 20. The limited version being the normal choice.

You could also make the base attack and then add a followup (+0% if normal punch) to that attack.

But alternatively(not suggested in RAW but fully Rules legal) you could do an attack or two linked attacks one for the base damage and the other for the extra.
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Old 01-14-2018, 09:53 AM   #3
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Default Re: Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

Thanks for the help, weby.

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Originally Posted by weby View Post
Imbuements are described in powerups 1: Imbuements. Different pages for the different elements.
Imbuements are not ideal to me, I'll keep it in mind in case everything else fails but most transforming skills (eg Burning Strike) deals no extra damage and the fiting enhancement skills that can deal extra damage (eg Electric Weapon) requires rather high investment to deal any significant one (to reliably deal extra 1d damage it requires, at the reasonable DX 12 and using one skill only Imbue 3, 44 character points).

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Modifying ST based attacks in in Powers p 146
This rule is for adding modifiers like Armor Divisor or Surge to existing attacks (eg unarmed crushing damage), not adding a different kind of damage on top of the one you're already dealing.

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Universal followup is in powerups 4 enchantments p 14.
I have missed this one and at first I thought it was perfect for me but keeping reading I found a problem, it explicitly prohibits another penetration modifier which includes "Surge, Arcing" which was precisely on the modifiers I wanted on one the attacks.

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The option is to make an attack that is either ST based or include also the base damage, or make the attack one part and the extra damage linked damage. In all cases you make the attack melee range and give it a feature that it uses the karate(or whatever) skill.
ST based is either ST based or ST Based limited. As described in powerups 4 enchantments p 20. The limited version being the normal choice.
So, for a flaming punch it would be Burning Attack 1d (ST-Based, Limited, +30%; Melee, C, -30%; PM, -10%) [5], which would deal the lower of thr+1d burning damage or 2d burning damage, am I correct?
It shares the problem of having only a single damage type as the Imbuement but it's a lot cheaper (which can be abused but that shouldn't be a problem if I keep my eyes open). Although not ideal*, this seems like the best option I have.

*What I'm aiming for: Suppose the PC is wearing plate armor, the enemy would punch him with an electric punch. The armor would stop the punch part itself but the extra electric attack, due to the "Surge, Arcing" would likely penetrate through it. ST-Based would make so even the punching/crushing part of the attack would go through the armor.

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You could also make the base attack and then add a followup (+0% if normal punch) to that attack.
As "Follow-up, Universal", it doesn't accept other penetrating modifier and from what I've read if I define the follow-up as normal punch, it won't trigger if I use a Cestus or wear some glove or gauntlet.

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But alternatively(not suggested in RAW but fully Rules legal) you could do an attack or two linked attacks one for the base damage and the other for the extra.
Like Crushing Attack (Melee, C; Linked, +20%) + Burning Attack (Melee, C; Linked, +10%; PM) [X]? I have to admit I really don't like it. What if the character's ST changes (eg PC uses an affliction that reduces it)? Thr damage would go down but the Crushing one would stay the same. It also pops up questions about parrying with the crushing part and what not.

Last edited by Sorenant; 01-14-2018 at 11:18 AM.
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Old 01-14-2018, 02:46 PM   #4
sir_pudding
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Default Re: Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

For unarmed attacks Aura works too, since it affects anyone who touches or is touched by the character. This is what the published stats for elementals use for example.
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Old 01-15-2018, 03:30 AM   #5
Sorenant
 
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Default Re: Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
For unarmed attacks Aura works too, since it affects anyone who touches or is touched by the character. This is what the published stats for elementals use for example.
Thanks for the suggestion, I read about it across the books and dug up a few threads (like this one) and I think it's actually very appropriate for me!
I was at first being very pedant about the word "touch", thinking it required actual skin contact but although I found nothing explicit, it seems to work like Force Field modifier of Damage Resistance advantage (or cloak spells from Skyrim).
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Old 01-15-2018, 09:25 AM   #6
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Default Re: Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

No, that would be the Contact Agent modifier (-30% for an Aura attack).
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Old 01-15-2018, 09:36 AM   #7
Kelly Pedersen
 
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Default Re: Extra elemental damage on unarmed strikes

While Aura isn't a bad idea, it does have some drawbacks for this build, I think. Notably, it's on until you switch it off, which has to be on your turn. So there's no way for an ally to touch you without getting dinged by it, if they, for example, need to touch you to heal you or something. Also, it's pretty expensive. I think you can do this cheaper and a bit more accurately.

I think the rules for modifying ST-Based Damage is what you want here. Just, instead of using Follow-Up, what you actually want is Link. Link would be the appropriate enhancement to use if you were building this as burning or lightning damage or whatever attached to a crushing attack, so it's also the appropriate enhancement to use here. What you'd do is the usual for modifying ST-based damage: figure out the value of your unarmed attack as if it were an Innate Attack, then add the value of Link: +10% if you must always add elemental damage when you punch, or +20% if you can choose whether or not to add it or not. If you have multiple elemental attacks, and you can choose which ones, if any, to add on any given attack, I'd add another +20%, effectively for Selective. The difference between the "base" unarmed attack and the cost modified with the enhancements is what you actually pay. Then, on the elemental attacks, just add Link to them as well, paying +10% (since I assume you can't use them independently of a punch).
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