[Powers] Drain-Tanking in GURPS (Leech+HP as offence AND defence)

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

After re-reading an old thread with a Krommquote about Leech, I decided to try out the concept in GURPS. This, combined with the oft-repeated truth that a 'tank' character must not only survive lots of damage, but also present a credible threat in order to actually make mooks target him/her/it over the squishies, is the prime incentive to try out a drain-tank build - a character who heals damage by inflicting damage.

Base assumptions:
The analysis is intended for a high-powered fantasy or low-powered supers campaign - combat ability budget between 200 and 500 points, and an expectation that mooks might do up to 3d worth of damage (Lieutenants and bosses more than that).

Minimum requirements:
[edit]Totally forgot about Ranged, but I'm not in the mood to redo calcs by hand or make a sheet right now.[/edit]
Leech costs a base of 25 points, +4 per level beyond the first. For even remotely efficient drain-tanking, it requires an enhancement - Accelerated Healing for +25%. To have the barest of range, it needs Malediction I for +100%, or perhaps even II for +150% (not likely to be very affordable).
That turns out to be +125% or +175%, perhaps +200% for some extra enhancements. Maybe some negligible discounts for Power Source.
At the realistic minimum, that is 57 (56¼ to be precise) points for starters, and 9 per extra level.
Mooks typically have HP10, have little to no defense against maledictions (except the base saving throw) and either risk, or automatically fall unconscious at -0, so we have a big incentive to deal roughly 10 damage per cast, perhaps up to 20 if we want to be deadly.
Attack costs would be:
10 damage per cast: [138]
15 damage per cast: [183]
20 damage per cast: [228].

Now, first thing I should warn about is that with decent skill (e.g. from being based on above-average Will) and close quarters combats, a hit rate of roughly 50% is likely. So our DPS (and thus base HPS) is half of our ideal damage per cast.

Now, of course we're gonna stack +HP for this character. Let's opt for looking at the numbers 200 and 300 as possible point caps (I'm assuming that for combat budgets higher than 300, the PC might want to buy some other abilities, perhaps as AA's).

The 200-point cap:

• 138pts on Leech (10), remaining 62pts on +HP, granting +31, for a net HP of 41. HPS: 40, halved to 20. So with no DR we can survive two mook hits per turn, if we can handle the Shock Penalty (which will be around 3 for a 3d attack on a HP40 character).
• 183pts on Leech (15), 16pts on +HP, granting +8 HP, for a net 18HP. HPS: 15, halved to 7. Less than one hit per turn. It is actually preferable to reduce Leech by one level and buy more HP, like this:
• 174pts on Leech (14), 26 on +HP, for a net HP of 23. HPS: 14*2/2. Yep, HPS for almost 1½ hits per turn. So almost 1½ the damage output (likely useful against named NPC enemies), but a loss of roughly ¼ survivability from the 40-HP build.

The 300-point cap:

• 138pts on Leech (10), 162pts on +81 HP, net HP91. HPS: 10*8/2 = 40. Double the HPS, so we can handle 4 mook hits (Shock permitting).
• 184 on Leech (15), 116pts on ++58HP, net HP68. HPS: 15*5/2 = 37. Almost as much as before, but 1½ the damage output. However, bumping HP to 70 might be tempting:
• 175 on Leech (14), 124 on +62HP, for HP72. HPS: 14*7/2 = 49. A remarkable (almost) 5 hits survivability for a slight loss of DPS.
• Finally, 228 for Leech (20), 72 for +36HP, net HP46. HPS: 20*4/2 = 40. *shrug*

Comparison:
3d of damage (IA, non-Malediction) is roughly 15 points, or 30 if Malediction I.
10DR is 50 points, and will allow survival against lots and lots of attacks. 15DR for 75 points (if allowed) results in better survivability for a lower cost.

Conclusion:
Drain-tanking doesn't look very attractive, even though it has the upside of being able to negate armour-piercing attacks by healing the next turn.
Any ideas on better builds?

Thanks in advance!

[Bruno]

Imbuements and Vampiric Weapon comes to mind as an alternative. More of a Death Knight feel than a Warlock feel, and usually melee ranged.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Imbuements and Vampiric Weapon comes to mind as an alternative. More of a Death Knight feel than a Warlock feel, and usually melee ranged.

Vampiric Weapon actually looked pretty good on a winged Heroic Archer for a game I never joined, but at this point it isn't a tank at all.

That being said, I indeed suspect that on average, Imbuements will offer a better deal.

[arconom]

I think DR should be included to prevent the occasional shot to the vitals from killing you. Injury Tolerance might work as well. Probably kinda tough to fit into the 200 point cap. Depending on the TL, a tac suit should work quite well (20 DR). For fantasy, some chain will have to do unless you want to buy more ST. Definitely get a helmet. Together with the extra HP, that might be enough to stave off death until someone sets you on fire.

[Jerander]

Two thoughts:

1) Reduce Leech but Link it to an Innate Attack to increase damage.

2) Add Area Effect to Leech to hit multiple targets per use.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Jerander

Two thoughts:

1) Reduce Leech but Link it to an Innate Attack to increase damage.

What's the point? IMO it makes more sense to have an Innate Attack as an AA to the Leech for DPS-only moments.

Originally Posted by Jerander

2) Add Area Effect to Leech to hit multiple targets per use.

I thought about it, but the cost is huge, and the chance that multiple mooks will conveniently occupy the appropriate area is small.

I was curious about the option of Cyclic (e.g. how Corruption used to work with Soul Siphon). But again, sufficiently fast cycles in large numbers are prohibitive (though perhaps this makes sense with Malediction II and lots of other Enhancements).

[Kuroshima]

Leech is woefully inefficient, point-wise, as a way to do damage. Malediction only aggravates the issue (and you need ranged on top of it), because Leech already ignores DR. Now, Leech isn't an Attack (and does not require Attack maneuvers), last time I checked, and works as a free action, once you've got the conditions right. This means you could be in AoD, and Malediction-leeching. This makes drain tanking much more interesting!

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Vampiric Weapon actually looked pretty good on a winged Heroic Archer for a game I never joined, but at this point it isn't a tank at all.

That being said, I indeed suspect that on average, Imbuements will offer a better deal.

Vampiric Weapon is melee only, there's no ranged variant.

Originally Posted by Jerander

Two thoughts:

1) Reduce Leech but Link it to an Innate Attack to increase damage.

2) Add Area Effect to Leech to hit multiple targets per use.

IIRC, area effect does not increase the healing, only the damage, but I can't find the krommpost where I saw this.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

IIRC, area effect does not increase the healing, only the damage, but I can't find the krommpost where I saw this.

It's certainly the ruling I go with, Kromm or not. I have SEEN what happens if you assume otherwise with similar things, and it's mwe ugly.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Bruno

It's certainly the ruling I go with, Kromm or not. I have SEEN what happens if you assume otherwise with similar things, and it's mwe ugly.

Can't find it. In fact, I only found relevant posts by you when I searched for leech area effect. However, it seems that Jason has an alternative approach in this post:

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

That should work fine, except that you'll also need to add Malediction. The concept behind Leech is that you are limited by (A) having to make contact with a person and hold onto them tightly or (B) having to win a Quick Contest against them. Since you have given your ability range (via AE instead of Ranged, which I think is certainly fair), you'll need to also add Malediction.

That will create an ability which steals from everyone around him simultaneously, at a penalty to the roll equal to the number of subjects minus 1 (e.g., if there are four people around, the Malediction Leech roll would be his Will-3 versus their Wills.) Add Independent, +70%, if you want to avoid this penalty.