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Old 06-25-2020, 09:17 AM   #1
qchap
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Default Changing CP total in play

I wonder if there if any limitations and/or enhancements, which make players gain or lose some CP (may be in form of advantages)?

E.g. I want to create a disadvantage like Bad Temper, but whenever I kill someone during my rage, I gain some disadvantage (or lose some advantage). Or, I have an Oath, and if I break it, I loose some advantage (It could be a contract with devil or something).

On the other hand, I might want to have an advantage, which, in some rare circumstances let me gain an advantage. E.g. if I kill someone during full moon on a south side of a mountain, I gain victim's HT, if it's greater.
Of course, if a player could create such advantages, it would be very unbalancing. But if it's GM-only right, it could be interesting.

Is there any way to create such point-changing traits?
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Old 06-25-2020, 09:27 AM   #2
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

Advantages with the Pact limitation become suspended if the conditions of the Pact are broken. The Advantage (and it's CP) stay on the character sheet though. I don't know of any trait that builds in CP changes in a mechanistic way. But as you say, if the GM wants it to happen s/he can devise it to.
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Old 06-25-2020, 09:41 AM   #3
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

DR with Absorption uses absorbed damage to fuel a pool of CP that can buy some sort of ability -- temporarily, because the pool drains. This would be a "hitting me enrages me so I fight better" sort of ability.

Leech steals various traits from targets (HP, FP, attributes) and grants them to the Leech. It doesn't deal directly in CP, just transfers the points directly. It wouldn't be hard to modify it to count the stolen trait in CP and spend that CP on a destination trait, with an Enhancement to allow a choice of destination traits.

Neutralize with Power Theft lets you steal abilities from targets. Again, it's a temporary thing.

Afflictions with Permanent add abilities permanently. Afflictions can also be Cumulative, so you can in theory buy something like a +1 IQ Cumulative Permanent Affliction, then proceed to turn everyone in the world into an IQ 20 supergenius. This combination is widely considered broken. (RAW does note that recipients of Permanent Afflictions should pay CP.)

I think you're right any that such ability needs careful scrutiny, if not outright Author Control. There's no fair price in CP for an ability that permanently generates CP.
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Old 06-25-2020, 09:44 AM   #4
Stormcrow
 
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

I would imagine that the consequences of flying into a rage because of your Bad Temper would be whatever follows logically in the game. If I blow up at one of my party members who forgives me afterward, that's one thing. If I blow up at the High Priest, who has me excommunicated — Social Stigma (Excommunicated) — that's quite another.

And the consequences of breaking a Vow are usually going to be either a penance to make up for it or disadvantages worth an equal amount as the Vow (e.g., a Reputation of being faithless).

I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all solution to that.

On the other hand, if you're talking about turning into a raging green monster any time you fail a Bad Temper self-control roll, that would be an Alternate Form with a Trigger limitation.

Donny Brook has already pointed out the Pact limitation when dealing with spirits and higher powers.

So it really depends what you're trying to do. Give us something specific, and we can see how it would be done.
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Old 06-25-2020, 12:55 PM   #5
johndallman
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

Post-Combat Shakes can have this effect, causing you to acquire quirks, and potentially other disadvantages that come from failed Fright Checks.
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Old 06-25-2020, 02:47 PM   #6
qchap
 
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
I think you're right any that such ability needs careful scrutiny, if not outright Author Control. There's no fair price in CP for an ability that permanently generates CP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
So it really depends what you're trying to do. Give us something specific, and we can see how it would be done.
I have several thing in my mind, and I can now say about two:

An ability (innate attack or some another), with wich I can kill someone in some really special circumstance, if the victim had some special abilities, I could gain some of them. And sometimes this could also give me some mental disadvantages in special cases. Anyway, I don't have to pay actual CP for it (or it wouldn't be rewarding).

Second:
I have some mental disadvantage, E.g. Pacifism. Normally I can't kill, but in this case I could kill... but after that I gain some disadvantage or lose advantage (e.g. one Will level) for my punishment. It's like a curse.

All such abilities/curses would only be available in templates, so it'd be strictly controlled.
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Old 06-25-2020, 03:03 PM   #7
Stormcrow
 
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

Quote:
Originally Posted by qchap View Post

An ability (innate attack or some another), with wich I can kill someone in some really special circumstance, if the victim had some special abilities, I could gain some of them. And sometimes this could also give me some mental disadvantages in special cases. Anyway, I don't have to pay actual CP for it (or it wouldn't be rewarding).
If this is supposed to be a permanent ability gain, then no, I don't think there's a normal way to do this in GURPS. If it's for something like a Highlander game, where beheading another immortal gives you their powers, then the GM can simply make this a fact of the setting, a reward for taking out another immortal.

Quote:
I have some mental disadvantage, E.g. Pacifism. Normally I can't kill, but in this case I could kill... but after that I gain some disadvantage or lose advantage (e.g. one Will level) for my punishment. It's like a curse.
Again, if the curse is permanent, then no, GURPS doesn't have anything that does this. It would have to be GM fiat as a feature of the setting, unless it's a Pact limitation. (You have Pacifism and BadDisadvantage, and your deity gives you No BadDisadvantage with a Pact limitation as long as you maintain your Pacifism. I dunno how kosher this is.)
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Old 06-25-2020, 04:14 PM   #8
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Changing CP total in play

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
the GM can simply make this a fact of the setting
This is a perfectly reasonable and fair thing to do when the ability is available to all of the characters that matter. (That is, it could be a trait of all Immortals where the mundane humans never benefit -- in which case the mundanes are just cannon fodder and backdrop. Or it could be a trait everyone has, in which case the mundane humans in the know may be keen to knock off an Immortal so they can ascend to kewl Immortal powers, too.)

Since it's a campaign Advantage, the GM is giving it away for free, and so you don't really have to stat it out to give it a point value. You could if you wanted to (start with Neutralize + Power Theft, for instance), and sometimes that's useful for calculating point costs for Allies and similar traits. You can't really compare the supposedly N-point characters on a scale with other N-point characters that don't also have the hugely expensive trait, but that's okay, because you don't have to balance that number across different games. It's for generating a sense of fairness among players in a single game, not an absolute global number you need to know exactly to look up precise Challenge Ratings.

Any CP-farming trait is probably going to lead to social problems in the group when the Immortal sits around farming his CP on top of his 3-5 xp per session and becoming exponentially more powerful while the other characters just get their 3-5 xp per session. There's not really any amount you can charge to balance out this situation, since it's just a matter of play time until the farming payoff exceeds the initial cost. It's possible you have a group that truly doesn't care about relative character importance / spotlight time / influence on the game, and are content to play supporting characters. But that's pretty rare. (Ask yourself how many people in your group would play Xander in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer game, absent any meta-mechanisms like hero points or luck. Ask yourself if you'd really be happy being Xander when everyone else is being Buffy, Oz, Willow, and Angel.)

So, giving power-absorbing to everyone, or no one, are the most likely ways to keep the group intact and the campaign continuing. If the whole table knows about the ability and wants to give it a try, then have fun with it.
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