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Old 08-06-2020, 02:58 AM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

Weak Bite [-2] is an exotic physical disadvantage, although not a very exotic one; that just means it isn’t available to normal humans. Your bite does not use your strength efficiently, giving you -2 per die of biting damage. This disadvantage appeared at GURPS 4e.

It was added for large herbivores, such as horses and cattle, which can’t do biting damage in proportion to their strength; some small herbivores and omnivores may have it, but carnivores almost never do. I’m a little surprised it wasn’t made levelled, at [-1] per -1 to biting damage.

It shows up on large herbivores, including aquatic herbivores, dinosaurs, and pegasi. Bio-Tech can engineer it, which is helpful on pet smilodons, and there’s a hominoid species in Underground Adventures that has it. But that’s all Weak Bite gets used for.

While it is useful for modelling, I can’t see how this disadvantage could be dramatic. Surprise me?
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Old 08-06-2020, 03:46 AM   #2
awesomenessofme1
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

I expanded this into No Mouth [-5] for an alien race. Seems like it would generally be a racial trait.
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Old 08-06-2020, 03:53 AM   #3
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

It’s very much a racial package feature, and so is doomed to be un-exciting. GURPS is a little confused here, as there’s a Weak Bite disad, but no No Bite, which would be appropriate for all sorts of robots and plant people and such. It doubtless wandered in from some Bestiary mechanics or something, and has never been converted to be part of a coherent generic system.

The usual argument about No Bite is I think that it carries No Jaw Hit Location for free, and hence balances out as a zero-point feature. Which would convince me better if I ever saw anyone target the Jaw location in play.

Personally, I’d treat No Bite and Weak Bite as racial quirks, worth -1 apiece. They kinda-sorta have some valid game significance, but I just so rarely see biting happen in play.
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Old 08-06-2020, 04:51 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

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Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
It’s very much a racial package feature, and so is doomed to be un-exciting. GURPS is a little confused here, as there’s a Weak Bite disad, but no No Bite, which would be appropriate for all sorts of robots and plant people and such. It doubtless wandered in from some Bestiary mechanics or something, and has never been converted to be part of a coherent generic system.
That's kind of like the way a machine, or an animated mass of rock or air, is given High Pain Threshold, rather than Immunity to Pain.
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Old 08-06-2020, 04:55 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

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Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Personally, I’d treat No Bite and Weak Bite as racial quirks, worth -1 apiece. They kinda-sorta have some valid game significance, but I just so rarely see biting happen in play.
I play a character with Fine Impaling teeth, with Bite Mastery for extra Karate damage. The teeth are retractable (Low Signature) so they're invisible unless I gape. Some of my party companions think I'm a little too trigger happy, but that's what comes with being a fanatic follower of a death goddess. Oh, and I have venom glands attached to the teeth...
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Old 08-06-2020, 05:09 AM   #6
johndallman
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

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Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
The usual argument about No Bite is I think that it carries No Jaw Hit Location for free, and hence balances out as a zero-point feature. Which would convince me better if I ever saw anyone target the Jaw location in play.
I've done grapples to the Jaw a couple of times, as preparatory steps for stabbing sentries.
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Old 08-06-2020, 06:36 AM   #7
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
That's kind of like the way a machine, or an animated mass of rock or air, is given High Pain Threshold, rather than Immunity to Pain.
Umm, not really? Templates with no mouths don't as a rule get given Weak Bite, under that name or any other.
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Old 08-06-2020, 12:57 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

It's good to have rules for, I suppose, but I'm honestly not sure it's worth more than a -1 quirk, and even making it a quirk seems generous given how rare bite attacks are outside of characters designed specifically to take advantage of them.
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Old 08-06-2020, 04:20 PM   #9
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

By the way, can anyone trace where this actually came from? It’s not in Compendium I, or in the 3e Bestiary where I guessed it might have appeared. It must have been a very late 3e feature.
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Old 08-06-2020, 05:29 PM   #10
Say, it isn't that bad!
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Weak Bite

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Weak Bite [-2] is an exotic physical disadvantage, although not a very exotic one; that just means it isn’t available to normal humans.
Sufficient long-term damage to the jaw muscles could give this to a human, so I don't see how this necessarily even has to be exotic.
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