[Basic] Advantage of the Week (#51): Extra Arms

[Otaku]

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Basic

Under RAW, every character has two arms; today we look at the Advantage that changes that. Extra Arms (p. B53), is a Physical, Exotic Advantage. If a limb can manipulate objects, it is considered an arm, even if it biology would classify it as a leg, tail, or something else. The cost for Extra Arms is variable, depending on how many extras you need and their capabilities. The bog standard Extra Arm costs 10 CP a piece, but its [Basic] entry includes multiple Modifiers specific to it. Said Modifiers may also be applied to a characters default arms, treating Enhancements as an Advantage and Limitations as a Disadvantage equal to a tenth of their percentage value expressed as points e.g. a 50% Enhancement becomes a 5 CP Advantage.

In combat, Extra Arms do not give you additional attacks or maneuvers; take Extra Attack (p. B53-54) for that and/or Enhanced Tracking (p. B53) if you want to focus on multiple subjects at once. However, whether you are in normal Combat, Close Combat, or being out of combat entirely, Extra Arms can give you more options. For example, where appropriate you may use all three (or more) arms to work on a single task or assign them to complimentary activities: for example, wielding a two-handed weapon in addition to a shield. Each Extra Arm does provide a +2 bonus to grappling (including breaking free); you also get a +3 bonus to pin or resist being pinned if you have more arms than your opponent. We'll cover the Modifiers, all of which are listed on p. B53. An arm can be "Extra Flexible" for +50%, allowing the arm to reach and work with any other arms. "Long" increases the Arm's size Modifier by 1 each time you take it. This includes +1 per die to Swing damage when wielding a weapon! Probably why it costs +100%.

As for Limitations, "Foot Manipulators" is a special instance of the "Temporary Disadvantage" Limitation, in this case, it represents being Legless while making use of Extra Arms that are actually legs capable of manipulation. "No Physical Attack" robs a limb of its capacity to punch, kick, or even use melee weapons (though it can still use things like firearms to attack). "Short" reduces the reach of that Arm to Range C, as well as denying it the use of swung weapons. Attempts to grapple are at -2 if all of your arms are Short. "Weak" allows your Extra Arm to have a lower Strength score than the rest of your body; halved for -25% or quartered for -50%. "Weapon Mount" creates a spot where you can - as the name suggests - mount a weapon.

Other Supplements

• GURPS Powers gives multiple rules clarifications pertaining to Extra Arms, including some interesting Enhancements for which it may be applicable.
• GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses uses it to explain... um... something. I'm not sure how to mention this without giving the whole thing away. XP
• GURPS Supers includes Extra Arms in one of the new Talents and one of the new Templates.
• GURPS Update lets us know that Extra Arms had the same name and cost... sort of, as there is an "*" beside the entry, indicating there is more too it, which we'll address in the next section.

Past Editions

Under the Third Edition (Revised) rules, referenced from Compendium I, page 54-55, in the chapter on Super and Racial Advantages. While the base cost is the same as in Fourth Edition, this only applies to Extra Arms that otherwise correspond to the defaults for things like length and the capacity to attack. Short Arms, Long Arms, Arms with no physical attack all have separate base costs instead of being Modifiers that alter the price of Extra Arms. As far as I can tell, all the same rules mentioned in the Fourth Edition entry otherwise apply, save they use Fourth Edition terminology and the bonus for pinning is the same +2 for grappling.

Useful Links

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Discussion Starters

This is (usually) a generic list of questions for those who want to participate in the discussion but need a little help. If you already know what you want to say, feel free to skip these. ;)

• Have you ever taken this trait for one of your PCs or NPCs? How did it work out?
• Is there anything this trait does really well?
• Is there anything you think this trait could or should do differently?
• Any related traits you believe are necessary for full discussion? Go ahead and bring them up, but remember that this is a thread for Elastic Skin.
• Any thoughts on how the 4e version of these traits compares to them in earlier editions?

[vicky_molokh]

In my Space Operators campaign, a minor party NPC has it (a borderline-sapient alien amphibious cephalopod). It has four Extra Arms, with Extra-Flexible on all of them. I think Extra-Flexible is overpriced for what it does (especially if one doesn't have MA which has a few extra says on what exactly the benefits are, but even with MA it seems dubious to me). Back in 3e, Extra-Flexible arms were made by buying a one-time advantage, not by enhancing each one of them.

Before anyone asks why I get upset over NPC point totals, I just find it distasteful that accurately representing a species concept makes it simultaneously point-inefficient (there are better ways of attaining grappling bonuses) and makes the template cost alone rival the total point value of some humanoid NPCs. (The template has other stuff, the utility of which varies.)

[mhd]

I haven't seen any actual Extra Arms (it's more a sci-fi trope than a fantasy one), but the Force Extension variant has been used in some spells and special abilities I've built.

[sir_pudding]

I probably have at least one racial template in every game that I have run, that has nonhuman PCs at all, that has Extra Arms.

[Fred Brackin]

In my first Gurps game of the modern era (first as player and then as GM) we had a character with 4 arms.

He was a sort of Drow Jedi and kept his Extra Arms hidden under a long cloak. He even had Secret: Four Arms on his character sheet. We never actually got into any melee intense enough for him to need to reveal them.

[Bruno]

Extra arms is one of my favorite advantages. I don't often get excuses to take it, but I'm about to start a new campaign with a mutated Minotaur with four arms (and Ambidexterity).
He'll be simultaneously wielding a kusarigama (of a sort), a shield, and either a harpoon or a hand free for grappling/wrangling the kusarigama, so definitely making use of them.

You can probably argue some kind of bonus to a few athletic activities (most notably Climbing skill) when you have all the arms being in play, but that's not an explicit benefit. In its absence, extra arms let you (e.g.) row a boat into arrow fire while hiding under a shield, or climb a rope with a weapon and shield ready.

[smurf]

Originally Posted by Otaku

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Discussion Starters

This is (usually) a generic list of questions for those who want to participate in the discussion but need a little help. If you already know what you want to say, feel free to skip these. ;)

• Have you ever taken this trait for one of your PCs or NPCs? How did it work out?
• Is there anything this trait does really well?
• Is there anything you think this trait could or should do differently?
• Any related traits you believe are necessary for full discussion? Go ahead and bring them up, but remember that this is a thread for Elastic Skin.
• Any thoughts on how the 4e version of these traits compares to them in earlier editions?

Call it tropey but I originally started with a modified race with a +1SM Tail.

The main idea was they could hang from it. But it was one arm.

Arm ST +12 was needed for the max one armed lift allowance.

It was flexible, so I gave it constriction attack.

It's a tail so I decided to give it an inconvenience position. Chairs, cars, public transport, clothes etc etc had to cater for this rather long appendage.

Of course it has no fine manipulators or at least it is a 'thumb' it can push buttons and squeeze things so it isn't truly NFM. So I gave it no digits.

I suppose if the limb is +1SM would the Arm ST be entitled to a -10% discount?

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by smurf

I suppose if the limb is +1SM would the Arm ST be entitled to a -10% discount?

Hm... I need to think about that myself. In part, because I was interrupted reading this thread, really want to respond to something posted earlier, but didn't want you to think I hadn't seen your post (since you quoted me... though that might be because it was the OP).

So, what I wished to address is the discussion about octopuses... it is something I thought had been suggested, but I can't find it now and I'm not sure if there was a RAW argument against it or not.

So, if a creature has X amount of arms but, mechanically, they function as or close to Y amount of arms, and X>Y, could that just be written off a Special Effect, or accounted for with a Limitation? I mean, if X<Y for the same scenario, so that a creature with fewer arms somehow managed to function as if it had Extra Arms, I'd expect to pay accordingly.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Otaku

So, if a creature has X amount of arms but, mechanically, they function as or close to Y amount of arms, and X<Y, could that just be written off a Special Effect, or accounted for with a Limitation? I mean, if X>Y for the same scenario, so that a creature with fewer arms somehow managed to function as if it had Extra Arms, I'd expect to pay accordingly.

Yes.
GURPS is a get what you pay for system and if your extra Arms dont do anything you should not need to pay for it. Odds are they do something so it might still be a small UB.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Yes.
GURPS is a get what you pay for system and if your extra Arms dont do anything you should not need to pay for it. Odds are they do something so it might still be a small UB.

I think I worded it backward, and have corrected my previous post. Yet it sounds like you answered what I meant to ask.