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Old 09-11-2016, 04:53 AM   #11
McAllister
 
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
In the real world it really does take long periods of time to recover from major injury. But even the lowest level regeneration would fix that.

I haven't fully formulated what I want. It was all just an odd idea and decided to ask for feedback in general as well as Gurps-y write ups.
Well, in the real world it takes time to recover from major injury, but do you want this ability to render major injury invisible, or prevent it? It sounds like you want to use this ability to prevent it. You mention Injury Tolerance: Damage Reduction in the OP, and I think that's the way to go, with Accessibility: Does Not Apply to Attacks that Could Not Conceivably Graze. And what's the value of that? ...I have no idea, particularly since I'm not absolutely sure what it would apply to, either. But the main upside of this is that if the character has, say, IT:DR (4), then that 60 damage bullet from earlier* would actually just deal 15 points of damage. Not a "graze" per se, but it won't kill you, and it WILL heal in a quarter the time, unlike abstract/invisible injury.

Maybe you want to combine this with Enhanced Dodge, hmm? So attacks that miss by a margin of the ED can be cosmetic grazes, and attacks that merely get reduced by the IT:DR can miraculously miss vital organs, bullets can shatter mid-flight due to a defect in manufacturing, the book in the character's pocket can take the brunt of a blow, and so on, and so forth. And there could be Luck on top of that. Basically, there's a very real chance that no ability is going to work well for you, so it may be that a suite of them well work best.

*Which will deal 60 points of damage to the torso of any character it hits, unless optional rules are being used, honestly, if we want to make assumptions with those in play they need to be called out
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Old 09-11-2016, 05:39 AM   #12
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

IIRC there's a perk called "No Visible Damage" that basically does this. You still get hurt, but it doesn't show (GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks, p. 11). It requires Unkillable of course.
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Old 09-11-2016, 08:16 AM   #13
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

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Originally Posted by Kuroshima View Post
IIRC there's a perk called "No Visible Damage" that basically does this. You still get hurt, but it doesn't show (GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks, p. 11). It requires Unkillable of course.
And I think what Flyndaran wants is quite similar to this, but not similar enough.

With No Visible Damage, I get shot in the chest. The bullet enters my chest, doing full damage, but my flesh either appears to close up the bullet wound immediately, or the tunnel remains but I don't bleed and my organs keep working: as long as I'm alive, my body doesn't show damage (but the damage happened and is real, takes ages to heal naturally, etc).

With what I'm thinking Flyndaran wants, someone shoots at my chest. Maybe they graze it (because they missed by my Enhanced Dodge threshold), doing no damage. Maybe they hit, but there's some reason it doesn't do full damage, like a book in my pocket, or a faulty bullet, or it miraculously misses anything important (because I have IT:DR 4). But if I'm hung by the neck with a long drop, I can expect my neck to snap, because there's no viable way for that to just fortuitously not be a gruesome injury. Or maybe I take a level of Serendipity (Aspected: harm against me) and the rope was so frayed and worn that it snaps, and I just take fall damage... but maybe he's not looking for anything so contrived as that.
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Old 09-11-2016, 08:43 PM   #14
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

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I'm thinking the character being described here would be best handled with the Flesh Wounds rules, or maybe Serendipity. Using unkillable here seems like putting a square peg in a round hole.
Good thinking! Take the bit from Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys where you buy the Destiny advantage, but use it as a renewable source of CP for stuff like Flesh Wounds. Take a nice Accessibility limitation if it's ONLY good for Flesh Wounds. Maybe it also needs three levels and an enhancement for refreshing to full every session start.
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Old 09-11-2016, 09:13 PM   #15
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

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Originally Posted by McAllister View Post
Good thinking! Take the bit from Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys where you buy the Destiny advantage, but use it as a renewable source of CP for stuff like Flesh Wounds. Take a nice Accessibility limitation if it's ONLY good for Flesh Wounds. Maybe it also needs three levels and an enhancement for refreshing to full every session start.
I don't have that supplement, but it does sound interesting and rather appropriate. Though I wonder how renewable CP sources work.
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Old 09-11-2016, 09:24 PM   #16
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

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I don't have that supplement, but it does sound interesting and rather appropriate. Though I wonder how renewable CP sources work.
The supplement is all about new ways to spend CP on influencing the game, but it also has suggestions for how to get "virtual CP" to use if the idea of spending real ones repulses you (as it does me). Destiny is simple enough: you have a reservoir of Destiny CP equal to the Destiny level (which replaces the Destiny's normal effect), and you can one point at the beginning of each session, up to the max. I'm suggesting a limitation to reflect that the Destiny is limited to avoiding harm, and an enhancement so you get a full three uses of it per session every session: I'm not sure what the precise values of these should be.
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Old 09-12-2016, 08:26 AM   #17
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

If its a special effect of anything, I'd call it supernatural durability. The ability to just keep going until something truly nasty (or in this case unavoidable) happens. It also doesn't have an odd sudden running out of luck.

Yes, it costs 3 times as much, because this is a really good ability.
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Old 09-12-2016, 09:11 AM   #18
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

I think Unkillable is a poor fit for what you're trying to do, and IT:DR will work much better, but only if you're using blowthrough caps and the houserule that the cap is based on damage rather than injury.

I'd be tempted to make three levels of a Luck power modifier - plausible, implausible, impossible - each of which means that your power actually functions in the form of lucky breaks. Luck, Plausible -10% means the breaks need to be plausible - unexpected minor wind gusts and movement on your part make a sniper's bullet graze you, you find a small bit of cover to protect you from part of a machine gun burst or a grenade's shrapnel, etc. It sometimes requires a specific action on your part (dodge and drop for the cover), and the GM may rule in certain situations that your ability is at reduced capacity (IT:DR 4 could become IT:DR 2, for example). Luck, Implausible -5% means the breaks need only be possible - the grenade bursts in a manner that causes most of the shrapnel to not even head in your direction. It's like Plausible, above, but less restrictive. Luck, Impossible +0% is a Feature that just makes your ability luck-themed but doesn't impact its function - Fortune from Metal Gear Solid 2 would* have this on her incredible DR.

So, determine which of the above you want to apply (Plausible -10% sounds about right, unless you want malfunctioning guillotines and the like to be a factor), and give the character IT:DR of an appropriate level with that modifier attached. This will almost certainly be more expensive than Unkillable 1, but absent other Advantages should function a lot better (as it stands, the character has a pretty good chance of being "grazed" by a bullet, passing out (HP 0), then either being executed or possibly bleeding out).

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Old 09-12-2016, 09:15 AM   #19
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

Why not just Serendipity (Defensive)?
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Old 09-12-2016, 03:10 PM   #20
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Default Re: Unkillable 1 feature or what is this?

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
I'm thinking of someone that game mechanically has Unkillable 1, but with a twist. It doesn't appear that he's supernaturally durable. Gunshots graze rather than tear through, for example.
On paper he still takes HP damage with all those effects, but to outward appearances he just wasn't that injured.
It means truly unavoidable injuries will cause significantly more damage. Point blank bullets to the head would still almost certainly kill him when it couldn't for base UK 1.
It has aspects of No Visible Injury from Supers, Damage Reduction, and various forms of Luck, but none of those quite fit.

Any ideas or ways to clarify my wandering thoughts?
First look at:


Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Super Luck; Basic page 89
Once per hour of play, you may dictate the result of any one die roll you make (or the GM makes for you) instead of rolling the dice. Wholly impossible attempts cannot succeed (your effective skill level must be at least 3), but you can choose any result that would be possible – however improbable – on a single normal die roll.
Take Super Luck [100]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Super Luck; Powers page 80
Wishing: You can specify the result of any die roll made in your presence. You must personally witness the action you wish to influence. Normal usage limits apply. +100% if you can affect your rolls and those of others; +0% if you can aid others but not yourself.
Super Luck (Wishing +100%) [200] Once per hour you can specify the result of any die roll made in your presence.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Super Luck; Powers page 119
Buy this as Super Luck (Wishing, +100%) [200]. Those who can do this reliably might have higher levels of Super Luck (see p. 80). In most games, 12 or 13 levels (2,400 or 2,600 points) suffice to affect every die roll made in the user’s presence.
Super Luck (Wishing +100%) 13 [2600] You can specify the result of any die roll made in your presence.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thaumatology page 30
The various Luck advantages can normally only affect success, damage, and reaction rolls. They can’t influence rolls on “effects tables” such as the Firearm Malfunction Table (p. B407), the Gadget Bugs Table (p. B476), or any critical success or failure table. These rolls represent effects that vary with the situation or that are determined by the GM’s whim, rather than being truly random.

All of this extends to magic. A wizard who has Luck of some kind can use it to avoid critical failures at spellcasting – but if he does experience a critical failure, he can’t change the result rolled on the Critical Spell Failure Table (p. B236) or on any table in Thaumatology that serves a similar purpose. Such a result often represents the universe or the gods punishing the caster for hubris. Mere luck can’t deflect that! And since the GM is free to improvise a critical failure result instead of using the result rolled, he could always change back effects altered using these advantages anyway.

Cosmic Luck: Optionally, the GM may make an exception for Luck or Super Luck that has a +50% Cosmic enhancement (p. B103). This represents luck that dictates terms to the universe; therefore, it can overrule the gods or reality!
Super Luck (Cosmic can effect tables +50%; Wishing +100%) 13 [3,250] You can specify the result of any die roll, including tables, made in your presence.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Super Luck; Powers page 81
Talent gives a bonus to die rolls manipulated by this ability. Since the user can dictate outcomes, the practical effect is to alter margin of success or failure, or extend the range of possible results (e.g., for damage rolls).
Take 10 levels of a Talent that covers Super Luck. This adds +10 to your rolls when using Super luck, which can increase your effective skill level to 3+
This gives you an idea of what maxed out super luck can do.

Now take a limited form of Super Luck that only applies to death checks, bleeding, damage you receive, maybe knock down and stunning rolls, and conscious check etc;

You always make death checks and bleeding rolls, and anytime you get hit the absolute minimum damage is rolled; that should keep you up for quite a while.
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