Opinions on "Change Posture & Ready"

[Nose66]

We had a recent combat where a large portion of the party was asleep on the ground. After we woke up, it took each of us 3 rounds to get into combat because we had to:

Change Posture (Prone -> Kneel)
Ready Weapon (grab weapon from the ground)
Change Posture (Kneel -> Stand)

I asked the GM that in the future, could we combine the last two maneuvers and instead do:

Change Posture (Prone -> Kneel)
Change Posture (Kneel -> Stand) & Ready Weapon, but get NO DEFENSES (similar to an All-Out maneuver).

He mentioned that it wasn't RAW, but would allow it.

Opinions?

[khorboth]

In general, I would allow a double-maneuver like this with a successful check of some sort. Probably the better of DX or Acrobatics. On a failure, you have to take the extra maneuver but still lose defenses. On a critical failure, you drop the item and have to retrieve it AND lose defenses.

On the other hand, if this is something you anticipate happening a lot, maybe invest in Fast Draw?

[Gigermann]

"Quick-Readying Nearby Weapons" MA104—could be tweaked to work here as well

[Dustin]

It should only take 2 turns - there's a special dispensation for going from Kneeling to Standing (or vice versa) as a Step.

Originally Posted by B364

You can switch between kneeling and standing (only) as the “step” portion of any maneuver that allows a step – you don’t need Change Posture for that. This is instead of using the step to move. Thus, you could go from prone to kneeling with a Change Posture maneuver on one turn, and then stand up in place on your next turn by taking a maneuver that allows a step.

So turn 1 - Change Posture: Lying to Kneeling
turn 2 - Step and Ready, using the Step to Stand from Kneeling.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Dustin

turn 2 - Step and Ready, using the Step to Stand from Kneeling.

I think it would be "ready and step" since you'd still need to be kneeling to grab the weapon, then use your step at the end of the Ready turn.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Or several of you can learn Acrobatics and the Acrobatic Stand Technique.

You'd think holding a weapon might make that harder, but apparently not.

Originally Posted by Dustin

I support the concept of expanding "All-Out", so that you could have

• All-Out Ready: Two Ready maneuvers, with no defenses.
• All-Out Change Posture: Go from Lying to Standing, with no defenses.
• All-Out Mixed: One Change Posture and one Ready, in either order, with no defenses.

These seem quite unobjectionable to me. All-Out Ready could be particularly handy when a character is trying to get through the 1d seconds trying to locate a packed item.

Other All-Out options would be interesting (All-Out Aim? Aim & Attack?) but are outside the scope of the thread.

Cole's "On Target" has All-Out Aim, and "Aim as Attack" does essentially allow you to do AOA double Aim + Attack.

Cole's "Technical Grappling" also has the solution to the Change Posture maneuver: using the "Force Posture Change" attack instead and designate your weapon as your foe. Only downside is you must pass a roll and it's not auto-success (but then, neither is Acrobatic Stand)

[Anaraxes]

There's Fast-Draw (Weapon).

No default per RAW if the players neglected to drop a point into the skill(s), but a GM might allow a DX-4 roll anyway.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Plane

You'd think holding a weapon might make that harder, but apparently not.

Because it really doesn't.

What should penalize Acrobatic Stand (but doesn't) is Encumbrance.

Also, Acrobatic Stand has an "All Out" variation where you sacrifice Defenses for a +4 to your roll.

[Nose66]

Originally Posted by Dustin

It should only take 2 turns - there's a special dispensation for going from Kneeling to Standing (or vice versa) as a Step.

So turn 1 - Change Posture: Lying to Kneeling
turn 2 - Step and Ready, using the Step to Stand from Kneeling.

Thank you, I think that is the answer I was looking for (and it is RAW).

BTW, Thank you all for your ideas, I really love the GURPS community!

[evileeyore]

Or several of you can learn Acrobatics and the Acrobatic Stand Technique.

[Boge]

Surprise attack should have come into play here too. So it might have taken some of you longer than 3 turns to get up and be ready for combat.