Mailanka's Musings -- GURPS Content Post

[Kalzazz]

How are you working Fast Draw Force Sword? Do you still require a 1 second charge time or allow it to manifest instantly?

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

How are you working Fast Draw Force Sword? Do you still require a 1 second charge time or allow it to manifest instantly?

The book states that you can automatically activate it the moment you fast-draw it, but that it finishes materializing at the end of your turn, which means you can't attack with it on the same turn you drew it.

If you wanted a true iajutsu force blade, I'd suggest some kind of technological improvement, but it's not something I've specifically focused on just yet.

[GodBeastX]

I did a "Space Knight" in a space campaign I'm in. I went with a force shield, force sword, plate armor from a pyramid (Non powered), and blaster pistol skill so I could keep the shield up and use ranged if needed.

[Mailanka]

And now, Kendra Corleoni 2.0, Felinoid, Bounty Hunter, Former slave.

[Kalzazz]

. . . . she has 16 Guns (Pistol). She has spent 12pts in unarmed combat skills vs 6 points in Gun skills (I am not sure why she spent 2 pts in Fast Draw Pistol, are we expecting a lot of quick draw duels?)

I am happy to see she is no longer encumbered! YAY!

Why is her Bad Temper -5?

I already mentioned it, but, ugh, I hate seeing races treated this way. This is the sort of thing that gets players given their sheet back and told 'try, try again', really, I mean, you llist out the weight and damage of guns, why not list out the component parts of the race on the sheet?

Ill admit, so far I am not hugely impressed with the results of this iteration. We have come up so far with 2 characters where all stats are within 1 or 2 points of each other and both of which have 16 in their main attack skill! They also suspiciously remind me of 3e characters, what with their nearly equal moderate levels of DX and IQ, caused by 3e progressive stat cost system . . . . I am not sure that this iteration represents that much of an improvement over the first iteration so far

[Kalzazz]

You know, I was looking at her sheet and thinking 'Hmmm, she doesn't have fast draw ammo and she doesn't have the quick reload perk . . . '

But the Heavy Blaster pistol holds 11 combat rounds of ammo! She doesn't ne to worry about reloading unless things get really weird

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

You know, I was looking at her sheet and thinking 'Hmmm, she doesn't have fast draw ammo and she doesn't have the quick reload perk . . . '

But the Heavy Blaster pistol holds 11 combat rounds of ammo! She doesn't ne to worry about reloading unless things get really weird

55. We're using Super-Science cells.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Ill admit, so far I am not hugely impressed with the results of this iteration. We have come up so far with 2 characters where all stats are within 1 or 2 points of each other and both of which have 16 in their main attack skill! They also suspiciously remind me of 3e characters, what with their nearly equal moderate levels of DX and IQ, caused by 3e progressive stat cost system . . . . I am not sure that this iteration represents that much of an improvement over the first iteration so far

Really? I couldn't feel more differently. But you're looking more at the characters than at the templates. Try building your own characters with the original space templates and then with these new templates, and you'll see the difference. It's night and day.

[Mailanka]

Third: Leylana Grey 2.0, aristocratic super-spy.

EDIT: Somehow the character got screwed up. She's been edited and should be correct now (for example, she has her Stealth skill listed now)

[Mailanka]

Why is her Bad Temper -5?

That's a mistake. I'm adjusting.

I already mentioned it, but, ugh, I hate seeing races treated this way. This is the sort of thing that gets players given their sheet back and told 'try, try again', really, I mean, you llist out the weight and damage of guns, why not list out the component parts of the race on the sheet?

This will never change. First, I disagree with you and I feel like listing out all the details of every meta-trait clutters the sheet. I want my eyes drawn to what makes the character distinct, and "I'm an elf" is enough discussion of what an elf is for my purposes.

Secondly, and more importantly, I am publishing this information. Felinoids and Sparriels and whatever else aren't mine to publish. I have to walk a fine line, especially in the next iteration, regarding what I can show and what I cannot, but my general approach is if I modify it, it's okay to publish information, but if it's not, I should hide where possible and give you a page reference. So even if I agreed with you, I'd just post a page number so you'd know where to go.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

. . . . she has 16 Guns (Pistol). She has spent 12pts in unarmed combat skills vs 6 points in Gun skills (I am not sure why she spent 2 pts in Fast Draw Pistol, are we expecting a lot of quick draw duels?)

A bounty hunter is more about subduing her foes than she is about shooting them in the face. She's more cop than assassin. Also, beam weapons are easy while Wrestling is average. 4 points in Beam Weapons gives her DX+2. 8 points in Wrestling gives her DX+2.

She needs plenty of fast-draw not just because she's going to get into contests, but she needs to do it often and it needs to work when she does. She needs to go from "I can shoot you" to "I can grapple you" to "I can shoot you" very quickly.

That said, I thought your point about 16 being a bit low for characters that are supposedly combat-focused was well-made. In iteration 3, I've focused a few templates a little more tightly, though we'll probably see even more refinement of combat characters in Iteration 4, as martial arts will start to play a serious role. That said, you shouldn't expect them to vary that much, as there's nothing wrong with setting a standard. If I decide to shoot for an 18 instead of a 16 for my combat skills, then most of my characters will have their combat skill at 18.

We have come up so far with 2 characters where all stats are within 1 or 2 points of each other and both of which have 16 in their main attack skill! They also suspiciously remind me of 3e characters, what with their nearly equal moderate levels of DX and IQ, caused by 3e progressive stat cost system . . . .

Do you judge the value of character by their attributes? I don't.

In Action, and certainly in games that use Ultra-Tech, skill matters more than stat. ST isn't terribly relevant expect for carting around large weapons. HT is moderately useful, but characters can access superior drugs and medicine to keep them alive. And the point of DX and IQ is to adjust based on what skills you chose. If characters tend to have an equal focus on physical and mental skills, they tend to have an equivalent attributes. Why wouldn't they? That's what DX and IQ are for. And given that nearly every character needs to be able to at least wield a blaster, fly a ship, handle electronics, sneak around, etc, then most characters will have IQ and DX of 12, and might have +1 or +2, if they have sufficient numbers of skills.

I could probably get around this by keener use of talent, but in this iteration, with these two templates, they don't have any good talents to draw from. Though for the Bounty Hunter, I could probably just pick one of the various talents I chose and make it standard: In the next Iteration, I chose Tough Guy and ditched the rest, which tightens her up a bit, though it removes some of the neat tricks that you can do in this iteration (but I think that waters the flavor down too much).

You'll see the use of talent more strongly in Leylana and Tobin, but you really should tinker with the templates before you complain about them. That Dun and Kendra are basically the same as what they were before shouldn't really be surprising: Characters aren't going to change that much, even if the templates and rules change dramatically. If you limit yourself to just looking at the characters, you're going to miss a lot. A friend of mine looked at the Space Knight templates, and said "I like the new one a lot better, because I can make a jerk with this one, and I couldn't with the last one." That's the sort of thing you're missing if you say "I don't see any changes."