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Old 12-22-2014, 03:43 PM   #1
stranger38
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Indaiatuba/SP Brazil
Default Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas to everyone!

For this year's end post i want your takes on this: We're playing a HIGHLY, mean REALLY HIGHLY cinematic Final Fantasyesque game and i want to buy a level of extra attack, but for flavour's sake i want to use it just as finishing moves, like shooting a guy on the groin with a sawed off shotgun and then just pistol whip him. How much would cost such advantage? Just finishing moves, nothing else.
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:01 PM   #2
McAllister
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

It's Accessibility: Finishing Move, which is -X%, where X is based on the parameters of when you can use the finishing move, which you'll need to describe at least vaguely before we can help you.

Can only be used if the previous attack stunned/KO'd the target? That seems like a reasonable definition. I'd call it -30% for that, or -65% if it only works when you knock an enemy unconscious; and these assume you don't have access to any sort of AoE attack, and that the Extra Attack can only finish off the target of the first.
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:01 PM   #3
Toptomcat
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Do you want an extra-powerful, only-every-once-in-a-while attack that the character thinks to and refers to as a 'finishing move', which is how Limit Breaks and most similar techniques in RPGs actually work?

Or do you want an Extra Attack that literally only shows up when it would make the difference between downing a foe and leaving them standing?

The latter is problematic to build, since in GURPS, you don't know if an attack is the one that 'finished' an opponent off until after you've made it. The Extra Attack might miss, and then the opponent wouldn't be 'finished'.

The former is dead easy, though. Use Limitations like Limited Use (once per day, -40%), Emergencies Only -30%, or Preparation Required (8 hours, -60%). For something that mimics Final Fantasy Limit Breaks specifically, something like Accessibility (only when at 1/3 or fewer HP, -??%) combined with Limited Use (once per day, Slow Reload, -35%) would get you a once-per-combat ability usable only when critically injured.
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:22 PM   #4
stranger38
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Seems easy enough.

Believe it or not Toptomcat my GM likes to describe very well scenes like that of an enemy "getting" ready for a finishing blow. There isn't a perk like this somewhere? Furious Fists isn't?

By the way, i was aiming for something not so flashy and bright like limit breaks, just an simple attack really, for exemple, i'm playing an archer in this game. Let's say i've manage to make that x3 vital attack and the guy is down, then i ran to him and smash his head with a rock or jus stab him in the throat with an arrow. cinematic, but no bright lights or other effects, just sheer violence.
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:53 PM   #5
Xplo
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Why not just use All Out Attack? You could use Determined to make sure you hit (especially if aiming for eyes, vitals, etc), or Strong to increase damage. And since AoA sacrifices defense, you wouldn't normally use it on a foe who can still fight, or in the middle of a big battle - meaning it would indeed be mostly a "finishing move".

Or, since it's a super cinematic game, the GM could even make a rule that if an All Out Attack takes someone out of the fight (knockout or kill), the attacker gets their defense back, which would make using AoAs as finishing moves more "safe", and generally encourage powerful fighters to go nuts when fighting mooks.

If "getting ready" for a finishing blow involves winding up or sneering contemptuously for a couple of seconds first, that could be Evaluate maneuvers. Putting or holding an enemy in a position to be struck could be using grappling to set up a grab-and-smash kind of move - or if the target is unconscious or crippled and the attacker is trying to kill them, that might fall under "obviously lethal attacks on a helpless victim automatically kill" - with the caveat that the GM has decided that first you have to spend a few seconds arranging their limp body just so in order to do the fatal strike.

There are ways to use modifiers to create powerful attack advantages that you have to "charge up" first that would make good finishers, but it doesn't sound like that's actually what you want.

Last edited by Xplo; 12-22-2014 at 05:04 PM.
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:55 PM   #6
McAllister
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Perk (inflicts redundant violence on dead enemies)?
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:57 PM   #7
stranger38
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Like that one mate!!
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Old 12-22-2014, 05:21 PM   #8
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toptomcat View Post
Or do you want an Extra Attack that literally only shows up when it would make the difference between downing a foe and leaving them standing?

The latter is problematic to build
Doesn't seem so bad. Buy a Followup Attack, go ahead and roll the damage, and then ignore that damage if it doesn't down the target.

I haven't put any thought into a price for "Only does damage if injury would drop target to HP >= 0". But if we're talking about human targets and doing, oh, 3-4 points of injury per hit, then that's about 1 out of three or so hits where the extra damage would kick in. Maybe -20% or so.
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Old 12-22-2014, 07:55 PM   #9
Qhaysh
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

I'd call it an accessibility limitation, "only when foe is at -4xHP or something (effectively when the enemy is about to die). If I were the GM I'd call it -80%, since it basically makes no difference, the guy is going to die anyway.

But if you just want it to be an impressive finisher, without it being an actual atrack, it's nothing more than a Perk. It would be a variant of the Chiburi perk (which is originally from MA, but you can find variants in several other supplements). We could call it " Brutal Finish" or something. What it does is it allows you to intimidate enemies as a "free action" when you down a foe in combat. If I remember correctly, you have to specialize by skill, but IDHMBWM.

Cheers!
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Old 12-22-2014, 08:53 PM   #10
Toptomcat
 
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Default Re: Extra attacks only for finishing moves

Quote:
Originally Posted by stranger38 View Post
By the way, i was aiming for something not so flashy and bright like limit breaks, just an simple attack really, for exemple, i'm playing an archer in this game. Let's say i've manage to make that x3 vital attack and the guy is down, then i ran to him and smash his head with a rock or jus stab him in the throat with an arrow. cinematic, but no bright lights or other effects, just sheer violence.
Ah, okay, so you're looking for an Extra Attack with Accessibility (immediately after an opponent's been defeated)?

That sounds almost Perkish, really. Depends on how broad 'defeated' is- if it only kicks in when the enemy fails an HT roll vs. unconciousness due to HP damage, my instincts say that'd be a Perk. If it kicks in whenever the enemy enters some state that would normally permit a nearly effortless finishing blow, that'd be a very serious Limitation to my mind.

1. Failed HT roll to remain conscious
2. Failed HT roll to remain alive by only 1 or 2, suffering a Mortal Wound
3. Failed HT roll to avoid being stunned and knocked down from a Major Wound
4. Crippled weapon arm or hand on a character without a backup weapon or unarmed skills
5. Crippled leg or foot on a character without very high melee weapon skill

For an extra attack on only 1 and 2- conditions that prohibit any active defenses at all- I'd call it a Perk. For 1, 2, and 3, I'd call it a -90% limitation for a three-point trait: stun subtracts -4 from active defenses and prohibits retreat, and being prone gives a further -3, making the defender suffer an effective -14 to -20 to their effective skill for purposes of active defense: that's practically impossible. For 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, I'd call it a -80% limitation for a five-point trait.

Last edited by Toptomcat; 12-22-2014 at 09:13 PM.
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