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Old 04-11-2018, 01:46 PM   #1
Henchman99942
 
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Default Is levitation speed additive

If you are moving horizontally faster than your flight or 'levitation' speed, are you limited to that speed? Does your horizontal flight or levitation speed add to that? or once 'flying' or 'levitating', are you now incapable of traveling faster, even if something else is pushing you along?
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Old 04-11-2018, 01:58 PM   #2
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

If you are under the control of a flight or levitation spell, you're limited to that speed. If something is overpowering the flight or levitation, you move at whatever speed the controlling effect has.
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Old 04-11-2018, 02:31 PM   #3
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

"Moving horizontally" how? Walking doesn't add to flight speed, nor moving sidewalks, nor cars, or all those other means of propulsion that depend on pushing on the ground.

If you can run faster than you can fly (for whatever reason), and you jump up in the air, you'd slow down to your maximum flight speed.

If the game has any intentions of realism and it mattered, I'd add wind velocity to flight velocity (as a vector sum). Flight speed is really relative to the air, not to the ground.
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Old 04-11-2018, 02:58 PM   #4
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

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"Moving horizontally" how? Walking doesn't add to flight speed, nor moving sidewalks, nor cars, or all those other means of propulsion that depend on pushing on the ground.

If you can run faster than you can fly (for whatever reason), and you jump up in the air, you'd slow down to your maximum flight speed.

If the game has any intentions of realism and it mattered, I'd add wind velocity to flight velocity (as a vector sum). Flight speed is really relative to the air, not to the ground.
Maybe they're holding onto a rope being pulled by their friend who can run faster... or tied off to the rear bumper of a car.

I'd probably allow either for someone who had levitation with no or very limited horizontal speed... even though their power wasn't providing any horizontal motive force, it should keep them up in the air as they get pulled along.
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Old 04-11-2018, 06:41 PM   #5
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

Levitating inside a moving vehicle, maybe?
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Old 04-12-2018, 11:46 AM   #6
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

If you have two abilities (be they due to actual Advantages, spells, technology, or whatever) that each grant you some degree of Air Move, you'd be capped at the higher speed. If you have an ability that grants you Air Move, and something that normally wouldn't grant you such is giving you a "push" (or pull, as the case with vitruvian's case of a car pulling you along like a kite), you'd again use the higher speed, and if the push is faster than your Air Move, you'd need to make Control Rolls (penalized based on how much faster it is) to avoid, well, losing control and crashing to the ground. Note a human being pulled along by a car would do the same thing to try and keep up by running (as all you have to do is lift and lower your legs fast enough while keeping your balance, instead of also needing to provide the motive force, you can go faster than your actual maximum sprinting speed when pulled along by something faster, but you're likely to eventually trip and fall).

I don't think GURPS actually has rules for how to handle the above situation, but taking a page from "Pushing the Envelope" (B395) might work. Requiring a roll at DX+3* if you're above Top Speed, and with a -1 per full 2 yards/second you are above Top Speed, doesn't seem horrible. I'd only require such every five seconds or so, rather than every second.

*A relevant skill, such as Aerobatics, might work instead.

EDIT: It occurs to me that many characters/creatures may have sufficient stability to be able to maintain control above their nominal Top Speed without a roll. Birds of prey, for example, will frequently dive to build up velocity well in excess of their muscle-powered top speed, then transition into a controlled glide that turns (most of) this into forward velocity. In GURPS terms, that's basically Enhanced Move with a huge Limitation, likely well in excess of -80%. I'd eyeball it as roughly a Perk for each ~x1.5 (x1.5, x2, x3, x4, x6, x8, etc) of Top Speed before control rolls are called for (basically making this a -90% Limitation).
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Last edited by Varyon; 04-12-2018 at 12:00 PM.
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Old 04-12-2018, 02:44 PM   #7
vitruvian
 
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

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Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
If you have two abilities (be they due to actual Advantages, spells, technology, or whatever) that each grant you some degree of Air Move, you'd be capped at the higher speed. If you have an ability that grants you Air Move, and something that normally wouldn't grant you such is giving you a "push" (or pull, as the case with vitruvian's case of a car pulling you along like a kite), you'd again use the higher speed, and if the push is faster than your Air Move, you'd need to make Control Rolls (penalized based on how much faster it is) to avoid, well, losing control and crashing to the ground. Note a human being pulled along by a car would do the same thing to try and keep up by running (as all you have to do is lift and lower your legs fast enough while keeping your balance, instead of also needing to provide the motive force, you can go faster than your actual maximum sprinting speed when pulled along by something faster, but you're likely to eventually trip and fall).

I don't think GURPS actually has rules for how to handle the above situation, but taking a page from "Pushing the Envelope" (B395) might work. Requiring a roll at DX+3* if you're above Top Speed, and with a -1 per full 2 yards/second you are above Top Speed, doesn't seem horrible. I'd only require such every five seconds or so, rather than every second.

*A relevant skill, such as Aerobatics, might work instead.

EDIT: It occurs to me that many characters/creatures may have sufficient stability to be able to maintain control above their nominal Top Speed without a roll. Birds of prey, for example, will frequently dive to build up velocity well in excess of their muscle-powered top speed, then transition into a controlled glide that turns (most of) this into forward velocity. In GURPS terms, that's basically Enhanced Move with a huge Limitation, likely well in excess of -80%. I'd eyeball it as roughly a Perk for each ~x1.5 (x1.5, x2, x3, x4, x6, x8, etc) of Top Speed before control rolls are called for (basically making this a -90% Limitation).
I wouldn't require Control Rolls for being pulled along in the air behind something unless it was taking some pretty serious turns... in a straight line the only factor would be at what point it started becoming difficult to hold on due to wind resistance. Even when being pulled around dealing with an interface with some surface, the -1 per 2 yards per second above your normal Move seems excessive... it would make water skiing or kids on skateboards 'hitching' rides on bumpers practically impossible in game when they're quite doable in reality.
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Old 04-13-2018, 07:38 AM   #8
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

Water Skiing is a skill, without which you tend to wipe out nigh instantly. Kids holding on to car bumpers are forced to let go (because they're risking loss of control) or they don't and wipe out due to loss of control; there is a reason why this is discouraged. Take that kid out on to the freeway and tie them to the car so they can't escape and see how long they last.

Going in a straight line seems simple until you hit a bump in the pavement - the control roll would normally be hand waved because it's effectively at +5 or whatever, but you're now at a significant penalty for being over your maximum speed. And may Tony Hawk help you if you hit a pothole.

I believe Aerobatics or some other appropriate motive skill can be used for control rolls when pushing the envelope. That's how this trick works for water skiing and for kids behind cars.
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Old 04-15-2018, 11:18 AM   #9
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Water Skiing is a skill, without which you tend to wipe out nigh instantly. Kids holding on to car bumpers are forced to let go (because they're risking loss of control) or they don't and wipe out due to loss of control; there is a reason why this is discouraged. Take that kid out on to the freeway and tie them to the car so they can't escape and see how long they last.

Going in a straight line seems simple until you hit a bump in the pavement - the control roll would normally be hand waved because it's effectively at +5 or whatever, but you're now at a significant penalty for being over your maximum speed. And may Tony Hawk help you if you hit a pothole.

I believe Aerobatics or some other appropriate motive skill can be used for control rolls when pushing the envelope. That's how this trick works for water skiing and for kids behind cars.
All true - but if you're floating in the air behind the car that's towing you, and not turning, I'm not sure what the equivalent to a bump in the pavement is going to be.
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Old 04-15-2018, 12:24 PM   #10
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Default Re: Is levitation speed additive

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All true - but if you're floating in the air behind the car that's towing you, and not turning, I'm not sure what the equivalent to a bump in the pavement is going to be.
Side wind from an oncoming vehicle. Normal wind variations due to cover that buildings and woods give and so on.
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