GURPS Fairy Tail

[Psychotime]

Originally Posted by zoncxs

I think imbuements fit dragonslayer magic spot on for combat.

How would you build such a character with it that would fit the bill? Maybe I've been seeing the supplement wrong this whole time.

Originally Posted by zoncxs

Don't forget that the users are strong all on their own too, able to do some serious harm without using any real magic.

I reflect this with ST (magic) or just striking ST(magic).

Honestly I'd do those without power modifiers, because as far as I can tell their basic strength and durability are independent of their magic, which can be neutralized. I think it's common for alot of series like this.

[zoncxs]

Natsu

Imbuement skill list

Incendiary weapon

Burning strike

Combination imbuement skill list

Project burning strike

Burning shockwave

Project burning shockwave


Advantages

Imbue 3

DR vs fire/heat

Injury tolerance damage reduction vs crushing only

[Psychotime]

See, those just don't fit the bill in my eyes.

Using Burning Strike literally just makes his limbs turn into fire. Not be set ON fire to add damage to his attacks. They're two different things.

How often do you see a character in fiction turn their sword into fire, as opposed to setting it on fire to slice foes and inflict burning damage at the same time?

And that doesn't change the fact that the character's damage is in no way enhanced by these effects (which I think everyone assumes it what happens when these characters use their power). All that happens is that it turns their normal damage into different types. Is the point cost and 1 FP per use worth all that? Just to make my melee attacks somehow become thr burn (which ALSO makes no sense and screams of metagaming)? I don't see it.

Shockwave and Project are all in the same boat, though Project is somewhat valid until you realize that a variant of Flying Fists from Martial Arts is just 5 points per dice (and there's also the 40 points needed for Imbue 3 just to have access to Project at all).

I'm not going to ignore Incendiary, because that actually DOES fit. But it's too weak and expensive for a character like Natsu.

Characters like Natsu are strong enough to topple buildings, and yet he gets a -10 to skill (for a very hard skill at that) just to make his follow up deal 2d+2 burning damage?

Let's say we start off with Natsu having 13 DX. Now his Incendiary Weapon skill needs to be 23 skill to reliably deal 2d+2 to his punches (Skill 13 has a 83.8% chance of success, and he has to compensate for the -10 he'll get each time). That's 48 points, in ADDITION to Imbue 3, which is 40!

Now on the other hand, he can just make an innate attack, which will cost him 13 points for 2d+2 burn. And that kind of damage can barely dent a 3" thick brick wall! Good thing it's cheap, cause he's gonna need more damage than that!

This is why I dislike Imbuements. They're very expensive, most have cheaper alternatives from the Basic Set and Powers, and some just look like metagaming as opposed to representing an actual power (many ranged imbuements). Others are just plain silly (Dazzling Display) or unusual (Burning Strike). And the ones that add damage are clearly made for low damage campaigns and none other (Incendiary Weapon, Electric Weapon)

It'd be one thing if this was supposed to be a relatively mundane cinematic game with very limited access to wild (and cheap) superpowers, something like normal Martial Arts or very low level supers. Imbuements probably have a place there.

But this is high powered Battle Shonen we're talking about. These are pretty expensive powers when there are cheaper alternatives that should be fair game for this type of setting. These characters are supers that will have advantages like Injury Tolerance: Damage Reduction to represent the kind of damage they typically can withstand, and then either Super ST or high amounts of Striking ST to be able to dish out what they can take.

[Prince Charon]

One thing to remember in a lot of the more powerful Fairy Tail builds is Flight. Erza is either capable of flying under her own power, or several of her armours have that feature, Natsu seems to fly sometimes, Mirajane's demon form flies, and they're not the only ones. Of course, as I think someone pointed out earlier, it's shounen, so you can't be sure what the source of their flight powers are. Thus, there are a number of ways you could add it to any one character.