08-04-2011, 09:05 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
Having played a Berserk character in a combat heavy game for a while...
Side note to introduce with: Don't forget consciousness checks from turn to turn are modified by how many "death thresholds" you've passed. If you're at -4xHP your consciousness checks are at -4, regardless of how or when you reached -4xHP. See page 419, basic set, under 0 HP or less. We played with "You snap out of berserk at or below 0 HP" triggering the following: One consciousness check with the normal modifier for wound threshold and any other normal modifiers you have. Certainly not one check for each turn you spent at or below 0 HP. Do NOT apply the +4 from berserking to this check. We also played with "You snap out of berserk at or below -1xHP" as triggering the following: One survival check, with the usual "fail by 1 or 2 is a mortal wound instead of death". This is regardless of when you became -1xHP or lower - before or after berserking. It doesn't matter either way: a critically injured patient really shouldn't be running around axe-murdering people - it tends to aggravate injuries, and I can only imagine ending berserk causes a sudden drop in blood pressure, which if you're already a little fragile can certainly cause heart failure. Good things for berserker builds: HT 12+. Because duh. Fit, Hard to Kill, Hard to Subdue. Fit is a general HT penalty and helps you recover from any FP spent on Extra Effort while berserk (if your GM allows that rule - it's certainly "in character" for a berserker to burn through FP madly). Hard to Kill and Hard to Subdue help prop you up during and after the berserk state. Recovery is an alternative to Hard to Subdue - you pass out, but then you get back up again very quickly ;) High HP totals. High HP totals raise crippling thresholds on your limbs, making it harder for enemies to take you out in one hit. They also raise Major Wound thresholds in general, which is good. It also makes those death-check thresholds and conciousness-check penalties harder to reach. As much DR as you think you can get away with. You have no active defenses, so passive soaking is key. Stack armor regardless of DX penalties, you'll be spending most of the fight Berserk and AOA-ing anyways, might as well make it AOA-Determined. Just don't slow yourself down too much :) Luck. Luck luck luck luck luck. I cannot emphasize this enough. A berserker who survives a career spent berserking is crazy lucky. So be crazy lucky.
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08-04-2011, 09:18 AM | #22 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
A couple of other useful berserker advantages:
Injury Tolerance (No Eyes) - anyone with skill 14+ and an impaling or piercing melee weapon can reasonably expect to blind a berserker if he survives the berserker's initial attack. Berserkers who can't see enemies can't continue berserk, so being blind is bad. Injury Tolerance (No Brain) - Again, berserkers can't defend so Telegraphed Shots to the brain are relatively easy. Even berserkers go down quickly after a couple of blows to the skull. |
08-04-2011, 10:50 AM | #23 | |||
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
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08-04-2011, 11:00 AM | #24 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
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I agree with you here.
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08-04-2011, 11:12 AM | #25 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
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And all your wounds immediately affect you. As such I'd say that you have to roll HT checks as if you were going from full HP to you negative multiple of HP again - hence rolling several times if you have several multiples. The rules say nothing about having to re-roll for every round you were taking actions. Only for all your wounds. Well, I just wanted to chime in again and explain my position. Obviously others agree with you too, so it is not clear cut. |
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08-04-2011, 11:21 AM | #26 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
Ending your berserk state triggers one extra HT roll for consciousness at 0 or fewer HP, and one extra HT roll for survival at -HP or worse. Both are subject to the usual modifiers (e.g., -1 to consciousness rolls per full multiple of negative HP) and results (e.g., failure by 1-2 on a survival roll means a mortal wound). Neither enjoys the +4. These rolls represent additional chances to fail, over and above what you would face were you not a berserker. You don't keep a laundry list of every HT roll made at +4 and then reroll them without the +4 later; if you did, then Berserk would have a base value of -20 or -30 points, not -10 points.
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08-04-2011, 12:18 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
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However, I'd like to add, that you certainly would not need a 'laundry list' to check your current amount negative multiples of HP. It should be right there on the character sheet. |
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08-04-2011, 12:30 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
That's different from the number of death check thresholds you crossed, number of Major Wounds you took, etc.
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08-04-2011, 02:37 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Land of the Britons
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
Yey, so I was running it correctly all this time anyway, good to know. Although now I'm concerned over...
As I was under the impression you'd roll each of them even if you went from 0 to -4xHP. Considering, ya know, you just got hit for 4 times your HPs there - that calls for some pretty flukey survival, probably more so that the aggregation of smaller wounds that equals to that amount. |
08-04-2011, 03:32 PM | #30 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk
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I'm not sure if it ever came up in mlangsdorfs game with my character, 20+ HPs and good DR tends to make those sorts of one-hit-all-your-HPs shots rare.
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