Ravens N' Pennies - GURPS Content Posts

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Whoa! Who do you think will be casting Dreadnaught? Just roughly guestimating it by the Quick and Dirty Charm rules, that is looking for a Skill 30 RPMist standing on a +10 place of power with a +10 grimoire, Higher Purpose 3 and Ritual Mastery for a Safe Threshhold of 415, wanting to roll a 10, and with uhm, the rest of the energy coming from ER, traditional trappings or miscellany!

A group of casters working in concert, one willing to spend character points for energy reserves, etc. It's not completely unlikely such a spell could be cast - it's just very difficult. It would also be next to impossible to dispel because of said cost. It's meant to be a battle-winner and present a challenge to experienced PCs.

[Kalzazz]

Huh, interesting, I may have to ponder that sometime, but knowing its possible and good for experienced PCs to face is cool


These Magical Styles type articles are fun and very DM inspirational

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Huh, interesting, I may have to ponder that sometime, but knowing its possible and good for experienced PCs to face is cool


These Magical Styles type articles are fun and very DM inspirational

One tries one's best.

[Christopher R. Rice]

The Chronicles of Ceteri - A-Team - S00E03 - Stone Dead, Part III


Another "back log" recap of my urban fantasy campaign.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Melee Academy: Bar Fights and Being a Bouncer, Part II

A lot of threads have been going around lately about GURPS and grappling and it got me thinking about my personal experiences with close-in fighting. Probably owing to the fact that I'm pretty big (6'4" and 400 lbs), I've always preferred to get in close when in a physical altercation. Of course that doesn't take in the fact that I'm also naturally strong (I can bench 450 lbs with very little issue and lift twice that for a short time above my waist). So I decided to do a little navalgazing and looking back into some of the things I've seen in real life and how to quantify them in GURPS terms vs. what I see players use in my GURPS games. Warning: Post has me.

Hmm. Fun read.

One thing of note:
Judging by your post, 'Arm Locks are terrifying!' sounds like it's RW-justified. Do you feel that way?

Another thing go note:
On Choke Holds and speed of unconsciousness - you seem to be focusing on air/throat chokes. What about blood chokes - the ones that do FP damage instead of HP?

Third thing to note:
You seem to really like Wrench Limb. As for the B/MA RAW, at first I though it's meh, but now I'm looking at the damage calculations: it seems to be getting better the higher one's ST is, for as long as you win the QC, you do full Swing damage. So it's better against targets whose ST or HT is high enough that you can't get a big MoS with Arm Lock. At ST13, 2d-1 is nasty, averaging a cripple against a HP10 opponent on a success. At ST17, 3d-1 averages 9½, which is about good enough to average a cripple against a HP17 target. It gets better from there, so . . . Ogre Bone Wrestling!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Hmm. Fun read.

I try.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Judging by your post, 'Arm Locks are terrifying!' sounds like it's RW-justified. Do you feel that way?

To someone who can do them? Yes. I do. My exposure to that particular maneuver might be a bit baiased, but I've seen some nasty stuff. My best friends dad, for example, he's studied the various martial arts of the Philippines (Kali, Arnis, Eskrima, etc.) for 40+ years. I've had that man put me in a arm lock with two fingers I could not get out of. Again, I'm not trained in any particular style - I'm just a scrapper - but I'm good at close-in stuff and I could not free myself.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

On Choke Holds and speed of unconsciousness - you seem to be focusing on air/throat chokes. What about blood chokes - the ones that do FP damage instead of HP?

According to Cole, I've probably just been doing actual damage versus FP. I tried a 4-point choke on my cousin the other day and knocked him out in about 20 seconds. So that's something.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

You seem to really like Wrench Limb. As for the B/MA RAW, at first I though it's meh, but now I'm looking at the damage calculations: it seems to be getting better the higher one's ST is, for as long as you win the QC, you do full Swing damage. So it's better against targets whose ST or HT is high enough that you can't get a big MoS with Arm Lock. At ST13, 2d-1 is nasty, averaging a cripple against a HP10 opponent on a success. At ST17, 3d-1 averages 9½, which is about good enough to average a cripple against a HP17 target. It gets better from there, so . . . Ogre Bone Wrestling!

Yup. It's disgusting. And as I noted, it's a favorite tactic of mine. I don't care how tough or big or strong you are if you get a dislocated shoulder or patella it's over. I've put people down bigger or better trained than I am by simply dislocating their shoulder and then leaving them in the mud and the blood and beer until the cops arrive. I'm ridiculously strong and like Andre "I don't even work out." My ST is at least a 16 (according to conversation I had with Doug way back). And that's probably accurate because I can do all kinds of stuff, like lift a car onto a single axle about two feet off the ground for a minute or so, carry fridges up stairs with one hand and a hip, etc. I've never found a limit to my strength, hell, I rolled a car up the driveway (a steep grade) when the battery died and I needed to move it. I didn't realize until after I did it what I'd just done. I've never had any formal weight training and doubt I have the Lifting skill - or any unarmed combat skill really except maybe Brawling or Wrestling.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

To someone who can do them? Yes. I do. My exposure to that particular maneuver might be a bit baiased, but I've seen some nasty stuff. My best friends dad, for example, he's studied the various martial arts of the Philippines (Kali, Arnis, Eskrima, etc.) for 40+ years. I've had that man put me in a arm lock with two fingers I could not get out of. Again, I'm not trained in any particular style - I'm just a scrapper - but I'm good at close-in stuff and I could not free myself.

Well, by RAW B/MA, breaking free is a QC of ST, with a bonus for Wrestling or Power Grappling. Combined with your ST16+ (below), and the fact that two fingers surely include all the drawbacks of One Hand Grappling (no +4 for Arm Lock, no +5 for two hands) and beyond . . . that sounds extremely scary.

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

According to Cole, I've probably just been doing actual damage versus FP. I tried a 4-point choke on my cousin the other day and knocked him out in about 20 seconds. So that's something.

Well, roughly 20 seconds seems about right to get from +10 to -10 FP on a throat choke per RAW. But what I mean is that a blood choke, particularly with ST16+, would be much faster, easily doing up to 10 FP per second against a HT10/ST10 target.

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Yup. It's disgusting. And as I noted, it's a favorite tactic of mine. I don't care how tough or big or strong you are if you get a dislocated shoulder or patella it's over. I've put people down bigger or better trained than I am by simply dislocating their shoulder and then leaving them in the mud and the blood and beer until the cops arrive. I'm ridiculously strong and like Andre "I don't even work out." My ST is at least a 16 (according to conversation I had with Doug way back). And that's probably accurate because I can do all kinds of stuff, like lift a car onto a single axle about two feet off the ground for a minute or so, carry fridges up stairs with one hand and a hip, etc. I've never found a limit to my strength, hell, I rolled a car up the driveway (a steep grade) when the battery died and I needed to move it. I didn't realize until after I did it what I'd just done. I've never had any formal weight training and doubt I have the Lifting skill - or any unarmed combat skill really except maybe Brawling or Wrestling.

Hmm. So there's the Wrestling bonus in there . . . so, at worst, Wrench Limb rolled at 14.

Hmm. Do you think dislocated joints are strictly a Wrench Limb thing, or do some applications of Arm Locks also dislocate joints instead of breaking bones when they do damage?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well, by RAW B/MA, breaking free is a QC of ST, with a bonus for Wrestling or Power Grappling. Combined with your ST16+ (below), and the fact that two fingers surely include all the drawbacks of One Hand Grappling (no +4 for Arm Lock, no +5 for two hands) and beyond . . . that sounds extremely scary.

The unrealistic thing about the +9 for arm lock is that it happens every time with a successful lock, which happens always in the one turn after a parry, and that all arm locks are that effective. It makes every fighter into the movie version of Steven Seagal. It's not that they can't be that effective, it's that they are always that good.

Well, roughly 20 seconds seems about right to get from +10 to -10 FP on a throat choke per RAW. But what I mean is that a blood choke, particularly with ST16+, would be much faster, easily doing up to 10 FP per second against a HT10/ST10 target.

A throat choke restricts airflow to the lungs. It's the pain that makes you quit on this one, not the lack of air, since most people can hold their breath for a long time - minutes. A "realistic" air choke, if you could stand the pain of a compressed trachea, would be something like 1 FP every 6 seconds or so.

Blood chokes are more like 1-3 FP per second, and you're out. They're the fastest and least painful (not to say they don't hurt) way of putting a man unconscious - I saw one of my instructors accidentally KO someone during a seminar because he paused to take a breath during explaining something about a hold, and the partner didn't tap. Nighty-nite time, in a few seconds.

Hmm. Do you think dislocated joints are strictly a Wrench Limb thing, or do some applications of Arm Locks also dislocate joints instead of breaking bones when they do damage?

Many arm locks are about dislocation - for example most shoulder locks are dislocation locks.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Melee Academy: Bar Fights and Being a Bouncer, Part II

Anecdote: I have passed out in 2 seconds of a head lock and I would not have believed it was possible.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Snip

Doug answered that better than I could. :-)

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

...good stuff...

I personally have always viewed Arm/Wrist Lock as having more...Mmm "finesse" than something like Wrench (Limb). And while I can do finesse, I'm just better at brute force.

Originally Posted by Dwarf99

Anecdote: I have passed out in 2 seconds of a head lock and I would not have believed it was possible.

Holy crap. That's nuts.