Warrior/wizard

[Apache]

GURPS is nothing if not flexible. Assuming you are using the 'default' magic rules in Basic Set, with the standard 150 CP for a rookie hero, you can make a very lethal assassin-mage who is very skilled with knives....and Invisibility/Silence spells.

Or a typical warrior....who knows a few defensive spells....like Missile Shield, or Blur.

It's basically up to you, and your GM.

[trooper6]

I'll give another hearty "Yes!" (like everyone else) and add on my own individual answer.

GURPS doesn't have classes. The GURPS Dungeon Fantasy sort of approximates classes for ease of use, but GURPS doesn't have classes.

What does that mean? In D&D, there are limitations to keep the classes very separate. Wizards can't wear armor, can only use daggers, staves, clubs, and crossbows. That's in the rules. Warriors can't use magic...that's in the rules. Basically, in D&D, there are different rules for different classes. This class uses this hit die, and the other class uses this other hit die. When I was really good at my high-level D&D rogue, I was interacting with a completely different set rules than my other table-mates.

If you wanted to be a Fighter who casts magic, you'd have to multi-class...because by the rules, fighters can't cast magic. If you wanted to be a Mage who could use a sword, you'd have to multi-class...because by the rules, mages can't use swords. Each of these classes are a basically in different worlds--sort of as if they were all different species.

GURPS doesn't work this way. If a GM wants to add limitations as an option, they can...but GURPS doesn't assume them.

They is no reason why a person who uses magic can wear armor and wield a sword. There is no reason why a knight can't have a few spells...or many. There is no reason why a Cleric can't be good at Sensing Motives or Riding Horses.

If you don't know how GURPS works in detail, it is based on points. Every PC gets a certain number of points. You spend points to increase your Attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Health, Dexterity). You spend points to get Advantages (being Handsome, having Magery, being Rich, having Allies, having Combat Reflexes, etc). You spend points to get Skills (using Swords, riding horses, Sneaking around, driving motorcycles, Casting the Fireball spell, casting the Healing spell, knowing History, being a great Dancer, etc). You can take some disadvantages for extra points (you are Ugly, you have Enemies, you have One Eye, you are poor, you are afraid of spiders, etc).

You get to put your points where you want under the framework the GM sets up (for example, if I'm running a realistic game, I won't allow you to have Claws and four Arms...or if I'm running a D&D style game, I won't allow you to have the Guns skill...or if it is me personally, I'll insist you spend points on some everyday skills like Area Knowledge, some sort of hobby, something that explains how you make a living...and so on)...but all the PCs operate under the same rules in GURPS. So you decide where you want to put your points, and that determines what sort of character you are.

In a very simplified version, where the numbers are totally wrong, let's say you have 10pts (in reality, you'd have 100pts, or 200pts!).

You could spend all 10pts on Combat Things.
You could spend all 10pts on Magic Things.
You could spend 5pts on Combat Things, 5pts on Magic Things.
You could spend 7pts on Combat Things, and then 3pts on Magic Things that directly relate to boosting melee combat (like Boost Strength, or turn yourself into a Giant)
You could spend 7pts on Magic Things, and then 3pts on Combat things.
You could decide to make Mage who can turn into a giant Bear and kicks butt.
You could decide to make a Fighter who is really rich, influential, and great at parties.

You can do any number of different things!

The last game I ran was set in Renaissance Venice (using an alternate Magic system than the one in the main book--because there is a book with different magic systems so you can have the feeling you like best. Rather than the flashy immediate style, for this game I wanted a slower, more subtle style). All the players were basically spies for a powerful noble.

Here were the characters the players came up with:
1. A young man driven by revenge for the killing of his family. He trained most of his life in martial skills so he could get revenge. So mostly a fighter type...but he also was great at Intimidation, Sneaking...some of the skills you'd need to track down your foes and then hide the bodies afterwards.
2. A young woman from a good family. The daughter of a doctor. She has secret healing magic on one hand, but on the other she is also a Poisoner/Assassin. You need to assassinate some person who has great protection at home and on the street? That person will be much more vulnerable at that fancy ball...and our young lady will be there...with poison. So she had some magic skills (of a healing and protection variety), some assassin skills, some social skills, and some medical skills).
3. A dashing burglar, now a captain of the city watch. He had a number of classic thieving skills, some acrobatic skills, but also soldier and police skills. He could do forensics and fight as well as destroy forensics and avoid fighting.
4. A scholar. He was a tutor for the children of nobles....very well liked and charismatic...also a mage (focusing on Information and Dreams)...though he ended up making a pact with an evil spirit and got access to some powerful damaging magic...but the price...the price...

My very first GURPS game, the three characters were: a barmaid, a blacksmith, and a carnival performer.

You can do almost anything in GURPS. So you want to mix martial and magic? Easy as pie!

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by trooper6

My very first GURPS game, the three characters were: a barmaid, a blacksmith, and a carnival performer.

In the same way, in the second campaign of mine that (trooper6) played in, all the characters were students at a fencing academy in 18th century Paris, and naturally had quick reflexes and some fencing skills. But otherwise, they were the son of a Caribbean plantation owner sent back to Paris to get a law degree; an exiled Scots nobleman serving as a sergeant in a French regiment; an actress who was trying to learn real fencing to improve her stage fencing; and a teenage boy musician whose aristocratic patron wanted him to acquire some upper class accomplishments so he would be more of an ornament. All of whom could be written up in GURPS fairly straightforwardly. . . .

Bill Stoddard

[malloyd]

Yes, but.

It's easy to build a good wizard with enough combat ability not to be useless in a non-magical fight, or a warrior with a few utility spells - one decent approach is build the one and then shave 1 point off the core stat, and spend those 20 points on Extra Hit Points and weapon skills, or Magery 0 and 15 spells.

But these are both core adventuring roles, with lots of detailed abilities to pay for. To be really good at both you need good values in all your Stats, a dozen good skills, a point for each of a couple dozen spells, and different sets of really useful advantages. You can still be pretty good at two subsets of those roles (I had a lot of fun with an archer who was a specialist in information magic, if you don't have to be good enough survive frequent melee and aren't likely to die if a spell doesn't work, the lower investment isn't that bad) but you are going to be making compromises.

It's much easier to be extremely good at two unrelated things that don't have so much GURPS detail - being an expert chemist who is also a world champion polo player for example probably calls for 2 decent attributes, no particular advantages and maybe 4 high skills.

[Mr Frost]

Quick and dirty 150 point fighting mage .
Story is cliche and badly written but contains future plot hooks and campaign material and I did say quick and dirty .

Beaureguard Prentice

ST 11 [10]
DX 12 [40]
IQ 12 [40]
HT 12 [20]

Basic Speed -1 [-20]
Energy Reserve 3 [9]

Advantages
Combat Reflexes [15] , Fit [5] , High Pain Threshold [10] , Magery 2 [25]

Disadvantages
Addiction (Tobacco) [-5] , Code of Honour (Adventurer) [-5] , Bad Temper (on a 15) [-5] , Curious [-5] , Easy to Read [-10] Impulsive (on a 15) [-5] , Over Confidence [-5] , Secret (Killed the Son of the Baron of Harkness) [-20] , Sense of Duty (Friends/Companions) [-5] Skinny [-5] , Youth (15 years old) [-5]

Quirks
Chauvinistic [-1] , Congenial [-1] , Dislikes the folk of Harkness and especially servants of it Baron [-1] , Big Appetite [-1] , Keeps ring hidden and guards it zealously [1]

Perks
Form Mastery (Spear) [1] , Grip Mastery (Spear)[1]

Skills
Area Knowledge (Hawthorne) 12 [1] , Brawling 12 [1] , Breath Control 12 [4] , Broadsword 12 [2] , Climbing 12 [1] , Cooking 12 [1] , Crossbow 12 [1] , Farming 11 [1] , First Aid 12 [1] , Fishing 12 [1] , Hiking 12 [2] , Inate Attack (Beam) 12 [1] , jumping 12 [1] , Knife 14 [4] , Merchant 11 [1] , Mental Strength 12 [1] , Research 11 [1] , Quick Draw (Knife) 13 [1] , Riding 12 [2] , Saviour-Faire (Wizard) 12 [1] , Shield 14 [4] , Soldier 12 [2] , Spear 14 [8] , Staff 12 [Default-Spear] , Stealth 12 [2] , Survival (Forrest) 12 [2] , Thaumaturgy 10 [2] , Throw Spear 12 [2] , Two-Handed Axe/Mace 12 [2] , Wrestling 12 [2]

Techniques
Feint (Spear) 15 [2] , Knee Strike (Brawling) 12 [1]

Spells
Lend Energy 12 [1] , Lend Vitality , 12 [1] Minor Healing 12 [1] Recover Energy 12 [1] , Haste 12 [1] , Ignight Fire 12 [1] , Extinguish Fire 12 [1] , Fireproof 12 [1] , Create Fire 12 [1] , Flame Jet 12 [1] , Resist Fire 12 [1] , Flaming Armour 12 [1] , Shield 12 [1] , Armour [1] , Missile Shield 12 [1] , Might 12 [1]

Equiptment
Long Spear (Low Tech) with buttspike (Low Tech Companion 2) 5lbs $80
Long Knife (Martial Arts and Low Tech) 1.5lbs $120
Heater Shield 13lbs $75
Boots 2DR 3lbs $80
(Armour built with GURPS Low Tech)
Medium Layered Linen Curiass with Light Layered Linnen elbow length sleeves and abdomen to knee length Skirt 26.4lbs $405 DR 3 Chest , 2 Abdomen
Light Layered Linen Chatusses {Lower Legs and knees} 6.6lbs $82.5 DR2
Light Layered Linen Vambraces {Forearms and elbows} 3lbs $37.5 DR2
Light Layered Linen hood {Neck and Skull} 3lbs $37.5 DR2
Various other stuff plus Signet Ring $50
Medium Encumberance .





Born a Farmer , Beaureguard learned to work hard in the field for His meals . He would have continued that theme {and likely died in the war} if His innate tallents for magic hadn't been noticed by Magus Phillip of Ashmore , Magus and Leigeman of Count Simon Hawthorne . At the age of 10 , Beau was taken in by Philip as a Mage Apprentice {to His families' great delight} .
Life would have been very good for Beau if Baron Calvin Harkness , whos lands bordered Hawthorne had not been a rapatious psychotic .

When Beau was just turned 14 , the King was away campaigning and news reached the elderly Count Simeon that both His Sons were slain in battle . Baron Harkness saw an opportunity and struck Hawthorn with great savagry . Beaureguard dutifly accompanied His Master in the war against Harkness and so His training took on a somewhat rushed and utilitarian bent such that He learned some things sooner than might have been in place of others .

Beaureguard was not present when His family were killed . He was not there to save the other familes that were slain . He did not see the fields trampled and village raised . What He did see was His was a battle with the Barons Son and Heir Sir Markus the Wolf in the village of Willowbank a half day from Home .

The battle was brutal and bloody Philips other Aprentice and His own Son fell as did His Men at Arms and yet even after the last of His own men were killed Sir Markus , known for His bloodlust and pride kept fighting and soon but Markus , Phillip and Beaureguard remained .
Phillip was mortally wounded by Markus and then Beaureguard threw His spear which by chance scored a perfect hit threw Markus' left eye , killing Him .

Phillip gave Beaureguard His ring before He died and asked the boy to go to His keep and perform a certain ritual there before leaving to find the Count and tell Him of what had happened .

Phillip reached the keep and the ritual released spirits and ghosts from beneath the keep that Markus had never known were there . They left Him be but it was clear they were there to guard the castle from being taken .

When Beaureguard reached the Counts army after a few days , it was a shattered force fleeing Baron Harkness victorious force . He learned that the Count was dead and the Baron was in a mad rage at the death of His Son .
For a month Beaureguard travelled with some knights and soldiers that Had been Count Simeons men , harrassing the forces of Harkness whilst waiting for help to come as the Counts still had a young daughter , Matilda , and though but a child and female the issue of whom owned Hawthorne was still in doubt .

Eventually news that the Queen had arranged to bethrothe Her youngest Son to the girl bringing the County into Royal hands caused Harkness to withdraw , but not before His wizard killed Himself in a spectacular spell backfire whilst trying to take Ashmore Keep . The resulting catastrophy opened a small portal through which a Demon entered whom could somehow control the spectres . After slaughtering the wizards troops the feind claimed the keep and began to raise the dead pf the surrounding farms and villages to hold its new domain . Though not able to leave the keep , Ashmore fell beneath its power and was lost .

Having no home , family , friends or job at age 15 and with Harkness surely wanting Him dead if He ever found out He was His Sons slayer , Beaureguard was seeking to become a mercenary when He fell into the company of adventurers .

His temper , impulsiveness , overconfidence and Easy to Read are part immaturity of youth and part trauma .

The reduced speed is because He hasn't full matured yet , and His physical abilities were from very rushed training so it should be bought off fairly steadily .
Also , He is still growing so that is where skinny comes from {some kids shoot up faster than they shoot out and don't bulk out untill their late teens} and He should get stronger as He grows more .

He keeps His masters ring not just for sentiment , but also because He believes that He is in some way Phillips heir now {Phillip had only that one child} and holds a slim idea of one day retaking Ashmore Keep and claiming the title .

If Baron Harkness ever discovers Beaureguards secret , that disadvantage will become -20 points of enemy {it might even absorb His Easy to Read to be a -30} .
If this happens , He would probably become much more focused and might swap some of those childish disadvantages for Obsession (kill the Baron and Retake Ashmore Keep and claim title of Magus of Ashmore) . [-10] sounds about right for such an obsession .


I've probably got something wrong {I'm tired} , but its' close enough to tinker into usefullness .

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Sorry, you need to define your terms first.

For example, if you meant a fellow who spends most of his cp on spells but can wear armor and fight with a sword that's standard in Gurps. Limits on what a person with Magery can wear and/or fight with exist on ly when an individual GM imposes them.

Aren't there also Limiations for Magery in "GURPS Thaumatology" that may be chosen by individual players (if the world builder decides to have that kind of variety)?

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by trooper6

GURPS doesn't have classes. The GURPS Dungeon Fantasy sort of approximates classes for ease of use, but GURPS doesn't have classes.

GURPS has character classes.

They're just camouflaged as attributes ("ability scores" in D&D parlance, but te OP needs to be told that they're much important in GURPS than in any edition of D&D or AD&D).

Specifically, they're called DX, Dexterity, and IQ, Intelligence. The good news, for the OP, is that multiclassing is very legal.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Aren't there also Limiations for Magery in "GURPS Thaumatology" that may be chosen by individual players (if the world builder decides to have that kind of variety)?

There are multiple possible Limitations for Magery iin multiple sources. They are optional unless the GM says so though and I try not to confuse newcomers with options when they may not understand the basic rules yet.

[Peter Knutsen]

Very crudely:

A Wizard's "prime stat" is thesum of his IQ and his Magery level. The "standard" is IQ 14 + Magery 3, which meas that for 1 CP you can buy a normal Spell to skill level 15 (a Very Hard spell costs 2 CP for level 15). Level 15 is important because you get benefits casting it, and these benefits increase again at skill level 20 (which is probably out of your reach except for a few "signature" spells that really fits your character concept).

The Wizard also needs enough Fatigue Points t cast his spells, so look at HP, and at Extra Fatigue, and possibly at the Energy Reserve advantage. If you're not going to burn FP in combat moves (but you might) you can cosider taking the Unfit or Very Unfit disad, but I think I'd recommend against it for any warrior-mage. Either way, there's a spell in the Healing College called Recover Energy, that you really do want.

Note also that you can apply the Gadget Limitation to both Magery and to Energy Reserve, for instance by having both advantages in a staff or amulet. This redues the cost (usually by between 40% and 50%) but means the advantages can be stolen from you (and if there is never any risk of that, then the GM isn't doing a good job - in most worlds it ought to be known to tacticians that many spellcasters have Gadgets that enhance their magic).

You can also apply the One College Only Limitation to your Magery, reducing the cost by 40% but meaning the bonus applies only to that College. Or you can take a "2 Colleges Only" or "3 Colleges" or even "4" Colleges Limitation, but the more Colleges your Limitaton allows, the smaller the cost reduction is so this quickly becomes a bad decision.

Also note that you can stack normal and Limited Magery. For instance you can buy Magery 1 with no Limitation, thus at full cost, then buy one more level of Magery with "One Colege: Fire", and then buy two more levels with both "One College: Fire" and Gadget.

You can also stack normal and Limited Energy Reserve in the same way, and you can also Limit Energy Reserve to One College only.



For a warrior, you need the Combat Reflexes advantage. It's often said to be cheap relative to how much benefit it gives. So take it. Take a Gadget Limitation on it if you want to.

ST, Strengt, is useful for improving your damage. In GURPS, armour reduces damage (rather than making you harder to hit), so if your damage is low, you'll be nearly unable to injure heavily armoured foes. ST also provides extra Hit Points (and you can buy more Hit Points separately), and your HP max determines "crippling thresholds" so having that be fairly high can be good.

You can also buy Striking ST, specifically to improve your weapon damage. This can be reduced in cost with various Limitations, such as Gadget and One Weapon Only. I think One Weapon Only might not fly with all GMs (it looks kinda abusive to me) but Gadet is fine. The Gadget can even be the sword itself. As above, expect a cost reduction of beteen 40% and 50%.

ST is also useful to avoid being slowed down by encumbrance, but you can buy Lifting ST separately, and again it can take the Gadget Limitation. You can put it in your armour as a Gadget, but the cost redution won't be as great as in other cases, then, because armour is not easy to snatch away from you when you wear it. If you put it in an amulet or ring, the cost reduction is higher since stealability is greater.

HT is important for rolls to avoid dying, and gives you Fatigue Points, which are used to power spells, and also to power special "combat moves" that can be good for emergencies (although pure warriors may well use them more routinely). Note carefully that Fit/Unfit and the more extreme Very versions do not act on Fatigue Points spend on spells - that's why I mentioned it above.

You also need to be able to hit your foes, which requires skill. Combat skills and other physical skills are based on DX, but if you only want one skill then it's much cheaper to leave DX at 10 and just buy up the skill at 4 CP per level, since DX costs 20 CP per level. Most likely you'l want 3-6 DX-based skills (Sword, and Brawling as a backup, at least. Maybe some Bow too), and if you want 5 or more at a high level then it's cheaper to raise DX. Also think in the long term: Where do you want your character to be once he's earned 20 or 30 CP of experience? Plan your DX with that in mind, rather than based on your starting condition.



There's nothing encouraging you to put all your Gadget Limitations in the same item, so you should spread them over as many items as you think your GM will let you get away with. One of the most extreme scenarios could be if your character wears 8 rings, one on each finger, each containing a couple of levels of Energy Reserve, and four of the rings containing 1 level of Striking ST each while the other four contains one level of Magery each (with the rings mixed between the hands - you don't want all your Magery rings on the same hand!), so that your advantages are harder to steal. There is nothing in the RAW to prevent you from doing this, but it is abusive - ideally the GM will house rule that if you do the "distributed gadgets" thing, then the "value" of the Gadget Limitation is reduced slightly (5% or 10% is probably reasonable), but it is quite difficult to produce objective rules for such a situation (neither GURPS nor Hero System covers this at all).

Also note that you can "buy off" the Gadget Limitations with earned experience points. You can do this gradually, e.g. "buy of" the Limitation on Combat Reflexes first, then buy off the Limitation on 2 of your levels of Striking ST next, even if you have 6 levels total.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

There are multiple possible Limitations for Magery iin multiple sources. They are optional unless the GM says so though and I try not to confuse newcomers with options when they may not understand the basic rules yet.

The armour-based Magery Limitations/Enhancements can be useful if the OP wants his warrior-mage to be more D&D-like, though. Otherwise you have a good point about avoiding confusion.