Advantages and Disadvantages of SM

[jamesfoxbr]

What all the advantages and disadvantages of SM different from 0? What is better, negative SM (small creatures) or positive SM (large creatures)?

My question is mainly in combat, but I'm curious in general situations too

[simply Nathan]

I generally think that, unless you have weapon scaling rules to work with, lower SM is generally more useful.
Low SM:
- +1 to hit enemies bigger than you in melee, to a max of +4 (not RAW, but commonly accepted and probably intended)
- -1 to be hit by ranged attacks from anyone(RAW) or melee attacks from larger opponents(commonly accepted, probably intended)
- Reduced food requirements (stated in Space)
High SM:
- -1 to hit enemies smaller than you (again, RAW only states this for ranged attacks but it's quite common to accept it for all attacks)
- +1 to be hit by enemies
- Increased food requirements (Space again; not having that book, I don't know the details)
- Poisons still have full effect, but take it more slowly
- Increased reach for melee attacks
- More money needed for clothes and armor
- ST can be purchased more easily
- Bonus to Intimidation because, well, you're bigger and therefore more intimidating


With the weapon and armor scaling rules I know of, they almost even out (if the big characters focus on getting big weapons for doing lots of damage while largely ignoring super-expensive and heavy armor, which it is even compared to normal armor) while the small guys take advantage of the low weights for their equipment.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

- -1 to hit enemies smaller than you (again, RAW only states this for ranged attacks but it's quite common to accept it for all attacks)

Um? Shouldn't this be -1 to hit enemies in melee? Your SM has no effect on your ranged attacks. And melee attacks are modified by relative SM, so the same change applies whether the target is larger or smaller than you.

Also, you've left out the effects on grappling and biting.

[sir_pudding]

One thing that people seem to miss with this is the overall effectiveness of ST due to leverage. Imagine two characters both strong enough to lift a car. One is SM -6 and the other is SM 5. The SM 5 character can simply pick up the car like any object and lift it entirely above his head, chuck it, or move it like a crane. The SM-6 character can't really grip the car, and even though he can technically lift it, he's not going to be able to do much more than lift a corner of it a few inches off the ground by one wheel or flip it over.

[jamesfoxbr]

I think positive SM is bad sometimes because this melee combat rule. I know is not RAW, but friends insist to use this rule and I see some monster with relative Skill Levels very bad because it..

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by jamesfoxbr

I think positive SM is bad sometimes because this melee combat rule. I know is not RAW, but friends insist to use this rule and I see some monster with relative Skill Levels very bad because it..

It is absolutely RAW.

Originally Posted by B19

Size Modifier rates a person or
object’s most significant dimension:
length, width, or height. It is a modifier
to rolls to hit you in combat

Additionally Powers has a box that adds an optional rule so that two ants can possibly hit each other.

[Ulzgoroth]

Another benefit not easily enumerated is that many parts of a high-SM body may be beyond the reach of a low-SM melee fighter. If you find your human-sized self attacked by swordsmice, they probably can't even reach up to your leg arteries with their little swords.

Originally Posted by jamesfoxbr

I think positive SM is bad sometimes because this melee combat rule. I know is not RAW, but friends insist to use this rule and I see some monster with relative Skill Levels very bad because it..

Not RAW is a stretch, I think. Check Powers.

But yes, it is hard to hit relatively tiny things.

Some countermeasures:

Grapple first. Big grapplers get a bonus to hit. Once your tiny foe is grappled, you can pin them, destroy them outright with certain wrestling techniques, or just splat them with a direct attack while they can't retreat and have penalized defenses.

Not RAW: Flyswatter Effect. Effective target size should be the greater of actual target size, and size of your striking surface.

Also Not RAW, or maybe just unclear: In principle huge creatures can stomp or body-slam one or more entire hexes. Logically, this would make it harder to defend. How is a bit of a puzzler.

It's also helpful to fix the unreasonably low effective weapon weights for high-ST unarmed attacks. That's been discussed in other threads.

[jamesfoxbr]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Grapple first. Big grapplers get a bonus to hit. Once your tiny foe is grappled, you can pin them, destroy them outright with certain wrestling techniques, or just splat them with a direct attack while they can't retreat and have penalized defenses.

What page is this rule?

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

It is absolutely RAW.

I think is not RAW because GURPS Power pag 76 have a optional rule about SM in melee

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by jamesfoxbr

What page is this rule?

B402.

But also please note Kromm's summation of the positives of positive SM.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-3.html#SS3.4.2.23

Also, I'll just say this, in the arena games I've played in, the positive SM characters were often quite powerfully dangerous.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by jamesfoxbr

I think is not RAW because GURPS Power pag 76 have a optional rule about SM in melee

Firstly the optional rule is to use relative SMs. Using absolute SMs isn't "optional" on B19. Secondly is the rule in Powers not a Rule? Is it not Written? It's certainly not a House Rule.