Ravens N' Pennies - GURPS Content Posts

[Christopher R. Rice]

Okay, guys. I'm shutting down the call for players for my Aeon campaign come this Wednesday (4/20/16) midnight. Thanks for everyone who already tossed their hat in the ring and those who still will.

[Christopher R. Rice]

GURPS101: Somewhat More Super-ST

Today's post was written by Hal "Wavefunction" Batty. In it he explores one of the more continuous traits for a supers game: superhuman strength. GURPS Super-ST patches the gap a bit, but can cause additional problems. Hal has a few ideas on how to get the enhanced strength without the bugs.

[ericthered]

• Strongman: Enhanced ST 15 (Metahuman, -10%; Size, -10%) [570]. 570 points.

I think I like the idea so far, but l'm not sure how the math is working on this.



Is it that you purchased 6 levels of enhanced Strength, thus multiplying it by 15 and paying a base of 600 points (because in that case you pay 600*.8 = [480]). Or did you buy 15 levels of enhanced strength (base 1500) and somehow got it down to 570?

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by ericthered

• Strongman: Enhanced ST 15 (Metahuman, -10%; Size, -10%) [570]. 570 points.

I think I like the idea so far, but l'm not sure how the math is working on this.



Is it that you purchased 6 levels of enhanced Strength, thus multiplying it by 15 and paying a base of 600 points (because in that case you pay 600*.8 = [480]). Or did you buy 15 levels of enhanced strength (base 1500) and somehow got it down to 570?

Neither of the above. I either failed my maths roll or my typing roll, sorry.

For a start I should probably have made it clearer by writing Enhanced ST x15, which requires 7 levels, for 700 points (1 level is x1.5, 2 is x2, 3 is x3, 4 is x5, 5 is x7, 6 is x10, and 7 is x15). It then has -20% worth of limitations on it, which should bring the cost down to 560, not the 570 I wrote.

[Kalzazz]

Is it reasonable to have the same limitations (in this case size) on both the base ST and Enhanced ST?

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Is it reasonable to have the same limitations (in this case size) on both the base ST and Enhanced ST?

That's a good question. It's something I went backwards and forwards on, clearly this system makes it affordable to get very high ST values, so the discount isn't required to make large creatures cost reasonable amounts. In the end I decided to keep it simply because the discount is what makes high SM's status as a feature actually halfway reasonable and I didn't want to change the underlying system too much. Plus I kinda like the idea of having too play a premium if you want your character to not have the size to support his ST. If you want to change that assumption I'd recommend having a dig around for one of the house-rules that turn high SM into a leveled disadvantage.

[Kalzazz]

A very valid concept (that has been actually used a fair number of times) in fantasy campaigns I've run / played in is the 'Colossus Dragon', huge dragons of sufficient size and Strength to carry entire groups of people and gear Temeraire style

An example PC, Hector the Colossus dragon is SM +8, and he spent 580 of his 600 CP buying ST 300, only because he couldn't afford more (he really wanted more ST, so he could carry an entire century of soldiers without encumbrance, and because ST 300 on a SM 8 Beastie islike a ST 12 human, nice but sscarcely a well muscled bronzed epic hero of mighty thews)

Under this new model, Hector could spend a much smaller number of CP on being ST 1000, and then his remaining CP to buy some skills and such outside of being a giant pile of ST with wings

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

A very valid concept (that has been actually used a fair number of times) in fantasy campaigns I've run / played in is the 'Colossus Dragon', huge dragons of sufficient size and Strength to carry entire groups of people and gear Temeraire style

An example PC, Hector the Colossus dragon is SM +8, and he spent 580 of his 600 CP buying ST 300, only because he couldn't afford more (he really wanted more ST, so he could carry an entire century of soldiers without encumbrance, and because ST 300 on a SM 8 Beastie islike a ST 12 human, nice but sscarcely a well muscled bronzed epic hero of mighty thews)

Under this new model, Hector could spend a much smaller number of CP on being ST 1000, and then his remaining CP to buy some skills and such outside of being a giant pile of ST with wings

Sorry, I can't quite tell if you're saying that's a good result, a bad result, or neither.

For the record ST 1,000 would be ST 20 (Size, -80%) [20] and Enhanced ST x50 (Size, -80%) [200], so yeah, a lot cheaper, but honestly being that huge is an equally colossal hindrance.

[Kalzazz]

Not sure either way

As for being that size, definitely inconvenient. You can forget about ever fitting in a dungeon, you can look forward to buying rations by the ton, healing spells become fatigue busting nightmares to get cast on you, and your such an easy target every enemy can hit you at -4 deceptive or in the skull for free etc

But it is also truly awesome to be something not only as big as a blue whale, but big enough to eat blue whales

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

As for being that size, definitely inconvenient. You can forget about ever fitting in a dungeon, you can look forward to buying rations by the ton, healing spells become fatigue busting nightmares to get cast on you, and your such an easy target every enemy can hit you at -4 deceptive or in the skull for free etc

Food requirements are not tied to SM in any way.


DF Barbarian Ogres (SM +2) eat no more than Joe Normal humans.