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Old 06-11-2015, 04:05 AM   #1
kabson
 
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Default Armor for points, not money

I have a slightly odd desire to know how many points a suit of armor would cost as a advantage/gadget, instead of a monetary cost.

Has this been done? - I couldn't find anything, but it might be in a corner I missed.

I've not practiced my 4e skills in an eon, so is anyone up to the challenge?

Is it possible to include armor limitations, such as encumbrance, flexiblity, vision penalties, fatigue after battle, etc? Maybe for a set of DF-style leather, chain or plate?

I'm sure some of you can do this in your sleep, or is it a bit too oddball?

Thanks!
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Old 06-11-2015, 04:46 AM   #2
c0matose
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Damage resistance with Gadget modifiers? or just buy armour WITH points using Signature Gear 1pt/$500 of gear
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Old 06-11-2015, 05:43 AM   #3
T.K.
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

I don't see why would you want to do something like this... could you add some context so we can try to further pin what you're looking for?

Your best bet is Signature Gear, imo. Keep in mind Gadget rules specifically say that you _shouldn't_ build purchaseable gear with character points or charge players CPs for such mundane items... BUT If you really want to build armor for points, I'd do something along these lines:

Plate Set

DR 8 [40] + Noisy 2 [-4] + Restricted Vision: No Peripheral Vision [-15] (Cannot Wear Plate Armor, -20%* ; Nuisance Effect: Weights 80 pounds, -15% ; Nuisance Effect: Difficult to stealth and easy to notice, -5% ; Nuisance Effect: Fully armored/Looking for trouble/-2 Reactions, -10% ; Preparation Required: 1min to don armor, -20% ; Breakable: Needs Special Repair, -25% ; Can be Stolen: Not immediately work for the thief, -5%) [5]

* DR has a limitation of "Cannot Wear Armor" as -40%. Since I want to portrait that the character cannot use another Plate set but CAN use a Leather or Cloth set under his Plate set, I'm judging that limitation is only worth half it's normal value, thus using 20% only and allowing the use of a supposed Leather/Cloth set produced this way to represent layering.

So, basically, a complete Plate set that covers all your body (except eyes) giving DR 8 but is noisy giving -2 to stealth rolls, reducing peripheral vision as a Legion Helm, needs to be donned which takes 1min and weights 80 pounds costs 5 CPs.
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Old 06-11-2015, 05:59 AM   #4
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by T.K. View Post
So, basically, a complete Plate set that covers all your body (except eyes) giving DR 8 but is noisy giving -2 to stealth rolls, reducing peripheral vision as a Legion Helm, needs to be donned which takes 1min and weights 80 pounds costs 5 CPs.
Minimum cost for any advantage is -80%, so 8 points.
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Old 06-11-2015, 06:23 AM   #5
T.K.
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by weby View Post
Minimum cost for any advantage is -80%, so 8 points.
(40 - 4 - 15)*0,2 = 4,2 >> Rounding up, 5.

Don't follow your calc.
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Old 06-11-2015, 06:55 AM   #6
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by T.K. View Post
(40 - 4 - 15)*0,2 = 4,2 >> Rounding up, 5.

Don't follow your calc.
Well, the way I see the noisy and no peripheral vision is that they should be temporary disadvantage effects of the DR.

What you are basically doing is taking advantages*advantage limitations and disadvantages*advantage limitations. And nowhere in the GURPS rules do I see that.

So the options as I see them are:
1) Apply all disadvantages to the DR as temporary disadvantage effects.(basic set method), result in total of 8 points cost.
2) Add advantages and disadvantages as separate entities.(Ultratech does this for cybernetics and high tech does this without giving costs) resulting in 8-4-15=-11 points.
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Old 06-11-2015, 08:52 AM   #7
Joe
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smeette View Post
I have a slightly odd desire to know how many points a suit of armor would cost as a advantage/gadget, instead of a monetary cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by T.K. View Post
I don't see why would you want to do something like this...
I can see why you would want to do this - in fact, I've been wanting to do this for a while (and I like T.K.'s build a lot - thanks for that.)

I don't know why Smeette wants it, but the reason I want it is to compare the point-effectiveness of DF Knights with a hypothetical DF Beefcake Barbarian template: a Conan-style Barbarian with no wilderness skills but heaps of Arnie-style bulletproof nudity. (As per this old thread).

It's never seemed quite right to me that the Knight can get heaps of DR with cash, and my hypothetical Beefcake Barbarian needs to buy it with points - even though furry underwear often trumps full field plate in much of the source material.
Just a thought.
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Old 06-11-2015, 09:56 AM   #8
kabson
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe View Post
I don't know why Smeette wants it, but the reason I want it is to compare the point-effectiveness of DF Knights with a hypothetical DF Beefcake Barbarian template: a Conan-style Barbarian with no wilderness skills but heaps of Arnie-style bulletproof nudity. (As per this old thread).

It's never seemed quite right to me that the Knight can get heaps of DR with cash, and my hypothetical Beefcake Barbarian needs to buy it with points - even though furry underwear often trumps full field plate in much of the source material.
Just a thought.
That's a much more practical question, but I think you've got the same motivation - comparing the two currencies (cp and $).
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Old 06-11-2015, 11:04 AM   #9
Joe
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smeette View Post
That's a much more practical question, but I think you've got the same motivation - comparing the two currencies (cp and $).
Yes - that's definitely the more fundamental question. Putting it really roughly: if points=character power, but also money=character power, then you really start to wonder "how many points=how much money? - and you don't want to just handwave it and declare a value, because getting it right matters for all sorts of bigger issues.

I often think that many of the more complex puzzles in GURPS design would be easier to solve if we had a different solution to this kind of problem.

The obvious snarls are with the value of signature gear and points-for-cash, but there are also a whole bunch of less obvious run-on effects. For example:
  • In the Wealth system
  • In any attempt to make a magic-as-powers system balanced in relation to having gear.
  • In everything relating to TL (e.g., high TL gear is vastly, vastly more effective than low TL gear, and the two thus compare very differently to buying powers with points)
  • It also causes problems whenever you try to compare the effectiveness of gear-heavy character archetypes with gear-light character archetypes: just sticking with Dungeon Fantasy, comparing the Knight to a DF Conan-style Barbarian is one example, but the relative combat ineffectiveness of the DF Martial Artist is also very much related to this. In some respect, teh same applies to traditional wizard-types, also.

I wouldn't want to go all the way over into the points-for-all-equipment territory, but I often want to find some way to move a little more in that direction.
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Old 08-24-2016, 03:22 PM   #10
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Armor for points, not money

Soon, very soon, someone will want to know how build a spoon with points.
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