Anime: Railgun

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Is the character described as aiming physically or mentally? That would determine whether the appropriate skill is based on DX or IQ.

What exactly does "aiming physically or mentally" mean? In terms of RAW skills, the only ranged combat skill that's IQ-based is Artillery, which is distinguished from Gunner by being indirect rather than direct fire. That sounds as if the question is whether you are shooting at something you see, or calculating where to aim, more or less.

Bill Stoddard

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Normally, yes - but in this particular case, the OP is trying to model a certain fictional character.

Is the character described as aiming physically or mentally? That would determine whether the appropriate skill is based on DX or IQ.

The first episode shows lots of limb-directed power displays, so DX is appropriate on that count. You can always add talent or enhancements if you need to hit anything you see.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by whswhs

What exactly does "aiming physically or mentally" mean?

That depends on the setting, which I'm not familiar with.

(Thus, I'm asking questions rather than offering answers.)

[whswhs]

By the way, is the the series A Certain Scientific Railgun? An old friend was writing to me about this as his new discovery in anime just recently.

Bill Stoddard

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by whswhs

By the way, is the the series A Certain Scientific Railgun? An old friend was writing to me about this as his new discovery in anime just recently.

I believe so - what little I know of the show matches the OP's description.

[nick012000]

Okay, so this is a bit of a spoiler to those who haven't watched the series, but...

In the universe of To Aru no Kagaku Railgun (and the series it's a spin-off from, To Aru no Majutsu Index), magic is basically caused by calling down the power of God and his angels through rituals based on religion (intentionally or otherwise), and psychic powers are the result of a project by Aleister Crowley to create an artificial angel.

Basically, rather than calling upon the power of God through the construct of a religion, each Esper creates their own through the processing powers of their brains, and this manifests through the creation of an AIM field that contains their Personal Reality (and, in particularly high-level Espers like late-series Accelerator or the AIM Burst, the development of angelic characteristics like wings and halos).

The reason that Misaka's Railgun acts so strangely (e.g. doing disproportionate amounts of damage considering its mass and velocity, or the fact it stops dead when it hits its maximum range) is because she's not really launching a coin at her enemies; she's using her power to vaporise a coin into a stream of plasma, and using it to conduct/amplify her AIM field/Personal Reality, which is what probably does most of the damage.

So, if you want to represent a Toaruverse Esper in GURPS, at the very least they should all have Intuitive Mathematician, and the Esper Power Talent (which would probably be a modified version of Magery) should add to all rolls possibly assisted by mathematics, the same way the corebook Magery talent adds to the Thaumaturgy skill.