Uses Will as HP
 

A special type of undead are gastar, who consist entirely of psychic energy. This means that their HP = Will, and each time they get damaged they lose Will as well. And when they reach 0 they are destroyed. The second part is easily covered, but what about them losing Will when they lose HP? How do I model that?

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

-100 points for death at 0 HP.

Sell Will down to 1 then buy up Will = to HP with a limitation on Will, "can't exceed HP".

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

HP=0 as a special feature.

Intangibility(+50% cosmic; intangible to all forms of damage)+reflexive+no die roll required -costs CPx5 (will) -duration (instant).

Every time they are hit they become intangible to all forms of damage and loose 1 point of will (regardless of the amount of damage), and when they hit zero will they can't loose any more so they die.

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

Unless a PC wants to play one, there's no need to put a point value on it.

If you have a PC that wants to play one and you need a point value, it's a judgement call, as there is no explicit RAW way to do it. I can think of some options... the first one to come to mind would be to take "Taboo Trait: HP must match Will [-1]" and sell back Will to 0, with the Mitigator, HP total, -70%. and each time they lose HP, have their effective Will go down.

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

What the Matrix Walker said - if it's a NPC, this is just how it works. If it's for a PC, it's trickier, but I think it can be done. The end goal here is to basically make their Will = their HP. I'd first start with Modifying Other Characteristics (GURPS Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, p. 10). Substituting ST for another attribute is not currently legal - but you can sub a specific aspect of ST (I did this in Pyramid #3/69: Psionics II in my article "Mind and Body" where the higher of ST or Will determined the basic damage of a psi-sword; see p. 18 of that issue for all the gory details). In this instance I would use the rules for Modifying Other Characteristics and add "Based on ST, HP Variant, +20%" directly to Will. HP wouldn't be used at all unless the critter would somehow become a physical being and HP would equal Will, though a cost of 1 points per level of Will would be needed in the form of a new advantage. So if the gaster had a Will of 11, he'd need to pay 11 points to use his Will instead of his HP for damage purposes. The GM would need to be careful though as this might led to some unpleasantness for playing characters with this trait as they take HP damage they become increasingly susceptible to supernatural powers that are resisted by Will!

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

Why are you attempting to make it an advantage when it's clearly disadvantageous in every way?

The mechanic is that his Will is lowered every time he takes HP damage. The fact that his Will and his HP start at the same value is pretty much immaterial; even if they started at different values, the value of 'lose 1 Will for every 1 HP lost' should be about the same.

Limited Will sounds like the best option; -70 sounds 'roughly' correct, so that'd be -3.5 points per point of Will the character has.

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

I think, although I'm not certain, he's suggesting enhancing Will to make it function as HP, and then putting forward the option to buy down HP to 0. Assuming HP 10 and Will 10, that gives us:

Will 10 (Based on ST, HP Variant, +20%) [10]
HP 0 [-20]

For a total cost of -10 points. It also means the spectre can effectively increase HP for 1 point for every level of Will.


Incidentally, I love the idea of a race that uses Will instead of HP. I may have to steal this for my games.

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

Yeah, but I like fiddling with things.

That would be the general idea.

Thanks. I'll think about this. What I'd prefer is some kind of Fragile disadvantage. Since Will is unlikely to vary hugely... -10? -20?

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

Yup. Pretty much this. I was posting late when I should have tried to sleep. Apologies for confusion.

-10 seems about right. You know, this gives me an idea for a blog post (you really need "Muse of Ravens" underneath your name, Anders!). Hmmm.

Re: Uses Will as HP
 

I might use this as the HP mechanic if I ever play out dream scenarios.