Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
This is a campaign for Martial Arts enthusiasts, with a focus on a cinematic style. I am trying to come up with a straightforward method for measuring "power levels."
In case you're not familiar, characters in fighting Manga have the ability to sense the fighting spirit of their opponents. This is similar to the Power Level Scouter from Dragon Ball Z. In that series, Power Level is a single number that approximates how strong a fighter is. For my campaign, only TbaM skills, passive Chi Powers, and Imbuements will be available, so there's no need to worry about Innate Attacks and other abilities. My idea is to use a formula that adds up a character's maximum hit points (which also serves as an estimate for striking damage), maximum fatigue points (which fuel special abilities), and their highest combat skill level (or DX-1, whichever is higher). Is this a reasonable approximation for "combat power", or should I try a different approach? If anyone else has figured out a better or simpler method for measuring power levels, please let me know! |
Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
Could it be just as simple as counting the total character points the character has in those attributes, skills, powers, and imbuements?
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Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
There have been several attempts at doing this, but GURPS combat is complicated enough that a single numeric score is unlikely to be very meaningful.
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Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
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Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
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Barry Breaker has ST 15, DX 14, HT 14, Basic Speed 9, Basic Move 11, Karate-16, Judo-16, Combat Reflexes, Extra Attack 1, Extraordinary Luck, High Pain Threshold, Imbue 3, Trained by a Master, and a bunch of useful Imbuements like Telescoping Strike at 16. He has Combat Power 45. They have a duel. Hank's combat power is 10% better than Barry's, but Barry hits just as hard, has more attacks, defends better, has more mobility, and can punch Hank from 4 yards away. It's kind of an extreme example, but I think it illustrates the point. I think you need a more complicated formula, that at least takes into account the nature of the special abilities, defenses, and mobility. As an aside, HP is a bad measure of both combat endurance and striking power. An ST 40 but unarmored opponent with Parry 10 will probably loose to a ST 15 opponent with DR 5 and Parry 14. Combat endurance in GURPS is predicated mostly on having defenses to avoid being hit in the first place, secondarily on having DR to absorb hits, and a distant third is having enough HP to soak the hits. And there's all kinds of ways to modify effective damage relative to HP, from buying extra HP to buying Striking Strength. |
Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
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Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
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This is why, to me, the best fight ever is in Dragon Ball Super where Master Roshi fights Jiren, and Jiren STRUGGLES to land a single hit! Master Roshi forces Jiren to use a large chi shockwave to knock master Roshi back. This was to show Goku that its not about how hard you hit so that he can get a better understanding of Ultra Instinct. So, Don't use power levels. Cause it never meant anything. If you really want something like that, then only use ST and "Chi" as the measurement. Because that was all it took into account, Master Roshi had a low power level because he did not train as hard and did not have his latent chi unlocked, but he can still be everybody in hand to hand. |
Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
There's a Pyramid article on this, it's called "It's a Threat" and can be found in #3/77.
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Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
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1) Add up the average damage from the highest powered attack, 2) multiply that by Basic Speed, 3) multiply again by the number of basic attacks (i.e. not Rapid Strikes) per turn, and then 4) add DR x 5 (or the point-value, if known, if the DR is modified, as with Tough Skin) to the total. As has been pointed out, there's no very good way of figuring out combat effectiveness for GURPS thaat's much simpler than just looking at the whole character sheet. But I think this is a good way to eyeball it. The post I've quoted, above, might be informative and helpful too. Quick-and-dirty combat rating: (Damage x Speed x Attacks) + (DR x 5) |
Re: Calculating "Power Level" or "Combat Score" in GURPS
I'm curious what calculations people can work out, but I did want to give a slightly different take on what zoncxs said:
Power levels are often misleading. Maybe it is because I've watched too much anime, but for all the fandoms obsessed with Power Levels, far too many forget that the same series using them will make it clear they're approximations... and sometimes, they're just part of the narrative and make little-to-no-sense based on the rest of the series lore. This isn't me shooting down the idea, though. I'm just saying you don't have to sweat it if your results are only a decent rule-of-thumb. One of GURPS' selling points is that it avoids things like "Level X characters are untouchable if you're are Level Y or lower." Which isn't the same as knowing "Oh, that guy probably needs a really good plan or to get really lucky to be a threat, but that other one over there? If I mess with them, I'm the one who needs a really good plan or a lot of luck to win!" |
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