Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

Pragmatic · 12-02-2006, 11:00 AM

I'm trying to make the transition from D&D3.X to GURPS. I'm used to archetypical classes (though less so as the splatbooks keep coming out), graduated levels of ability (i.e., character levels), and the most important thing, being able to reasonably judge how much danger is involved in combat encounters.

With GURPS, I'm not so sure. How does one judge whether an encounter will give the party a reasonable chance of survival, while giving enough danger to make the victory oh so sweet?

Is it a measure of attack skills, defense skills, and levels of hit points? How does one know that, barring a series of critical failures, the party will win? D&D gives reasonable estimates as to when an encounter will use 25% of the party's resources (magic, hit points, and so on), and when an ecounter will be barely survivable. The difference between fighting some mooks and fighting the boss.

Some help for someone who can't stomach the cinematics and rigidness of D&D? (Which is a personal preference on my part, and in no way implies that the system is bad. It's just not for me.)

12-02-2006, 11:00 AM	#1
Pragmatic Ceci n'est pas une tag. Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Vancouver, WA (Portland Metro)	Judging combat encounters I'm trying to make the transition from D&D3.X to GURPS. I'm used to archetypical classes (though less so as the splatbooks keep coming out), graduated levels of ability (i.e., character levels), and the most important thing, being able to reasonably judge how much danger is involved in combat encounters. With GURPS, I'm not so sure. How does one judge whether an encounter will give the party a reasonable chance of survival, while giving enough danger to make the victory oh so sweet? Is it a measure of attack skills, defense skills, and levels of hit points? How does one know that, barring a series of critical failures, the party will win? D&D gives reasonable estimates as to when an encounter will use 25% of the party's resources (magic, hit points, and so on), and when an ecounter will be barely survivable. The difference between fighting some mooks and fighting the boss. Some help for someone who can't stomach the cinematics and rigidness of D&D? (Which is a personal preference on my part, and in no way implies that the system is bad. It's just not for me.)