Giant PC's Weapons

[Phaelen Bleux]

OK, so now I have a giant in the party who is a PC.

Per Fantasy Folk (3e), a giant's gear should be just as encumbering to him as to a human. So, multiply weight of clothing, armor, etc. by a factor of 2.5.

Now, what about weapons?? The giant squashes some fellow and takes his bastard sword (5 lbs.). But to the giant, it would have the heft of a short sword (2 lbs.). OK, so the easy part is that the giant uses Shortsword skill to wield his new bastard sword. BUT, does it do short sword damage (sw cut/thr imp) when he hits some one (because it feels like a shortsword to the giant) or does it do bastard sword damage still (because when a human gets hit it still is a bastard sword wielded with a 25 ST)??

And of course, the player wants a Greatsword. So, it will need to be 2.5x heavier that a human-sized greatsword. Therefore, does damage increase only because it is wielded by a 25 ST warrior, or because the average human is getting clobbered with 2.5x more steel, or both?

[Mateus]

I can't help you, but I'm really curious about this topic. I had this problem once. If I found the solution that I used on the time I will post here for you.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy has some quick and dirty scaling rules, but I don't remember which volume.

[Phaelen Bleux]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy has some quick and dirty scaling rules, but I don't remember which volume.

Will it work for 3e? And although I love GURPS and support SJ Games often, I was hoping not to have to buy the answer.

[Phantasm]

There's also an equipment scaling sidebox in either High-Tech or Ultra-Tech (I believe it's in HT, but IDHMBWM). I think this box has weight scaling modifiers for SM -3 through SM +5. I don't remember which page the box is in.

[Icelander]

GURPS Low-Tech will have a set of scaling rules. Until then, Dungeon Fantasy is a fine cinematic treatment of the question. ;)

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by Icelander

GURPS Low-Tech will have a set of scaling rules. Until then, Dungeon Fantasy is a fine cinematic treatment of the question. ;)

Will they cover very small characters as well as very large ones?

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by Icelander

GURPS Low-Tech will have a set of scaling rules. (...)

Finally? Are you sure of that? It would be great.

My poor Norse Giant (2nd edition GURPS Vikings, page 87) still is a bit grumpish about his non-statted three yards long sword.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy has some quick and dirty scaling rules, but I don't remember which volume.

1. Only for small PCs, not big ones.

2. The rules in question are very explicitly for DF games, or for other games that are similarly ridiculous. Now, most fantasy games with giants and pixies will throw all physics right out the window, sure, but it's not necessarily the case. (That is, you can have giants and yet decide that their gear is still realistically larger and heavier.)

[munin]

DF1 has rules for weapons and armor for SM +1 characters on pp. 27-28. The weapon modifications are complicated, but for armor just multiply weight and cost by 2.

For other equipment, I would use the rules from Ultra-Tech, p. 16 -- double weight and cost for SM +1 characters (just like for DF armor).

Did you mean SM +1? You only said "giant".

Low-Tech might have something to say on the subject, but for now I would just assume that anyone wielding a Bastard Sword does Bastard Sword damage. The only drawback for a SM +1 character wielding an SM +0 weapon is that they're more likely to hit the 3×ST cap. Oh, and the -2 penalty per SM difference (Fantasy [4e], p. 137) -- or, apparently, -1 per SM difference for DF gnomes and halflings.