[Technical Solutions] Complete Guide to Tanking in GURPS

[Anthony]

The main reason for not charging past a front line defender in GURPS is the risk that they'll turn around and whack you in the back. Of course, if you have buddies, they can in turn whack the defender in the back, so this is a somewhat limited threat. The fact is, real-world 'tanking' is mostly about being in the way -- take a wait, and if they run forward, step into their path and attack them. Even if your attack fails to stop them, they can't continue without slamming in to you. In reality, it's very hard for a single person to 'tank' except by being too dangerous to ignore (and even that rarely works against more than one foe at a time), it's more the role of a line or formation of multiple people (defensive/offensive line in football, say, or a shield line).

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The main reason for not charging past a front line defender in GURPS is the risk that they'll turn around and whack you in the back. Of course, if you have buddies, they can in turn whack the defender in the back, so this is a somewhat limited threat. The fact is, real-world 'tanking' is mostly about being in the way -- take a wait, and if they run forward, step into their path and attack them. Even if your attack fails to stop them, they can't continue without slamming in to you. In reality, it's very hard for a single person to 'tank' except by being too dangerous to ignore (and even that rarely works against more than one foe at a time), it's more the role of a line or formation of multiple people (defensive/offensive line in football, say, or a shield line).

Yes, the Wait manoeuver on a 1 second timescale represents what the AoO rules did on D&D's 6 second timescale. The other option is having a ranged weapon ready to shoot anyone who comes forward or leaves cover, but again that uses a Wait manoeuver (or the suppressive fire rules).