Spear vs Knights... am I missing something?

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

What "power" usually means is having the energy(FP or other) to _cast_ the spells you've got and everything can revolve around that.

Yes.

If we're moving the discussion to fantasy knights and fantasy spear-wielding peasants, then fantasy wizards will come up . . . and their skill with spells isn't even close to as important as their energy for powering spells. All of my worst mistakes as a GM of players of spellcasters were in that realm. The thing that keeps people from just throwing dozens of save-or-lose spells isn't resistance (which has a cap) or even time, really, but the lack of hundreds of energy points.

The usual proof is that when I've offered magical wishes that could grant 20 points of any one thing (not complex builds or combos), I've had many a spellcaster opt to waste 2 points and get +6 to their Energy Reserve [18], but nobody take +5 to their favorite spell [20], because a recharging reserve of 6 energy for all spells is so vastly more useful than -1 to cost and half time with one specific spell.

Originally Posted by ericthered

One thing I've noticed about Gurps is that ST is optional for a warrior, while DX/Skill is required [...] I do think there is a point where buying ST and HT rather than skill become worth it. Especially if you are facing a well-rounded roster of supernatural enemies. It'd be curious to do some stats on that.

"ST is optional" is somewhat true in mortal vs. mortal conflicts where nobody can have extraordinary abilities or gear. As soon as people can have arbitrary DR all over their body thanks to tech or magic, which can quite easily protect even the eyes (e.g., invisible or transparent plastic visors), and/or innate gifts, ST matters to punch through the DR. If the enemy is weird enough – say, with one or more of Damage Reduction, Homogeneous, Supernatural Durability, and Unkillable – even DR ceases to matter, and you just need damage output. In fantasy, so many things just don't care about your high-skill eye poke that you absolutely need ST if you're planning to use weapons rather than magic.

Of course, this burdens the GM with the duty of remembering all that stuff. Or just reading that the dragon has, on top of DR 20, Nictitating Membrane 20 that makes the eye poke kind of pointless. A lot of GMs run everything like a human with human vulnerabilities, in which case skill is indeed decisive.