Additional modifiers for extreme cold?

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Bathawk

Just checked in the other night, and was pleasantly surprised about how much attention this thread was getting

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I'm trying to pump up Deluge to 500pt. GURPS standard by seeing how much more dangerous he can be by increasing his create to level 40

Incidentally, assuming he's on an elevated position, how much create would be needed to cause a mini-flood?...if allied soldier are climbing a narrow icy path and a sudden rush of water say...1 foot deep came rushing down the path, what would the effects be? and how much create would be needed?

Also since we are talking logistics and winter wear of WWII troops. Does anyone know what the supply chain for the Afrika Corps was? In other words would it have been foolish to deploy this character in the mountains of Monte Cassino instead of creating potable water in the desert? Or were they "all good" without him?

You need to make some assumptions explicit. The way you're speaking about Deluge's abilities suggests that you're waiving the cost to make the created water permanent. If you are not, then Deluge needs a sizable Creation Pool to stabilize his water, so that it doesn't vanish at the end of 10 seconds. This is especially true if he's being used as a source of potable water, drinking the water is equivalent to eating it for rules purposes, meaning that the points spent to stabilize the water are lost and cannot be regained, only replaced by new character points.

Assuming there is no need for a Creation Pool, the upper limit for Deluge's potable water will be his fatigue. Assuming a 10-hour working day, 7 days a week, and running himself down to 0 fatigue at the end of his work day, he can use his Create Water 35 times, resulting in 14,000 gallons of water. The rule of thumb is that 1 man needs 5 gallons of water/day for all personal uses, including drinking, cooking and hygiene, but not any water needed by vehicles. Thus Deluge can provide the water needed for 14,000 men daily. If the Germans use him for potable water only, the need drops to 1 gallon/man and he can supply the daily needs of 70,000 men. This is a considerable contribution from a single individual but Panzer Army Afrika had about 200,000 members when it surrendered to the Allies, so Deluge is a big help logistically, at best he's supplying something between a third and half of all the potable water required daily and none of the water needed for cooking, hygiene or vehicles.

What you seem to be thinking of is a "flash flood" which is different from an "ordinary" flood like the "Red River Flood of a Century" in 1997. An ordinary flood can be quite slow and would likely be beyond anything Deluge could do. A "flash flood" is doable but has a lot of constraints on it. Deluge's creation is a bit less than 54 cubic feet of water. To be a flash flood, the water needs to be constrained, so we'll assume the path is at the bottom vertex of an equilateral triangle of indeterminate depth. an equilateral triangle with a depth of one foot has an area of about 0.866 sq. ft., making the flash flood about 63 or 64 feet long. The main thing that will determine the effect is how fast the "flash flood" is going, ehich will depend on the downward slope of the ravine, the steeper the slope, the faster the water will be moving. Having forded a coupe of rivers, I feel confident in saying that a flash flood that is waist deep with water moving at 4 mph, is likely (say 80% likely) to knock an unsupported person off their feet, if they're moving. Even at waist depth, a stationary person isn't likely to be "swept away", or "knocked down." In knee-deep water (about 18"), I'd call it possible but not particularly likely (say 50%) and at ankle depth, it's unlikely to have any effect unless the bottom is especially slick. In short, maybe, but only if the person isn't anchored (eg., holding onto a rope that's secured to something solid, and pitons probably count as something solid in this instance) and panics.

The short answer is it might be possible to knock the soldier down if the path is in a deep enough ravine and if the path itself is slick enough and if the target fails a Fright Check. Shorter answer still, how much goodwill are you going to get from your GM?