Active defenses as modifiers

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by RyanW

You just write down the modifier on your character sheet. As long as you either never fight with a shield or always fight with the same sized shield, never get flanked or stunned and have to defend with a penalty, never retreat, All-Out Defend or use a defensive grip that gives you a bonus, and never have anything else that applies any temporary modifiers to skill and/or defense, it saves loads of time.

The very thing that GURPS defenses add to combat (tactical decisions matter) turns into an extra math step added to every attack, hit or miss.

You do not need two die rolls for any of those things.