Did you know . . . ?

[Gurps Fan]

• Flamethrowers are totally immune to range penalty.
  
  
• You can use Staff skill to wield spears (not only blunt ones but also normal stabbing spears), sacrificing the ability to make impaling attacks for getting +2 to Parry.
  
  
• Unlike Mighty Blows, which costs 1 FP per attack for the damage bonus, All-Out Attack (Strong) gives the bonus to all the attacks within that maneuver.

This thread is to list some useful (but easily forgettable) tips like these.

[Diomedes]

Related to the first:

Per Kromm, regular melee attacks are not immune to range penalties.

[Gurps Fan]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

Per Kromm, regular melee attacks are not immune to range penalties.

Thanks for the information. Actually, I'm surprised to know that -- I've been always under the impression that melee attacks are immune to range penalties.

As for Jet attacks including flamethrowers, the book is very explicit about the immunity:

Originally Posted by p. B106

Jet +0%
Your attack is a continuous stream, like a flamethrower. Treat it as a melee weapon with a very long reach rather than as a ranged weapon. Do not apply penalties for target range and speed. [Boldface mine.]

[Phoenix_Dragon]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

Related to the first:

Per Kromm, regular melee attacks are not immune to range penalties.

Wait, what? Any quote on this? Because it really seems that something like that should be stated in the rules somewhere. It seems odd, since many normal weapons (Long spear, several long polearms, longer whips) can strike at ranges that would give a range penalty, and some weapons can [/i]only[/i] strike at those ranges (Lance with Reach 4 would then always have a -2 to strike because of its reach).

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_Dragon

Wait, what? Any quote on this? Because it really seems that something like that should be stated in the rules somewhere. It seems odd, since many normal weapons (Long spear, several long polearms, longer whips) can strike at ranges that would give a range penalty, and some weapons can [/i]only[/i] strike at those ranges (Lance with Reach 4 would then always have a -2 to strike because of its reach).

Unfortunately, I didn't save a link to the forum post. I agree that it's counterintuitive (and even more counterintuitive that Jets don't follow the same rules), but Kromm appeared to be quite adamant that if they'd meant to exempt melee attacks they'd have said so in the Basic Set.

[flyingwombat]

<annoying buzzer noise> The description says "...produces a continuous stream like a flamethrower. BUT the description is referring to Jet as an innate attack ability not a flamethrower.

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by flyingwombat

<annoying buzzer noise> The description says "...produces a continuous stream like a flamethrower. BUT the description is referring to Jet as an innate attack ability not a flamethrower.

Yes, but in both the Basic Set and High-Tech, flamethrowers are listed as Jets.

[vicky_molokh]

Combining TbaM/WM with Flurry of Blows is one of the few cases where fractions are rounded in favor of the character.

[Dienekes]

Originally Posted by Gurps Fan

As for Jet attacks including flamethrowers, the book is very explicit about the immunity:

I think I see the misunderstanding; it's a little ambiguous. The phrase "like a flamethrower" is meant to help with visualizing the 'continuous stream' quality of the spell. There is no implication that the remaining qualities of a jet spell (which, remember, is basically a long sword made of fire, or whatever, not a 50-foot stream of kerosene) also apply to flamethrowers.

It would be like describing a sphinx as having "noble human features, like a pharaoh. It has 4-foot wings and a leonine body..." The description is not implying that pharaohs have wings and leonine bodies.

[Gurps Fan]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_Dragon

It seems odd, since many normal weapons (Long spear, several long polearms, longer whips) can strike at ranges that would give a range penalty, and some weapons can [/i]only[/i] strike at those ranges (Lance with Reach 4 would then always have a -2 to strike because of its reach).

As a GULLIVER fan, "range penalty on melee attacks" doesn't sound particularly bad to me.

Let's assume that melee weapons suffer a range penalty but the effective "range" here is always 2 yards (for SM 0 creatures like humans; for different SMs, adjust this length appropriately), regardless of the actual reach of the weapon currently wielded.

This effectively reduces to the "relative SM" and solves many problems. A SM +3 (7 yd) Giant suffers a -3 range penalty when attackng another Giant, but gets a +3 from the foe's SM (= +3), with net modifier zero. Elegant.

Originally Posted by Dienekes

I think I see the misunderstanding; it's a little ambiguous. The phrase "like a flamethrower" is meant to help with visualizing the 'continuous stream' quality of the spell.

The phrase "like a flamethrower" here isn't just rhetorical. See the description just before the Weapon Tables:

Originally Posted by p. B270

"Jet" means the weapon shoots a continuous stream of fluid or energy, using the jet rules (p. 106).

. . . and flamethrowers have "Jet" stat. Ergo, the jet rules, including the immunity to range penalties, applies to them.