Weapon smithing, body of air, maintaining spells and other dangerous enterprises

[RafaelLVX]

Hi guys! It's been a while.

Me and the group ran across several diverse questions in the same session yesterday. Maybe some of you can give me some insight.

1. Weapon-smithing: certain members of my group are always extremely interested in making their own muscle-powered weapons in-game. Anyone know how long it takes for a man to build them with the proper tools? Say, how long does it take to make a knife, sword, axe, arrow? How about a bow, whose wood needs proper treating? What about a metal gauntlet, a leather suit or a chain shirt? Anyone can set even a wild guess?

2. Body of air: how easy it is to spot a person affected by "body of air"? Is it transparent, myst-like or bus-smoke-like? Can a person affected pass under a door or through a keyhole, or is it stuck in its original body form?

3. Maintaining a spell: one of our characters got stunned from a fright check. He was rolling a will check per second, but he got so darn scared of his evil foe, he couldn't move (he never passed a will check, so kept stunned indefinitely). Could he still maintain a spell (the spell was body of air)?

Thanks in advance guys!

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by evilRafael

2. Body of air: how easy it is to spot a person affected by "body of air"? Is it transparent, myst-like or bus-smoke-like? Can a person affected pass under a door or through a keyhole, or is it stuck in its original body form?

Body of Air (B262) does not include any kind of visibility obscuring or shape changing effects.

3. Maintaining a spell: one of our characters got stunned from a fright check. He was rolling a will check per second, but he got so darn scared of his evil foe, he couldn't move (he never passed a will check, so kept stunned indefinitely). Could he still maintain a spell (the spell was body of air)?

Thanks in advance guys!

B238: You just need consciousness (and sufficient energy) to maintain a spell.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

And to pick up the last one...

Originally Posted by evilRafael

1. Weapon-smithing: certain members of my group are always extremely interested in making their own muscle-powered weapons in-game. Anyone know how long it takes for a man to build them with the proper tools? Say, how long does it take to make a knife, sword, axe, arrow? How about a bow, whose wood needs proper treating? What about a metal gauntlet, a leather suit or a chain shirt? Anyone can set even a wild guess?

GURPS Low-Tech has rules for this. And the 3rd edition LT should be able to tide you over until the 4e comes out.

[RafaelLVX]

Great, thanks for the answers!

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

B238: You just need consciousness (and sufficient energy) to maintain a spell.

Wait, but mentally stunned...? Does that count as consciousness?

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

GURPS Low-Tech has rules for this. And the 3rd edition LT should be able to tide you over until the 4e comes out.

I got that one at home, will look it up. I don't recall anything like that in that book... but hopefully it will help.

[vicky_molokh]

Roughly estimate cost and time based on the assumption that:

• 'Base materials' cost 20% to 40% of the finished product, normally.
• The amount of Income the profession produces (I hope GURPS Fantasy has a Smith write-up) is the amount of worth added per unit of time (usually month).

These are very rough and handwavy, but at least they don't break the economy too much.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by evilRafael

Wait, but mentally stunned...? Does that count as consciousness?

Yes. Remember the most common cause of mental stun is just being taken by surprise.

[Bruno]

Stunned is stunned - Mental Stun is basically "surprise" - your brain is, metaphorically speaking, struggling to switch gears to deal with a novel situation. Emotional "shocks" and extremes might also result in a Mental Stun type of effect - fear causing the "prey animal freeze" being the most common.

Physical Stun is usually from head trauma, or physical "shock" in the medical sense. The combination of Stun and Knockdown from a major wound is tied for blows to the head for the most common cause of physical stun, but exotic effects are probably a runner up. NB: Major Wounds cause both "Stun" and "Knockdown" - two separate effects at once.

Unconscious is flat out on the ground and unresponsive. This could be from sleep, fainting due to anoxia, sedation with a drug, or trauma to the head.

Coma is like unconciousness dialed up to 11.

Catatonia (standing around staring blankly and unresponsive) is a psychiatric condition, but a simplistic game term description would be a permanent state of Dazed (see Afflictions in the basic set).

[RafaelLVX]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Roughly estimate cost and time based on the assumption that:

• 'Base materials' cost 20% to 40% of the finished product, normally.
• The amount of Income the profession produces (I hope GURPS Fantasy has a Smith write-up) is the amount of worth added per unit of time (usually month).

These are very rough and handwavy, but at least they don't break the economy too much.

That seems very fair, will calculate based on that too. I'll look up Gurps Middle-ages later at home.

Thanks for the insight on consciousness too.