Powers/Imbuement: Gambit's Power

[Werethunder]

Hello, fellow GURPS enthusiasts!

I've been exploring how to adapt Gambit's iconic kinetic charging ability into GURPS mechanics and wanted to share my proposition. Drawing inspiration from what I know from his capabilities and your insights, I aimed to design an ability that captures both the versatility and limitations of his powers.

Ability Design:
Innate Attack 16 (Crushing; Accessibility, damage dice are capped by item's Size +10, -10%; Accessibility, requires inanimate matter, -5%; Explosive, Damage / 2xYards, +100%; Delay: Variable, 10 seconds or less, +10%; Follow-Up, any object or part of it, +70%; Nuisance Effect: object also suffers damage, -5%; Variable, +5%) [212]

Crushing Attack 16 with several modifiers:

• Accessibility (-10%): Two accessibility limitations were applied. The first caps damage dice based on the item's Size plus 10 (for 3d with cards), reflecting the realistic limit of how much kinetic energy an object can hold before releasing it explosively. The second requires inanimate matter (a whole object or a part of it), staying true to Gambit's ability to only charge non-living matter. It is difficult to give a precise value to this limitation — but I started from the idea that Size +5 would limit the power in ~50%.
• Explosive (+100%): This modifier simulates the area effect of the explosions, crucial for representing the widespread impact of Gambit's charged objects.
• Delay: Variable (+10%): Allows Gambit to set a timer for the explosion, adding tactical depth to the ability's use in-game.
• Follow-Up (+70%): Ensures that the kinetic charge is delivered through the object to the target, embodying the "throw and explode" tactic Gambit often employs. Since +50% would be a cosmic-like enhancement for all weapons (as per PU1), a plus of +20% (for a +60% total) seems fair enough to me in order to include also other objects (+10%) or parts of them (+10%)… This, however, could be kept at +50% because Cosmic is cosmic, after all; in this case, the value of “any weapon” would be the same as “any part of any object” (+50%).
• Nuisance Effect (-5%): The object suffering damage from the charge itself adds a layer of strategic consideration, as it might destroy valuable items or tools.
• Variable (+5%): Offers flexibility in how much power is applied.

At 200+ points, this design represents a significant investment, making it a defining feature of a character akin to Gambit. It balances power with limitations, encouraging strategic play and creativity, in my opinion. This approach aims to reflect the nuanced nature of Gambit's abilities within the GURPS framework, offering a playable yet faithful adaptation. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and any adjustments you might suggest!

[pawsplay]

I don't think it's a follow-up attack, because I don't think Gambit has Throwing Art.

[Inky]

Dragyn mentioned that Gambit has been known to make things explode that he didn't and couldn't throw - the floor of a room, in one case.

If anything, it would be a Follow-Up on touching the object. Being a Follow-Up on a 'natural weapon', which includes hitting things, is 0%, so that leaves it back where it was. But that would be building it as an attack against the object with the damage to surrounding objects just being collateral damage from Explosive, which seems weird, although maybe the rolls to throw the object at something would be unaffected by what kind of weird mechanics the 'charging' uses. Possibly, this doesn't really add much compared to just building it straightforwardly as a Crushing Attack, though, although it does make it use throwing skills.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Inky

Dragyn mentioned that Gambit has been known to make things explode that he didn't and couldn't throw - the floor of a room, in one case.

s.

I saw him charge a railroad locomotive once. The inconvenient part would be the implication there that the larger the object he charged the bigger the resulting explosion. He did take several "rounds" charging. If you wonder, Bishop absorbed this charge before it exploded and used it for one of his energy blasts. So I guess that would be some sort of Power stunt.

You would need to put Variable on the Power, gambit could blow a door open with a "Boom!" or just fry a card reader with a "poof."..

[pawsplay]

Originally Posted by Inky

Dragyn mentioned that Gambit has been known to make things explode that he didn't and couldn't throw - the floor of a room, in one case.

If anything, it would be a Follow-Up on touching the object. Being a Follow-Up on a 'natural weapon', which includes hitting things, is 0%, so that leaves it back where it was. But that would be building it as an attack against the object with the damage to surrounding objects just being collateral damage from Explosive, which seems weird, although maybe the rolls to throw the object at something would be unaffected by what kind of weird mechanics the 'charging' uses. Possibly, this doesn't really add much compared to just building it straightforwardly as a Crushing Attack, though, although it does make it use throwing skills.

It definitely should be built as an Innate Attack, because his signature move (throwing a playing card) is not itself an attack. He just uses cards because they are small, cheap, and look cool. It's his kinetic energy that propels them. He barely throws them at all.

[Varyon]

Late to the party (but not nearly as much as the thread necromancer was), but I'd be tempted to do something like the following:

Innate Attack 3.5 points/level burn (Delay, up to 10 seconds +10%; Side Effect, Fragile:Explosive +65%; All or Nothing, must explode -30%; Melee Attack C, Cannot Parry -35%; Power Modifier -10%) [5]/level

Then just give it enough damage to reliably drop whatever you're throwing with it to -5xHP*. You will need either a dedicated Extra Attack (with Single Attack -60%) or a custom Technique (built on Rapid Strike) to be able to both imbue the item and throw it on the same turn, likely using Throwing Art. Time your Delay to make it occur on impact (I'd allow a Perk to do this reliably), and you'll cause it to explode, dealing damage equal to 6dxHP. For reference, a standard playing card would have around 1.2 HP - two levels of the above would allow you to reliably imbue it and you'd deal, rounding down to 1 HP, 6d cr exp when it popped. You could technically imbue something with up to 13 HP if it fails the HT-3 roll to avoid gaining Fragile and critfails its HT roll against knockdown/stunning, but that's not something to rely on. Note I opted for fixed damage; you could build it where it called for rolling damage, if you prefer, but I opted for reliability.

All or Nothing calls for -10% if it requires a Major Wound, but Sorcery suggests the GM give more of a discount if it calls for something more. I feel calling for one of Critical Failure on an HT roll for a Major Wound, a failure by 3+ on a Death Check, or reaching -5xHP* is worth -30%.

Technically the above would also work on a hostile character, provided you deal enough Injury. I don't recall if Gambit was able to do that; if not, you may want to add on a Limitation.

*I treat -5xHP as the same as a failure by 3+ on a Death Check, as both have the same effect - instant death (failure by only 1 or 2 results in a Mortal Wound). I also feel that, at that level of Injury, whether or not the Side Effect is resisted is enough of a moot point that we can treat it as automatically having worked. Of course, considering that dropping something to -5xHP in a single attack should result in a -30 to the HT roll to resist the Side Effect (I feel the penalty should be -1 per 20% of HP rather than a flat -1 per 2 HP), that's probably a safe assumption.

EDIT: Technically you could build this cheaper as a Crushing Attack with No Blunt Trauma and No Knockback, but I think using Burning Attack is more thematically appropriate. I'd probably treat the explosion as Incendiary to make up for "overpaying" just to stay in-theme.

[Inky]

I'm not sure about any of the following.

Originally Posted by pawsplay

It definitely should be built as an Innate Attack, because his signature move (throwing a playing card) is not itself an attack. He just uses cards because they are small, cheap, and look cool. It's his kinetic energy that propels them. He barely throws them at all.

I had a look at some of the comics, and you might be right - throwing cards and knives with stupid accuracy might be part of the whole 'master thief' shtick, but in at least some versions it does look as if that's not supposed to be what he's doing. That might be trickier to build, though, depending how you're building it.

Incidentally, he also seems to be able to use it as what would probably make most sense to build as a limited form of Telekinesis - touching things and making them fly in a particular direction, without it being hard enough to cause damage. (In the one I saw where he did this (in a flashback, aged seventeen), it was to make a cork fly out of a bottle. Unfortunately he accidentally made the wine fly out of the bottle too).

Maybe Telekinesis 10 (Accessibility, Only on objects he can touch but not necessarily in the right direction, only to propel them in a straight line, -60%, Alternative Attack to the playing-card attack, 1/5) [4].

Originally Posted by Varyon

Late to the party (but not nearly as much as the thread necromancer was), but I'd be tempted to do something like the following:

Innate Attack 3.5 points/level burn (Delay, up to 10 seconds +10%; Side Effect, Fragile:Explosive +65%; All or Nothing, must explode -30%; Melee Attack C, Cannot Parry -35%; Power Modifier -10%) [5]/level

Then just give it enough damage to reliably drop whatever you're throwing with it to -5xHP*. You will need either a dedicated Extra Attack (with Single Attack -60%) or a custom Technique (built on Rapid Strike) to be able to both imbue the item and throw it on the same turn, likely using Throwing Art. Time your Delay to make it occur on impact (I'd allow a Perk to do this reliably), and you'll cause it to explode, dealing damage equal to 6dxHP. For reference, a standard playing card would have around 1.2 HP - two levels of the above would allow you to reliably imbue it and you'd deal, rounding down to 1 HP, 6d cr exp when it popped. You could technically imbue something with up to 13 HP if it fails the HT-3 roll to avoid gaining Fragile and critfails its HT roll against knockdown/stunning, but that's not something to rely on. Note I opted for fixed damage; you could build it where it called for rolling damage, if you prefer, but I opted for reliability.

All or Nothing calls for -10% if it requires a Major Wound, but Sorcery suggests the GM give more of a discount if it calls for something more. I feel calling for one of Critical Failure on an HT roll for a Major Wound, a failure by 3+ on a Death Check, or reaching -5xHP* is worth -30%.

Technically the above would also work on a hostile character, provided you deal enough Injury. I don't recall if Gambit was able to do that; if not, you may want to add on a Limitation.

*I treat -5xHP as the same as a failure by 3+ on a Death Check, as both have the same effect - instant death (failure by only 1 or 2 results in a Mortal Wound). I also feel that, at that level of Injury, whether or not the Side Effect is resisted is enough of a moot point that we can treat it as automatically having worked. Of course, considering that dropping something to -5xHP in a single attack should result in a -30 to the HT roll to resist the Side Effect (I feel the penalty should be -1 per 20% of HP rather than a flat -1 per 2 HP), that's probably a safe assumption.

EDIT: Technically you could build this cheaper as a Crushing Attack with No Blunt Trauma and No Knockback, but I think using Burning Attack is more thematically appropriate. I'd probably treat the explosion as Incendiary to make up for "overpaying" just to stay in-theme.

I'm not sure that Burning Attack is necessary - in the few I saw, this power never seems to set anything on fire (the 'charged' objects often appear to be on fire, but that's apparently just Rule of Cool), and it's always fluffed as 'kinetic energy', basically that the objects just hit with more force than makes any sense.
Also, very much not No Knockback, in fact you might have to bend the rules a little to make it do knockback as invariably as it does in the comics.
(Some or all of this may be me having no idea how Imbue works, if you're talking about Imbue there).

This build occurred to me and seems to be legal, but it seems unreasonable. Anyone know whether this is in fact a legal build or not? (It uses the version where he uses it on the object and then throws the object with Throwing skill, rather than the one where propelling the object is part of the Innate Attack).

Crushing Attack 5d (Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%, Accessibility, Only on inanimate objects and maximum charge is limited by size of object, -10%, Explosion 2 +100%, Variable Delay, 10 seconds or less, +10%) [43]

That is, you do this on the object, repeat it as many times as necessary (a single 5d being meant to be one playing-card's worth), timing it such that they'll all go off at once, then throw it/run away from it, and its Explosion damage is what destroys the target. It would fit the thing of larger explosions take longer to charge up.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Inky

I'm not sure that Burning Attack is necessary - in the few I saw, this power never seems to set anything on fire (the 'charged' objects often appear to be on fire, but that's apparently just Rule of Cool), and it's always fluffed as 'kinetic energy', basically that the objects just hit with more force than makes any sense.
Also, very much not No Knockback, in fact you might have to bend the rules a little to make it do knockback as invariably as it does in the comics.
(Some or all of this may be me having no idea how Imbue works, if you're talking about Imbue there).

To be clear, the explosion would still deal its normal knockback (likely boosted for dramatic convention, as is common for cinematic explosions), it's just that the "charging" would not. Honestly, while I wanted burning because of the visual effect, the idea of using crushing with nbt and nkb is growing on me - largely on account of realizing that makes it cost [3.5] per die of damage, which works out to exactly [1] for every point of damage if using static damage.

To implement the idea of being able to charge larger objects by taking extra time, with my build I'd probably change the value of All Or Nothing to -20% or -10% if multiple uses "stack" in the fashion you describe. But I'd honestly be inclined to simply build as I described and rely on Trading Fatigue For Effect + Godlike Extra Effort (P160-161) to affect larger objects (and I'd allow taking extra time to reduce the Will penalty - probably just apply the relevant amount of Takes Extra Time to the value of the boost; taking 9 seconds to charge something would be Takes Extra Time 4* -40%, so if you are dealing 4x the damage while doing so, that's +300%*0.6=+180%, or Will-36; spending 12 FP/ER reduces this to a Will-3 roll.

*For attacks, the first level of Takes Extra Time adds a Ready before it can be used; this works out to 8 Readies and then an Attack; the timer for whatever Delay you set would start when you do the Attack, not when you first start charging the item.

[zoncxs]

Gambit, along with all the X-Men and other comic characters, have powers that are meant for story telling. So trying to write it up using some type of game mechanic is difficult.

With that said, I would build his power using imbuements with Striking ST limited to "imbued objects only", "Immediate Preparation Required" , and "Accessibility, Size limitation".

"Immediate Preparation Required" and "Accessibility, Size limitation" would need to be calculated.

Those two basically make it so that the more massive the object you attempt to imbue, the more Striking ST you can tap into but the longer it takes to do so.

With that, you figure out what is the biggest thing you want him to be able to imbue, and the smallest.

Smallest is obviously a deck of cards and should take 0 seconds to imbue. Damage output according to Marvel is about the same as a grenade, the m67 does 9d [2d] cr ex (High Tech page 193).

Ignoring the [2d] bit, its 9d worth of damage, which requires Striking ST of 80. That is worth 350 points by itself, but with all the modifiers which should add up to about -80%, we are looking at 70 points to be able to throw a playing card that explodes like a grenade.

What about bigger stuff? The MK 82 does 6dx28 [7dx2] cr ex, so we would want enough Striking ST to deal 6dx28 or 168d.

That would require Striking ST 1500+! Luckily Super Effort exist so we only need Striking ST 18 with Super Effort which is worth 500pts.



TL;DR:

This is what I would use.

Charge:

Striking ST +18 (Super Effort, +400%; Imbue Only, -60%; Immediate Preparation Required 1min (Accessibility, Size limitation, -10%), -27%; PM, -10%) [363]

+

Shockwave [34] (using Sorcery to turn the imbue skill into an advantage)

+

Throwing Art (H) DX+10 [44]

Total is 441 points. You can "charge" any object you touch to make it explode. Damage output can be as little as 3d-1 ex or as much as 202d ex with 1min of charging.