05-18-2022, 02:53 PM | #31 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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On a beach, playing volleyball with a bunch of friends at my back I'd think nothing of inviting a giant (8', nice he doesn't even need to be good) to play. In a dark alley late at night all by myself, I'd would be cautious instead. In hostile situation, where fighting is expected I'd actively avoid an encounter unless I *knew* the someone half again my size was an ally. Change that 8' person to a 3' person and my reactions would be different. The first situation would be like asking a child to play with adults. In a potentially risky scenario, I'd feel like I should be protecting someone child sized. Relative size is a factor in how dangerous we guess a target can be. |
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05-18-2022, 02:57 PM | #32 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sweden, Stockholm
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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On the flip side some 5m giant will make others feel threatened. Nobles will feel concerned the giant might intimidate their way into a position of power, commoners will be worried the giant might lash out and harm them or extort them for their crops or goods. I doubt a giantess would get off the hook much easier since from a human(-sized) person they will look about as scary when they tower over you. The latter might also really trigger any men who have issues with powerful women, for obvious reasons, so in a chauvinistic setting a giantess might actually be a lot worse off than the giant. If the giants were similar-looking to humans and known to take romantic interest in humans then I think that would be a big disadvantage if anything. Honestly I think fairly few women would immediately ponder if they could "take" a giant, a daring number might ponder "taming" him, but I imagine most would likely be terrified they might get sexually assaulted if the giant had such disposition. A female one might be assumed to be less dangerous, but a drunk giantess or one who aggressively makes moves on human men would probably scare away a lot more guys than it would attract. Self-preservation is generally stronger than sexual attraction, and I think a giant or giantess would have to try really hard to avoid triggering peoples' fight-or-flight responses. Just knowing the giant could pound you into the pavement without warning is like flirting with someone holding a knife in their hand. For all this is still assuming a fairly attractive giant/ess, if they aren't appealing to look at then I think human-like appearance basically just means some humans will worry about being sexually assaulted. Anyway, I suspect leader-types would try to either manipulate the giant from a safe distance, or subtly sow seeds of distrust ("There is a rumor they make bread from grounded human bones...") to make the giant leave and failing that put as many scared pitch-fork wielding peasants between themselves and the scary giant as possible. Regular people will probably be thankful when the giant is helpful but try to avoid getting too involved when they don't see a clear benefit. Those scared of the giant will likely be all too happy to spread whatever rumors they hear. For a much smaller giant, f.ex. a mundane human with regular Gigantism I could see it being advantageous. You're not scary enough that most leaders feel unsafe when they are surrounded by their guards, but you're scary enough that they might want to put you on a big horse to lead their armies. Anyway, all this can of course be largely override by a strong reputation in the area. A stoic and capable Giant who is part of the king's royal guard is mostly just going to be meet with reverence of those who know of him and recognize the uniform. If you want to quickly become popular in the new places you visits I think you're much better of as a cute and innocent-acting little fairy who likes to cast "Essential Food" or "Fool's Banquet" on random pastries. Giants are just too threatening, I think.
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"Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared" Last edited by RedMattis; 05-18-2022 at 03:03 PM. |
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05-18-2022, 03:18 PM | #33 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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SM -10 [0] -9 ST [-90] +9 HP (Massless +0%) [18] Flight (Winged -20%) [32] Telekinesis 10 (Visible -20%) [40] Granted, you could actually make a halfway-decent SM+0 character like that, although ST 1 would be a bit of a hard sell for someone that size (HP 10 is arguably a hard sell for a 0.05 yard - 1.8 inch - fairy, but "supernaturally durable" is a thing). But that -10 to see/hit? That's a potential game-changer. For my own analysis of SM (or at least one of them, I tend to go back and forth on this), I decided the change to Reach, Trampling, Evasion, etc, work out to around [5] per +1 SM, [-5] per -1 SM (comparable to Stretching [6], but Always On). The change to how hard you are to see and hit is worth around [-10] per +1 SM, [10] per -1 SM (the latter is basically [5] for a "sneaky" talent and [5] for a half level of Cosmic Dodge; the former is just that reversed). The change in how poison affects you I eyeballed at [2] for +1 SM, [-2] for -1 SM. The effect on Intimidation is, as noted by Anthony in the previously-linked thread, [3] for +1 SM, [-3] for -1 SM. All that is a net Feature. But that's not all SM does. I previously determined the change to the weight and cost of armor and clothing is worth roughly So, it's variable, but high SM is a net Disadvantage, low SM is a net Advantage.
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GURPS Overhaul Last edited by Varyon; 05-18-2022 at 03:37 PM. |
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05-18-2022, 03:21 PM | #34 | |
Join Date: Apr 2022
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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City birds are more courageous than this fearful type of humanity. Children are, too. |
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05-18-2022, 03:34 PM | #35 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
Extremely small SM seems broken for reasons that amount to "reach can't drop below C" and "once your hands become too small to use any piece of equipment available for sale, even smaller hands aren't a meaningful disadvantage".
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Handle is a character from the Star*Drive setting (a.k.a. d20 Future), not my real name. |
05-18-2022, 07:00 PM | #36 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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Also, if you're really tiny (relatively speaking - a difference of 7 to SM), they can fly-swat you. But yes, when you can have arbitrary levels levels of ST and movement powers, etc., whatever size you are, then large size becomes of far less worth.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
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05-18-2022, 08:31 PM | #37 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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05-18-2022, 10:59 PM | #38 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
Oh, and using the Pyramid #3/77 Combat Writ Large rules tiny but very strong characters will find it difficult to apply their strength when grappling due to an inability to grip properly. Meanwhile the big guy gets a nice bonus to hit and a huge bonus to pin (and there's not suggestion that this should be capped). That little SM-10 pixie might be hard to see, but a normal human trying to grab it gets a +4 to hit and a +30 to any attempt to pin. It's going to need to be a very strong pixie to be getting out of that.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." Last edited by Rupert; 05-19-2022 at 03:08 AM. |
05-19-2022, 02:29 AM | #39 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sweden, Stockholm
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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Spotting a random 5-meter man hanging around in a busy public park in modern day Sweden wouldn't particularly scary (if 5-meter giants was not unheard off and giants didn't have a terrible reputation). That is very different from the world and situation typical fantasy-setting adventurers run around; where people tend to be fairly xenophobic for reasonable reasons, and have much less protection from thugs. All adventurers and other visitors are possible threats, that goes for human-sized ones too. A small village might be hesitant to let a group of armed mercenary-looking adventurers in unless they thought the risk was worth it. The context of the encounter matters a lot. Spotting a giant hanging around in a market isn't scary. Being suddenly approached by one there would be rather scary, and this is generally how people run into adventurers. Of course any situation where it would feel scary to run into a scary-looking human would be far scarier if it was a giant. Meanwhile, much less scary to get a sudden "HEY LISTEN!" in your face from an angry drunk sparkling little fairy out in a dark alley. As someone else pointed out earlier, there is a reason giants, especially male ones, are typically man-eating monsters in myths.
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"Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared" Last edited by RedMattis; 05-19-2022 at 02:35 AM. |
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05-19-2022, 02:39 AM | #40 | |
Join Date: Apr 2022
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Re: What has high SM ever done for us?
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I just have a hard time picturing any actual human people going: This is a large human, he's gonna kill and rape everyone! "Greetings everyone, I'm large man." "AYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" "but I" "AYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEE" "Wait...w-" "Raaapiiiisttttt! Usurperrrr! Kill you!" "What's wrong with you?!" "You are huge! That means you have a huge desire to be evil, als you have huge guts, and you're going to rip and tear. Ours! We hate your big guts big man" "Why?!" "Ever heard of the TITANS?" "Uh I'm just a really big dude, dude." "No way you're a pervert predator and you're gonna overthrow the king with your largeness!" "Why is that magpie next to you not flying away? You're even bigger in relation to it" "yeah well, that's different. Ever seen a magpie cite the end times titans? Didn't think so. Go away you nasty giant" "I'm literally like you only bigger." "No, you're evil. And I'm scared of you. You're awful" "That's uncalled for." "Did I just see a twinge in your brow? You really ARE as hateful and dangerous as they say" "You've been very insulting to me, you know?" "Yeah well maybe try being a dwarf next time, then we can talk." "But you disrespect those too." "Well they can't squash me at a whim, now, can they" "So you feel good when you're bigger than them?" "Yeah, and I'm mean to them, QED. Now beat it, Lurch. Before we bring the cannons." :| Edit/P.S.: It really is amusing to me that there's a notion that people would rather talk to dragons or something than a really big man. That there are/were bear cults IRL (and bears are scary), but a big man is public enemy number one. That people sigh whistfully at whalesong (those are quite large) but abhor the big man. That people IRL quasi campaigned against D&D 'chaotic evil branding' of some races, even like orcs which literally were described as quite unsavory but "not all orcs, not every half orc has to be conceived via assault" But a big man...literally just a large man of large proportion is the default boogieman. Ohh, or clifford the big dog. That's fine, but not a big man? Maybe I'm just not jaded enough regarding humanity. And to think people routinely go: Be the bigger man about this. Mixed signals, mixed signals. Last edited by Lovewyrm; 05-19-2022 at 05:59 AM. |
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