All about size modifier

[BaHalus]

I was trying to compile everything possible about the Size modifier and it is being a hard time.

These three were good sources, besides not exhaustive.
http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=135

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...1&postcount=53

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-3.html#SS3.4.2.23

And the rule for extreme difference in SM from Powers, p. 76

This point made me curious:

means you must pay more to eat if using the optional rules for that.

Where I can find this optional rule? I think it is an important topic for both 20m giants and 20cm pixies. As none of them should be eating the same as an SM 0 human. Is there anywhere a simple scaling based on SM anywhere? Or should I apply Increased and reduced consumption to their templates to reflect this (but meaning quantity rather than frequency)? If this would be the case, at what rate? one level per SM? half a level per SM?

As a biologist I know it would increase following the mass, but at diminishing rates (Bigger creatures are more energy-efficient, smaller ones consume a higher proportion of energy). Maybe apply a proportion between the average mass of each SM adjusted by -10%*SM? Is there a rule published or written anywhere?

There is something else related to SM that is not mentioned in these links?

And how to deal with "COMBAT AT DIFFERENT LEVELS" with characters that aren't SM 0 and that have different SM?

And what unpublished ideas from forums or blogs are more consensual?
This one below presents the notion that when hitting a much smaller opponent, we should use the weapon's SM if higher, which I find pretty logical and straightforward. It is surely easier to hit a mosquito with an electric racket then with a chopstick.

https://www.gamesdiner.com/2007/05/g...hitting-stuff/

[Anthony]

The rules for SM are scattered all over the place; one attempt to collect them all is http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...2&postcount=21

[JulianLW]

I thought almost all the Size Modifier rules could be found in Sean Punch's "Combat Writ Large" in Pyramid 3/77, but Anthony's link appears to have several more....

[whswhs]

If you want material on size and metabolism, and on how size figures into species traits, you want Chapter 2 of GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races. I based it on biological scaling laws and on a close reading of the rules in the Basic Set . . .

None of the rules for increased or reduced consumption is about the mass of food you take in. They're about the frequency with which you have to take it in. If, for example, you are half the height of a human, your daily heat loss is proportional to your surface area, roughly one-fourth as much, but your stomach volume and meal size are proportional to your volume, roughly one-eighth as much; so you need twice as many meals per day, or by convention six instead of three. That frequency is what you take as a disadvantage.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by whswhs

If you want material on size and metabolism, and on how size figures into species traits, you want Chapter 2 of GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races. I based it on biological scaling laws and on a close reading of the rules in the Basic Set . . .

None of the rules for increased or reduced consumption is about the mass of food you take in. They're about the frequency with which you have to take it in. If, for example, you are half the height of a human, your daily heat loss is proportional to your surface area, roughly one-fourth as much, but your stomach volume and meal size are proportional to your volume, roughly one-eighth as much; so you need twice as many meals per day, or by convention six instead of three. That frequency is what you take as a disadvantage.

That matches what Bio-Tech says as well. The number of meals per day increases as you get smaller, but the total mass of food you require drops. The reverse happens if you have a positive SM.

As Increased Consumption is about how long you can go between meals, and probably how much time you spend eating, and not about how much the meals weigh, it's appropriate that 'more meals' is a disadvantage. Besides, the overall meal mass scales at about the same rate as carrying capacity.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying "I agree, and so does BT".

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Rupert

That matches what Bio-Tech says as well. The number of meals per day increases as you get smaller, but the total mass of food you require drops. The reverse happens if you have a positive SM.

As Increased Consumption is about how long you can go between meals, and probably how much time you spend eating, and not about how much the meals weigh, it's appropriate that 'more meals' is a disadvantage. Besides, the overall meal mass scales at about the same rate as carrying capacity.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying "I agree, and so does BT".

It affects how you figure cost of living. In my recently ended fantasy campaign Tapestry, nixies and ghouls were "three-quarterlings," with SM -2; I approximated their total food intake as half that of humans, and their need for clothing similarly, which roughly divided cost of living by 2.