Some questions about Shrinking

[ultimated]

Hi all. I'm fairly new to GURPS - that is to say, I've had the book for years but never found a game. I've recently found a group of players who may be interested, and I'm trying to answer all their questions to encourage them to try out a one-shot or two.

One of them has asked me about the Shrinking power (B 85). I know more or less how this power works, but now I gotta know all about how it works to answer my potential player's questions! I've googled around for answers to these questions, but I've largely been unsuccessful in finding good ones.

For assumptions, I'm currently allowing all advantages and giving my players a starting points value of 150.

1. How are non-multiple of six heights calculated?
   It's very easy to answer this question for Shrinking 1-10, but beyond that I'm a little stumped. Shrinking 12 is a x100 reduction in height, but what about Shrinking 11? Or Shrinking 15? Or any other number that's greater than 10 but not a multiple of 6 for that matter.
   
2. What happens to your HP?
   By raw, it looks like your HP is reduced by the same x10 modifiers as your height is when you shrink by a multiple of 6. What happens if I just have Shrinking 5? If I have Shrinking 12, my HP is divided by 100 - does it become 0.1, or "cap" at 1?
   
3. Why doesn't ST change?
   I'm not sure if I have an outdated book or something, but this seems to imply that a strongman with 20 ST could have Shrinking 12, and still lift over 600 pounds over his head with both arms in 4 seconds. This doesn't make much sense in my opinion!
   
4. Why do I take Shrinking at all when Shapeshifting - Alternate Form costs 15 points and is less restrictive?
   I'm quite confused by this. Shrinking 12 costs 60 character points, but buying a single Alternate Form which is identical to your own, with SM -12, costs only 15 points! What's more, it takes much less time to activate, and you have your full HP, Move and Damage to boot!

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by ultimated

1. How are non-multiple of six heights calculated?
   It's very easy to answer this question for Shrinking 1-10, but beyond that I'm a little stumped. Shrinking 12 is a x100 reduction in height, but what about Shrinking 11? Or Shrinking 15? Or any other number that's greater than 10 but not a multiple of 6 for that matter.

1. See the SM table on p. B19. The height factors are x0.75, x0.5, x0.35, x0.25, x0.15, and x0.1 for 1-6 steps; multiply by 0.1 for each added six steps.
   
   

   What happens to your HP?
   By raw, it looks like your HP is reduced by the same x10 modifiers as your height is when you shrink by a multiple of 6. What happens if I just have Shrinking 5? If I have Shrinking 12, my HP is divided by 100 - does it become 0.1, or "cap" at 1?

   The simple way to do it is to say that 0.1 HP is effectively 0; any damage at all will totally destroy the character's body and kill them. Less supported by the explicit rules, but perhaps more accurate, would be to leave their HP unchanged but multiply any damage inflicted on them x100. So if someone hits them, and inflicts 1 point, they take 100 points against their HP, which of course will kill them.
   
   

   Why doesn't ST change?
   I'm not sure if I have an outdated book or something, but this seems to imply that a strongman with 20 ST could have Shrinking 12, and still lift over 600 pounds over his head with both arms in 4 seconds. This doesn't make much sense in my opinion!

   That seems to reflect the way Shrinking works in the comics. It's not biometrically accurate. There may be a way to reduce lifting strength as well; I would need to do research.
   
   

   Why do I take Shrinking at all when Shapeshifting - Alternate Form costs 15 points and is less restrictive?
   I'm quite confused by this. Shrinking 12 costs 60 character points, but buying a single Alternate Form which is identical to your own, with SM -12, costs only 15 points! What's more, it takes much less time to activate, and you have your full HP, Move and Damage to boot!

Do you want to have only one option for smaller size? That would be a single Alternate Form for 15 points (assuming the point value of the small AF is less than that of your normal form). But if you want to be able to go to x0.1 height and all the intermediate heights, you'd need at least six AFs for 90 points! The tradeoff isn't so favorable then.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ultimated

I'm quite confused by this. Shrinking 12 costs 60 character points, but buying a single Alternate Form which is identical to your own, with SM -12, costs only 15 points! What's more, it takes much less time to activate, and you have your full HP, Move and Damage to boot![/LIST]

If the GM designs the race template that way. But why would it?