Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-06-2019, 08:15 PM   #1
Kashi
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Default Giant Character Question

Hello!

I just registered on these forums, so this is my first post so bear with me. I have been playing GURPS for about 14 years, but I don't consider myself that well versed in it. I have a few questions so I thought I would ask the experts.

My friend has very recently decided to run a sort of fun/silly fairy tale style campaign and I decided to play a giant (SM 7). Sort of a twist on the idea of a cursed character. He was originally a normal sized person cursed to giantism and his mind addled to make him run amok. However, if he takes a special drought (The dependency Disadvantage) he can keep his mind and sort of use the curse to his advantage.

My question is two fold: First, should I bother giving him a Curse Disadvantage and what point value should it be if I do? My DM didn't really have any idea and he wanted some suggestions.

Second and the more important question: should I buy Enhanced Move (ground) to model his giant strides? I don't know if that is covered under the SM rules.

Thank you for all your help and suggestions.

PS: We know SM 7 is ridiculous. We're just having fun!
Kashi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 08:41 PM   #2
Sorenant
 
Sorenant's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Default Re: Giant Character Question

1) Cursed disadvantage is not what you want. What this disadvantage does is making you a bad luck magnet, if anything goes bad, it will go bad to you.
The curse you're talking about seems to be a mental disadvantage but you didn't give the details of what "addled" entails. Does he became aggressive? Just dumb? Regardless, you will pick the appropriate disadvantage and apply a limitation representing the special potion you mentioned, which will not be a dependency disadvantage. Dependency means if you don't take a substance regularly, your body takes damage, not that it will trigger some kind of mind numbing effect.

2) If you want your giant to move like a scaled up human (like in Ultraman), instead of a lumbering giant (like in Shadow of the Colossus), then you will need to rise the Basic Move to 2.5 times the longest dimension for their SM (Basic, p.19). For a SM+7, the longest dimension is 30 yards, so Basic Move should be 75. Granted, that will cost you an eyes and a leg, so if you have a point budget, you might try save some points. Basic Move+70 costs 350 points, but if you get Basic Move +15 [75] and Enhanced Move 2 [40] the total will be just 115 points and your maximum move will be 80. You won't be as agile, for example your step will be just 3 yards instead of 8 yards, but your running speed will be approximately equal.
Sorenant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 08:43 PM   #3
ericthered
Hero of Democracy
 
ericthered's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
Default Re: Giant Character Question

The cursed disadvantage is obviously not what you want: that's a "Aweful terrible luck" thing.

You could stat up what mental disadvantages he has when his mind is addled and then give him a mitigator for them. Mitigator is probably -60% or -80%, depending on how often he needs it and how hard it is to get to him after a missed drink.

Yes, 200 tons is ridiculous. Though not as bad as some giants in fiction. What ST are you giving him?
__________________
Be helpful, not pedantic

Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog

Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!
ericthered is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 08:47 PM   #4
Refplace
 
Refplace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Welcome to the forums!
SM is a feature and does not adjust your Move score. The idea being that some big things may not move at all, or move slowly so its considered a separate item to tackle.
So a typical giant would buy Enhanced Move (Ground) and it requiring moving in a relatively straight line represents all that inertia to deal with if changing directions swiftly.

The Curse could be extra IQ with an Accessibility limitation (need to have drunk potion). Value based on how easy it is to get and how long it lasts.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
REFPLace GURPS Landing Page
My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
My GURPS Wiki entries
Refplace is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 09:25 PM   #5
Kashi
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sorenant View Post
1) Cursed disadvantage is not what you want. What this disadvantage does is making you a bad luck magnet, if anything goes bad, it will go bad to you.
The curse you're talking about seems to be a mental disadvantage but you didn't give the details of what "addled" entails. Does he became aggressive? Just dumb? Regardless, you will pick the appropriate disadvantage and apply a limitation representing the special potion you mentioned, which will not be a dependency disadvantage. Dependency means if you don't take a substance regularly, your body takes damage, not that it will trigger some kind of mind numbing effect.

2) If you want your giant to move like a scaled up human (like in Ultraman), instead of a lumbering giant (like in Shadow of the Colossus), then you will need to rise the Basic Move to 2.5 times the longest dimension for their SM (Basic, p.19). For a SM+7, the longest dimension is 30 yards, so Basic Move should be 75. Granted, that will cost you an eyes and a leg, so if you have a point budget, you might try save some points. Basic Move+70 costs 350 points, but if you get Basic Move +15 [75] and Enhanced Move 2 [40] the total will be just 115 points and your maximum move will be 80. You won't be as agile, for example your step will be just 3 yards instead of 8 yards, but your running speed will be approximately equal.
Thanks for the reply! I typed Curse and when I meant Divine Curse, the more Storyteller fiat one in Basic Set Characters, 132, sorry. My idea is that he was cursed from infancy to grow and grow and become a menace to a stereotypical fantasy kingdom.

1) As for 'addled', I was thinking more in the vein of going crazy and just smashing things and eating people, crops livestock, etc (You know, like the stereotypical fairy tale "I'm going to use your bones to bake my bread" kind of thing, except no baking).I was thinking his curse gave him an insatiable appetite. Although I could probably get away with just modeling this with Mental Disadvantages. I could take away Dependency. I knew it didn't exactly do what I wanted, but it was the closest I could find.

2) This is the sort of nuts and bolts things I was looking for advice on. Thank you!



Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
The cursed disadvantage is obviously not what you want: that's a "Aweful terrible luck" thing.

You could stat up what mental disadvantages he has when his mind is addled and then give him a mitigator for them. Mitigator is probably -60% or -80%, depending on how often he needs it and how hard it is to get to him after a missed drink.

Yes, 200 tons is ridiculous. Though not as bad as some giants in fiction. What ST are you giving him?
Yes, I mistyped on Curse. We're at 1,000 points ballpark (like I said, silly game).

I used the notes for the Growth Advantage which says you must buy the ST necessary to support your size. This is 5 x final height in yards (or 30). This equals a base ST needed as 150. The way I read this is that this is ST 10 for a giant of his size. I figured a reasonably fit Strength of "15" would translate to 225 using that formula.

I was thinking of giving him the Super Strength Lifting Advantage from Supers, pg 24. That way he could lift houses and boats and stuff like you see giants in fiction doing which his normal ST, even though ridiculous, does not support.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
Welcome to the forums!
SM is a feature and does not adjust your Move score. The idea being that some big things may not move at all, or move slowly so its considered a separate item to tackle.
So a typical giant would buy Enhanced Move (Ground) and it requiring moving in a relatively straight line represents all that inertia to deal with if changing directions swiftly.

The Curse could be extra IQ with an Accessibility limitation (need to have drunk potion). Value based on how easy it is to get and how long it lasts.
Thank you for the welcome. I was thinking weekly for the potion. My idea is that he has a witch sister that helps make his potion (took her as an ally).
Kashi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 09:37 PM   #6
Sorenant
 
Sorenant's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kashi View Post
I was thinking more in the vein of going crazy and just smashing things and eating people, crops livestock, etc (You know, like the stereotypical fairy tale "I'm going to use your bones to bake my bread" kind of thing, except no baking).
Maybe a Berserk + Bestial with Mitigator limitation?
Sorenant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 09:44 PM   #7
Kashi
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sorenant View Post
Maybe a Berserk + Bestial with Mitigator limitation?

Oh yes. I think that might work well.
Kashi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 11:02 PM   #8
Kashi
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Another quick question. What sort of skill would you guys suggest using to grab people? Like to pick them up in your hand King Kong style? I looked up the Grappling rules in the Campaigns Book and it refers to Judo, Sumo Wrestling, and Wrestling. Maybe just regular Wrestling with some points in it? I doubt there's a technique or anything that would really help as it is sort of an odd thing.

Edit: Also any other sort of suggestions for skills that you might have.

Last edited by Kashi; 10-06-2019 at 11:28 PM. Reason: Skills Suggestion Blurb
Kashi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 11:29 PM   #9
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
So a typical giant would buy Enhanced Move (Ground) and it requiring moving in a relatively straight line represents all that inertia to deal with if changing directions swiftly.
Ah, no. Enhanced Move represents an extreme form of sprinting, and a giant might not even be able to sprint at all. What a giant is more likely to have is higher Basic Move.

If you do the biomechanics, a gamable approximation is that stride length increases in proportion to body length/height, but stride frequency decreases as the inverse square of length/height. So a giant with SM +7 could be approximated as having 15x height, and therefore 3.87x Basic Move, which works out to Basic Move 19, or Basic Move +14. The actual biomechanics is more complex, but that gives you something sufficiently close to be playable.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2019, 11:31 PM   #10
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Giant Character Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kashi View Post
Another quick question. What sort of skill would you guys suggest using to grab people? Like to pick them up in your hand King Kong style? I looked up the Grappling rules in the Campaigns Book and it refers to Judo, Sumo Wrestling, and Wrestling. Maybe just regular Wrestling with some points in it? I doubt there's a technique or anything that would really help as it is sort of an odd thing.
I don't think this needs to be any of those. It's as if you talked about a man needed a grappling skill to pick up a guinea pig. You can probably just use DX to grasp small critters that can't realistically fight back.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:31 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.