Hit points of a baby during childbirth?

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_Dragon

Okay, but let's put that in perspective. In game effects, a 4HP baby getting hit twice with a machete by a ST10 man is comparable in damage to a 10HP man being shot twice with a .45. Even if it gets lucky and has very low damage rolled, it's still a nasty, nasty wound.

Right - at 4hp vs. 10hp, that would be a good example of equivalent damage; OTH, a ST Human can chop a newborn in half with a machete with little effort. Babies are pretty fragile: a stupid ST 9 human can accidentally shake one to death - surely a cat is much more durable than newborn human. I can't see a Baby-Bjorn providing more resistance to say an arrows penetration than a steel corset...

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Danukian

I can't see a Baby-Bjorn providing more resistance to say an arrows penetration than a steel corset...

Time for a reality test!

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Danukian

This works out fine for live meat = HP, but it also means that a new born could quite possibly live through 2 or more hits from a machete swung by a ST 10 man! Maybe more on track: Figure the HP for a three year old, new born is at 1/3HP, and thus Move is halved.

I dunno the stats on a machete off-hand, but if we're assuming an All-Out swing+0 cut by someone with an ST of 10 (thus 1d6), you're looking at a 1d6+2. The minimum damage is thus 3 (increases to 4), the average damage is 5.5 (increases to 8.5), and the maximum damage is 8 (increases to 12). A single All-Out Blow will at a minimum force the baby to make consciousness rolls and probably result in the child bleeind out and dying. On average, the child will have to take at least one survival roll, and the best hit will force two survival rolls.

This is from 1 blow. I'm not sure where you're getting "Can survive two more more blows from a man of average strength," unless that man is trying really hard to make sure he hits and he's preserving his defense in case the baby suddenly and shockingly retaliates.

[Icelander]

I'm fine with saying that baby humans are imperfect creatures, not nearly as robust as their weight would suggest. HP 2-3 shortly after birth strikes me as just fine.

We're notoriously fragile for a while, there. A human baby and a full-grown animal that weight the same will not be equally tough, robust and able to survive a machete blow.

Also, when chopping up a baby, you probably ought to be All-Out (Strong) Attacking. That means that an average blow, as noted above, will do 1d+2 cut. Given that you also ought to be Telegraphic Attacking and will have a height advantage, the soft skull is an excellent target. 1d+2 x 4 will most probably do the job in one hit and if not, the baby is unconscious and will inevitably bleed to death anyway.

[Danukian]

Admittedly, I wasn't using Committed, All Out, or any other modifier, and after reading your post, I realized I was using Thrust, not Swing, so no machete. What about a stomp? Better yet, what about an animal attack? It is going to take a few rounds for the Dingo to eat that 4HP baby!

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Danukian

Admittedly, I wasn't using Committed, All Out, or any other modifier, and after reading your post, I realized I was using Thrust, not Swing, so no machete. What about a stomp? Better yet, what about an animal attack? It is going to take a few rounds for the Dingo to eat that 4HP baby!

A stomp is stereotypically to the brain, and you can make that an All-Out Telegraphic Attack, since the baby's not going to dodge. A stamp kick by an ST 10 fellow to the brain (assuming DR 0 due to the soft skull) will deal 1d+1 damage, which deals a total of between 8 (death check) and 28 damage (insta-dead). A stomp to the torso will be less impressive, causing from between a stun (2 damage) to consciousness issues (7 damage) and likely severe problems.

I would expect that it would take a dingo more than one second to eat a baby, so that's not a bug.

And while I'm not going to argue with Icelander's assessment, I want to point out that while baby's are quite fragile, they're also surprisinly durable. I've heard of children surviving a car crash that killed their parents, or having their face chewed off by chimpanzees.

GURPS HP is a funny thing that is both more and less forgiving than real life. It's an abstraction . But I actually don't see it that far off from reality in this case. People treat babies with more care than is strictly necessary (not that it's a bad policy, because we care about our children very much)

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

I would expect that it would take a dingo more than one second to eat a baby, so that's not a bug.

Eaten, Yes. Killed, I don't think so.

I'd eyeball babies as 2HP, with no skull DR and possibly another wounding modifier vs crushing. Basically on par with Icelanders.

[martinl]

I'm not sure I'm more amused by the optimization of "How to attack a baby in such a way as to kill it," or the observation, based on said optimization, that GURPS makes babies a bit tougher than they shoud be.

Can _DF:Babies_ be far behind?

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by martinl

I'm not sure I'm more amused by the optimization of "How to attack a baby in such a way as to kill it," or the observation, based on said optimization, that GURPS makes babies a bit tougher than they shoud be.

Can _DF:Babies_ be far behind?

I don't think it's a DF line, I think MH5 is going to have the special baby killing rules, as well as the new template Baby Slayer. You don't want to know about the Bang! skills involved in that one...

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Also, when chopping up a baby, you probably ought to be All-Out (Strong) Attacking.

And now I have a new sig.