Realistic Hard to Kill/Subdue

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Arcanjo7Sagi

At least as far I remember, I think the way the standard rules works, any effective HT above 13 or 14 would sound unrealistic. Someone with effective HT 15+ could run for maybe days before get really tired, because you will be successful 94% of the time or more.

Boy, is that the case! In one of my early GURPS campaigns, the PCs ran up against an opponent from Texas who had HT 15. They shot him and hit, but he didn't fall down, lose consciousness, or die. They kept shooting him, and he kept on fighting back. That was how I learned about the effects of high HT . . .

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Arcanjo7Sagi

At least as far I remember, I think the way the standard rules works, any effective HT above 13 or 14 would sound unrealistic. Someone with effective HT 15+ could run for maybe days before get really tired, because you will be successful 94% of the time or more.

Yes, if HT 15 is "amazing," meaning everyone around you is amazed at your Health, that includes an "amazing" ability to withstand dying. "What does it take to kill you?!" Someone with HT 13 would elicit an impressed "Wow."

So the answer to my original question is that it's not so important whether it's zero, one, two, or more levels of Hard to Kill/Subdue; what's important is what effective HT is for unconsciousness and death rolls. Treat them according to the same scale: an effective HT of 15 is "amazing" — people will be astonished at your ability to stay alive. How far you're willing to entertain "amazing," "legendary," and even "mythic" abilities for characters will inform your decision on allowable traits. Does your game have characters who are the best ever in some area? Then "legendary" (17-18) attributes might be suitable. Does your game have characters who go beyond that, to theoretically possible but never before seen human ability? Then allow "mythic" (19-20) attributes.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Arcanjo7Sagi

Someone with effective HT 15+ could run for maybe days before get really tired,

It's bad but not quite that bad.

At HT 15 someone could sprint for 8 hours or more and only lose 10 FP except that around that time the missed meals and water intake get him. He probably had to slow to half-speed around hour 6.

Normally you can do paced running 4x as long as sprinting but that doesn't actually help with the missed food and water or sleep. So at hour 16 of nothing but paced running the HT15 guy has only lost 5 FP to running but 3 for missed meals, 3FP and 1HP for missed water and 1 to not going to bed on time. He's been at half-speed for a while and around hour 24 he'll have lost another 3 to running and 2 more to missed sleep and he really has to stop.