Size modifier question

[Bastriam]

Hi all,

The lowest size modifier in the GURPS Basic set seems to be SM -10, corresponding with 0.05 yard. What if a character is even smaller than that? What would the size modifier, for example, of an insect be?

Thanks, Bastriam

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Bastriam

Hi all,

The lowest size modifier in the GURPS Basic set seems to be SM -10, corresponding with 0.05 yard. What if a character is even smaller than that? What would the size modifier, for example, of an insect be?

Thanks, Bastriam

It's -6 per factor of 10, just like the Speed/Range tables.

Though it's also pretty irrelevant - given that the minimum SM that makes sense in a targeting roll is that of the cross section of your weapon, and detection of tiny insects probably will use sound more that vision.

[Jeminai]

I'm not sure how irrelavent targeting things that are smaller than the weapon's profile actually is.

It was a fairly common hassle for German soldiers in WWII to have to deal with the fact that Russian snipers would target their communication wires during the Battle of Stalingrad. These strands were thinner than the bullet is wide and it was by NO means irrelevant.

[Ejidoth]

Originally Posted by Jeminai

I'm not sure how irrelavent targeting things that are smaller than the weapon's profile actually is.

It was a fairly common hassle for German soldiers in WWII to have to deal with the fact that Russian snipers would target their communication wires during the Battle of Stalingrad. These strands were thinner than the bullet is wide and it was by NO means irrelevant.

It's 'irrelevant' in the sense that if you're targeting something smaller than the weapon, a roll to hit something as small as the weapon should suffice - after all, if you miss by less than the width of the weapon, you didn't miss. So if you use a weapon with a SM -6 striking surface to hit a SM -11 bug, you should probably just treat the bug as a SM -6 for that attack.

It's irrelevant in that once the target is small enough, making it smaller doesn't make it any harder to hit. If I can hit a fly with a flyswatter, I can hit a double-sized fly or half-sized fly with the same flyswatter, without the plus-or-minus two to my attack roll that the fly's size modifier would suggest.

[Gurps Fan]

Originally Posted by Bastriam

The lowest size modifier in the GURPS Basic set seems to be SM -10, corresponding with 0.05 yard. What if a character is even smaller than that? What would the size modifier, for example, of an insect be?

Size Modifier in GURPS is open-ended in both directions; there's no "lowest" or "highest" SM. Just remember the numbers 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10, then the progression will be obvious.

SM -10 is 0.05 yard. Ergo, SM -11 is 0.03 yard, SM -12 is 0.02 yard, SM -13 is 0.015 yard, SM -14 is 0.01 yard, SM -15 is 0.007 yard, etc.

Just for information, having an extreme negative SM can be murderously powerful in melee combat. See p. 76 of Powers.