(Unofficial) FAQ of the GURPS Fora

[BaHalus]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

AFAIK all of them do, except those whose Switchable cost is increased (Static). Not much of a list, IMO. Do you still think it should be in the oFAQ?

More doubts in this issue:

1- If I take "takes Extra time", "Reduced time" or "Reactive" on an advantage like RD (I suppose RD is considered always on, right?), I must also take switchable?

1.1- An RD with 2s of activation is a 0% modifier, a -10% modifier ou a -20% modifier?

2- The activation time counts also as a deactivation time? If I have 4s of activation due to takes extra time, I have to take the same time to deactivate?

2.1- There is any limitation or ampliation that changes that?

3- There is some way on RAW to simulate a fade in, fade out effect?

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

A bit that might be good to remember:

Who builds Allies? Player or GM?

Kromm's reply is +100% if the player gets to build the Ally and the Ally is always guaranteed a minimum of a Good reaction.

But what if the player only wants to build the Ally, but is perfectly happy to let the GM roleplay the reaction of the Ally realistically during the campaign?

Is that +30%? And the remainder +70% is for the Always Good Reaction? Or what? It seems extremely odd to lump two completely different things together in one Enhancement with no acknowledgement of the possibility that some players might the one, or the other, but not both.

[vicky_molokh]

Q: What are the benchmark skill levels? Could someone expand what each skill level means?

A: A slightly expanded reply from Kromm.

[vicky_molokh]

Q: Under Basic rules, which unarmed skills / attacks suffer from off-hand penalties / need OHWT?

A:

Originally Posted by Kromm

Just to be clear: There is no "off" hand in unarmed combat in GURPS. The Basic Set failed to make this as clear as it could have, hinting at it in a few skill descriptions but not generalizing it. Martial Arts makes it far clearer. Claiming that there is an "off" hand for the purposes of unarmed combat is fine as a house rule, but definitely not what the entire body of rules published to date supports.

Originally Posted by Kromm

The Karate skill states "Roll against Karate to hit with a punch (at no -4 for the 'off' hand)." When using equipment of some sort, read the description carefully. If that gear is a glove (e.g., cestus, myrmex, or sap glove), or explicitly enhances punches (like brass knuckles or anything with the "Hilt punch" note), you're throwing punches and may ignore the off-hand penalty. Otherwise, the item deals a weapon blow – not a punch – and attacks and parries are considered armed. In effect, you can claim either the benefit of no off-hand penalty (because you're punching with Karate) or the benefit of no risk to your hand (because you're using a weapon, not your hand), but never both. The Karate damage bonus has nothing to do with where this line is drawn; that bonus applies "when you calculate damage with Karate attacks," which is simply any attack that rolls against Karate to hit.

[vicky_molokh]

Q: What are the more obscure effects of Enhanced Time Sense (ETS)?

Originally Posted by Kromm

The benefits of ETS, found by searching the Basic Set, Martial Arts, and Gun Fu:

• all the benefits of Combat Reflexes (+1 to active defenses and Fast-Draw, +2 to Fright Checks, immunity to freezing when surprised, and +6 to recover from lesser surprise)
• always act first in the combat sequence
• always draw first in a standoff with unready weapons
• always go first in a Wait situation/standoff with ready weapons, even unarmed vs. a gun
• dodge snipers' bullets fired from "surprise" if you can see a flash, hear a report, or have Danger sense
• ignore penalties to attack around fast-moving obstacles
• invoke the Bullet Time rule, if used
• parry bullets with the Parry Missile Weapons skill, or shoot them down effectively with the Area Defense perk
• request extra time on the real-world clock to make combat decisions, even if the GM has everybody else on a turn timer

(PM)

Originally Posted by Kromm

ETS has no effect on how much time is needed for actions. What it does is allow essentially zero-time responses (like parrying or drawing weapons) to occur close enough to the stimulus that provokes them that they're actually useful. Starting composition of a poem or a battle plan a fraction of a turn (second) sooner doesn't provide a useful benefit, because those things take longer than a turn to execute.

In other words, an action can take m milliseconds (or whatever) to initiate, and then n milliseconds to complete. The penalties for being rushed that ETS eliminates are for having t < m for initiation; examples include the penalties or outright prohibitions connected to dealing with fast-moving attacks. The penalties for haste on p. B346 are for having t < n for execution, and unrelated to anything ETS does.

Kromm quote on ETS:

Originally Posted by Kromm

"Being rushed" in the ETS description wasn't intended as "you're cutting corners on purpose to save time," because then why wouldn't every character with ETS do every task in 1/10 the usual time and ignore the penalties? It was intended as "you feel as though you're under pressure, and don't know how much time you have," which lets you ignore maybe a -1 or -2 for beading sweat and shaky hands. That's the difference.

Edit: The trait of being able to work faster is Altered Time Rate. And yeah, I'd be happy to allow task-specific limits on that. ETS is just Combat Reflexes, Level 2, and like Combat Reflexes, more of a coolness-under-fire trait for combat than anything else. Thus, it gives bonuses for staying cool (or elimnates penalties for not staying cool), but it doesn't really help you move any faster to complete tasks.

Regarding the +5 to certain sensory tasks listed in Powers: Enhanced Senses, pertaining to Observation, Body Language, Connoisseur, Lip Reading, and Tracking:

Originally Posted by Kromm

My point [in that uFAQ quote] is mostly that *in general,* ETS isn't "+5 to everything because you always have all the time in the world." That's a *possible* trait, but one worth a few hundred points! However, "+5 to any task where time to perceive things is the limiting factor" is a lot narrower and fairer for the price.

Originally Posted by PK

Suitable tasks include Observation when analyzing a potential threat, Per-based Tactics to size up foes mid-fight, and Tracking rolls to follow a trail. Passive rolls, such as Sense rolls to notice something, are never affected, only those requiring active concentration. Deduction rolls also do not benefit as each roll represents the potential culmination of a long-term investigation; in fact, all deduction rolls for Per-based skills should be “floated” to IQ, as deductions require careful research and contemplation, not fast reaction time.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Can we FAQ something about how Armour Divisors stack, how Hardened works against that stacking, how Cosmic fits on the scales, and whether AD higher than (10) is available?

Just in case, ADs from different sources are always multiplied. however, buying an armor divisor higher than 10 for Innate Attacks is houserule territory. I suppose an extra (in addition for the (10) cost) +50% on top for (100) will do.

Other useful notes on Hardened:

Originally Posted by Kromm

From p. B47:

Hardened: Each level of Hardened reduces the armor divisor of an attack by one step. These steps are, in order: "ignores DR," 100, 10, 5, 3, 2, and 1 (no divisor). +20% per level.

To paraphrase Armor Divisor, p. B102:

Armor Divisor . . . Modifier
(2) . . . +50%
(3) . . . +100%
(5) . . . +150%
(10) . . . +200%

Note how the modifiers are priced at +50% per canonical step. The next steps would logically be (100) for +250% and "ignores DR" for +300%.

Finally, to precis Cosmic, p. B103:

Irresistible attack. Your attack does negate the target's protection; e.g., an Innate Attack that ignores DR. +300%.

That's simply an explicit statement of the missing final step of Armor Divisor.

When Powers says, "DR with Cosmic subtracts from 'irresistible' attacks with Cosmic," it means exactly what it says. DR 100 with the +50% version of Cosmic counts as DR 100 vs. an attack with the +300% version of Cosmic. Against an attack with a (10) divisor, that Cosmic DR acts as DR 10, because the defensive +50% version of Cosmic isn't Hardened, and does nothing againt other armor divisors. Somebody with DR 100 (Hardened 1, +20%) gets DR 1 vs. an attack with the +300% version of Cosmic, because he shifts "ignores DR" to (100), while he gets DR 20 vs. an attack with a (10) divisor, because he shifts (10) to (5).

If you want an attack that not only ignores DR but also ignores Hardened, then add another +50% to your +300%.

Originally Posted by Kromm

Malediction and Sense-Based aren't meant to interact with Hardened at all. It's very specifically Cosmic that's affected, because Cosmic is really a high level of Armor Divisor. Malediction and Sense-Based aren't high levels of Armor Divisor -- they're something else. And yeah, when we get a FAQ Keeper, we can note this.

Q: How does Armor Divisor interact with Ablative DR?
A:

Originally Posted by Kromm

You have DR 96, HP 80. Repeated huge piercing attacks (pi++) lower DR as if ablative (footnote, p. B559), to a minimum DR 3. Against a homogenous target like concrete, huge piercing has a wounding modifier of ×1/2 once it penetrates DR (p. B380).

With 2d+2 pi++, you'll average 9 points of damage per second. You'll need 10 seconds to ablate DR 90, leaving DR 6. On the 11th second, you'll put 3 points past DR 6, which will inflict 1 HP, and also ablate down to DR 3. Then you'll be putting 6 points per second past the minimum DR 3, inflicting 3 HP per second, for the next 26-27 seconds. Total time: 37-38 seconds.

With 2d+2(2) pi++, you'll average 9 points of damage per second. But now DR is halved! You'll need five seconds to ablate DR 45, leaving DR 3. Then you'll be putting 8 points per second past half the minimum DR 3, inflicting 4 HP per second, for the next 20 seconds. Total time: 25 seconds.

The main advantage is that if you're boring dozens of these a day on a worksite – say, to pass cable – you're taking 2/3 as long to do it. That's a huge savings in labor. When you're trying to be sneaky . . . well, a rotary hammer isn't the tool for the job! But 2/3 as long to be noticed should be good for reducing whatever bonus the GM gives your opponents for a sustained racket.

[vicky_molokh]

Q: What exactly happens after Berserk wears off?

A:

Originally Posted by Kromm

Ending your berserk state triggers one extra HT roll for consciousness at 0 or fewer HP, and one extra HT roll for survival at -HP or worse. Both are subject to the usual modifiers (e.g., -1 to consciousness rolls per full multiple of negative HP) and results (e.g., failure by 1-2 on a survival roll means a mortal wound). Neither enjoys the +4. These rolls represent additional chances to fail, over and above what you would face were you not a berserker. You don't keep a laundry list of every HT roll made at +4 and then reroll them without the +4 later; if you did, then Berserk would have a base value of -20 or -30 points, not -10 points.

[vicky_molokh]

Q: Some weapons have no listed Rcl (Recoil), yet I need Rcl for use with Multi-Shot. How do I calculate it?

A:

Originally Posted by Kromm

For Multishot on low-tech weapons that lack Rcl, I'd use Rcl 1 for Bulk 0 to -2, Rcl 2 for Bulk -3 or -4, Rcl 3 for Bulk -5 or -6, and so on.

Q: Why do some single-shot (RoF 1) weapons have Rcl (Recoil) listed in the table? There are hints of them being useful for something, but I can't find any.
A: Imbuements can make a single-shot weapon magically (or equivalent) fire multiple shots. Some weapons can be made to exceed their RoF through Techniques (see High-Tech, Gun-Fu and Tactical Shooting). Some special rules for volley fire (e.g. Spaceships weapons) use Rcl.

[vicky_molokh]

Clean up time. Meant to post for some while, so here goes:

Of the latest uFAQ'ed questions, which ones seem important enough to you that I put them into the official FAQ? The latest trends seems to be a bunch of 'minor' questions, unlike the earlier ones that got asked over and over again. (Obviously, aside from different people inexplicably failing to find the same passages in the Basic Set, such as the shotgun explanations.)

[vicky_molokh]

Q: Why are many write-ups of monsters and opponents left with no templates/point values/etc.?

Originally Posted by Kromm

With apologies to those who like it, point values on creatures expressly designed as evil NPC monsters represent too much work for too little gain.

It takes me perhaps five minutes to slap down the right attributes and traits to fit a monster description, and maybe another five minutes to calculate damage, Dodge, etc. so that they're consistent with those attributes and traits. It takes me at least an hour to work up a relatively complex monster on points if I must modify Affliction, Innate Attack, Leech, etc. for its special attacks; build unique techniques for its trademark combat moves; coin new perks for its minor-but-beneficial features; and so on. Indeed, a complex Innate Attack can take me 5-10 minutes all by itself. And if the creature uses Alternate Forms, or has a set of alternative abilities, or uses an actual structured power (with power modifier, power Talent, and abilities) . . . well, it can take hours to write up properly.

And that's me, one of the designers of GURPS Fourth Edition; coauthor of GURPS Martial Arts (for techniques) and GURPS Powers (for abilities and powers); author of GURPS Power-Ups 2 (for perks); and one of two people in the whole world paid to work on GURPS and only on GURPS as a full-time job. My freelancers assure me that things are tougher for them. This is why PK and I must double-check all of their math, which adds editorial overhead to the writing overhead.

Such expense is nevertheless entirely justified for a race that's intended for PCs, for Alternate Forms for PCs, and/or for NPC Allies. However, if the author intends his creation to be strictly monstrous – a race of foes – and if most gamers will likely use it that way, then this additional work is impossible to justify. Freelance writers simply do not get paid enough to do an order of magnitude more work on the off chance that somebody will need a point cost for some optional rule – and gamers wouldn't pay what the books would cost if we remedied that. The gamer who's interested in off-label use has the tools at his disposal if he wishes to work out points.

The point of GURPS is that it provides the means to transcend old-school concepts like "NPC races." This means that it provides the tools to do the math, not that it does all the math for you. The fact that one can work out point costs for monsters if one wishes is the promise that the game makes. There's no promise that it will do that every time. In a good many cases, the latter would be a rather perverse "Because it's there!" exercise.