tank skill: how to take a beating

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by mmeloche

That said, it is totally a cinematic ability/skill, and should have Trained by a Master or Weapon Master as a prerequisite.

What's demonstrated by most cinematic characters in this regard isn't a skill. Its just Extra HP, IT:DR, Hard to Kill, etc.

If you want it skill-based, buy the advantage as an ability with Requires (Attribute) Roll -- pick whatever attribute works best for your concept. Based on GURPS Powers, being based on a (Attribute)-based skill is equivalent to being based on (Attribute).

Or, if Roll with Blow's limitations work for what you are looking for (it seems more limited than what you asked about initially) use it as is.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by mmeloche

I think "brace" may have been the wrong word. Prepare for works better. Roll With Blow is exactly what I was looking for.

OK then :)
YOu might also look at Injury Tolerance Damage Reduction with the Active defense limitation from Powers. More expensive but will work in more situations.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by mmeloche

I think "brace" may have been the wrong word. Prepare for works better. Roll With Blow is exactly what I was looking for.

I wouldn't count it as tanking though ... you potentially give up a lot of ground when using it; letting yourself be pushed around like that isn't very tank/y. Depending on Roll With Blow will destroy your ability to protect others (absent powers to the contrary).

[Langy]

A non-cinematic, non-fictional use of a skill like this would be Harry Houdini, who trained his abdominal muscles so that he could take really hard punches to the stomach. He was killed when he didn't have time to prepare and got punched there by some jackass - at least, that's the story. It may have just been the untreated appendicitis that killed him.

But yes, his method of 'tightening up the abdominal muscles' in order to avoid serious injury is something of a skill-based method of taking a beating.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Langy

A non-cinematic, non-fictional use of a skill like this would be Harry Houdini, who trained his abdominal muscles so that he could take really hard punches to the stomach. He was killed when he didn't have time to prepare and got punched there by some jackass - at least, that's the story. It may have just been the untreated appendicitis that killed him.

But yes, his method of 'tightening up the abdominal muscles' in order to avoid serious injury is something of a skill-based method of taking a beating.

Maybe. I'd call it Partial Limited DR with Roll Required and Preparation Required (and the Special Exercises Perk to allow him to purchase it). Not everything that is a "skill" in real-world terms is a Skill in GURPS terms.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

Maybe. I'd call it Partial Limited DR with Roll Required and Preparation Required (and the Special Exercises Perk to allow him to purchase it). Not everything that is a "skill" in real-world terms is a Skill in GURPS terms.

Agreed; I just gave the only example of skill-based taking a beating I could think of, since others questioned that it was possible at all.

[Anthony]

Most of the examples I can think of are covered by all-out defense plus some cinematic descriptions of blocked hits.

[Figleaf23]

Has anyone mentioned the perks Cotton Stomach and Iron Body Parts?



Also, perhaps Russian Spetznatz pain training is a RW example of this.

[Icelander]

Given how much HT affects ability to function after suffering trauma, higher HT is definitely one way. And it's realistic for some part of a character's HT to reflect his 'willpower' as it relates to ignoring physical pain and powering through weakness.

A couple of levels of HP (Doesn't Affect Mass +/-0%) are also perfectly fine to represent a person who is less likely to break bones or suffer other disabling trauma from equivalent incidents as other people of the same size. A single level of DR (Ablative) is probably not cinematic for people built like classical gladiators, in addition to that.

DR 1 and even, in extreme cases, DR 2 with the Tough Skin limitation is probably realistic for the people who combine big, tough bodies with having done a lot of harsh training and learned to minimise harm from being hit or suffering other blunt trauma.

Roll with Blow was mentioned earlier and sounds perfect. If you want more than that, use IT: DR with Limitations for only the kind of damage that you can buy being reduced and combine it with Active and Skill-based if you want.

Note, I use all of the above in my campaign to represent D&D-style tanks. A couple of dwarves, a big warrior from a highland clan and so on. They will wear good armour and magical protection and finally, they are just tougher than ordinary mortals. When I've gotten into Injury Tolerance territory, I've been deliberately modelling a supernatural ability* to be More than the mere normal people in the setting, most of whom tend to match humans in the real world.

*Though it's debated whether it's granted by gods, the consequence of widespread reputation causing them to gain some minor powers in a process similar to how gods are made or whether it represents an intuitive mastery of some mystical secrets. Or something else.

[cmdicely]

There've been a bunch of tanking-related threads recently -- I think that tanking-through-massive-damage-capacity (and also through special "draw attacks to me" abilities) is largely a video game (and D&D) artifact, driven by the lack of good support for active defense in those games.

In GURPS, what you need is good active defenses, the Sacrificial Parry Perk, and the Shield-Wall Training Perk. You use these to stop attacks from damaging you or your friends, rather than supernaturally drawing attacks and absorbing damage.

Extra damage capacity -- especially coupled with the use of the Sacrificial Dodge option -- is a good accompaniment, but not really the core.