[Basic] Advantage of the Week: Resistant

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Seriously establish a rads to HP ratio and define some radiation flavored special effects for being reduced to HP/3 or suffering a crippling injury or mortal wound from it and be done with it.

But radiation doesn't necessarily do prompt damage of the sort hit points measures. At lower, but still dangerous or deadly doses, it's more like a poison.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Rupert

They make aging rolls no more than four times a year, true. However, they still age even when not having to roll. Otherwise they'd never reach the threshold where they have to start making rolls.

Everyone is also constantly being exposed to toxins, infections and radiation. But Resistant is evaluated by not by that, but by how often it adds up some kind of game effect. There are really only two ways for aging to start to become an issue. The first is a really big time skip and the second is an exotic attack that ages the victim. it's a really strange campaign where those things are common.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

There are really only two ways for aging to start to become an issue. The first is a really big time skip and the second is an exotic attack that ages the victim.

A third way: a campaign that lasts significant game time without large skips, plus characters who aren't young when it starts. I've played a campaign that lasted nearly six years of game time, where there were lots of skips of a few weeks. Two of the characters started in their forties and one in his sixties, all of them because they wanted to justify background elements.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by johndallman

A third way: a campaign that lasts significant game time without large skips, plus characters who aren't young when it starts. I've played a campaign that lasted nearly six years of game time, where there were lots of skips of a few weeks. Two of the characters started in their forties and one in his sixties, all of them because they wanted to justify background elements.

None of that seems like anything players should be penalized (by their character randomly losing stats) for doing. It's all flavor.

[ehrbar]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

There are really only two ways for aging to start to become an issue. The first is a really big time skip and the second is an exotic attack that ages the victim. it's a really strange campaign where those things are common.

Well, yes, it is "strange" to try to run an Ars Magica-like campaign under GURPS rules, but, well, there's a "U" in the acronym for a reason.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ehrbar

Well, yes, it is "strange" to try to run an Ars Magica-like campaign under GURPS rules, but, well, there's a "U" in the acronym for a reason.

I don't consider an Ars Magica game to have enough aging effects to qualify as Common.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I don't consider an Ars Magica game to have enough aging effects to qualify as Common.

Ars Magica (and Pendragon and other games like that) more or less *force* the time skips. You have one adventure a year, then there's a time skip for the other seasons, winter phase or whatever, whether you like it or not. That's intentional, since part of the meta-plot is your character gets older, his heirs matter, and the world has enough time to change around you in a major way as the campaign progresses.

I suppose we could argue about Common, but circumventing an intended theme of the campaign is worth a fair number of points. Especially in a game with a built in method of mitigating the effect which is itself not cheap (Longevity Potions/Rituals for AM).

Of course that's really about the theme, rather than Resistant/Unaging. It's basically telling you the trait is out of genre here. It's more or less a direct analog to the classic "the game is about interstellar travel, so we aren't charging a fortune for access to a spaceship", or "this is a realistic detective game, you can't have Mindreading".

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Ars Magica (and Pendragon and other games like that) more or less *force* the time skips. You have one adventure a year, then there's a time skip for the other seasons, winter phase or whatever, whether you like it or not. That's intentional, since part of the meta-plot is your character gets older, his heirs matter, and the world has enough time to change around you in a major way as the campaign progresses.

I suppose we could argue about Common, but circumventing an intended theme of the campaign is worth a fair number of points. Especially in a game with a built in method of mitigating the effect which is itself not cheap (Longevity Potions/Rituals for AM).
.

Well that's why I allowed for it being Uncommon rather than Rare in that kind of campaign. Note that this is the kind of campaign where characters start out fairly young so you'll be waiting something like 15 to 20 adventures for your first aging roll.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Immunity to Pain [30] as a major upgrade to High Pain Threshold, has been taken once or twice.

This is officially referenced in Divine Favor, page 10.



I've seen people talk about how its cool, but boring if overused, because its removing one of those cool rules that makes different from other game systems.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I've seen people talk about how its cool, but boring if overused, because its removing one of those cool rules that makes different from other game systems.

When I came up with Immunity to Pain, my intention was to use it for things like steam locomotives that have no nerves, or for weird extradimensional creatures.