[Basic] Tinkering with Afflictions - Page 2

johndallman · 01-08-2015, 05:37 PM

GURPS makes it realistically hard to knock people out or otherwise incapacitate them without hurting them badly, if you use physical attacks. So I tried designing a power to do it. The budget is 15-20 points.

The context is a Weird War II campaign, where the opponents are almost always human, and very few of them have any DR, except for helmets. The character in question is very capable of sneaking up to melee range unnoticed, with effective Stealth-18, plus Invisibility. Knifing sentries is thus possible, but there's a risk they'll make noise and fight back: something a bit cleaner and surer would be welcome.

The problem with afflicting an incapacitating condition is that the target gets to roll vs. HT+DR, minus additional levels of the affliction, and if he resists he's unaffected. So I seem to need enough levels to give -3 or -4 to that roll, and that means it needs to be fairly cheap per level. However, the lack of DR on most targets means this may be viable.

So, per level, the cost is a base [10], and Daze is +50%. No Signature +20% seems advisable to avoid flashes and bangs. Daze does not take someone out, but it gives you at least a minute, in which time you can move people up to help you grab/bind/gag the poor chap. Alternatively sneaking past him should be fairly easy, and if he's unharmed when he recovers, he may not realise anything happened apart from a "funny turn". So we're at 170%, and need to cut that down substantially.

We take Magical -10%, because that's required for powers in the setting, Melee Attack (Range C, cannot parry) for -35% and costs 1 fatigue for -5%. That gets us down to 120%.

A Gadget modifier, for a cosh, DR2, SM-6, stolen by a quick contest of DX or ST is -60%. This is a replaceable item, but that involves a reasonable amount of trouble. We're at 60%, but that isn't cheap enough yet. I was stuck here for a while.

Then I spotted the Armour Divisor limitation, which is -30% for doubling the effects of DR, and giving any target with no DR DR1. But that's actually cost-effective: we need to buy an extra level to overcome the DR1, but that only costs 3 points since we have the cost down to 30%. Six levels of this cost 18 points, and the target ends up rolling HT+DR-4 to resist.

Then you think about what this models in game reality. A cosh to the head is worth avoiding because of the skull DR2, even if the target isn't in a helmet. Blows to the neck can be incapacitating. Melee Attack doesn't have any rules about limitations for needing to hit specific locations. It seems you use a melee attack skill to make the attack roll, and I can't find a limitation that models this - Inaccurate is for ranged attacks. Any suggestions?

01-08-2015, 05:37 PM	#1
johndallman Night Watchman Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cambridge, UK	[Basic] Tinkering with Afflictions GURPS makes it realistically hard to knock people out or otherwise incapacitate them without hurting them badly, if you use physical attacks. So I tried designing a power to do it. The budget is 15-20 points. The context is a Weird War II campaign, where the opponents are almost always human, and very few of them have any DR, except for helmets. The character in question is very capable of sneaking up to melee range unnoticed, with effective Stealth-18, plus Invisibility. Knifing sentries is thus possible, but there's a risk they'll make noise and fight back: something a bit cleaner and surer would be welcome. The problem with afflicting an incapacitating condition is that the target gets to roll vs. HT+DR, minus additional levels of the affliction, and if he resists he's unaffected. So I seem to need enough levels to give -3 or -4 to that roll, and that means it needs to be fairly cheap per level. However, the lack of DR on most targets means this may be viable. So, per level, the cost is a base [10], and Daze is +50%. No Signature +20% seems advisable to avoid flashes and bangs. Daze does not take someone out, but it gives you at least a minute, in which time you can move people up to help you grab/bind/gag the poor chap. Alternatively sneaking past him should be fairly easy, and if he's unharmed when he recovers, he may not realise anything happened apart from a "funny turn". So we're at 170%, and need to cut that down substantially. We take Magical -10%, because that's required for powers in the setting, Melee Attack (Range C, cannot parry) for -35% and costs 1 fatigue for -5%. That gets us down to 120%. A Gadget modifier, for a cosh, DR2, SM-6, stolen by a quick contest of DX or ST is -60%. This is a replaceable item, but that involves a reasonable amount of trouble. We're at 60%, but that isn't cheap enough yet. I was stuck here for a while. Then I spotted the Armour Divisor limitation, which is -30% for doubling the effects of DR, and giving any target with no DR DR1. But that's actually cost-effective: we need to buy an extra level to overcome the DR1, but that only costs 3 points since we have the cost down to 30%. Six levels of this cost 18 points, and the target ends up rolling HT+DR-4 to resist. Then you think about what this models in game reality. A cosh to the head is worth avoiding because of the skull DR2, even if the target isn't in a helmet. Blows to the neck can be incapacitating. Melee Attack doesn't have any rules about limitations for needing to hit specific locations. It seems you use a melee attack skill to make the attack roll, and I can't find a limitation that models this - Inaccurate is for ranged attacks. Any suggestions?