Throwing Cars [Supers] - Page 2

Ra's Head · 08-07-2018, 02:55 PM

I have some questions about a pretty common superhero attack. It is pretty common for bricks and such to throw cars at each other. I am using Supers and Basic as my main references. Here is the basic scenario:

Character has super strength 29/90, if she spends an FP, she can lift a motorcycle (0.5 tons) with her basic lift of 1,620 lb. Looking at B355, this is a weight ratio of about .6 so she can throw the thing 90*0.7 = 63 yds! That is really far. Anyone she hits with that will take her thr damage plus 1 per die so 10d+10. This is 45 damage on average which is pretty lethal to a person and it also pretty much wrecks the bike. Assuming I did this right, this seems pretty good.

Now, lets say she decides to throw a car. A car weighs 3,600 lb so she needs two hands, but she can do it. The weight ratio is 2.2 so she can throw it 90*0.25=22 yds! That is still really far. However, since it is more than 2 times BL, it will only do 10d-5 damage to something it hits. I get that she throws the motorcycle with greater velocity so the damage is higher, but it seems odd that the car does less damage. I want to make sure I am not missing anything important.

Lastly, she can heave and drop the car on someone nearby, which would be treated like a collision. This is based on Supers 121 and would do the cars HP/20 (53/20) or 3d, which is way less than the above options. In fact, it may not even knock the target unconscious, which seems weird if I imagine a car getting dropped on me. That seems like a very lethal prospect, am I missing something?

Follow up questions:
1: Using super strength to pick up and throw an object requires 1 FP for the pickup and 1 FP for the throw, right? If it takes multiple seconds to lift, each second costs an FP? Or is the entire throw all considered one action and costs one FP?

2: Given that throwing objects broadly does thr damage, and assuming training in unarmed combat, punches are doing thr damage, what is the advantage to chucking large objects? Is there any other than attacking at range?

3: If you are telekinetic and can use TK to lift and throw objects, at least at short ranges it seems you are better off using TK punches instead of picking up objects to throw. That is ok, but it feels like supers in comics like to throw objects with TK more than punch with it so I was curious if that is just a difference with GURPS and 'reality' or if there was more to it.

Thanks for your help, I am just trying to get a hold on this.

08-07-2018, 02:55 PM	#1
Ra's Head Join Date: Jan 2017	Throwing Cars [Supers] I have some questions about a pretty common superhero attack. It is pretty common for bricks and such to throw cars at each other. I am using Supers and Basic as my main references. Here is the basic scenario: Character has super strength 29/90, if she spends an FP, she can lift a motorcycle (0.5 tons) with her basic lift of 1,620 lb. Looking at B355, this is a weight ratio of about .6 so she can throw the thing 900.7 = 63 yds! That is really far. Anyone she hits with that will take her thr damage plus 1 per die so 10d+10. This is 45 damage on average which is pretty lethal to a person and it also pretty much wrecks the bike. Assuming I did this right, this seems pretty good. Now, lets say she decides to throw a car. A car weighs 3,600 lb so she needs two hands, but she can do it. The weight ratio is 2.2 so she can throw it 900.25=22 yds! That is still really far. However, since it is more than 2 times BL, it will only do 10d-5 damage to something it hits. I get that she throws the motorcycle with greater velocity so the damage is higher, but it seems odd that the car does less damage. I want to make sure I am not missing anything important. Lastly, she can heave and drop the car on someone nearby, which would be treated like a collision. This is based on Supers 121 and would do the cars HP/20 (53/20) or 3d, which is way less than the above options. In fact, it may not even knock the target unconscious, which seems weird if I imagine a car getting dropped on me. That seems like a very lethal prospect, am I missing something? Follow up questions: 1: Using super strength to pick up and throw an object requires 1 FP for the pickup and 1 FP for the throw, right? If it takes multiple seconds to lift, each second costs an FP? Or is the entire throw all considered one action and costs one FP? 2: Given that throwing objects broadly does thr damage, and assuming training in unarmed combat, punches are doing thr damage, what is the advantage to chucking large objects? Is there any other than attacking at range? 3: If you are telekinetic and can use TK to lift and throw objects, at least at short ranges it seems you are better off using TK punches instead of picking up objects to throw. That is ok, but it feels like supers in comics like to throw objects with TK more than punch with it so I was curious if that is just a difference with GURPS and 'reality' or if there was more to it. Thanks for your help, I am just trying to get a hold on this.