[Rules Question] What happens to my cell phone if you use a stun gun on it?

[Edges]

Originally Posted by Gurps Fan

Stunning is not what Surge attacks inflict on an Electrical character. Surge causes him to be "disabled", and "disabled" here means the effect comparable to falling unconscious; see pp. B483-484. A disabled Electrical character can't move, attack, defense, or anything else. Further, the duration of this effect is seconds equal to the margin of failure (on a critical failure, this becomes "indefinite, until repaired") and there's no way for him to shorten this.

Stun Gun causes stunning, nothing more. The effects of stunning is being forced to take Do Nothing maneuver and suffering the -4 defense penalty; see p. B420. Further, the victim can try to shrug off the effect by rolling vs. HT (at some penalty, if any), every turn. This is much less severe than being "disabled".

By the way, where does "an additional -7 for SM" come from? The box on p. 40 of Powers is specifically about "preventing those with low levels from zapping planets" by using "Afflictions that cause Invisibility, Shrinking, and other transformations". I'm quite sure that this box doesn't mean that small targets suffer a penalty equal to their SM when resisting a stunning Affliction.

OK.

Then I'd just rule that those with the Electrical disadvantage have stun gun effects upgraded from stunning to disabling.

As for the -7, I was just using common sense. A few hundred kV should do more to a cell phone than to a man sized robot. But I didn't think this was RAW which is why it was parenthetical and I used the word "probably." As in, I'd probably do it.

If your point here is to show that an explicit reading of the rules results in an edge case not being realistic, then I agree with you. But that's really one of the key roles of the GM. The designers can't be expected to think of everything.

If you were trying to find a rule written somewhere that does disable cell phones with a stun gun, sorry for wasting your time. I can't help you.

Good luck : )

[Gurps Fan]

Originally Posted by Edges

Then I'd just rule that those with the Electrical disadvantage have stun gun effects upgraded from stunning to disabling.

That upgrading looks like a good idea, but even the most powerful particle beam blasters merely can disable an Electrical character on failure in an unmodified HT roll while a stun gun would impose -3 penalty. Off hand, if I were the GM, I'd simply add the "disabling" roll in the case where the target fails to resist the Affliction and the Affliction is defined as electricity. Thus, it would work as follows:

Mr Cell is hit with a stun gun (HT-3(5) aff). If he fails, he's stunned and he must immediately roll another unmodified HT roll. If he succeeds this time, he's only stunned and he can attempt recovering by rolling at HT-3 every turn (the usual effect of stun gun). If he fails again, he's disabled for margin-of-failure seconds, and after that he's still stunned. If he rolls a critical failure, he's disabled until repaired. If Mr Cell is shot with a sonic stunner in the first place, not a stun gun, then he suffers no more or less ill effects than against humans.

Originally Posted by Edges

If your point here is to show that an explicit reading of the rules results in an edge case not being realistic, then I agree with you. But that's really one of the key roles of the GM. The designers can't be expected to think of everything.

Everyone agrees that no game designer can list up every possibilities in advance. So do I. What I'm asking is: If the rule X causes an unlikely result Y and the GM wants to fix it, then what's an idea that feels convincing to his players? "It's a GM's job so don't ask" is not an answer to me.

[panton41]

If the case is plastic, probably nothing. If it's metal, probably zap!

I'd test it out on my POS cell phone I'm about to throw away and my sister's iPhone 3GS that she gloats over thinking I actually give a s**t about it just for the joy of it, but I don't have a stun gun...

[Edges]

Originally Posted by Gurps Fan

Everyone agrees that no game designer can list up every possibilities in advance. So do I. What I'm asking is: If the rule X causes an unlikely result Y and the GM wants to fix it, then what's an idea that feels convincing to his players? "It's a GM's job so don't ask" is not an answer to me.

Ah. You are asking for a house rule. That wasn't clear to me from your OP.

You could change the FAQ from,
[A]ny Electronics that take over 1/3 HP from an attack with the Surge enhancement must make a HT roll to avoid shorting out. Failure disables the target for seconds equal to the margin of failure; critical failure disables it until repaired (see Repairs, p. B484).

To,
[A]ny Electronics that are stunned or take over 1/3 HP from an attack with the Surge enhancement must make a HT roll to avoid shorting out. Failure disables the target for seconds equal to the margin of failure; critical failure disables it until repaired (see Repairs, p. B484).