Weakness questions

[PK]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

It's one thing to post a question in the forums but when you send someone a PM, that's sort of like calling their house.

Understandable. But that does mean the likelihood of your question ever being officially answered is greatly reduced, as using the forum is analogous to hitting up a club where the person lives and hoping he (A) stops by and (B) happens to wander over to the area you're in. :)

Anyway, I'm not Kromm, but I've been told I have a pretty good grasp of this GURPS thing . . .

Originally Posted by Mgellis

1) What does "...in the presence of a particular substance..." mean? The same hex? The same room? No specific range is given.

The assumption is that if it's a solid, you're touching it (not necessarily skin-to-skin; it works through clothes). If it's a liquid, you're splashed with it. If it's a gas, you're breathing it or surrounded by it. If it's radiation, you're absorbing it, and so on.

Now, if you want to change that assumption, you can -- and the way to do that is to adjust the commonality. For example, say you have a Weakness to pure nickel. That's a Rare thing in almost any setting. The assumption is that you take damage whenever you touch any amount of pure nickel. Now, let's say you want to change that to a Weakness to "being within one city block of pure nickel." That's going to happen a lot more often, so the GM may bump it up to Occasional or even Common.

2) The limitation FP Only, -50%...does that mean it drains FP first and then drains HP (i.e., the way fatigue loss usually works) OR does it mean it only drains FP and when you get to -FP, you are unconscious and remain that way until you are no longer near your Weakness, and then you recover normally?

It works just like a Fatigue Attack or almost any other source of FP loss -- use the rules on p. B426. (As a general rule, always use those rules for anything that costs FP unless explicitly told to do otherwise.) Once you drop below 0 FP, you lose 1 FP and 1 HP for each loss. Then once you hit -1xFP, you pass out automatically, and any FP loss becomes HP loss instead. Thus, this Weakness can still kill you -- it's just extremely unlikely to if you're able to get away, in which case you'll be fully recovered in an hour or so instead of in days or weeks.

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Anyway, I'm not Kromm, but I've been told I have a pretty good grasp of this GURPS thing . . .

Indeed. :) Unless Kromm says otherwise at some point in the future, I think we can rely on these rulings. Thank you!

[Mgellis]

Of course, it raises another question...

What kind of limitation would it be if the Weakness ONLY drained FP and knocks you out eventually but NEVER does any actual HP damage? Or would it be better to just build something like that with Divine Curse ("The scent of the lily plunges you into unconsciousness!") or something similar?

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Of course, it raises another question...

What kind of limitation would it be if the Weakness ONLY drained FP and knocks you out eventually but NEVER does any actual HP damage? Or would it be better to just build something like that with Divine Curse ("The scent of the lily plunges you into unconsciousness!") or something similar?

I propose the following for Weakness...

Fatigue Only, -50% and Missing Damage Effect, No HP loss, -20%

(see Powers, p. 102, for this limitation...and it ONLY works if you use both Fatigue Only AND the missing damage effect)

At -70%, a Weakness will ONLY take off FP and never affects HP. It can knock you out, but it cannot kill you.

What say you, Rev Pee Kitty? Is this reasonable?

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

I propose the following for Weakness...

Fatigue Only, -50% and Missing Damage Effect, No HP loss, -20%

(see Powers, p. 102, for this limitation...and it ONLY works if you use both Fatigue Only AND the missing damage effect)

At -70%, a Weakness will ONLY take off FP and never affects HP. It can knock you out, but it cannot kill you.

What say you, Rev Pee Kitty? Is this reasonable?

INRPKE, but it doesn't look terribly unreasonable to me. My only concern is that Fatigue Only Weakness seems to retain the value (relative to an unmodified version) that it does because it can eventually cause real injury to a character unable to get away. With that concern strongly mitigated by the proposal, it could be argued that the overall value should be greater [i.e., less of a disadvantage]. You might want to bounce a PM off Rev or Kromm.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I'm not sure that Fatigue Only Weaknesses do damage once you run out of fatigue.

As the Rev posted, two above your reply, EVERYTHING that makes you lose FP does damage to you once you run out of fatigue, unless explicitly noted otherwise.

It's how FP work at a fundemental level.

A Weakness that does FP and stops when you run out of FP would be worth -75% at least - it's still a disadvantage, but it's not nearly as dangerous.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Indeed. :) Unless Kromm says otherwise at some point in the future, I think we can rely on these rulings. Thank you!

How about confirmation (on the first point) from the past?

I knew it sounded familiar! *doi*

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Anyway, I'm not Kromm . . .

Hey! That's my line! >:<
;)

Disclaimer: No comparative or qualitative statement on my grasp of GURPS is implied.

[white33]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

It works just like a Fatigue Attack or almost any other source of FP loss -- use the rules on p. B426. (As a general rule, always use those rules for anything that costs FP unless explicitly told to do otherwise.) Once you drop below 0 FP, you lose 1 FP and 1 HP for each loss. Then once you hit -1xFP, you pass out automatically, and any FP loss becomes HP loss instead. Thus, this Weakness can still kill you -- it's just extremely unlikely to if you're able to get away, in which case you'll be fully recovered in an hour or so instead of in days or weeks.

Hmm..
Not sure i agree with that.
From a conceptual point of view this seems to work differently than what a "drains your strength" type of weakness would represent.
I would imagine "Weakness" disadvantage + "FP only"(with the word "only" right there in the name), would cause you to lose FP, and FP only. Once you pass out, you remain unconscious until recovered(obviously remaining in contact with whatever causes the weakness would insure that the character in question won't start recovering).
Furthermore, i just don't feel "FP only" would be worth it's -50% tag if it can just kill you like that. Hell, it can be arguably a deadlier disadvantage, specially for someone with high HP and relatively low FP, causing you to lose consciousness comparatively quickly before it starts to kill you...
Anyways, this is precisely the kind of clarification missing in the books. Would be nice to have an official confirmation.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by white33

Anyways, this is precisely the kind of clarification missing in the books. Would be nice to have an official confirmation.

You realize you're telling one of the line editors you want an official confirmation of his ruling, right?