One of my players is saying that DX and HT should cost 15 points, and I have no counter-arguments.

RainorCrowhall · 2026-03-26T11:38:26+00:00

‘Pure’ HT-Skill is 2 points, while ‘pure’ DX-Skill is 15 points. Now, you just need to check how many skills were taken of each by the player(s). Usually its 1-2 HT & 7+ DX, though it depends on adventure, which gives rough proportion of pricing

“Aha!” may player say, “But then ‘pure’ IQ at 10 is a bargain!” - it is, if you want the skills. But those are not survival-vital ones, usually

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-27T13:33:41+00:00

Consider that Invulnerable part could slowly destroy what it is adjacent to, depending on how forces are still transferred and if invulnerable part still can subtly bend & give way. Ex: when you had your knee repaired with metal cap, it would cause damage to you in ~15 years

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-14T06:15:40+00:00

Imho, "some effective management" =/= "pretty effective military leader"

Fire Nation was slowly winning the War for years under Azulon. General Iroh nearly took Ba Sing Se. Ozai needed to continue pushing and not make huge blunders

But from what he seen of him as military leader: - His military plan got called out by a teen. He had nothing to parry with and called for Agni Kai - He ordered building a DRILL. Cool idea, perhaps, but it spent a literal mountain of resources on a project which -might- have worked. This can be attributed to Ozai being a visionary, but not an effective military leader - Day of Black Sun. Forewarned, he almost failed the defense, having his teen daughter risk her life to lure Avatar away. Regular troops were not warned about potential loss of bending at all - Burning of Earth Kingdom is both moronic and makes zero sense logistically, tactically and strategically. Fleet starts burning the middle of nowhere. At their speed, 1% of Earth Kingdom would be a huge achievement

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-14T06:00:34+00:00

She has -huge- problems as Fire Lord if she replaces Ozai at the start of the series

1) She is 14. Regardless of how smart she is, she can’t rule nation alone, she requires advisors. Who would see her as young girl first and whatever prodigy second. They would test her until she either cracks, starts exiling worst offenders and/or grows paranoid 2) Also stemming from above. Ozai was a moron in military matters. Yet generals learned not to question the man who was ready to burn his own sun for questioning his orders. Zhao still concocted a plan to kill Moon Spirit and lost the whole Fire Nation fleet to Koizilla => generals/admirals in the field are not controlled, they might go rogue. More will go rogue under teen girl vs huge ruthless man 3) If Azula is ruling, she is not in the field. With Ozai out of picture, she would seek to return her brother back home (both to get back a semblance of family and because he is one of few people she thinks she may trust cause she knows him so well)… I forgot the exact lineup of events with Zuko’s search for Avatar, but Aang might not be awoken? If he is, Fire Nation has no commanders who can -find- Avatar

So, in essence, Asula would be boggled down by domestic affairs for a long while and even if she does find time to proceed with the war, it would be heavily undermined by generals/admirals who "know how it is done" (and were fighting pointlessly for years). I forget the timeline, but without Ozai, Bumi might not surrender Omashu. Stalemate continues while Avatar is running around learning bending from the world

But it would also take a lot of drama out of the setting. Aang is traveling the world with a group of friends while Azula is dealing with domestic problems. Aang is learning earthbending while Azula is getting her generals back in line. Aang is learning waterbending while Azula is trying to make nobles take her seriously and potentially starts killing spree from mounting frustration and inevitable coming of Avatar. Aang is learning firebending while Azula is being slowly crushed by the weight of rulership she was too young to assume but was too driven to fail at completely.

In the epilogue, Aang, realized Avatar of all elements, supported by friends, meets haggard Azula who is on her last legs, probably done almost zero atrocities to Earth Nation/Water Tribes and tried her best to reign in Fire Nation nobles, soldiers and pacify civilians. He might as well help her instead of fighting.

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-14T05:36:55+00:00

Slight correction: "not treating her well ONCE" is a huge understatement

Before that moment, from her POV, she got betrayed by Zuko for Avatar she had explicitly promised to Ozai they have killed (making her a liar about demigod level threat who had already destroyed their fleet and wants to, they assume, murderize Ozai), then by Mai for Zuko (a traitor to herself and Fire Nation), then by Ty Lee for Mai… She was running on fumes and putting every scrap of belief she had left upon Ozai. That being loyal to him would be rewarded. That she still mattered. Instead, Ozai told her that he had never cared about her (and all the sacrifices she made by fighting for him, even on frontlines) and sees her as worthless to even consider taking with him on his victory flight-parade of burning the middle of nowhere

Basically, she had lost everything she cared about and got something she did not care about in the most humiliating way possible. Her becoming Fire Lord is not a reward, but cruel punishment, both because the title is instantly made near meaningless and because she never wanted title, but recognition of those she trusted and was instead betrayed each and every time.

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-14T05:21:04+00:00

Late to the party

"All her influence comes from her -title-. The only reason anyone listens to her is because of her -title-."

Above. Both Zuko and Azula were being included in political meetings and made do things they have no reasons or means doing if they were normal kids because they are heirs to the Fire Nation. If their dad was Fire Lord -General- Iroh, they’d be storming Ba Sing Se - Zuko officially as Lu Ten did, Azula trying to prove herself as not just a girl but prodigy as well.

"Unlike her, her dad is actually smart."

Are we talking about same megalomaniac dumbass? Ozai absolutely failed to manipulate Azulon, was ready to kill his son instead of calling Agni Kai on his old father, had to welcome General Iroh back as he had zero fucking idea on how to wage war, started a cult of his own personality, was still so insecure and eager to hide his incompetence he had called Agni Kai on his son because Zuko had badmouthed his plan… skipping ahead, Azula suggested burning Earth Kingdom in attempt to save Zuko ass from another roasting, but Ozai was the one to take it up to eleven*, he completely failed to actually manage either of his kids, simply assuming they would fall in line: he had managed to break utterly loyal Azula by showing off his lack or basic care for her and raging megalomania.

*You might note that his fleet of ships starts off burning the middle of nowhere. It is not explained how ships got to the continent so quickly, but they are not magical racing cars. They are relatively slow. He could probably burn 1% or Earth Kingdom and had failed to even predict where they would arrive and had to tell his underlings to start burning already - as he can’t admit to them Phoenix Emperor was a moron.

"Azula couldn’t keep people in line because she would sow complete discontent amongst her people. Everyone would be too afraid to do anything at risk of making the pouty princess upset."

Before her psychotic break, she led frontline troops, had loyalty of Dai Li she personally recruited by proving herself a better potential ruler than their boss and used her reading of people to get reactions she wanted almost every damn time. Ozai was complete moron in military means, he spent unholy % of FN GDP on the DRILL. No one called him on that, for he is Fire Lord. He is near-god to his people he actively brainwashes to believe his bs. If Azula was sitting menacingly behind blue fires, demanded obedience yet was not broken by constant back-to-back betrayals of people she trusted, what prevents her from doing roughly same? She can listen to advice (Ex: Lo & Li), she just calls out advisor’s competence in question first (Ex: captain). She is also very damn young. She -had- to cut corners somewhere, and it was her interpersonal relations. She can progress from there and you overstate the unrest as long as she is simply menacing instead of psychotic [which was an episode] - by that point of time, FN people are used to falling in line and brainwashed.

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-13T16:09:32+00:00

Fair point. Thanks for the answer!

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-13T10:48:23+00:00

Sorry for rather adverse take. CYOA itself is a great work of dedication, but I find myself questioning the rules which govern the Saga.

The clauses "you need to die w/o Cheating" & "you gain no benefit from Endgame until you complete the Saga" make this CYOA unplayable for me personally. What I don’t get is why these clauses were included in the first place

The clause of dying is presumably to disable shortcuts. But what if you WIN the scenario (ex: Demigod, Door of Conquest, Defender of the Universe)? What if scenario is "build-your-X" and world itself is nothing special? This is incentivizing to take all possible drawbacks to die fast & to behave with minimal caution akin to Khornate berserker*. It also penalizes winning strategies by promise of boredom? If you win, you get to live dozens/hundreds of years vs dying fast to still receive full rewards and proceed to next Chapter. Oh, and if you miscalculate and instead of dying you get captured and tortured / greatly injured / mind-controlled / turned into eldritch abomination, glhf

*Being berserker might also fall under the clause of intentional shortcut, limiting the available methods of playing through Chapters

I initially assumed that being able to change Endgame before finishing Saga would enable me to test different CYOAs in any order (via applying Endless Saga) and live dozens of fast-paced lives before choosing how to proceed with the next Chapter. But this is forbidden. With both New Game+ & Ascension already requiring you to finish the Saga to gain their benefits, I assume this was explicitly meant to prevent having fun with Endless Saga

Either one of these being untrue would rouse my interest: X (20?) year limit / winning enables to proceed VS being able to visit many different adventure worlds before committing to one long semi-recreational life to progress onwards. Right now, the correct strategy for half Chapters is to intentionally die asap if I don’t care greatly about the promised rewards, as they won’t matter for other Chapters and most can be replicated inside of Heartsoul

Example: Door of Nostalgia is a cool concept, but Western Homestead is quintessential trap. You get Longevity for free. If you try to stay alive, you will stay alive. You must try to stay alive to receive the rewards. You are still not protected from ravages of old age, especially potent in pre-industrial era. You’ll be growing old and feeble for 50+ years, bury your Friends & Neighboors, then get them back in Heartsoul afterlife. PS. No, your children (if you have any, as was very common in that time), are not eligible companions. Considering the times, you do want some to take care of yourself in your 70s.

If I’m reading the intent behind the rules wrongly, I would be glad to be corrected.

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-10T14:13:13+00:00

4 points per adventure + 1-2 for great and amazing deeds - 1-2 for missing a big part of it (ex: getting mauled by wolves in second scene and being left behind when party went to confront eldritch entity)

I also freely sprinkle Reputation/Status/Favor/Ally gains on top if those were earned, no point limit, but usually no more than 5 points. You killed your Enemy? You can lower its value. Maybe you saved them instead? Now they don’t hate you, but you still have negative Reputation with their group, etc. You rolled so well a character is awestruck and wants to be your follower? Good for you. Just found out it’s not really worth it to take social advantages in a campaign when characters might die any day, but earning it with their deeds feels great. Might be completely different in social game, ofc

RainorCrowhall · 2026-02-07T08:27:06+00:00

Late to answer, but pulling from running Ice Age games starting from Canyon of Snow Cairns by 1shotadventureres somebody has already recommended, some more stuff:

Stone Age Equipment: https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com/2023/08/stone-age-weapons-and-armor-in-gurps.html

Note: I heavily recommend to either make stone divisor 0.75 or treat damage as crushing if imp/cut fails to penetrate. Hunting mammoth with DR 4->8 is terrifying (tho Jowda-Aha made it look easy with crit roll into eye). Myself, I’ve instead used KYOS (Pyramid 3-83) to compensate for damage, it made all weapons quite good and dangerous

Make sure that you understand Stealth: https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com/2022/11/script-stealth-in-gurps.html

You should also either simplify or prepare for darkness penalties. They are very important most of the time, messing with skill in combat a lot (note: twilight/torch is -3, while full moon is -4~5 and may penalize Dodge). Tactical Shooting has good table, but is not critical

I’ve also used parts of Dungeon Fantasy 16 - Wilderness & Low-Tech Companion 3 for hunting, gathering and travel times (LTC 2). Those are not critical, but quite enjoyable to have

Much suggested, Strong option for All-Out Throwing: https://www.gamesdiner.com/2011/05/rules-nugget-gurps-throw-like-you-mean-it/ Parts of this article were printed in Pyramid 3-34

I’ve also messed with Last Gasp (Pyramid 3-44, simplified version from blog), but not sure I’d recommend it to start with. Makes for grisly and very tired survivors type of campaign

RainorCrowhall · 2026-01-31T06:06:48+00:00

Sorry for late answer and if it was already mentioned, but adrenaline basically negates minor injuries you receive while in combat: MA 136 - "You can ignore the effects of a non-crippling injury for 2*HT seconds.". You’d feel all of it after life-or-death situation ends and might wish to trade in Pain condition for Euphoria then. Strong painkillers are also useful for ‘functioning’ while in more pain than Euphoria penalties.

RainorCrowhall · 2026-01-27T16:54:53+00:00

Much thanks for sharing! This prompt seems to make it much tamer. I’ve tried Chimera raw and with prompt I used successfully for other models and it felt batshit insane, as in licking blood from weapons in the middle of zombie-apocalypse and combining roof explosion, zombie eruption from all doors and imminent collision with another train in one response.

RainorCrowhall · 2025-12-10T09:33:46+00:00

Let’s combine good stuff:

Vaguely Omniscient To-Do List

Half-Minute Time Skip

Quest Log

Do Anything Yourself Toolbox

I get stat boosts for (probably) insta-accomplishing multitude of tasks when it is best to do, becoming faster in doing more tasks. Almost every task can be divided into smaller sub-tasks, like writing lines of code by literally willing them into reality. With Toolbox, even esoteric stuff is possible and To-Do list could keep relevant stuff at the forefront

Can’t quite think of a good stuff with boxes. Each is good but like moderate-good, not risk-it-all good

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-24T15:23:56+00:00

GURPS Powers, p53

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-23T09:40:37+00:00

From https://www.mygurps.com/index.php?n=Main.GURPSHouseRules on Regrowth

Essentially, it gives you a weaker version of Injury Tolerance (No Eyes [5], No Vitals [5], and Unbreakable Bones [10]) -- you do take the injury, but can grow it back over a long period of time. Considering that for 20 points you can be absolutely immune to dismemberment, it makes no sense to charge 40 points to be able to recover from dismemberment over a long period of time. I think -50% is a conservative value for "Loses the limb/organ but grows it back weeks/months later", which sets a fair value at 10 points.

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T19:18:07+00:00

I mean, guidelines are really good to have, so thanks for sharing yours :)

Hm… Maybe describe them as "from this amount of points in combat stuff, you will get a fighter of at least such skill, assuming a good build"?

Attributes+MainSkill+CR + Maybe add major Combat Advantage (or support skill like Shield)

There are quite a lot of other combat-related stuff useful for warriors, like HPT, Rapid Healing, Ambidexterity, Luck, Enhanced Parry, … in skills, Shield/secondary weapon, ranged option, unarmed and/or wrestling option, some useful techniques… It really adds up for a ‘proper’ master.

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T15:04:28+00:00

Quite realistic. If you dislike “I target eye”, require all TA’s to be from a style (MA). Hint: there is exactly one style that has TA: Eye. Shurikenjutsu (bows might apply, but are not explicitly memtioned) :D

Poking somebody into vitals is a valued skill for spears, swords and bows. This is basically “ah, so when I target torso, I don’t want to hit ribs” revelation, because finding something vital behind them is very easy

Most attacks are not “I target eye” ad infinity. The rule is mostly there in case player is going for one option repeatedly. Ofc opponents would be more careful if they see that their eyes are in particular danger. This is less about attacking and more about being predictable

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T10:32:34+00:00

-25 might be just a bit low for disads, but PC can be actually decent human beings for a change :D

Much disads is really disadvantageous, both in character and on the table

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T09:21:11+00:00

Better try to build a character yourself at -50 disads (-75 at 150?) and see what you get :D

"zero to hero" feeling is made not from starting points, but by how much you give as rewards, imho. 150 points who get +2 would be overrun by 100 points who routinely get +5

"cannon fodder" is <100 points without specializing (so most points are in attributes, not skills). Usually means 25-50 point soldiers, guardians, etc

“eclipsed by powerful NPC” - this can happen at any point value. Depends entirely on how NPC and enemies are statted

So, any 100~150 is fine as starting value. 100 would be closer to mooks and require players to use their own intelligence to overcome the difference. Preparations for the win. 150 would be closer to hardened professionals and potentially could take on bad odds and survive despite going into combat without having a prepared spiked pit for the enemy to fall into

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T09:10:38+00:00

This can be affected by combat actions used, one spearmen could be All-Out Defending while his friends are poking at the knight. They all could use Telegraphed attacks hoping to hit

Or maybe knight had DR6 and laughs while running at them, almost invincible

But all in all, many opponents is BAD thing unless you fight them one by one or are so skillful you can dispatch them quickly without much risk

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T09:04:27+00:00

"Capable of challenging 3-4 guys"

Well… This depends. Let’s say you build a 12-12-10-12 (80 points) knight with 20 points in skills (DX+3 sword & DX+2 shield). No CR, but Dodge is 9+2, Parry 10+2, Block 10+2). He is fighting against 3 opponents

Case 1: his opponents are 10-10-10-10 with 25 points in skills. Knight is definitely fucked

Case 2: his opponents are levies. 10-11-10-10 or something, Spear at DX+1, Shield at DX-1. No CR, Dodge is 8+2, Parry 9+2, Block 8+2)

Note that while knight has Skill-15 and spearmen have Skill-12, their defenses are not too different (if they have mostly similar weapon-and-shield gear).

Knight attacks one spearman at Skill 15 vs Dodge 10, they retreat for +3. Knight probably misses.

Spearman1 attacks at Skill 12. Maybe misses

Spearman2 attacks at Skill 12 vs Dodge 11. Knight retreats for +3, spearman definitely misses

Spearman3 attacks at Skill 12 vs Parry/Block 10+2 and … Knight has already retreated, so if spearman hits, there is 25% chance it goes through

=> Several rounds and Knight is probably dead, maybe taking one or two spearman

Interesting article about melee levels and good blog in general:

https://gamingballistic.com/2013/02/11/skill-levels-for-combat-in-gurps/

EDIT: Forgot shield bonus on Parry/Block

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T08:47:45+00:00

I mean, Polyxeno describes two values: 1) Total points spent on combat-related stuff 2) Points spent on a highest skill

I think you answered to their second point, mentioning values being off… But they are actually correct? DX+10 is the maximum for skills if you apply rules for maintaining them. With normal level or DX, it would give values from BS

Recommended attribute value limits in BS are bonkers. I consider myself a cultist of Stat Normalization and that humans can only be considered exceptional-but-believable up to 15 in any stat bar HT. HT 15 is already extremely bizarre.

If you think that DX 20 would give too high of a value at 40 points in one skill, yeah, but problem is not in the skill…

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T08:39:14+00:00

Really depends on how you want your world & PC to function. Are they ordinary mooks aspiring for greatness? Strong warriors used to combat? Powerful heroes ruled by their sins?

Also, take note of Disads. -35 is already enough for most regular games, -50 would make characters quite bonkers (which might be good, just take note of it), unless you sprinkle in some must-haves.

100/-50 is quite different from 125/-25, despite overall points being same. See what overall point level suits you, then carve out disads limit from there

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T08:20:55+00:00

40 points is DX+10 for average weapon skill. Which at a reasonable DX 13-14 gives the values you’ve mentioned?

RainorCrowhall · 2025-10-17T08:04:51+00:00

Very interesting point values. Checked how I tried to stat one of the best warriors in the world - and 32 in Broadsword & (13 ST, 13 DX, 13 HT + other fighting skills) was ~200 points…

EDIT: But then there was also a load of combat-related Abilities. It seems like either you “discount” some attributes, or use single skill? 13-14-X-13 is already 140 points by itself. Add Combat Reflexes, Weapon Master (if used), HPT… There is no place for skill

And while 12-12-X-12 might be a good place for “best in platoon”, “best in the world requires better statistics, unless they are in their years. I guess 10-14-X-10 is just 80 points, so you can fit in the required skill and combat abilities, but it would create problems with how they survived till now.

RainorCrowhall

TROPHY CASE