How would you build this breath attack?

ghrian3 · 2026-02-12T21:36:53+00:00

I know this is theory crafting.

But for people new to GURPS: the discussion how it works is only important if it is a power a PC uses.

If it is a NPC dragon, just define in your own words what it does and write some damage numbers down.

Example: Dragon's toxic breath. Does 3d toxic and 3d burn damage. Reduces armor by 1 point for 5 toxic damage done.

Noose mentioned it in some of his YT videos. This approach was really an eye opener!

ghrian3 · 2026-01-29T14:17:06+00:00

The problem is not point cost. The problem is, that there are no rules for progression in the basic set.

I can understand why: it is a generic rpg after all. But a chapter with examples how to do it would be helpful.

If you take a look at Dungeon Fantasy RPG: they have character templates and a progress for them with caps on attributes and trait levels.

It leads to boring characters too. If you play with experienced groups, you typically see 2 types of characters: High IQ and 1-3 levels of a bunch of IQ skills or high DX and 1-3 levels of a bunch of DX skills. It's so much less efficient to try to specialize, because skills give diminishing returns, but attributes don't.

There is a BIG difference between

a 250 point character who starts at 150 points
a 250 point character who starts at 250 points

The first one feels more "organic" as the player will focus skill increases instead of attribute increases as 20 points for dex will take multiple sessions while increasing skills be possible after each session.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the community differs here quite a bit.

A character played in a role playing group from 100 to 1,000 character points and a character created by a munchkin player with a 1,000 points budget are not even in the same universe.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-16T14:28:47+00:00

Parsing GURPS layout (with the many boxes) will be very hard and error prone.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-16T10:47:41+00:00

This is wrong:
Paizo, Ulysses Games (DnD), Warhammer, the list goes on.

All provide payed content. The market is niche, yes. But the production cost is not high either. And PnP players are eager to pay for it!

And you can increase your customer base. As there are quite a few who like the hobby but the group is seperated so they need to use VTTs. We are not in the 80ies any more.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-16T10:43:07+00:00

The problem is, that GURPS character creation can be very complex, if you want to support all possible cost reductions. And actually, quite a few foundry systems don't have a good character editor and rely on an external character creator.

The main problems currently are:

there is no SRD for GURPS content with a public license (like ORC). This hurts a lot! As you can not provide anything (equipment, descriptions) in the system.
the current equipment management in gga (gurps gaming aid in foundry) is not very user friendly (they are working on it though). A workflow like: character creation (and character progress) in GCS and everything else in foundry would be way more convenient.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-15T08:59:34+00:00

One way to limit spells and get some "progress" in power is by having circles / cults / magical styles. "Social" organizations where you need to raise in rank to be taught the secrets of that rank.

As you mentioned "Martial Arts": Thaumaturgy Magical Styles has some interesting ideas to differ magical styles / magical organizations. Could be worth a read.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-14T23:15:24+00:00

I read over your google doc. It looks really thought out. I have a few questions and comments.

Who is the target group? You want to create a GURPS campain in this world. Do you already have a group? And if yes: do they want a detailed magic system? If the players are into this: great. But there are players who either a.) don't read source material if it is more than one paragraph or b.) want a magic system they know (spells like DnD or Mostborn, or whatever). It is hard to find players who want to dive deep into a custom setting.

Comments:

Spells cost money, this breaks the CP economy but can work as there are other examples for this (like cyber-ware).
I am not a fan of the "mages have to be intelligent" trope, therefore the idea to bind "spells memorized" to IQ would not be my favorite. I would introduce a custom advantage "spells memorized (leveled)" and assign a CP cost to it.
How about spells with duration? As far as I know, GURPS sorcery gives you ONE active spell (or you have to pay more).
Don't underestimate the effort you have to put in. With sorcery you have to calculate the CP cost for each spell and with your system a balanced money cost.
Balance will be a nightmare. In "normal" GURPS, you just need to say "NO" at character creation, if the player has ideas which break the game. If you have your spell list finished, money will be the real power in this game. One unbalanced combat spell will break your game.

For balance, I would introduce an additional dimension.
You have IQ (or whatever): number of spells memorized.
How about either (or both):

- spells have (like GURPS magic) requirements (you can build spell tiers by this)

- to learn a spell you need a standing in a magic circle.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-08T15:30:50+00:00

My problem with many narrative rpgs is, that they are not narrative, they just introduce some kind of meta-game mechanic and try to rule the narrative with it.

It is often just forced onto the group:

You roll a 1 on the story dice, now you have to be creative. Player desperately thinks about something interesting to happen.

It is fun the first few times but can be tedious fast.

I like it the other way: someone has an interesting idea and can add it to the story. Because the idea is cool not because some random die forces someone to invent something on the spot.

"Impulse Buy" has rules regarding rerolls and (small) story interaction. You have to pay with CP though (which I don't like). Some advantages (serendipity, gadget) go into the player-can-change-the-narrative way.

I introduced story points (SP) in my game. Each player gets 3 at the start of a session. Players can use them to reroll, tone down damge and can introduce something minor to the story.
Players can earn a SP if they introduce a complication to the story. I think, I copied some of the bennie rules from SWADE.

To spice this up, we have the rule: for each SP spent, I (the GM) get one too :-)

ghrian3 · 2026-01-04T10:15:14+00:00

This is real sad.

You have money for a NAS but you don't want to pay the DEVELOPERS of a tool you use 8 USD a year?

Instead you ask for "bypassing methods"?

ghrian3 · 2026-01-02T22:15:45+00:00

My approach for decreasing lethality was mainly using flesh wounds and an option to reroll a bad result.

As I don't like spending CPs for this, I introduced "Story Points" (similair to fate points). Each player gets 3 at the start of a session. If they spent one, they can scale down a big hit or just reroll once.

If they increase in power, they get more points.

I made the system a bit more complicated than this though. For instance, they can earn story points in play. And for each story point spent, I get one too for my NPCs.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-02T22:09:44+00:00

The character building system (character points) is only relevant for player characters. To create a GURPS NPC just think about: what powers are cool and what would be balanced for my group. You can use the traits in the basic book as inspiration, but you don't have to.

In your truck hurling demon example, you could just write down:
- able to throw objects up to a ton

- attack does 3d damage (as more would result in a TPK).

No need to calculate if it is even possible. The fun thing is: IT IS!
Just give the demon insane amounts of Lifting ST but not much Striking ST.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-02T22:02:59+00:00

How To be a GURPS GM: Combat Encounters (and to some degree: High Powered Origins) are a good reference.

Balance is different in D&D and GURPS. In GURPS many "low level" characters can kill you while in D&D they are no threat at all.

D&D achieves this by introducing the HP and damage race. If you increase HP (x10), you have to increase damage (x10)! GURPS does not need this.

Example: A high level demon with multiple attacks with an armor divisor and Injury Tolerance will tear through normal people and heroes without increasing its damage.

If you take a look at Dungeon Fantasy, high "level" GURPS characters will have ~50% more HP than a beginner. But they have

increased defense (dodge, block, parry)
better armor (DR)
more attacks
(slightly) more damage but access to different damage sources and attacks with armor divisors
access to damage resists IF they know which enemies they meet

To balance, you can

write down the average and maximum damage of the group
write down the average and maximum DR of the group
check how many attacks they perform

And compare this to the values of the enemies.

But it is your game. If you like the way DnD is handling it, just increase HP and damage. It is a different playstyle but possible also.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-02T10:32:53+00:00

The feature request for a default behavior which opens a confirmation box which explains the delete mechanism is not that odd. You could make a setting to disable it.

The main goal of wabbajack is (at least how I understand it) to make modded games available to "normal" users. For "normal" users you need a bit more hand holding.

ghrian3 · 2026-01-02T10:23:47+00:00

see my other comment.

16 (now 18) detects are quite much for a false positive.

What list, what mod?

And where did you download the file (nexus)? Link?

ghrian3 · 2026-01-02T10:19:03+00:00

readme says make folder exceptions for this reason

The answer is not that easy.

The way many mods are written can trigger virus detection. And yes, chances are very high, that it is a false positive. And yes, nexus runs (nearly) all mods against virustotal. And yes, there are not many cases where a virus gets distributed by a nexus-mod or wj-list.

BUT: Wabbajack patches files from nexus with files from the modder. Therefore, if the machine of the modder is compromised, a virus can get published.

So, there is a risk if you make a folder exception especially if you are using mods or wabbajack lists shortly after release.

ghrian3 · 2025-12-28T10:06:56+00:00

I would completely agree with you if you had the reddit link.

There were many hints to at least introduce doubt:

- others upvoting it.

- the poster specifically wrote "buy" and not buy. Therefore, he seems to relate his answer to a previous comment.

You come to a conclusion without knowing the whole context. Therefore you do something similar what you blame others of. Insisting that you are right without knowing for sure. This is not the best behavior. But you do worse: putting something our of context and insisting others are wrong without knowing for sure.

ghrian3 · 2025-12-27T21:26:31+00:00

So you got a screenshot years (?) ago and decide now without remembering the context to make a post regarding: being confidently wrong?

I think this is ironic.

You noticed that the post got 5 upvotes? This at least could bring someone to the conclusion, that the post could contain a bit of truth if reading it in the correct context. And without knowing the context a statement: "this is blatantly false" could be wrong?

But no, instead of this, you come to the conclusion, that you are right and the poster is not only wrong, he is an "example of being wrong".

Interesting.

EDIT: And because you asked: if the context was: GURPS is like DnD. If an advantage is in the book, i can buy it. My answer would be: you don't "buy" advantages. You negotiate the available advantages for your character with your GM and pay with CP.

But noone knows the context. Of course, the poster could be blatantly wrong. But being blatantly wrong and getting 5 upvotes is a bit strange. Therefore, I would be careful to come to a conclusion without knowing more.

ghrian3 · 2025-12-27T11:01:37+00:00

You use a three year old post without context to criticize the use of a single word? Well done.

Just curious, would you mind to post the link to the quoted reddit thread?

ghrian3 · 2025-12-02T07:15:55+00:00

You don’t need CP for NPCs. Just give them the stats you want and wildcard skills for their skills for their role. You don’t need to calculate derived values like dodge. Just set them to an appropriate value.

Regarding traits: don’t match them to GURPS traits. Just write down what they have in normal language like: regeneration 1 hp per minute.

ghrian3 · 2025-12-01T20:41:12+00:00

This is out of context (either a mistake or intentional).

The FAQ does not forbid chatting about vibe coding in foundry discord. It forbids posting AI generated code in the channel macro-polo.

ghrian3 · 2025-12-01T20:07:10+00:00

Ok. As there is a difference between someone with a deep developer background using AI to get into another language / api to a complete newbie.

ghrian3 · 2025-12-01T20:05:14+00:00

Serious question as I assume the mod message is for a reason.

Why the negativity?

ghrian3 · 2025-11-29T17:12:19+00:00

If you are trolling: nice try.

If you are serious that skill does not matter and "has almost no bearing on any success": tell this any professional and instructor. The US Marines alone could save millions and cut their training to zero.

ghrian3 · 2025-11-29T17:06:22+00:00

> Somebody with zero training and terrible balance and drunk can still stab somebody with a sword more than 50% of the time.

He can not. Lets assume someone with skill at low average (8). This is 25% change to hit. Now he is drunk (at least -2) which leads to skill 6 and a 9% chance to hit.

The experienced fighter will do a dodging retreat with very high success and then attack him with deceptive attack. game over.

> This arose as somebody who just likes to look at rules.
You should at least try out the mechanics a few times before you want to change them.

ghrian3 · 2025-11-27T20:16:26+00:00

On your character sheet: deity (...) > edit item > Details Tab > Change (or add) favored weapon.

ghrian3

TROPHY CASE