Thread: GURPS 4e

Yeah, so... GURPS is a completely Point Buy system. The only dice you need are D6. It is preferable that you have up to 7 or 8, just in case you find an awesome ass weapon. The game operates on a Hex Grid, and every round in combat is 1 second. This limits your options in a single round, but combat moves a little quicker. Combat is fairly simple. You get one action, and that's it. That action could be moving, attacking, using a skill, using a special power, or even crying out in pain. Many things can also be done while moving, but at a penalty. Now, as each round is 1 second, there are obviously some things there are just no time for. Such as Attacks of Opportunity, or discussing strategy with your allies. Anything that cannot be said in 1 second cannot be said. Initiative is determined by a character's Base Speed, not their Base Move, which is different. When a creature attacks, they make a 3d6 skill roll with the weapon they are attacking with. If they roll less than or equal to their skill level, then they successfully hit. A 3 or 4 is a critical success, and a 17 or 18 is a crit fail. Crit Success range can increase up to 3-6 and Crit Fail range decreased to merely 18 by increasing your skill level with a particular skill. When a creature is attacked, they get an Active Defence roll. This is usually by Dodging, but some will either Block or Parry. It is, like skill rolls, a success roll. If you roll lower than or equal to your dodge or other active defence, where applicable, you take no damage. There are facing rules that have some effect in combat. As I said before, it is a Hex grid. Every Hex is '1 yard,' as opposed to DnD's squares being 5 feet. I should note that Stepping Rules are nearly identical to DnD, and that many actions take no penalty while stepping. As Hexes have six sides, there are also six directions to move in. The side of the hex a character is facing is considered forward, along with the two adjacent hexes. The hex directly behind the character is the Backwards hex, and the two next to that are the Side hexes. If a character is attacked from the Side, they take a penalty to their active defence. If attacked from Behind, he or she gets no active defence. For further information, please read the Basic Set books, Basic Set - Character and Basic Set - Campaign. ---SKILLS--- Every skills has a base attribute, like in DnD. Some with be ST, some with be DX, some will be Will, etc. All skills are divided into four difficulties Easy, Average, Hard, and Very Hard. These determine the starting Skill Level you have when you first buy the skill. Each difficulty is a certain measure away from its base attribute, so as to represent the difference between a person's natural ability and their skill with the subject. An Easy skill, like Beam Weapons, is at DX0. So if your DX is 10, you have to roll a 10 or lower to succeed with that skill. An Average skill, like Animal Handling, is at IQ-1. So if your IQ is 10, you have to roll a 9 or lower to succeed. Hard skills are the same, except at -2, and Very Hard at -3. In order to increase your skill, you must put more points into it. By taking a skill, you are putting 1 point into it, and therefore have the basic Skill Level. To increase any skill, regardless of difficulty, takes points. To go from base SL to the next SL, you need to have a total of 2 points in the skill. To reach the one after that, you must have a total of 4. After that, however, it follows a pattern of 4 points to increase skill level. So, for Joe the Shmoe, who has DX 10, to have a SL greater than base in Acrobatics, a highly useful skill, he has to spend points. How much, though? Well, Acrobatics is Hard. With only 1 point in Acrobatics, his SL is 8. To make any real use of Acrobatics, he'll need at least SL 11. Well, he already has 1 point in the skill just by having the skill, so he'll have to add 1 to hit SL 9, then 2 to hit SL 10, and then 4 to hit SL 11. In the end, he's dropped 8 points into Acrobatics. Another important thing to remember about skills is that some of them can Default to something else. Suppose you want to make an Acting roll, but don't have the Acting Skill. Well, Acting Defaults to IQ-5, Performance-2, and Public Speaking-5. Fortunately for you, you have Performance, so you can make a Performance roll with a -2 penalty in place of an Acting roll. Sometimes, the GM may decide that a skill can Default to a skill it does not actually Default to in the Basic Set - Character book. Well, GM's Word is final, so try not to complain too much in case he decides to do the opposite and say that a certain skill's Default does not exist. Finally, some skills increase the SL of other, similar ones once you are skilled enough in it. Read individual skill discriptions for more details.