Caps

Caps (aka Cutoffs) are a concept that pertain to two things:
==Rolls==
===Squeezing===
B370 Choke or Strangle has a note on B371:
:If your Size Modifier exceeds your foe’s, you can
grapple and squeeze his torso instead, in which case you roll at -5 unless you have Constriction Attack.
The requirement of being 1 SM higher is a hard cap. MA117 (which introduced the term Bear Hugs for torso-squeezes, and adding the option (still absent in neck-squeezes) to substitute fatigue instead of crushing damage) added an alternative requirement to this new secondary option:
:The GM may permit you to inflict fatigue (not injury) on someone of your SM if he weighs no more than your BLx4.
This is still a hard cap on HP damage, but a somewhat less-rigid/more-flexible cap on FP damage since it's now an "either or" situation, where Basic Lift (Lifting ST) can substitute for size.
Pg 34 of GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling was the evolution of Bear Hug. It still involves a hard cap ("may not be attempted if you have a smaller Size Modifier than your opponent") but introduces more flexible rules for same-SM foes.
It refers to the BLx4 rule on MA117 as a hard cutoff. Instead of this hard cap the soft cap is described as a graded cutoff.
It uses the Grappling Encumbrance Table on pg 8 to calculate the Grappling Weight Modifier as a penalty to the attack.
Although the term is "skill penalty", Bear Hug is actually a technique, so "technique penalty" (or "ST penalty, since it's a ST-based roll) would be more appropriate.
The graded penalty does not create a miss like a graded cutoff would on a DX roll, because bear hugs (like chokes/strangles) do not roll to hit. Instead this influences the damage roll, and the way it works as a graded cutoff is that it has no effect when damage is penalized enough to reach 0.
One balance issue here though, is the idea that Control Points need to be SPENT to set a cap on damage. This means if someone is only planning to spend 1 CP (they don't want to compromise their control) to make it possible to do 1 damage (crushing or fatigue) that there isn't necessarily much of a drawback to getting penalties to the ST roll, so long as one gets a MoV of 1+.
If control points established (not spent) were the cap, this wouldn't be a factor. One compromise might simply be to RISK control points: some roll is possible to mitigate their automatic loss, such as with HT rolls to reduce Action Points lost to Shock in The Last Gasp, or HT rolls to reduce HP lost to penetrating damage in Shrug It Off
==Attributes==
Minimums (prerequisites) and maximums (topcaps) for attributes, induced by a variety of situations. Examples:
===Advantages===
*Rapid Healing requires a minimum HT of 10
*Very Rapid Healing requires a minimum HT of 12
*Lend Skill (M47) and Restore Memory (M92) and Simple Illusion (M95) require IQ 11
*Seeker (B249) and Foolishness (B250) and Great Haste (B251) and Create Servant (M98) and Create Animal (M99) and Pathfinder (M105) require IQ 12
*Mass Daze (B251) and Mass Sleep (B251) and Slow Time (M86) and Permanent Forgetfulness (M138) and Permanent Madness (M139) and Teleport (M147) and Lich (M159) and Wraith (M160) require IQ 13
===Disadvantages===
*Skinny limits HT to a maximum of 14
*Fat limits HT to a maximum of 15
*Very Fat limits HT to a maximum of 13
*Hemophilia limits HT to a maximum of 10
*Bestial has no hard limit but suggests GMs limit it to those under IQ10 or even under IQ6.
*Klutz limits DX to a maximum of 13
*Neurological Disorder caps DX/Move to racial average if Severe, 80% if crippling.
Category:Concepts