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Obscurejones
2009-06-21, 08:19 PM
I have a friend who want's to run a dedicated buffer in a gurps superheroes game. He doesn't want to use magic and want's to be able to buff attributes and grant temporary advantages. Any build advice? 290 point limit with 50 disadvantage.

amanamana
2009-06-21, 09:58 PM
The trick there is to use "Affliction" with the "advantage" Enhancement. As this can be a little expensive, points-wise, I suggest taking some Limitations, like "reduced reach" or "acessibilities". If the aim is for Attributes, take the "cumulative" Enhancement; it will be cheaper on the run.

mikeejimbo
2009-06-21, 10:01 PM
You'll pretty much need GURPS Powers for that one. Also, if you have access to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, the suggestions for the Bard are excellent examples of buffing abilities.

Also, "Luck" with the "Wishing" enhancement can come close to a buff.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-06-21, 11:24 PM
I'm not as familiar with 4e as with 3e, but IIRC it was fairly easy to boost your DR to astronomical levels and simply be immune to any form of physical damage. For... I think it was 60 points... you could have a DR of 20. So if it wasn't throwing at LEAST 5d6, it simply could not affect you. Period. Burst weapons were ineffective, because each round in the burst had to check against the same DR. So while a fully automatic machine gun did 3d6 up to 20 times in a round, you take... nothing, because it cannot penetrate your DR.

The ability to blow fatigue to apply such things to others shouldn't be too hard. If you don't want to go with Magic, you can always try Psionics. Telekinesis lets you drop a TK Shield which gives stupid amounts of DR. Then you simply boost it with the ability to put it on someone else, and you are good. With the same power, you can also sling pebbles at super-mach speeds, and incinerate people with a glance. Have a nice day. 100 points gives power 20, which grants DR 20 with a TK shield, and lets you throw something five pounds at mach 1, and also lets you raise the core temperature of a human from 98.6 to somewhere around 210 in one round.

amanamana
2009-06-22, 12:57 AM
I'm not as familiar with 4e as with 3e(...)

There has been some very important changes.


but IIRC it was fairly easy to boost your DR to astronomical levels and simply be immune to any form of physical damage. For... I think it was 60 points... you could have a DR of 20. So if it wasn't throwing at LEAST 5d6, it simply could not affect you. Period. Burst weapons were ineffective, because each round in the burst had to check against the same DR. So while a fully automatic machine gun did 3d6 up to 20 times in a round, you take... nothing, because it cannot penetrate your DR.

DR now is not as cheap and, as always, damage powers do more damage for the same cost than DR protects against. Also, 3d for a machine gun is not quite right; this kind of damage is more akin to a SMG. Machine guns and rifles do more like 5d to 7d, give it or take some modifiers. Also, this is a Supers game (even if low-powered), so a slightly super-human ST and a heavy melee weapon can do a pretty big amount of damage. At last, really heavy firearms can do stupid amounts of damage, like gatling guns and their 15d of damage! So DR, as important as it is, can't be always reliable.



The ability to blow fatigue to apply such things to others shouldn't be too hard. If you don't want to go with Magic, you can always try Psionics. Telekinesis lets you drop a TK Shield which gives stupid amounts of DR. Then you simply boost it with the ability to put it on someone else, and you are good. With the same power, you can also sling pebbles at super-mach speeds, and incinerate people with a glance. Have a nice day. 100 points gives power 20, which grants DR 20 with a TK shield, and lets you throw something five pounds at mach 1, and also lets you raise the core temperature of a human from 98.6 to somewhere around 210 in one round.

Not only the rules for psionics changed a lot, being maybe the most divergent to 3e and before, but even then this is not quite right. Although TK shield gives a big amount of DR, it takes a roll (that you can always fumble, even if in rare occasions) and it only protects against physical damage (not energy, like fire, lasers and lots of things that are constant in Supers) that you are aware of (you need to make a roll to defend yourself after all).
But, more important, there is the fact that, nowadays, there's not a PK power that does all kinds of stuff with just skills. Each and every one of those are unique advantages, that may be related to your TK background.

But, after all, isn't the OP talking about buffing others?

greetings.