GURPS - Compendium 1..

SAMPLE COMBAT
MANEUVERS
The following are some combat maneuvers that might be of use in an
action-oriented campaign. See the sidebars for some maneuvers that can be used
with the Acrobatics skill. Many more, highly-specialized combat maneuvers can be
found in GURPS Martial Arts.
Arm or Wrist Lock (Average)
Defaults to
Judo or Wrestling* Prerequisite:
Judo or Wrestling*
A character with the Judo or Wrestling skill can twist an opponent's limbs,
paralyzing or crippling him.
First, you must either successfully Parry an attack in hand-to-hand combat
(this can be a weapon attack, if the foe is no more than one yard away) or make a
grapple (using DX, Judo or Wrestling). If you succeed, you grab one of the
victim's arms. On the same turn, roll a Quick Contest: your Arm Lock skill vs.
his DX, Wrestling or Judo skill (whichever is best). If you win, you have
trapped his arm in a lock. The attacker may indicate the particular nature of the
lock (i.e., behind the foe's back, his arm extended from his side, etc.). Your foe
may try to break free; use Arm Lock+4 or ST against his ST or Judo in another
Quick Contest. If you win, you have immobilized the arm; the victim can try to
break free in subsequent rounds, but at a cumulative -1 penalty.
On the next turn, you may choose to inflict pain or damage on the trapped
limb. A third Quick Contest (Arm Lock or ST vs. HT) is required. The victim is at
+3 if he has the High Pain Threshold advantage and your intention was only to
cause pain. If you win, you inflict 1 point of damage or pain (causing DX and IQ
penalties without actual damage) for every point by which you make the roll. If you
do crippling damage, you break the arm or hand you were holding; no further
damage can be inflicted, but all further attempts to cause pain are at +3! The arm
lock counts as torture for the purposes of Interrogation (see p. B66). The victim
must also make a Will roll minus the damage inflicted, or drop any weapon he
was holding in that hand. Of course, it the hand or arm is crippled, any weapon
held by it is automatically dropped.
Furthermore, other attacks may be inflicted on the victim: close combat
attacks can be used against someone held by the lock, and the victim defends at -4.
in addition to any other penalties caused by the damage or pain caused by the
lock itself.
*A stick, tonfa or other weapon can be used as a lever to inflict an Arm
Lock. Use the rules above, except that the default and prerequisite skills become
the appropriate weapon skill (usually Short Staff, Shortsword or Tonfa).
Maneuvers and Optional
Specializations
Maneuvers and optional specializations
(see p. B43) are two different ways of representing
the fact that in real life, some
people will train to become especially
good at one aspect of a skill. In GURPS
terms, an optional specialization is chosen
when you want to focus on a specific body
of knowledge covered by a more general
skill, while a maneuver is learned when
you want to focus on a specific technique
taught by a skill. In other words, one
reflects theory and the other, p ractice.
When a skill has been learned with an
optional specialization and is also being
used as the basis of maneuvers, maneuvers
can default to either the general skill or the
specialized skill, but the player must specify
where the points are being spent. A general
maneuver describes the technique as it
applies to the entire body of knowledge
covered by the skill, while a specialized
maneuver will only cover that technique as it
applies to the specialization.
Example: A character with Chemistry -
15 takes the optional specialization of
Organic Chemistry at 20, which means that
his general Chemistry skill is 14. If the
GM rules that Synthesis is an Average procedure
that defaults to Chemistry -2, then
the character has a default of 18 in
Organic Synthesis, but only a 12 in all
other forms of Synthesis. If he decides to
improve his default, then he must specify
whether the points are being spent on the
general or specialized maneuver.
Maneuvers and
Familiarity
At the GM's option, the maneuver rules
can also be used to handle skill familiarity
(p. B43) for technical skills. The character
uses familiar equipment within his specialization
at full skill, but uses unfamiliar
equipment at a skill penalty of -2 to -4.
With this system, the use of an unfamiliar
item of equipment becomes a new maneuver,
defaulting to skill-2 to skill-4. It can
be improved to a maximum level equal to
the underlying skill. This allows a character
to "buy" familiarity with a wide variety of
equipment.
Most familiarities should be treated as
Average maneuvers, unless the equipment
in question is especially odd. Note that
when these rules are being used, characters
receive only one familiarity for "free,"
regardless of skill level, and must buy any
others that are desired. For firearms, which
usually have a -2 unfamiliarity penalty, full
familiarity would cost 1 point per added
type. For the fencing weapons (rapier,
smallsword and saber), which usually have a
-4 penalty, full familiarity would cost 4
points per type.
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