GURPS Martial Arts - Home

Gizmos
see p. B57
Stealthy assassins and warriors in martial-arts fiction,
especially ninja, always seem to have exactly the hardware
they need – blowpipes, flash grenades, garrotes, knives,
smoke bombs, throwing stars, vials of poison, etc. – without
carrying a concealed armory that slows them with its weight
or draws suspicion with its bulk. To simulate this, the GM
may permit those with Weapon Master to buy Gizmos with
an Accessibility limitation: Only for style, -20%. This limits
the Gizmos to things typically used by the martial artist’s
style (GM’s opinion) and that weigh no more than 1 lb. apiece
. . . but they’re undetectable and don’t count as encumbrance
until revealed.
Gunslinger
see p. B58
As the Basic Set suggests, the GM may allow low-tech
versions of this advantage that cover muscle-powered
weapons. Here’s an example suitable for mythic samurai,
fantasy Elves, and green-clad English bandits.
Heroic Archer
20 points
You can perform amazing feats with any weapon that
uses the Bow skill. When you Attack or All-Out Attack with
a bow, you may add its Accuracy bonus to skill without taking
an Aim maneuver. If you do Aim, you get +1 after one
second or +2 after two or more seconds, in addition to Acc.
When you Move and Attack, you don’t get your bow’s Acc
bonus but may ignore its Bulk penalty. Ignore the extra -1 or
-2 to skill for a Flying Attack (p. 107) or an Acrobatic Attack
(p. 107), too. This lets you shoot at full skill even while running,
jumping, sliding down banisters, etc.
You can also disregard Bulk in close combat (see
Weapons for Close Combat, p. B391). You never get an Acc
bonus there but you do shoot at full skill. This makes the
Close Combat technique (p. 69) redundant for you.
You can use Quick-Shooting Bows (pp. 119-120) to
improve your rate of fire when you Move and Attack as well
as when you Attack or All-Out Attack. Regardless of your
maneuver, halve the -6 to skill for this stunt. On an Attack or
All-Out Attack, add Acc to your attack roll but not to the skill
roll to ready your bow hastily. Similarly, halve the penalty to
shoot two arrows at once using Dual-Weapon Attack (p. 83);
DWA (Bow) defaults to Bow-2 for you, not Bow-4.
Finally, when you use Fast-Draw (Arrow), total all applicable
penalties from Multiple Fast-Draw (p. 103), Fast-Draw
from Odd Positions (pp. 103-104), and Move and Attack
(p. 107), halve the sum, and round in your favor.
You can combine Heroic Archer with any Weapon
Master specialty that covers bows. This gives you the damage
bonus for Weapon Master and all of the above benefits
– and makes the quick-shooting penalty a mere -1!
Injury Tolerance
see p. B60
A new form of Injury Tolerance suits some cinematic
action heroes:
Damage Reduction: You divide the injury you suffer by 2,
3, or 4 after subtracting DR from damage and applying
wounding modifiers. This normally reduces all injury, but
the GM should require the Limited modifier (see Limited
Defenses, p. B46) in a Martial Arts game. “Physical Attacks”
gives -20%, while “Crushing” or “Unarmed” gives -40%. 50
points for a divisor of 2, 75 points for 3, 100 points for 4.
Innate Attack
see p. B61
Use Innate Attack to create the “chi blasts” wielded by
martial artists in video games and comic books. These take
many forms: flaming breath, devastating kiais, “weapons” of
pure chi, and so on. Some of the more improbable claims
made for legendary masters in the real world would also be
Innate Attacks, such as blows delivered from a distance,
direct psychic attacks, and the sinister “hand of death.”
If the GM allows such abilities, he should limit damage
to keep Innate Attack from eclipsing the fists, swords, bows,
and so forth that martial artists usually use, even in video
games. Martial-arts tradition provides convenient guidelines:
these abilities draw their strength from the same well
as the martial artist’s unarmed attacks – his chi – and should
inflict comparable damage. Since most of these exotic
attacks violently expend the user’s chi, they should cost FP.
This provides a convenient hedge against overuse.
Such an attack should still be a useful alternative to an
ordinary punch, though. Otherwise, who’d waste time developing
it? Fitting capabilities include non-crushing damage,
ongoing injury (like poison), the capacity to partially or
wholly bypass DR, and range.
Below are worked examples of suitable abilities. Damage
is 1d, equivalent to a strong man’s punch. In each case, the
sum of the modifiers used appears in parentheses after the
attack’s name. To alter damage, apply this total modifier to
the cost of an Innate Attack of the desired size.
Breath of Dragon (-25%): Burning Attack 1d (Costs
Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Melee Attack, Reach 1-4, Cannot Parry,
-20%) [4]. Notes: A narrow flame jet – spewed from the
mouth – that can scorch a target up to four yards away. This
counts as a melee attack. Take an Attack maneuver and roll
against Innate Attack (Breath) to hit. 4 points.
Flying Fists (+0%): Crushing Attack 1d (Blockable, -10%;
Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Low Signature, +10%; Variable,
+5%) [5]. Notes: By punching or kicking at air, you can smite
a distant target. If the victim has never witnessed this ability,
he must make a Sense roll at -4 to know he’s being
attacked! (He may defend normally against later uses.) It’s
otherwise a standard ranged attack with Acc 3, 1/2D 10, Max
100, and RoF 1. To use it, take an Attack maneuver. Roll
against Karate to hit. 5 points.
Ghost Knife (-40%): Impaling Attack 1d (Blockable,
-10%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Inaccurate 3, -15%;
Increased 1/2D, ¥5, +10%; Reduced Range, ¥1/5, -20%) [5].
Notes: A hurled blade of pure chi, this is a standard ranged
attack with Acc 0, 1/2D 10, Max 20, and RoF 1. To use it,
take an Attack maneuver and roll against Thrown Weapon
(Knife) to hit. 5 points.
CHARACTERS 45