GURPS - Basic Set 3r..

Each suit of "real" armor includes a set of light, common clothing to wear underneathit; you do not have to buy clothing separately and add in the weight! A suit ofchainmail includes heavy cloth padding under the chain.Choosing Your WeaponsThe weapons you carry should be determined first by your skills, and then by yourstrength and budget. If you can't use it, don't buy it. Note, too, that most places havelaws or customs that govern the sort of weapons and armor you may wear on the streetwithout attracting attention. A suit of plate armor in the average medieval village would beevery bit as conspicuous - and threatening - as a machine gun in the corner grocery store!High-tech weapons (like guns) will work for anyone who knows how to use them.Low-tech weapons, like clubs and swords, do more damage when wielded by a strongperson, and you will usually want to carry the heaviest weapon that your strength andskill will allow.The combat rules are in Chapters 13 and 14. This section will present just enoughinformation to let you equip yourself intelligently. If your character is a total non-fightertype, you can skim through this section.Basic Weapon Damage"Basic damage" is the impact damage a weapon does, before its point or cuttingedge is considered. The table on p. 74 is used to figure how much damage each weapondoes, based on two factors: the attack type and the strength of the user. Some weapons domore or less damage (in particular, large weapons do extra damage), so check theWeapon Table listing for your particular weapon.Damage is shown as "dice plus adds." For example, "2d" means you roll two dice tocalculate the damage done. "2d+l" means that you roll two dice and add 1 to theresult. Thus, a roll of 7 would mean 8 hits of damage. "2d-l" means that you roll twodice and subtract 1 from the result - and so on.If you hit with a cutting or impaling attack, or a bullet, you always get at least one hitof basic damage if the basic damage roll was capable of wounding. Thus, if you strikewith a dagger for "ld-4" damage, and roll a 2. you do not do -2 hits, or even zero hits.Any time your damage works out to zero or a negative number, count it as 1 hit.(Remember, this is before the effects of armor. It is quite possible to do zero damageonce armor is accounted for.)However, if you hit the foe with a crushing attack, you can do zero damage. If your fistdoes "ld-4" damage and you roll a 2, you did no damage.Types of AttackThere are two main types of weapon attack: thrusting and swinging. A swingingattack does more damage, because the weapon acts as a lever to multiply your ST. Thefollowing table shows how much basic damage each type of weapon does, according to theuser's Strength.The columns show the number of dice rolled to determine damage. Example: Ifyour ST is 10, you will do ld-2 basic damage with any thrusting type attack, or 1 die ofbasic damage when you swing a weapon. So: if you attack with a sword and roll a 6, youwill do 6 points of basic damage if you swing the sword, or only 4 if you thrust.Weapon EffectsDifferent weapons do different typesand amounts of damage, because they areused in different ways.Each weapon is described by twoterms: damage type (cutting, crushing orimpaling), and damage amount (defined bythe way the weapon is used), which tellshow hard it hits.Thrusting AttacksThese blows strike with only the forceof your muscle behind them. (Someweapons, like crossbows, add a "lever"effect, and they get damage bonuses.)A thrusting/crushing weapon (fist,blunt arrow, end of a staff) is the leastdeadly type!A thrusting/impaling weapon (spear,arrow, knife) is far deadlier. It always doesat least one hit of basic damage. And what -ever damage the target's armor does notstop will be doubled!Note that, at the same strength, anarrow does the same impaling damage as asword or spear. This is intentional! Anarrow makes a smaller but deeper wound.Overall damage is roughly equivalent.Swinging AttacksSwung weapons, like polearms andswords, are levers to increase your forcewhen you strike. Thus, your basic damageis greater when you swing a weapon thanwhen you thrust with that same weapon.Of course, a heavy swung weapon doeseven more damage, and will get a damagebonus (see Weapon Tables).A swinging/crushing weapon, like aclub or maul, can do a great deal of basicdamage if it is heavy. It can also knockyour foe backwards (see p. 106) if you hithim hard enough. But it does no bonusdamage.A swinging/cutting weapon, like asword, will get a 50% damage bonus if itgets through your foe's armor.A swinging/impaling weapon, like apick, halberd or warhammer, can be thedeadliest of all. It will have a high basicdamage, which lets it get through armor -and the damage that penetrates armor isdoubled, as for any impaling weapon. Thedrawback of such weapons is that they canget stuck when you hit your foe (see p. 96).Alternative AttacksSome types of weapons can be used indifferent ways. For instance, some swordscan be swung for a cutting attack, or thrustfor an impaling attack. This is shown onthe Weapon Tables. Before you strike withsuch a weapon, specify how you areattacking.