Intro: "Go ahead, runt, punch me in the gut."
Imagine that's the growl of a hulking bully with an Olympic wrestler's build. And imagine that your physique is more that of... er, a guy who once gamed a wrestler PC. (Did you have to imagine hard?)
It's easy to imagine that your best punch to his gut – or just about anywhere beefy – simply won't hurt the guy. At all. Oh, maybe a few dozen punches would start some bruising, sure, but you don't get that chance; his first punch has you coughing up the lunch money as soon as your limbs start working again.
Using GURPS' or most any RPG's combat system, the mismatch won't quite play out as described above. It will when the bully's high damage meets your puny Hit Points; no problem there. But as long as your punch is capable of dealing some damage, you will hurt the bully – at least a point of hurt, which in GURPS is not trivial. (If your punch can roll zero damage, then you might not hurt him, true – but that roll won't hurt a weakling, either.) Most RPGs have no mechanism that lets a strong fellow shrug off minor impacts without damage.
Below is a revised Toughness trait for GURPS that represents resilience from thick muscles. It's as good as DR against crushing damage, letting a hero laugh off weak punches. Yet Toughness isn't DR; a weak knife slash will still cut you, and a stab to the heart can kill. Read more...
