4e

Intro: "You throw like a kobold"

GURPS' thrown weapon stats neatly spell out the best distance (Maximum Range) you can achieve with a toss. These are multiples of Strength, typically STx1.5 for heavier weapons (spear), STx1 for very light ones (dagger), and STx2.5 for middle-weight weapons that hit a sweet spot for distance (throwing axe).

Working from those stats, Conrad the Bavarian and his ST 16 can hurl a javelin 16 x 2.5 = 40 yards. In battlemap terms, that's right off the dining room tabletop; it's a throw that should send even the hardiest of orc miniatures fleeing to a safer distance. With some Extra Effort, Conrad could hit 45 or even 50 yards. 

And yet, our human arbalest may be chagrined to compare his toss against modern track and field records. The current men's world record holder, Jan Železný, chucked a javelin over 98 meters (well over 100 yards!) in 1996; on the women's side, Barbora Špotáková beat 72 meters in 2008. There's no need for a game to worry itself with accurately simulating sport throws, but aren't the rules holding something back from battlemap hurlers?

One problem is that the rules grant Conrad nothing for running like a true javelin thrower. Another disadvantage, less immediately obvious, is this: As with any normal attack, a weapon throw has Conrad return instantly to a defensive combat stance, ready to dodge knives and arrows. That sounds fine for close-in fighting, but it's all wrong for athletes in genteel competitions, or even battlefield spear-throwers safely out of reprisal range. Conrad needs the option to forget defensive caution and throw like he means it.

This rules nugget doesn't overhaul throwing rules or recreate sporting records. It merely hands fighters (or athletes!) in the game a couple of options they're missing to go the distance.
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GURPS was long funny in that it offered skills for each and every specific application of magic (i.e., hundreds of spells), but no skill to cover a mage's overall understanding of magic itself.

Such a skill – name it Magic for simplicity – both fills that gap and lets you fine-tune magic in your campaign, in at least 10 fun ways. This old article was written for GURPS 3e and its Magic skill is at least partially duplicated by the Thaumatology skill that later appeared in GURPS Grimoire and then 4e Basic Set, but the notes may hold a new idea or two for your 4e games. Read more...

Intro: Refinishing the table

What's wrong with GURPS' table linking ST scores to thrust and swing damage? Nothing! It's done its job for over 20 years, and so far no one's gotten hurt. (Except all those on the target end of ST 14, 2d swings, of course.)

But a little thing like "it works well enough" never thwarts the compulsive rules hacker! Nay, the tinkerer's quibbles must out.

First, wouldn't it be swell if damage followed ST in a neat, linear relationship? (Necessary, no; nice, yes.) That's certainly not the case now, where neither thrust nor swing damage follows any observable pattern connecting it to ST. 

Second, what's with the relationship (or lack thereof) between thrust and swing values? For a while, swing damage is roughly twice thrust damage (clearly so at ST 14 and ST 22), but then begins to increase more slowly, until it tops out at only thrust + 2d for very high ST scores. That means the higher the ST, the more that thrust and swing become effectively the same thing.

Below is an optional reworking of the damage table that addresses both of those quirks with clean, easy-to-remember damage values. The progression is so regular that you'll only need a small subset of the table on paper or in your head, with all other values computable on the fly! Read more...