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...
