I really love GURPS but nothing and no one is perfect and there are a few things I do not really like. This is the topic for several bloggers this week so I shall try to chime in with a few comments.
Other posts that are up on this this week are...
Author Christopher Rice
Of Paper Men and Plastic Monsters
Of Paper Men and Plastic Monsters Guest post by Kallaz
Worlds Beyond Earth
Lair of the Chaotic GM
Mailanka's Musings - Psi Wars
My Comments
A few advantages I feel are overpriced or just kinda flakey with mechancics.
Penetrating Vision is priced well for the first level but after that you get significant diminishing returns and I would use the Size Speed Range Table to give it a logarithmic range.
The Min ST capping damage at *3 I like for most campaigns but there should be an advantage to ignore that cap, a perk is probably to low so maybe a 5 point advantage to ignore that? Only used in highly cinematic or supers campaigns though. Unlike others I feel it is a realistic limit.
Unaging and Regrowth are overprices, though Unaging as Immunity to certain attacks can be worth it. this is a common refrain and PK posted some suggestions here.
Possession by default you die without a host. I really wish Possession had been written differently and wish we had an Alternate GURPS Pyramid still going to propose alienate ideas. A lot of the modifiers have hidden effects that can muddle the whole thing.
Binding could use a lot of love for some modifiers. Retraction, binding a body part, etc.
As Worlds Beyond Earth by Eric the Red posts above on Jumper and Warp I would like them to be more closely aligned in how they work. In fact I would rather they were one ability with modifiers!
Maybe something like ...
Vanish
Costs 100 points.
You can disappear from one location and reappear in another! This takes 10 seconds, which can be changed using Reduced Time or Preparation Required. It takes an IQ roll to successfully appear at the desired target, this takes a penalty for range using the SSR (p. B550), apply Long-Range (Powers, p. 108) or Reliable to reduce these penalties. If you can travel to other planes of existence, time, or worlds add a modifier.
+50% to Time Travel, +0% if can only travel in time and not distance.
+50% to add World jumping, +0% if can only jump to other worlds but not go any physical distance.
+50% to add Plane Jumping, +0% if can only jump to other planes.
Then add some of the modifiers under Warp and Jumper and include limitations for how many planes you can cross. Also add IQ penalties for world jumping and plane travel, use the entry in Basic for Infinite Worlds. The author of Worlds Beyond Earth has a point on how many worlds you can get to and I would need to ponder on that if I was actually going to publish this ability or use it in a campaign but that seems rather unlikely so I'll leave the idea here.
Also I would like to see the modifiers for Lord of My Domain applied not to Jumper but to something else, say Status (probably requiring a minimum level). Owning your own dimension seems a legit use of high Status and modifying a dimension seems a poor use of Jumper which should be able to get you into any dimension.
On the other hand I at least address one of his complaints in my upcoming Spirit Template supplement.
Enthrallment and Imbuement
I like the idea of these but with no obvious mechanics they are hard ot implement and tweak in a campaign, I feel that is a waste.
Gadgeteer and Inventing
I prefer the rules in After The End but would take them farhger if I could write a supplement on Gadgeteering. Applying a consistent set of rules that apply to various TL, Magic, Medicine, Gadgets, etc.
Magical Enchanting
GURPS Magic has very time consuming enchanting rules, suitable for a low fantasy setting with few magic items. I would like a system that could be tweaked for faster enchanting and covered more options. This has been addressed somewhat in various places such as GURPS Technomancer and Pyramid but I would love it to be gathered in one place.
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