I have a character in a campaign who is part water spirit and one of his gimmicks is being a great swimmer and diver, also a water mage sailor.
For reference he has Swimming -17; Amphibious; Breath Holding 2; Catfall (Accessibility, only
to land in water, -50%); Temperature Tolerance 2; and the perk Smooth Diver. The latter lets him dive without making a splash.
We came across a cliff over the water outside town and he wanted to cliff dive from it. The skill penalty appeared to make this an impossible task. Since it was a 100 yard tall cliff that irked me a bit but not by much as it is a ridiculously high height to jump form. However, it appeared that normal heights also seemed way too hard to do. So I went to the forums!
After a few days reviewing the rules and discussing them on the Steve Jackson Games GURPS forums I came up with a reasonable chance at making more normal cliff dives.
The results are....
GURPS Diving
Quoth, p.B431 "When striking water or a similar fluid, a successful Swimming roll (or vehicle control roll, if “ditching” a vehicle) means a clean dive that negates all damage. This roll is at a penalty for
velocity; use the speed penalty from the Size and Speed/Range Table (p. 550)."
Normally it says to read the speed as column 3 on that table, so this wording led me to use column one instead. At least two others feel that the normal usage is what was intended and I am going with that.
I might ask the line editor when he is back from vacation to be sure and to see if errata should be submitted.
So what is our penalty?
World Record is 60m (-36 skill original way or (-9) the other way)
Standard dive of 85-92 feet (-25 or -26) or (-7).
Reality check thus says use the more typical number.
Highest dive from a diving board is 192'10"* for (-8 to skill)
*Lazaro "Laso" Schaller (Switzerland/Brazil) in Maggia, Ticino, Switzerland, on 4 August, 2015.
90' dive (Skill-7)
10m dive (about 33 feet) (Skill-5)
3m dive (Skill-4)
Standard diving boards (spring) from 1 to 3m high. (Skill -0 to -4)
If you make the skill you take no damage, fail and you take falling damage into a soft object. At these heights its unlikely to kill you, though the higher dives may very well knock you unconscious so better have someone in the water to rescue you!
Catfall subtracts 5y from falling distance, a great help[ at lower dives and about a +1 effect at higher distances. more importantly it allows a DX roll to grant half damage if you fail that clean dive Swimming roll.
Swimming is used to avoid damage and to move around in the water after your dive.
Sports (Diving) lets you know the rules for the sport, trivia such as record holders and famous diving spots, and perhaps most importantly to look good when diving. Use it or Acrobatics to do things like flips, tucks, and somersaults when diving. Modifiers as per Acrobatics, +1 for Perfect Balance, +2 for 3D Spatial Sense.
High Dive (H) is a technique that lets you buy off the penalty to Swimming when making a dive to avoid damage.
Catfall with Accessibility, only to land in water, -50% is a bit more realistic than regular Catfall so may be more easily allowed in a noncinematic game. Make no mistake, its still cinematic though!
A high diver will need Swimming and can benefit from Sports (Diving), a level of Temperature Tolerance for cold water, Fit or Very Fit, high HT and DX, and perhaps First Aid, Hiking, or even Climbing to get to out of the way spaces.
At Swimming -5 for an Olympic level athlete I think GURPS Diving is reasonably good at letting your character play a great athlete even in a realistic campaign.
Alien or non realistic campaigns may consider Amphibious, DR (Tough Skin), Breath Holding, and a few other things to spice it up.
Special Thoughts
At least 12 feet of water is advised for high dives and clear water is best to help avoid obstacles like high rocks or see other swimmers.
Telescopic Vision can help see what you are diving into from high above.
Good quality equipment and conditions such as a good platform, minimal wind, and clear area might be good for +1 to +2 quality bonus.
Use Time Spent to help with those tougher dives. Though in a sport your unlikely to get more than a minute to set yourself up.
This is just another example of how GURPS can add to your campaign by giving players or NPCs something cool and fun to do without a lot of special rules or handwaving.
