Roleplayer #20, June 1990
Give Me A Hand
Updated Rules for Extra and Enhanced Limbs
by Steve Jackson and Loyd Blankenship
Since the release of GURPS
Supers, and later GURPS
Aliens, there has been a great deal of discussion, and
even controversy, about the appropriate point costs for extra limbs and
enhancements to limbs. After discussion and playtesting, the rules that
appeared in the new Fantasy
Folk were modified somewhat. For those who have the earlier
books, these revised rules should now be considered official; they are reprinted
here in full.
Fantastic fiction is full of multi-limbed creatures -- monsters, aliens
and run-of-the-mill mutants. Extra limbs, or limbs with unusual abilities,
are treated as advantages.
Arms
If a limb can be used to manipulate, it's an arm, regardless of where it
grows or what it looks like. Any normal arm can be used to strike a blow
which does thrust-2 damage based on ST. To do extra damage with an arm,
see Claws, below. Characters have two arms at no cost. Extra arms
have a base cost of 10 points each.
Coordination
Extra arms allow extra actions. A three-handed creature could perform a
two-handed task (e.g., firing a crossbow) and a one-handed task (e.g., swinging
a sword) at the same time. He could not aim two weapons unless
he has Independently Focusable Eyes.
A creature with multiple arms can use all of them in concert during normal
situations (to repair a watch, for example), or during instinctive actions
such as grappling in close combat or catching a thrown object. The ability
to make multiple combat actions of other kinds is paid for separately, however
(see the Full Coordination advantage).
Modified Strength
Any race may "buy" extra strength (relative to normal body strength)
for some or all of its arms. This ST must be bought normally, not
as the Increased ST advantage. This ST applies only to efforts to lift,
throw, punch, or use weapons. Arm ST is bought up (or down) as follows:
For one arm: 30% of cost for overall body strength.
For a set of two arms: 50% of cost for overall body strength.
This is additive. Example: All Huks have four arms (20 points).
Purple Huks have two arms with 2 points of extra ST; this costs them 50%
of the normal cost for +2 ST, or 50% of 20 points, or an extra 10 points.
Blue Huks have three strong arms; this costs them 80% of 20, or 16 points.
Green Huks have four strong arms; this costs them 100% of 20, or 20 points.
Modified Dexterity
A race may purchase extra DX (relative to normal DX) for some or all of
its arms. This DX applies to anything done with that arm or hand. If a task
requires more than one hand, and they don't have the same DX, use the lower
DX. Arm DX is bought up (or down) as follows:
For one arm: 60% of cost for overall body DX.
For a set of two arms: 80% of cost for overall body DX.
If a race is to have more than two arms, all with high DX, the race must
buy the appropriate high DX for the whole creature.
Extra Flexibility
Arms may be designed for great flexibility, compared to human arms. They
may be tentacles, or they may just be multi-jointed. Such arms are not necessarily
strong or weak; they are not necessarily either dexterous or clumsy. Those
abilities and disabilities are bought separately.
The effect of this is simply that any arms that can reach each other can
work together, regardless of body positioning, general layout, or "right"
and "left."
Cost is 10 points (for the whole creature), or 5 points (for a single limb,
for example an elephant's trunk).
Constriction Attacks
A race with Extra Flexibility may also take a constriction attack for 15
points. In order to make a constriction attack the individual must first
successfully grapple its opponent. Then roll a quick contest of ST. If the
constrictor wins, the victim takes as much damage as he lost by. If the
victim wins, he takes no damage.
To constrict successfully, the constricting limb must be twice as long in
hexes as the victim's size in hexes. So to constrict a human (size 1 hex)
the constricting limb must be at least 2 hexes long.
Longer or Shorter Arms
Arms may be made longer or shorter, relative to human arms. For game purposes,
human arms have a reach of 1. When ancient/medieval weapons are used, subtract
1 from any weapon's reach if it is held by short arms, and add 1 or more
to the reach of a weapon held by longer arms.
Shorter arms cost only 5 points per additional arm. These arms have reach
0 (close combat only), and don't have the leverage to use any weapon which
must be swung. If all of a race's arms are short, it is -2 on any
attempt to grapple. If a two-armed race has two short arms, they are a -10
point disadvantage instead of costing points!
Longer arms cost +10 per arm for each extra hex of reach. Each extra hex
of reach also adds +1 to the creature's normal swing damage, and
+2 to any attempt to grapple. Note that long arms can be attacked in other
hexes, as though they were long weapons (see p. B 110).
Close Combat with Extra Arms
Extra arms give a huge advantage in close combat. You cannot punch with
more than one arm at a time unless you have Full Coordination. But you may
grapple with all at once. Every extra arm (of regular length or
longer), over and above the generic set of two, gives a +2 on any attempt
to grapple or pin, or to break free from a grapple or pin. Other limbs do
not help.
No Physical Attack
If the arm can manipulate but cannot attack physically (due to structure
or lack of ST in that limb) each such arm only costs 5 points. Generally
that limb can be used to wield a firearm or similar ranged attack, but cannot
attack physically. An example of such a limb might be a monkey's prehensile
tail. If these arms are also short (see above), the cost is only
2 points per arm.
Legs
If a limb cannot manipulate, but can be walked on, it is a leg. The "default"
number of legs is two. A leg is assumed to be able to kick with a range
of 1, doing thrust/crushing damage. Each additional hex of range costs 10
points. Extra damage is purchased per Strikers, below. If the legs
can't kick for damage, reduce the total leg cost by 5 points.
Three or four legs cost 5 points; if the individual loses a leg, it can
continue to move at half speed (round down). Loss of a second leg causes
it to fall.
Cost to have five or six legs is 10 points. Each leg lost reduces speed
by 2 until only three legs are left. At that point, speed is only 2. Loss
of 1 more leg causes the individual to fall.
Cost to have seven or more legs is 15 points. Each leg lost reduces speed
by 1 until only three legs are left. At that point, speed is only 2. Loss
of one more leg causes the individual to fall.
Claws
For 15 points, the race has claws which do an extra +2 damage on any hand-to-hand
attack (including Karate).
For 40 points, the claws are 6 to 12 inches long, and do both thrust/impaling
and swing/cutting damage.
For 55 points, the claws do thrust+2/impaling and swing +2/cutting damage.
See Strikers, below.
Feet Manipulators
Any limb which can manipulate should be purchased as an arm -- the fact
that the creature walks on it is merely a special effect.
Strikers
If a limb can strike an aimed blow (rolling vs. DX) but cannot manipulate
or be used for walking (a tail, for example), it is a "striker."
Strikers cost 5 points apiece. Unmodified strikers do thrust/crushing damage,
in close combat only (e.g. horns). Increased range costs 5 points per striker
per hex.
Increasing Damage
To increase the damage done by a striker, arm, or leg, the Claws advantage
(see above) may be added. This may also represent fangs, pincers, horns,
etc. For +15 points, the limb does an extra +2 damage: punch+2 for arms,
kick +2 for legs, and thrust+2 for strikers. For +40 points, talons
let the limb do both swing/cutting and thrust/impaling damage. For +55 points,
long talons do swing +2/cutting or thrust +2 impaling. Note that
this advantage only has to be purchased once -- no matter how many
limbs it modifies! If a race has eight arms, 15 points will buy +2 damage
for all the arms (of course, Full Coordination is needed to attack with
more than one).
Aiming Strikers
Some strikers (e.g., tails) cannot be aimed well. If a striker attacks at
a penalty to DX, subtract a point from its cost for every -1 to DX.
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