GURPS Character Creation: Just the basics! Part 2

Howdy doody, gamelings!

Welcome to PART TWO of our wonderful and exciting GURPS character creation tutorial adventure!!!

Now, where did we leave off?

RIGHT!!! HP, Will, Per, and FP!

These are SUPER simple and are also NOT TAKEN FROM YOUR GIVEN POINT TOTAL!

 HP is equal to the level of your ST! (ST 10=HP 10)

Will is equal to the level of your IQ! (IQ 40=Will 40)

Per is also equal to the level of your IQ! (IQ 20=Per 20)

FP is equal to the level of your HT! (HT  10=FP 10)

 

Moving right along…
Basic Speed:

Basic speed measures reflexes and how fast your character can run,  react, and dodge.

Basic speed is calculated by adding ST and DX together and dividing that amount by 4!

MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT ROUND UP OR DOWN!!!

7.25 is better than 7!!

Dodge:

Dodge is the measure of how fast you can move out of the way of something that is coming at you!

Dodge is calculated by taking your basic speed number (minus any fractions… 7.25=7) and adding 3.

(dodge=7+3=10)

Basic Move:

Basic move is the speed at which your character can run (forrest, run!) and it is equal to your basic speed level without the fractions! (basic speed is 7.25, basic move is 7)!!

 Now that we have those basics down…

Let’s start spending some points, shall we?

How do you look?

Your appearance can affect the way NPCs and other playable characters react to your character so make sure you choose wisely!

There are 7 levels of appearance.

Hideous: You are the ugliest of the uglies to get hit with the ugly stick. In fact, you might just BE the ugly stick! This gives you a -4 on reaction rolls but, hey, you get -16 points! Go ahead and add that to your total, you grotesque little monster.

Ugly: You aren’t getting a date without some serious cosmetic surgery. This gives you a -2 on reaction rolls but gives you -8 points! Enjoy those points all by yourself, Gollum.

Unattractive: You’re not great looking but it’s nothing a makeover montage wouldn’t fix! This gives you a -1 on reaction rolls but -4 points! Go spend them at the makeup counter, sweety.

Average: You are super mediocre! Congrats! This doesn’t have a negative addition to your reaction rolls! It costs no points. However, you also get no extra points…

Attractive: You are “small town pretty”. You aren’t model material but you are most definitely good looking. You get +1 on reaction rolls! WOOO! However, this costs 4 points.

Handsome or Beautiful: You ARE model material and you turn heads occasionally! This gives you a  +4 on reaction rolls made by characters attracted to your gender and a +2 from everyone else. This costs a whopping 12 points!

VERY Handsome or Beautiful: You make heads turn so fast people get whiplash and almost break their necks! This gives you a +6 to reaction rolls made by characters attracted to your gender and +2 from everyone else! Hang onto your hats, though… This costs a whole 16 points!

(Maybe those IQ points you took away should go here… Pretty but not so bright…)

Next up: Charisma!!

Charisma may seem like a crude amalgamation of looks, intelligence, and manners but it is a completely separate thing!!! This can affect influence rolls, leadership and public speaking rolls, and reaction rolls!  It costs 5 points per level but it adds +1 to each of these rolls per level!!!!

I think we've had enough good stuff for a while... Let's move on to something not-so-good.

Now, sometimes we can all be pretty annoying.

Admit it.

Go on… Admit it…

I’ll wait here…

Good.

Even our characters can be pretty darn annoying sometimes. The behaviors that make them this way are called Odious Personal Habits (OPH). The bright side is that these habits will give you -5, -10, or -15 points to use elsewhere (to make up for all of the annoying things you’ll do to those in your party…).

-5 point habit examples: Bad body odor, nervous tics, mumbling, tone-deaf singing, etc.

-10 point habit examples: making everything sound perverted, making a pun for everything, leaving a mess wherever you go, etc.

-15 point habit examples: picking a fight with everyone you meet, trying to sleep with anything and everything, etc.

 

To wrap up this part of our tutorial, I give you: Voice!

This perk costs 10 points but it gives you +2 to any skill that requires speaking or singing AND +2 to any reaction rolls made by someone who hears your voice! 

Cool, right?!?

Next time we will cover Social Background and Wealth & Influence!!

Make sure to check back with us often!!

Do you have a question? How about a recommendation on what you’d like us to cover? Leave a comment and let us know!! We would love to hear from you!