Attributes and Skill Rolls

GURPS uses four primary stats and a number of secondary stats derived from them: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Health. It also uses skills based on these attributes.

For GURPS, baseline stats for attributes is 10. 11-12 is above average, 13-14 is exceptional (noticeably athletic, sharp wit, etc.), and 15 or more is amazing.

For skills, 9-11 represent ordinary people's attributes, so their skills usually range from 8-13. Skills they use to earn a living are usually at 12 or 13, and little-used skills are usually 8 or 9. 14 usually denotes an expert. 20-25 is a master. Starting PCs often have a combat skill at at least 14 or 15.

A level of 10 in skills or attributes gives a 50% success on skill rolls. 12 is 74.1% success, and 15 is 95.4% success.

In most cases, you'll want to roll 3d6 at or below your attribute or skill level. Somethings are trivial, like driving on a normal day, and need no rolls. Other actions are difficult, like a speeding car chase through traffic, and these rolls will have a difficulty modifier. You can also choose to take longer to do an action on many things (like lockpicking or evaluating a work of art), which gives you a bonus on your roll.

The better the margin of success, the better the outcome. No matter what your skill level is, a 17 or 18 is always a failure, and a 3 or 4 is always a success.

In addition, a 3 or 4 is always a critical success. A 5 is a critical success if your skill level is 15+. A 6 is a critical success if your level is 16+.

An 18 is always a critical failure. A 17 is a critical failure if your skill level is 15 or less; otherwise, it's a regular failure. Any roll of 10 greater than your skill level is a critical failure (15 on a skill level 5, 14 on a skill level 4).

Other rolls, like sense rolls (to hear or see something) or fright checks (to deal with frightening situations) work the same way. Sense rolls are based on Perception, and fright checks are based on Will, two secondary attributes based on a character's IQ.

There are two types of other rolls in GURPS. One is reaction rolls, made when a PC first encounters an NPC. Again, this is a 3d6, but the goal here is to roll high, the higher the better. A 10-12 is a neutral result. Below this, the NPC doesn't react well to the PC, and above this, the NPC has a favorable reaction. The margin of success or failure determines how good (or bad) this reaction is. Certain social skills can give bonuses or penalties on this (like Diplomacy or Fast-Talk).

The other roll is damage rolls. Damage rolls are usually something like 1d6+1 or 2d-2, with a minimum guaranteed damage of 1. This is resisted by the target's Damage Resistance (DR). The goal here is also to roll high. I'll post more about combat later on, but in general, characters roll to hit versus a combat skill (like Saber or Brawling), and roll to defend based on a defense option (usually Dodge, derived from DX and HT), Block (if they have a shield), or Parry (based on a melee skill level).
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:53, Sat 08 July 2023.

Here's a link to GURPS Lite: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Lite/. This covers the basics of GURPS, but it's not required reading.

Advantages

GURPS has a number of advantages that are particularly useful for adventurers. One is Combat Reflexes, which gives bonuses to defense rolls among other things. It's typically something that might be gained during military action.

Another is High Pain Threshold. When a character gets hurt normally, they suffer a shock penalty on their next round. Someone with HPT never suffers shock. A tough Dwarf fighter or a barbarian would often have this advantage.

Rapid Healing helps characters recover from injury faster and avoid crippling injuries.

Characters with Fit or Very Fit get bonuses to HT rolls.

Some characters have various Acute Senses, like better hearing or sight.

Disadvantages

This covers everything that might make things more difficult for the character. This can include characteristics we consider negative, like Selfish or Addiction, but it can also include more positive traits that still limit options, such as Code of Honor, Honesty, and Sense of Duty. Here's a list: http://gurpswiki.wikidot.com/ind:disadvantages

Quirks

These traits occasionally cause difficulties for the character. Quirks are often a good opportunity to roleplay. Examples include always stopping in front of a mirror to make sure the character looks their best, a stilted way of speaking, or always carrying around a particular good luck charm.

Ideas on Quirks: http://mark.random-article.com/gurps/player/quirks.htm.
List of Quirks: http://gurpswiki.wikidot.com/ind:quirks