In GURPS an Advantage is a trait which provides access to a power or ability. Advantages often do not have a Success Roll associated with them though some do—such as Warp. Advantages cost Character Points, and a single point cost advantage is called a perk.
Most advantages cost roughly between 10 and 20 points. Though some particularly useful advantages such as Unkillable or Supernatural Durability cost over 100 points. Some advantages are leveled, such as Damage Reduction and Night Vision.
Types of Advantages[]
The different types of Advantages are as follows:
- Mental: originates from your mind, or perhaps even your soul
- Physical: linked to your actual body
- Social: associated with your identity
- Mundane: inborn or learned edges and knacks that anyone in the real world might have. Examples: Double-Jointed or Photographic memory level of Eidetic Memory
- Exotic: might exist in reality. For example the Affliction advantage might be used to represent the poisonous bite of a natural animal
- Supernatural: Not realistic and would be unusual in the real world if they exist at all. Generally limited to supernatural or cinematic settings Examples: Precognition or Supernatural Durability
Learnable Advantages[]
"You can learn certain advantages as if they were skills (200 hours = 1 point), provided you have a suitable instructor (professor, kung fu master, etc.)." They follow normal skill rules. Examples given in Basic Set:
- Combat Reflexes
- Cultural Familiarity
- Language
- Eidetic Memory
- Enhanced Defenses
- Fit
- G-Experience
- Psionic Abilities and Talents
- Trained By A Master and Weapon Master
One thing the Basic set doesn't make clear is that there can be setting specific advantages that can be learnable:
- Magery; Fractional Magery is expressly a learned version of Magery
Enhancements and Limitations[]
The precise cost of an advantage can be manipulated by using Enhancements and Limitations.
Thanks to the collection of and additional rules for Perks, Talents, Enhancements, Quirks, and Limitations in the much of, if not all of, B118's "Designing Entirely New Advantages" is effectively obsolete.
For example, the breakdown of Rapid Healing as HT bought with "only rolls to recover from damage" reducing it to 1/10 cost, which violates the no less then -80% of cost rule on Basic Set p 110 is explained in Power-Ups 8: Limitations' Below the Minimum. It also explains the discontinuity that B79 established it actually applied to two things, the daily HT roll for recovering HP and the HT roll made to determine severity (duration) of crippling.
Similarly, the concept of any linear pricing was eliminated with rule revisions in Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, and Power-Ups 8: Limitations.
Advantage Template[]
{{adv}} is Template for advantages; Complex advantages have a particular format as demonstrated by this advantage:
Green Dragon Breath (Toxic Attack 3d (12) (+100%: Respiratory Agent 1, +50%; Area Effect (2 yards), +50%) [24] + Corrosion Attack 2d (20) (+100%: Respiratory Agent 1, +50%; Area Effect (2 yards), +50%) [40]) [64]
See also[]
- List of Advantages
- List of Classic-based Meta-Traits
- Skill, and List of Skills
- Advantage (enhancement)
- Attribute
- Disadvantage, List of Disadvantages, and Limitations
- Enhancements
- Trait
- {{Advantage}}
References[]
- Basic Set p. 294