- Not to be confused with: consecrate
Concentrate is a Maneuver that allows one to focus on one primarily mental task (even it has a minor physical component, like operating controls, gesturing, or speaking).[1]
Quick Reference[]
Examples[]
- making a Sense roll to spot an invisible warrior
- making a Leadership roll to give orders
- making an Electronics Operation roll to operate a sensor
These fall under the "most IQ-based skill rolls" guideline.
Spellcasting[]
Most spells require Concentration--this means that a mage is vulnerable to interruption while "charging up" a powerful, multi-second spell, such as explosive lightning.[1][2] Remember that you can use this against spellcasting foes as well!
Furthermore, maintaining long spells does NOT require Concentration unless it requires constant manipulation and change.[3] For instance, maintaining a Resist Acid spell while traversing an acid swamp only costs its normal fatigue points, but using apportation to hold a leash or might require more focus.[4]
In Tactical Shooting[]
Tactical Shooting Focused (Orange) mentions a -2 for "free action" situational Awareness but TS11 says a -4 penalty for a "glance": the -2 is for Pop-Up Attacks (NEW threats) so presumably they're cumulative to -6. Neither of which match the -10 penalty for "free action" implied under Time Spent. Which means you don't get TS bonuses of +1 per doubled time, it's actually a much more generous +1 per extra concentrate (unlimited).
The cumulative +1 basically giving unlimited Perception is a problem, so that works better if the GM requires some kind of success roll each turn to maintain concentration, so that eventually it will fail and the bonus is lost if unused.
Will rolls for Concentration attempts are discussed in Technical Grappling.
Another way to nerf Situational Awareness would be to have it function like TS26 Precision Aiming where the bonus is capped to +5 and uses the much longer doubling times instead of +1/s
TS27 allows Spotters and Observers to pool situational awareness, but this probably should not be instantaneous, a Concentrate roll to "give orders" to extend that awareness would probably make sense. You would need to do that without knowing if it was necessary.
Optional Rule: Pain Recovery[]
Pyramid 3/120 Conditional Injury pg 32 under "pain" replaces Shock (rule) with HT rolls that influence the degree of pain Affliction basely tiered upon the severity of injury.
The "it lasts" replaces the usual 1-second duration of shock with the need to make a Concentrate maneuver to generate a HT roll to suppress pain.
improving gun accuracy[]
pg 16 of GURPS Tactical Shooting "Walking the Burst" talks about how concentrate maneuvers can give a cumulative bonus to a perception roll needed to acquire a bonus on a follow-up shot.
special Concentrate abilities[]
Lesser-known things that a Concentrate maneuver can accomplish other than spellcasting.
Spotting Feints[]
MA101 discusses observers (not the target of the feint) taking this maneuver to discern others' feints.
intimidation[]
MA130 Mind Games has a Contest of Wills option which requires a Concentrate to initiate. A target who accepts the contest must also take the maneuver. A target failing the will roll is forced to enter the contest and thus forced to take that maneuver too.
bonuses for spellcasting[]
to increase chance of making the will roll, some useful things:
- Afflicted Casting
- No Incantations (can't get if using Secret Words or Extravagant Rituals)
- No Gestures
Compartmentalized Mind vs ATR for spellcasting and psi[]
This is not just a cheaper-cost way of getting an extra Concentrate maneuver. There are additional factors (benefits and drawbacks) compared to ATR which should be highlighted:
- ATR concentrates are taken consecutively: they can be used to cast a spell in half the time, but not to cast 2 spells simultaneously
- CM concentrates are taken concurrently: they can be used to cast 2 spells at once, but not speed them up.
- conversely, it may be possible for 2 compartments to perform non-enchantment Ceremonial Magic without the Solitary Ceremonial perk, although they draw upon the same FP/HP so it's not particular useful: they MIGHT be able to use separate powerstones though (unclear)
- CM (unless PERHAPS if it takes No Mental Separation) accrue "multiple feats" and "repeated attempts" penalties separately. Although ATR functions like this in one way (per-second timeouts: active defence penalties reset at each new maneuver) it does not help with avoiding "spells on" penalties or "per day" multiple attempts penalties such as with Healing
- Mental Separation Only is described as "only helps to protect you against mental intrusions" so the concept of Mental Separation appears to be that the extra Concentrate maneuver is what allows the "simultaneous use" or "repeated use" penalties to be divided.
FAQ[]
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-3.html#SS3.4.1.4 clarifies:
- 3.4.1.4 What are the game impacts of rolling for spells at the end of the turn you finish concentrating? Why was it changed?
- The rule refers to the active part of your turn. If you cast a one-second spell, you take a Concentrate maneuver and immediately roll the dice. Only those who are waiting – and persistent, ambient effects – can interrupt. Specifically, you do not wait until others have acted before you roll.
All-Out[]
p. 11 of GURPS Psionic Powers introduced this variation, also mentioned on page 11 of Power-Ups 8: Limitations.
as https://web.archive.org/web/20180103221155/https://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.ca/2013/09/all-out-concentrate-yes-but-with.html highlights, there is a thread on it at https://web.archive.org/web/20180103221126/http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=117157 with a mention from Kromm
- One thing my players like is my house rule allowing All-Out Concentrate and All-Out Ready, sacrificing all defenses for +4 to the eventual task. Power Blow is at -5 after a turn. It can be worth spending that turn doing AOC to get +4 and make it -1, which is useful even at low skill. Personally, I find that more flavorful and truer to the source material . . . somebody who's squinting her eyes shut and making wax on, wax off motions with her hands should be defenseless while "charging up" the ability. But all of that is house rules and opinions only.
GURPS Compendium 2[]
p85:
- If one combatant is taking the Concentrate maneuver, his opponent must win a Quick Contest of IQ in order to perceive that his foe is concentrating.
Quotes[]
Kromm[]
2009 http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=403798
- The only maneuver that shouldn't be obvious is Feint. Everything else is meant to be stated openly.
- All-Out Attack would be zero-risk if it weren't obvious, and Concentrate over multiple seconds wouldn't be the drawback that the rules for spells and powers assume it is if enemies weren't aware of it.
Skarr[]
2017 http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=2095156&postcount=12
Mark Skar made the argument "You should be able to attempt to concentrate whenever you want, just with penalties", showing the example of Magneto concentrating while being grappled (strangled!) by Apocalypse in Omega #1 to demonstrate the idea.
One suggestion was floating the Faster Concentration enhancement from Jumper to Warp. That centers around the idea that you could use the -10 version of Warp independent of the restrictions that Grappling put upon Concentrate (namely if you're grappled by ANYTHING, concentration is impossible!)
This doesn't really address the root problem though: being grappled should not automatically interrupt concentration or prevent future concentration, that's pure silliness.
Probably a similar rule could be taken to readies: instead of automatically happening, that shifts to requiring a DX roll. So perhaps instead of a concentrate automatically happening, that should require an IQ roll or a Will roll.
TG23 approaches allowing concentrate for grapplers (the one who put a grapple on) and uses Will rolls for both Aim or Concentrate (still forbidden to victims) with a failure resulting in a Do Nothing.
The penalty to the will roll is "trained ST modified for CP" so if you pin someone (lower trained ST to 0) there is no penalty at all.
High-ST characters divide the penalty by ST/10. This is clearly channeling the idea of TG9 Bigger and Stronger where the influence of Control Points on DX scales with the % of ST it reduces, not the fixed amount.
To use example: it is Will -10 for a foe with a Trained ST of 10 grapple for 0 or 1 CP (not enough to lower their ST, -1 to ST requires 2 CP)
For a ST 20 creature, it is merely Will-5.
For comparison: applying 20 CP (-10 to ST) to a ST 20 creature would give them -5 to DX.
A conceptual problem here: having trained ST doesn't actually mean you're USING it. There should be no struggle to hold still someone who is not squirming. CP as damage could be thought of instead as suffering "shock" when CP is lost via a Break Free attack. This 'shock' could be a penalty to DX and IQ, same as HP loss. Instead of scaling up with HP it could instead scale up with Trained ST though: which determines the maximum CP you could apply. Something like "Low Squirm Threshold" could ignore that penalty.
Concentration is threatened (will-3) when making active defenses, which creates a problem in resisting "break free" attempts.
One idea (perhaps to replace bucking bronco) would be if you successfully parry a Break Free, you work it like a Power Parry, you would roll thrust and subtract those control points from the Break Free attempt.
The drawback is you might not fully do it (roll lower) but the benefit is you might get a free 'improve' on the grapple (much like a 'break free' which rolls in excess gets a free countergrapple).
This is already essentially possible via an Escaping Parry (TG36: can result in a reversal) due to "grapples are mutual". By "escaping" from his free 0-point grapple, you establish a new one. Grabbing Parry should probably allow that too, but it only establishes new ones.
Escaping/Grabbing parry could just be thought of as "double damage" versions of this idea, taking a penalty for a bonus.
The penalty based on the mere use of active defenses (regardless of outcome) instead of a fixed -3 (perhaps kept for dodging) could be based on the amount of ST used to block or parry. Lower ST means you can deflect less damage, but also that it's less distracting.
Maybe based on technique design: since 1 per die is basically 20% (takes 2 points of ST to get +1, 10 points of ST to get +1d) the technique bonus of +2 for -1/die means -2 for -20% ST, or conveniently +1 per -10% ST. This would top out at +9 for using 10% of ST.
For low ST creatures they'd always have to use whatever % was required for ST 1 though, ST 0 can't do anything!
If we assumed -3 was a full ST parry, that would mean for a Will+1 roll you would need to use 40% less ST, or 60%
In Older Editions[]
Step Loss[]
3eB106 initially described this as Step and Concentrate in Advanced Combat:
- This maneuver allows you to step one hex in any direction (usually) and then concentrate on one mental task. This may be the casting of a magical spell
The "usually" is clarified on 3eB147 under magic:
- Skill 15-17: The wizard must speak a word or two and gesture - a couple of fingers are enough. He is allowed to move one hex per turn while taking the Concentrate maneuver.
This implies (though it isn't listed anywhere else) that the "step" of the concentrate maneuver is NOT allowed prior to concentrating on spells with skill 14 or less. This means if they declare that maneuver and step, they could only declare a skill 15+ spell at that point.
In fact the "allowed to move" probably also prohibits a Retreat during an active defence if taken during that maneuver if done after spellcasting, unless perhaps doing so means automatically abandoning spellcasting (unlike non-retreat defences which only require a Will-3 roll to keep concentration)
This made it's way into 4e in B237 and M8 as well, but this time under Skill 15-19. It is rephrased to be gender neutral, to specify "yard" instead of "hex", and "second" instead of "turn".
- You are allowed to move one yard per second while taking the Concentrate maneuver.
The use of SECOND instead of TURN is very important as it pertains to Altered Time Rate: it normally gives 2 turns/maneuvers per second (ie "two steps" of Concentrate resulting in 2 yards) but being per SECOND means that this doesn't benefit when concentrating on magic!
HEX/YARD are also distinct from Step here: some characters have 2-yard steps (at Move 11+) but the implication here appears to be that even they can only move 1 hex per second regardless of their Move.
- Otherwise players might assume a Move 11 person with ATR could move 4 yards per second when casting spells!
4e does not specify an ORDER, so doing a "Concentrate and Step" should now be legal (so long as it is a 1-yard step).
A similar implication (skill 14 or less means no movement whatsoever) appears to be present in 4e, although B366 "Movement: Step." does not acknowledge it. Like in 3e, there is probably an implication that the next higher category (18-20 in 3e, 20-24 in 4e) can also move that hex/yard (but not "step").
M9's "Optional Rule: Alternate Magic Rituals" might be a way around that. The "subtle foot motions like dance steps" likely represents the inability to move (dancing in place) and "Omitting the foot movements" is possible for anyone by taking a -2 penalty, which presumably doing a step requires.
This would be important for mages who want the option for a Retreat bonus while casting a low-skill spell, since the inability to move 1 yard (the minimum requirement for a retreat) would prevent getting that bonus.