GURPS Martial Arts - Home

POWER LEVEL
The power levels discussed on p. B487 remain valid for
both part-time and full-time martial artists. Some
guidelines:
Feeble (under 25 points): No successful career martial
artist will have so few points! Those in other professions
will need their points for job skills – they won’t have
enough left over for martial-arts abilities. This level best
suits the legions of hopeless goons that action heroes wade
through in martial-arts movies.
Average (25-50 points): Too low for a dedicated martial
artist other than a youth who’s just starting out. “Ordinary
folks” at this level can spare a point or two for martial-arts
lessons, but dangerous occupations that include martial
arts as on-the-job training remain out of reach.
Competent (50-75 points): This is probably the lowest
level where a dedicated martial artist can work as an
adventurer – and only if he takes a few disadvantages and
focuses exclusively on the martial arts. Green military or
police recruits will have enough points to cover their basic
job skills and still learn the rudiments of a martial art.
Exceptional (75-100 points): At this level, it’s possible to
create a respectable career martial artist, although being a
“star” requires extra points from disadvantages and leaves
little room for other skills. A cop, soldier, etc., could be
good at his job and have enough points left over to be competent
at the martial arts, too.
Heroic (100-200 points): Most famous real-world martial
artists are at this level. If they focus on the martial arts,
they’ll be very good – but many spread their points across
abilities useful for acting, teaching, or writing. Individuals
in other professions will have enough points to perform
solidly at a job and a martial art. This level is ideal for realistic
Martial Arts games. It lets the PCs be capable without
being godlike or one-dimensional.
Larger-than-Life (200-300 points): As the Basic Set says,
this level suits the leading roles in kung fu movies! Those
with ordinary jobs can afford to be world-class in their
field and heroic martial artists. Both character types are
only borderline-realistic, but this is a good starting level for
cinematic Martial Arts games and action-movie
campaigns.
Legendary (300-500 points): Any character who starts
out this powerful and has more than a few points in
martial-arts skills will be an adept martial artist – even if
ostensibly something else – unless intentionally designed
to be physically incompetent. This level is suitable for style
founders and the heroes of wuxia and chambara movies.
Superhuman/Godlike (500+ points): This is the realm of
comics and video games, where “martial arts” is often code
for “super-powers.” Superhuman attributes and exotic
advantages don’t have to overshadow skills, though. By
requiring the PCs to spend their many points on believable
attribute levels and mundane traits, with the only exceptions
being cinematic martial-arts skills and the special
advantages in this chapter, the GM can run a campaign
that’s truly superheroic but nothing like “mutants in
tights.”
REALISM LEVEL
Few fields are as fertile ground for extravagant claims as
the martial arts. Such claims, in turn, drive skeptics to doubt
even believable, well-documented feats, further obscuring
matters. Fortunately, the GM has the final say about what’s
“real” in his campaign – which is as important as the power
level.
Realistic Martial Artists
Realistic martial artists are limited to normal human abilities.
Attribute scores above 15 should be rare – and DX, IQ,
and HT can’t exceed 20 in any event. ST might go past 20, but
the GM may restrict such scores to practitioners of styles that
emphasize bulk (e.g., Sumo, pp. 198-199). The GM should
strictly enforce secondary characteristic limits, too:
• HP and FP can’t vary by more than 30% of ST and HT,
respectively.
•Will and Per can’t exceed 20 or be lowered by more than
four levels.
• Basic Speed must stay within ±2.00 of its calculated
value.
• Basic Move must remain within ±3 yards/second of its
base value.
Only mundane advantages and disadvantages are allowed;
those labeled exotic 1 or supernatural 5 are off-limits.
Mundane traits described as “cinematic” – Enhanced
Defenses, Gadgeteer, Gizmos, Gunslinger, Rapier Wit,
Trained by a Master, Weapon Master, etc. – are also forbidden.
The GM might even wish to rule out such borderlinesupernatural
advantages as Danger Sense, Daredevil,
Empathy, Luck, and Serendipity.
The above restrictions weaken somewhat in TL8+ campaigns.
Steroids, surgery, and so on can grant “superhuman”
physical abilities even in realistic settings. GURPS Bio-Tech
is indispensable for such games.
Realistic PCs can’t learn skills that have prohibited advantages
as prerequisites. This eliminates all cinematic martialarts
skills (for a list, see Trained by a Master, p. 48) and magic
spells. It would be reasonable to forbid skills that produce
supernatural effects, too, such as Alchemy, Enthrallment,
Exorcism, Herb Lore, Musical Influence, and Ritual Magic.
Realistic martial artists can have any point total the GM
likes . . . but as suggested under Power Level (above), anything
over 200 points verges on unrealistic. A fighter with 250 or
more points in purely realistic abilities won’t seem realistic in
play! He’ll be a “combat monster” whose extreme attribute
and skill levels let him duplicate the effects of cinematic abilities
through brute force.
Even at low power levels, believable martial artists should
spend their points evenly on all of their style’s skills, not just
on those useful in a fight. Unless they’re cops, street fighters,
or soldiers, they’re liable to have Combat Art or Sport skills
rather than combat skills, and are highly unlikely to have
Combat Reflexes. There’s no special reason to let high-tech
martial artists capitalize on their typically high DX to have
awesome Guns skills, either – not unless they’re police or military
sharpshooters. If the players want to play lethal fighters
above all, consider running a cinematic campaign!
CHARACTERS 29