Differences Between DFRPG and GURPS

Differences Between DFRPG and GURPS

            In this post, I will go over Dungeon Fantasy RPG: Adventurers and Dungeon Fantasy RPG: Exploits and compare them with GURPS Basic Set. I will ignore DF-specific new rules and focus on differences between the books. I will also ignore templates and focus on the rules only. Some of these changes can be easily backported to GURPS and used as errata.

ADVANTAGES

 

            Animal Empathy

            DFRPG-A, p. 47 lets characters with this advantage make a penalized reaction roll against genuine monsters.

 

Discriminatory Smell

            DFRPG-A, p. 16 notes that the +4 bonus is applied when detecting poisons.

 

Hard to Subdue

            DFRPG-A, p. 50 states clearly that this adds to resist unconsciousness and sleep; the latter wasn’t mentioned in GURPS Basic Set.

 

            Rallying Cry

            The Rallying Cry ability (DFRPG-A, p. 28) cannot be found in any DF books. It’s almost equivalent to the Natural Leader advantage (Pyramid #3-65, p. 11). The only difference is that the Pyramid version has Voice give +1 to the roll, despite Voice being present in the book.

 

            Recovery

            DFRPG-A, p. 52: This version works not only against unconsciousness, but also against sleep.

 

            Resistant

            DFRPG-A, p. 52: This is not a generic advantage anymore, but two specific advantages – Resistant to Disease and Resistant to Poison. Both of them cost 1 point/level and add +1 to resistance rolls. So, the leveling scheme is different. Also, in GURPS Basic Set, disease and poison belong to different rarity categories, but here they cost the same.

 

            Sacrificial Parry

            DFRPG-A, p. 29: This version is not limited to allies beside you. You can parry an attack aimed at anyone within your weapon’s reach. Also, Shield DB (yours or your friend’s) never counts, which isn’t specified in the GURPS version.

 

Very Rapid Healing

DFRPG-A, p. 52: This version works differently. Instead of doubling the natural recovery rate, is multiplies any healing, as if you had 10 more HP. GURPS Monster Hunters Power-Ups 1 has a similar optional rule, but also makes it a leveled advantage.

 

DISADVANTAGES

 

            Berserk

            DFRPG-A, p. 57 adds the following: If for any reason you end up in a posture other than standing, you must use the Change Posture maneuver to stand as soon as possible.

 

Callous

            DFRPG-A, p. 57 says that Callous is incompatible with Charitable and Selfless.

 

            Disciplines of Faith

            DFRPG-A, p. 59: Mysticism adds a penalty to notice danger and a bonus to be noticed. Ritualism does the same, but halved.

 

Frightens Animals

            DFRPG-A, p. 60 adds a -4 penalty to Animal Handling and Disguise (Animals).

 

            Greed

            DFRPG-A, p. 60 expands the modifiers.

 

Intolerance

            DFRPG-A, p. 61 expands the modifiers.

 

            Klutz

            DFRPG-A, p. 62: Klutz states that the GM must make the roll in secret. Total Klutz limits its effects to noncombat rolls only.

 

            Laziness

            DFRPG-A, p. 62 expands the disadvantage.

 

            Lecherousness

            DFRPG-A, p. 62 expands the disadvantage with reaction penalties and resistance penalties to Sex Appeal and seduction.

 

            Miserliness

            DFRPG-A, p. 63 adds a conditional reaction penalty.

 

            No Sense of Humor

            DFRPG-A, p. 63 adds a Carousing penalty.

 

            Paranoia

            DFRPG-A, p. 64 adds attention penalties and bonuses.

 

            Phobia

            DFRPG-A, p. 64 expands the modifiers.

 

            Social Stigma

            DFRPG-A, p. 66: Social Stigma (Criminal Record) now imposes a penalty on many rolls in town.

 

            Stubbornness

            DFRPG-A, p. 66: This disadvantage works differently here. Now, it has a self-control number and is tied to the complementary rolls and some other rules.

 

SKILLS

 

            Body Control

            DFRPG-A, p. 32: Aside from flushing poisons from your body, you can treat your own injuries, stop bleeding, cure disease, and even treat mortal wounds!

 

            Boxing

            DFRPG-A, p. 93: The penalty to parry kicks is gone.

 

            Carousing

            DFRPG-A, p. 73: New modifiers for spending lots of money.

 

            Cloak

            DFRPG-A, p. 74: Readying time is given in the skill description instead of being hidden away in combat rules. Cloak is clearly stated to have no off-hand penalties.

 

            Counterfeiting

            DFRPG-A, p. 74: New use – recasting precious metal items as ingots.

 

            Default Use   

            You never gain a combat skill’s special benefits - like superior retreats and parries for fencing skills, or unpenalized off-hand use for Main-Gauche - when using a skill at default. You must spend at least one point on the skill to gain these benefits.

 

            Escape

            DFRPG-A, p. 75: Any critical failure to escape the bonds inflicts 1d HP injury. In GURPS Basic Set, you damage yourself when you intentionally dislocate a joint, and the damage depends on the degree of failure.

 

            Fast-Draw

            DFRPG-A, p. 76: While Fast-Draw (Potion) exists somewhere in GURPS (I think), I believe that I haven’t seen Fast-Draw (Scroll) before.

 

            Gambling

            DFRPG-A, p. 77: There’s a new use – the skill can work as Detect Lies in situations where you suspect someone is bluffing about their odds.

 

            Holdout

            DFRPG-A, p. 79: Instead of descriptive categories for modifiers, this version has modifiers based on weight and Reach.

 

            Judo

            DFRPG-A, p. 92: Judo throw can only be performed on an opponent who has no more than twice your ST. This is a generic rule that is often forgotten, so it’s nice to have it spelled out here. In addition, “Note that in an All-Out Attack, you cannot attempt two throws, but you can make one attempt at +4” got replaced with “With All-Out Attack, you cannot attempt two throws, but all other options remain open”, which implies that now you can make a Judo Throw as an All-Out Attack (Strong). What would the effects be? Damaging Judo Throw appears in GURPS Martial Arts, but not in the base book.

 

            Knot-Tying

            DFRPG-A, p. 79: New use – making an improvised lariat from a normal rope.

 

            Lifting

            DFRPG-A, p. 80: While the mechanics remain the same, this skill is worded very differently here. While before, this was a quite strange skill, here you can see that this is actually just a trained application of Extra Effort for lifting purposes. This description seems much more clear.

 

            Light Walk

            DFRPG-A, p. 33: When minimizing weight, maximum Move is 1/3 normal, rounded down. Rounding is not specified in GURPS Basic Set.

 

            Lockpicking

            DFRPG-A, p. 80: This is a DX/Average skill that defaults to DX-5. The description says that peculiar mechanisms may require a IQ-based roll instead. Basically, this is the inverse of the skill from GURPS Basic Set, probably because simple, DX-based locks are much more prevalent in Dungeon Fantasy.

 

            Meditation

            DFRPG-A, p. 80: This version did away with the lengthy concentration time.

 

            Mind Block

            DFRPG-A, p. 33: This version works differently from the one in GURPS Basic Set. Instead of rolling once per minute, or rolling once per second in combat, you roll after failing to resist any mind-reading ability as a second resistance Quick Contest. If you roll a critical failure, you lose and reveal 1d extra pieces of information of your opponent’s choice. Unlike in GURPS Basic Set, this version doesn’t provide a list of positive and negative modifiers.

 

            Parry Missile Weapons

            DFRPG-A, p. 33: This version clearly states the weight limits for heavy and light thrown weapons, and also states that you can parry Missile spells without a modifier.

 

            Pharmacy

            DFRPG-A, p. 85: Here, this skill has clearly defined brewing times for poison antidotes and disease cures.

 

            Poisons

            DFRPG-A, p. 85: This skill has a new default – Alchemy-5.

 

            Pressure Points

            DFRPG-A, p. 33: Effects are actually different! The only identical effect is that of a limb hit, the rest are different. You can safely combine the two versions, I think.

 

            Scrounging

            DFRPG-A, p. 88: This skill has a new use – roll after a battle to recover some of the arrows and other projectiles you used.

 

            Speed-Reading

            DFRPG-A, p. 89: This skill has a new use – identifying written spells takes less time.

 

            Tonfa

            DFRPG-A, p. 82: This skill is worded better here than in GURPS Basic Set, using the rules from GURPS Low-Tech instead.

 

RULES

 

            Aim

            Now, something that pops up often in my games is clarified! You aim at a specific target (person or object, not body part).

 

Catching Fire

            DFRPG-E, p. 68: If all your clothes are aflame, you can drop and roll as a single Change Posture maneuver without any rolls to extinguish yourself. In GURPS Basic Set, this used to require a DX roll and take three Ready maneuvers.

In DFRPG, you can also extinguish yourself by beating the flame with your hands – this takes three Ready maneuvers and a DX roll. This wasn’t possible in GURPS Basic Set.

 

Cloaks

            DFRPG-E, p. 48: A failed cloak block amounts to a botched unarmed parry with a hand holding some flimsy cloth! Against a melee weapon (only), failure lets the attacker choose to hit the original target or the cloak arm - and no, the cloak doesn’t give that arm extra DR.

 

Diving for Cover

            DFRPG-E, p. 50: Defense Bonus is not applied when diving for cover.

 

Effects of Injury

            DFRPG-E, p. 55: “Reeling,” as in being below 1/3 of your HP, halves your Move and Dodge instead of Move and Basic Speed. While this has the same effect on Dodge, it will not affect your position in the turn order if you start a fight while reeling.

 

Evaluate

            This maneuver doesn’t exist in DFRPG. Interesting.

 

            Firing Upward and Downward

            DFRPG-E, p. 43: For ranged attacks, apply a +1 bonus to fire down-slope and -1 penalty to fire up-slope. Double them for slopes between 45 and 90 degrees. This is significantly more simple, but less detailed than the rules for Firing Upward and Downward (p. B407).

 

Grabbing

            DFRPG-E, p. 41 specifies that if you grabbed the opponent’s weapon, he cannot use it to attack or defend. This isn’t present in GURPS Basic Set.

 

Grappling

            DFRPG-E, p. 40 does something that GURPS Basic Set does not – define “head” as a single hit location for the purpose of grappling. I’ve seen many times people trying to grapple face or skull, but now it’s clearly defined as head that is targeted at -3. Just like in Fantastic Dungeon Grappling.

            Remember the -4 penalty to DX for being grappled? In GURPS Basic Set, it is applied as a general penalty if you’ve grappled the torso, and if you grappled a different body part, the victim has -4 to DX only when using that body part. The last part even is italicized for extra emphasis. In DFRPG, however, this -4 to DX applies regardless of hit location, but if you grab a body part other than torso, the opponent cannot use that body part to attack or defend in addition to that general -4 to DX. The “cannot attack” part does exist in GURPS Basic Set, but is hidden under Actions After Being Grappled, but the “cannot defend” part seems to be new.

            Also, there’s something else new – you get +3 to takedown rolls if you have grappled the opponent’s leg or foot.

            When breaking free from a grapple, you can step immediately. In GURPS Basic Set, this is “move one yard in any direction,” which is slightly different.

 

Lariats

            DFRPG-E, p. 44: The only defense against a lariat is a dodge. In GURPS Basic Set, you can parry too. There’s some new stuff too: “A tie means you keep your weapon but your enemy is free to move around within its length.” This isn’t present in GURPS Basic Set. Also, “running” is stated to be “moving faster than a step,” which is nice.

 

Nets

            DFRPG-A, p. 105: A large net requires two hands to ready, but only one hand to attack.

            DFRPG-E, p. 45: The rules for nets in GURPS Basic Set are barely functional. I strongly recommend you use these ones, or to combine them into a single whole.

            The first difference is that the only legal defense is a dodge, while in GURPS Basic Set you could also parry it, and even damage it when parrying with a cutting weapon. The second difference is that destroying the net works differently. Instead of attacking the net and depleting its HP, you simple have to take three Ready maneuvers to cut yourself out with a Reach C cutting weapon. Alternatively, with a single Ready maneuver, you can win in a Quick Contest of ST vs. 14 for a melee net or 22 for a large net to burst it.

 

Picks

            DFRPG-E, p. 39 replaces all mentions of “damage” with “injury.” In this context, I don’t think there’s any difference.

 

Pounce

            DFRPG-E, p. 40: Just like slams (see below), pounces calculate damage differently now. However, now if you knock the victim down, you may claim a free grapple! This is a huge bonus! DFRPG has no flying tackle option, so I wonder if this would also apply to flying tackles.

 

Rounding

            DFRPG-A, p. 6: Round costs and weights up.

            BS, p. 9: Round up for point costs.

 

Shield Rush

            DFRPG-E, p. 40: Just like slams (see below), shield rushes calculate damage differently now. However, now you add the shield’s DB to your damage roll and subtract it from your target’s damage roll. Also, nothing is said about your shield taking damage of the slam.

 

            Size Modifier Table

Size Modifier	Longest Dimension (p. B19)	Longest Dimension (DFRPG-A, p. 12)
SM-9	2.5”	2”
SM-8	3.5”	3”
SM-6	7”	8”
SM-5	10”	1’

The DFRPG values correspond to the Linear Measurement values from the Size and Speed/Range Table, p. B550.

DFRPG-E, p. 36: Size modifier is applied as a modifier to attacks both in melee and ranged combat (in GURPS Basic Set, it is only a thing in ranged combat, but this was later reworked in the online FAQ and a Pyramid article; even then the maximum bonus from Size in melee combat is +4, but it isn’t present in DFRPG).

 

Slam

            This is the most notorious change between the books. As per DFRPG-E, p.40, damage calculation for slams work the following way:

            “If you hit, you each roll your thrust-2 crushing damage on the other; as well, look up how many hexes (yards) you ran this turn in the “Linear Measurement” column of Size and Speed/Range Table and add the corresponding “Size” modifier to each die of damage rolled by both sides. You can use All-Out Attack (Strong) to increase your damage. Whoever rolled the lower damage must make a DX roll or fall down, and falls automatically if the higher damage roll was at least twice as much.”

            Personally, I haven’t tried these rules yet, but I’ve heard that they work much better than the one in GURPS Basic Set.

 

            Speed Penalties

            DFRPG-E, p. 43: Ignore target speed except when your target is taking an All-Out Defense (Increased Dodge) maneuver, or using Move maneuvers to sprint or tumble. Then add speed in yards/second (i.e., hexes moved) to range in yards and look up the total in the “Speed/Range” column to find the penalty. Don’t look up range and speed penalties separately and add them together!

 

Torches

            DFRPG-E, p. 68: Torches and other incendiary weapons deal 1 point of follow-up burning damage, instead of linked burning damage. This change probably stems from the fact that linked attacks do not even exist in DFRPG.

 

Trampling

            DFRPG-E, p. 40: “When someone is knocked down by a slam or overrun and the attacker keeps moving, trampling is automatic – don’t make attack or defense rolls, just roll trampling damage and halve it.”

            BS, p. 404: “Do not make any attack or defense rolls - roll damage immediately, based on half your ST, rounded down.”

            In one case, damage is halved, in another – ST is halved. I prefer the DFRPG version, as it is much easier to calculate.

 

Whips

            DFRPG-E, p. 39: Whips are worded slightly differently. “Anyone injured on the arm or hand by a whip must roll against Will modified by the shock penalty for the injury or drop anything in that hand.” In GURPS Basic Set, the wording is less clear, as it says that any whip blow is painful, but the roll is required if the victim takes a whip wound, which is not a mechanical term, but a descriptive one.