Fear in GURPS

Fear in GURPS

Adventurers often encounter things and situations that would terrify a regular person. The rules for fear in GURPS are quite interesting, but at the same time questionable. I would like to discuss this topic in more detail to make sure I understand everything correctly.

The main part of the rules can be found on pages 360-361 of GURPS Basic Set. In GURPS, the Will stat is used to resist fear, and the roll to resist fear is called a Fright Check. Whenever you encounter something terrifying, you must roll a Fright Check, unless you have Unfazeable that makes you immune. Certain advantages and disadvantages give you a bonus or penalty to your Will here.

-          Fearlessness gives you a +1 bonus per level

-          Combat Reflexes give you +2

-          Higher Purpose and Daredevil may give you +1, depending on the situation

-          Xenophilia gives you from +1 to +4 when confronting monsters

-          Fearfulness gives you a -1 penalty per level

-          Combat Paralysis gives you -2

-          Cowardice gives you from -1 to -4, if physical wellbeing is at risk.

There also are some situational modifiers, from which the most important are a +5 bonus for being in combat and a -1 to -10 basic modifiers some monsters might give.

Now, there is an important rule called The Rule of 14. If after all the modifiers, your Will exceeds 13, you reduce it to 13. In other words, a roll of 14 or higher is an automatic failure. However, there is the Brave perk in some Dungeon Fantasy books that adjusts it to 15 or higher being an automatic failure.

Keep in mind that if you roll against modified Will 13, you have a 16.2% chance to fail. If you have Brave and roll against modified Will 14, you have a 9.3% chance to fail. The aforementioned modifiers, especially +2 from Combat Reflexes and +5 for being in combat, mean that even if you have basic Will 10, you are very unlikely to fail a Fright Check in combat.

After you fail a Fright Check, you roll 3d, add your margin of failure from the Will roll, and check the result on the Fright Check table. Let’s see. The results of the 3d roll range from 3 to 18. If you hit the Rule of 14 cap, your margin of failure ranges from 1 to 5. This means that combat Fright Check results range between 4 and 23 in the vast majority of cases.

On a result of 4, you become mentally stunned for one second and recover automatically. On a result of 23, you permanently acquire a -10-point Phobia or other -10-point mental disadvantage. However, the majority of the rolls will result in something like 1d or 2d seconds of stun, following by a Will roll to recover. I have to mention that the Fright Check table extends to 40. How do you even accumulate this many penalties?

As you can see, the effects of a failed Fright Check actually are quite debilitating if you’re in combat.

What can cause a Fright Check? GURPS Basic Set has some example spread out all over the book:

-          Psychometry or Mind Reading with Sensory may let you experience a traumatic event

-          Terror is an advantage that can cause Fright Checks

-          Burning or corrosion cyclic attacks with a one-second interval (at GM’s option)

-          Such disadvantages as Phantom Voices (Disturbing), Phobia, and Post-Combat Shakes

-          Critical failure on an Exorcism attempt

-          Surviving a failed EOD attempt

-          Critical success on an Intimidation roll or a critical failure to resist Intimidation. However, p. 32 of GURPS Powers: The Weird seems to imply that this should also apply when your margin of victory is 5 or more, just like a secondary Affliction effect.

-          Being unprepared for mustard, nerve, or tear gas

Another example is given in GURPS Powers.

-          You can cause a Fright Check with a scary Illusion if you win in a Quick Contest of Artist (Illusion) skill against the higher of IQ or Perception for each victim.

Now, let’s take a look at GURPS Horror.

-          A living creature encountering somebody with Social Stigma (Dead) unexpectedly must make a Fright Check

There’s also some stuff in GURPS High-Tech

-          Being on the receiving end of a bayonet charge calls for a Fright Check

-          Facing a flamethrower may require a Fright Check

-          Finally, “You Shot Me, Mister!” on p. 162 says that anyone receiving a wound of 4+ HP to torso or head must roll a Fright Check. Anyone losing a limb or breaking a bone also should roll at -4 or worse. Combat Reflexes help as usual, but nothing is said about other modifiers.

There probably are many more examples, but I can’t be arsed to find them all.

GURPS Horror, starting on page 139, talks about Fright Checks in more detail. First, it gives you some examples for the so-called intrinsic Fright Check modifier for monsters that can range from -1 to -10. It also expands the other modifiers for dead bodies, supernatural happenings, and other scary stuff. There also is a variant system called Stress and Derangement that splits Fright Checks into two kinds, but in my opinion, it’s too big of a hassle for little gain.

My favorite part of GURPS Horror is the Not Just Stunned box on page 141. Mental stun from a Fright Check represents the victim freezing in horror, but this box presents some alternatives. The one I like the most is “Flight or Frenzy.” After one second of stun, the character must either flee the scene at his highest Move or Attack the frightening stimulus as if Berserk. That’s cool, isn’t it?

Now, there’s another minor moment that I’d like to mention. On page 397 of GURPS Basic Set, there is the following passage: “If a mounted fighter charges directly toward an NPC who is unused to facing cavalry (GM’s option), the GM may require him to make a Will roll to stand his ground and fight. If he fails, he’ll try to run instead. Anyone with Combat Reflexes gets +6 to this roll. Those with a SM equal to or greater than that of the mount do not have to roll!”

It sounds like this should’ve been a Fright Check, doesn’t it? Just an obscure rule that could use some streamlining. After all, a bayonet charge from GURPS High-Tech calls for a normal Fright Check.

There’s another book that should be mentioned, because it explains and expands Fright Checks some more – and that’s GURPS Tactical Shooting. First, it actually explains more clearly when you get the +5 “heat of battle” bonus and when you do not. If you are unaware or alert, which means that you can be totally surprised or partially surprised, you do not get a +5. If you’re focused on a specific possible threat in a way that will prevent even partial surprise if that specific threat occurs or you’re already in combat, then you do get a +5.

“Cool Under Fire” (p. TS34) says that even characters used to combat should make Fright Checks after especially traumatic events, but they may substitute Will-based Soldier skill for Will. It outlines the following situations:

-          Coming under Suppression Fire

-          Being the target of a near miss (by 2 or less) from any attack

-          Being in the blast zone of an explosion (2 x dice of damage in yards)

-          Suffering a wound (Even a graze! This conflicts with the rules from GURPS High-Tech)

-          Seeing an ally incapacitated or killed

It also gives you a long list of modifiers that you should read for yourself.

GURPS Martial Arts also has some fear-related rules in the Untrained Fighters sidebar on page 113. It says that when combat starts, those with neither combat skills nor Combat Reflexes must make a Fright Check. The GM also may rule that those who fail simply drop their weapons and run away instead of rolling on the table. This is great because it clearly defines who counts as a combat-trained character and who doesn’t. Also, in a way, this is another hidden benefit of Combat Reflexes – an already incredibly underpriced advantage.

Then there’s also a bit on page 130. It says that combatants who suffer dismemberment, lose an eye to an Eye-Pluck, a nose or an ear to Pressure Secrets, or any body part to a bite, must roll a Fright Check. It also says that these Fright Checks do not get a +5 for the heat of battle. While it may seem that this contradicts the similar rules from GURPS High-Tech, the latter also mention a -4 or worse penalty that actually would almost negate the heat of battle bonus. Or maybe I’m just trying to find excuses and patch up the holes.

Now, that was the so-called “mundane” Fright Checks, but you can also induce Fright Checks supernaturally with the Terror advantage. In GURPS Basic Set, Terror is said to act either through vision or hearing, but it doesn’t mention the base Hearing range of a hearing-based Terror. GURPS Horror also has scent-based Terror in one of the templates that doesn’t have reduced cost despite having a much shorter range. GURPS Powers has two variant Fright Check tables for Terror – Awe and Confusion. The book says that all the normal rules apply, including modifiers. Pyramid #3-92 also has another variant table for Despair.

There’s one question that bothered me for a long time. Do Terror-induced Fright Checks use the same bonuses and penalties as mundane Fright Checks? Does the victim get a +5 for the heat of battle? The rules do not clarify that, but I always believed that they shouldn’t get this bonus. Terror is quite an expensive advantage, and this bonus greatly decreases its utility.

But we’re still not done, because there’s one extra book that I have to mention. DFRPG Exploits has revised Fright Check rules. It states that dungeon fantasy adventurers are used to regular horrors and do not make mundane Fright Checks, but still make ones induced by Terror or other supernatural means. The table of effects is gone, replaced by margin of failure seconds of mental stun and disadvantages on particularly bad rolls. So, no fainting or retching anymore. However, there is something important – the +5 bonus for the heat of battle is not mentioned at all. Coupled with the fact that DFRPG adventurers only make supernaturally induced Fright Checks, I think this implies that +5 for the heat of battle does not indeed apply to Terror!

Isn’t it just great when the base rules are written in such unclear way that you require half a dozen of other books to find answers and clarifications, and even when you do, some of them contradict one another? I mean, I love GURPS, but does it have to be this convoluted? I guess I’ll have to write down how Fright Checks work in my games because otherwise it’s a nightmare to navigate this mess. Fright Check rules give me a Fright Check, possibly using the Confusion or Despair variant tables.