Darkvision in D&D and GURPS, or How does Infravision work?

 Darkvision in D&D and GURPS, or How does Infravision work?

There is one ability that is present on most monster statblocks in D&D – darkvision. In my opinion, it is overused, as often there is even no justification for why would the creature in question ever need darkvision. For example, let’s check D&D 3.5 Monster Manual – I counted 377 monsters total, and do you know how many of them have darkvision? 239! That’s roughly 63% of all monsters. And you should keep in mind that the first Monster Manual contains many mundane animals, so for the other Monster Manuals this percentage is probably higher. But anyway, it seems to me that darkvision in D&D is not a special quality – the lack of darkvision is a special quality.

Powers: Electrokinesis

Powers: Electrokinesis

GURPS Psionic Powers has a large Ergokinesis powers that is comprised of three subpowers - Cyberpsi, Electrokinesis, and Photokinesis. Since I'm mostly running low-tech fantasy games, many of these abilities are simply useless, except for very rare cases with anachronistic tech. I've already did my take on Pyrokinesis and Cryokinesis as separate psionic powers, but there are some "energy" powers left - Sonokinesis (already exists in GURPS in Pyramid #3-29), Electrokinesis, and Acetokinesis. I'm not going to even think about Acetokinesis, I think WotC were on something when they came up with that concept, but Electrokinesis sounds fine, I just have to rework the power completely and make it more fantasy and less sci-fi. When writing up these abilities, I found that Electrokinesis is quite special, as it lends itself well to "buff"-like Afflictions that imbue the subject with an electrical charge, while other powers usually are incompatible with such things due to flavor reasons.

Ultra-Tech: Superwire Guns

Ultra-Tech: Superwire Guns

There is one kinetic ammunition option from GURPS Vehicles that didn't make it to 4e, unfortunately, - the superwire. Superwire is an option for electromagnetic and gravitic guns, but I believe that a gun that fires superwire should not be compatible with a gun that fires normal rounds, so they should be a separate sub-class of weapons. Let's port them over to 4e!

Malediction Buffs: Example

Malediction Buffs: Example

In my previous post, I suggest a different way of making sorcery buffs, something that is more granular but also more intuitive. Let's take one buff spell and see how much its variants will cost. Just something of a comparison.

Sorcery Buffs in GURPS are Simple - Fact or Fiction?

Sorcery Buffs in GURPS are Simple - Fact or Fiction?

You probably know that I like magic as powers in GURPS, and Sorcery is one of the premade examples of the powers framework. Sorcery tries to be generic and understandably so – when all mechanics are made generic, when all spells work the same way, it becomes easy to use premade sorcery spells as a base for something less generic and more flavorful. Sorcery has several different types of spells, and in this post I’d like to dive deeply in how Buff spells work, because they might seem simple on the surface level, but they actually have many little nuances that might require explanation. Also, I will tell you how you can make Buffs work differently.

Occupational Template: Soulknife

Occupational Template: Soulknife

Another D&D occupational template - the soulknife.

Galactic Havoc: Sto Astrocracy

Galactic Havoc: Sto Astrocracy

We have humans, cybernetic humans, rogue robots, but what about the aliens? With only slight adjustments, I can cannibalize an alien species from my other sci-fi setting, rework the racial template, and make them more militaristic. That should work.