GURPS 4e Made Easy

"GURPS 4e Made Easy" by Frank Wilcox, Jr (fewilcox) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

GURPS 4e is 2004 Steve Jackson Games.

Last updated 2015-03-21.

What's on my character sheet?

ST (Strength) Physical power and bulk. Determines weapon damage and Hit Points (HP).

DX (Dexterity) Agility, coordination, and fine motor control. Determines weapon accuracy.

IQ (Intelligence) Creativity, intuition, memory. Determines Per and Will.

HT (Health) Energy, vitality, stamina, resistance (to disease, poison, etc), and basic "grit". Determines FP.

HP (Hit Points) Average characters have 10 HP. At 0 you run the risk of passing out or even dying from

your injuries.

Per (Perception) Alertness as well as your five senses.

Will (Willpower) How well you withstand psychological stress and resist supernatural attacks.

FP (Fatigue Points) These are consumed by strenuous activity and can also be spent for Extra Effort.

BL (Basic Lift) The maximum weight you can lift over your head with one hand in one second.

Dmg (Damage) thr = thrust damage; sw = swing damage.

BS (Basic Speed) Your reflexes and general quickness.

BM (Basic Move) How many yards you can move in one second.

Dodge/Block/Parry Dodge is used to sidestep, dive behind cover, or otherwise get out of the way of an

attack. Block is used to forcibly put something in the way of the attack, normally a shield or cloak. Parry is

used to deflect an attack with your weapon. This leaves heavier weapons unbalanced so they must be

Readied before you can make another attack. You can't parry if you moved more than a step (which is a yard

or hex) this turn.

Advantages range from really good eyesight to flight to extra limbs to super-powered attacks. In short,

anything about your character that is above the ordinary.

Disadvantages are flaws that can make characters more interesting and provide roleplaying opportunities.

They also grant you additional Character Points to use when making the character.

Skills are the things your character can do that require some amount of training. Each lists its value, which is

the number you roll against most of the time, and its relative value, which is how much the skill varies from

its related attribute. Effective skill refers to your skill level after any situational modifiers are added.

How do I do stuff?

Choose the appropriate skill or attribute and roll 3d6. A roll of no more than that number succeeds. For

instance, to stop a door from slamming closed you would roll versus your Strength. To hack a computer you

would roll against your Computer Hacking skill.

A roll of 3-4 is a Critical Success and always succeeds, as does any roll that is at least 10 less than your

effective skill. Likewise 18 and any roll at least 10 more than your effective skill are Critical Failures.

How do I hit things?

Attack rolls are like any other skill checks: you simply roll against the appropriate skill. On a success, your

target gets to make a defense roll (dodge, block, or parry); no defense for critical successes. You may only

block 1 attack each turn, but can dodge or parry as many as you like. The drawback to parrying is that you

suffer a cumulative -1 penalty for each parry after the first in the same turn. If the defense fails roll your

damage, then the target subtracts any Damage Resistance (DR) from it before subtracting the rest from HP.