GURPSよろず

p.165
　This option lets heroes vanquish tough foes by carefully timing their attacks. There’s no restriction on the attacks used – special abilities, fists, guns, etc. – although it’s easier to coordinate related powers.

　Everyone who wants to coordinate should be able to communicate, if only with a few words or a gesture.
The GM may exclude individuals who can’t communicate at all. In a realistic campaign, the GM might even require the group’s leader to take a Concentrate maneuver and make a Leadership roll to instruct his allies for at least a second before everyone attacks. This might take several seconds if the leader can’t speak in person or by radio, and must rely on hand signals.In a cinematic game, ignore this requirement.

　In addition, everyone must attack the same target at the same time. This means that at least some of the coordinating fighters will have to take Wait maneuvers.

　As soon as everyone can attack, each fighter attempts his attack roll.
Since the attack occurs when the attackers can coordinate – not when their target gives them a clear shot – everyone rolls at -3 per fighter past the first (-3 for two, -6 for three, and so on). Those with Enhanced Time Sense (p. B52) roll at only -2 per extra attacker.
Add +1 if everyone in the group is using a power with the same source or focus, or +2 if everyone is using the same power. Talent and all standard attack modifiers apply as usual.


　A fighter can opt out of a Coordinated Attack at the last moment. If so, he ignores the special modifiers above. However, his allies suffer the penalty for the original number of fighters involved, as they didn’t know their ally’s true intentions.
The attackers must choose one of these options before anyone rolls to hit:

　•Overwhelm: This is an attempt to overload the target’s defenses with simultaneous attacks from different angles. Each coordinated attacker after the first who hits gives the victim -2 to active defenses or -1 to resistance rolls against all of the attacks. Halve this penalty (dropping all fractions) if the target has Enhanced Time Sense.

　• Wound: The attackers may instead concentrate their attacks on one specific point. They must all be able to attack the same side of the same hit location. Those who hit add their damage together for knockback purposes, which is useful for pushing high-ST foes off precipices, into prison cells, etc. Apply the target’s DR separately to each attack for the purpose of determining injury – but add together attacks that don’t penetrate DR when assessing blunt trauma (see p. B379).

　After working out the final HP of injury inflicted by each attack – taking into account DR, damage type, hit location, etc. – add the injuries together and treat them as a single wound for the purpose of shock, knockdown, stunning, crippling, and anything else that depends on wound size. This lets attackers with relatively weak attacks inflict major wounds on opponents with high DR . . . or blow apart a foe with Supernatural Durability.

　Coordinated attackers can even launch (tough!) friends by capitalizing on combined knockback. Apply these rules as usual, but halve “knockback” for a vertical launch. The living projectile can coordinate with his launchers;
he counts as an attacker, and must make his Jumping roll at the same penalty as the others’ attack rolls.
Success lets him add his broad-jump distance to horizontal knockback, his high-jump distance to vertical knockback.

　In a high-realism game, the GM should use Tactical Combat (pp. B384-392) on a battle map to determine where missed shots go, and HP and DR of Objects and Cover (p. B557) to assess damage to the surroundings. In a cinematic game, though, this degree of detail can spoil the mood. The GM is free to decree that all misses vanish harmlessly, of course, but property damage is a hallowed tradition in many genres – especially supers! Below is a quicker, less-realistic alternative for larger-than-life battles.

　Whenever an attack misses or is dodged, and whenever any area effect, cone, or explosion goes off, roll 3d on the table below. Only roll if there are bystanders or breakable objects present (on a busy street, inside the Secret Underground Fortress, etc.), and only if the attack could actually affect someone or something in the area. Even nonlethal attacks require a roll, though. An Affliction or Fatigue Attack can mean a lawsuit if it causes someone to stumble and break a tooth (or worse), and a “harmless” Binding might foul and damage delicate machinery.

　Modifiers: Lethal attacks: +2 for 10d damage, +4 for 100d damage, and so forth; +2 if incendiary or burning; +2 if area effect, cone, or explosion.
　Nonlethal attacks (Affliction, Binding, Fatigue Attack, etc.): -8.
　All attacks: +2 indoors; +2 in the presence of dangerous surroundings (rocket fuel, high-tension cables, etc.); +2 if the attacker is trying to cause collateral damage instead of attacking a specific target; -2 per -1 a cautious attacker accepts on his attack roll specifically to avoid collateral damage.

8 or less – No appreciable damage.

9-10 – An object susceptible to the attack sustains $100 worth of damage, or a person is harmed badly enough to justify a $100 fine or lawsuit; e.g., a broken window or dented fender, or a minor graze or torn shirt.

11-12 – Damages totaling $1,000; e.g., a broken computer or car windshield, or a loose tooth or permanent scar.

13-14 – Damages totaling $10,000; e.g., a caved-in wall or totaled car, or a broken limb or other major injury.

15-16 – Damages totaling $100,000; e.g., a house fire, a blast that shatters every window for a block, or a coma or similar injury that causes lasting harm.

17-18 – Damages totaling $1,000,000; e.g., a multi-house fire, or serious injuries to many people. The GM might instead rule that a bystander is killed.

19 or more – Damages totaling $10,000,000; e.g., a fire that consumes a city block, the destruction of irreplaceable lab equipment, multiple deaths, or a similar catastrophe.