The GURPS forum once had a thread on how realistic Combat Reflexes were. It brought up a lot of very good arguments and so I kind of ran with it. Tacked on to the end of this article are some of the comments.
So I figured that if points would be put into the advantage over time, it shouldn't just be an "nothing, then everything" sort of thing. So here is the progression of bonuses based on how many points you have invested in it (effects are cumulative):
Combat Reflexes, point by point
| Points |
Bonus |
| 1 |
None |
| 2 |
+1 to IQ Wake-up rolls |
| 3 |
None |
| 4 |
+1 to IQ Wake-up rolls (Net +2) |
| 5 |
+1 to Fright Checks |
| 6 |
None |
| 7 |
+1 to IQ Wake-up rolls (Net +3) |
| 8 |
None |
| 9 |
+1 to IQ Wake-up rolls (Net +4) |
| 10 |
+1 to Fast Draw |
| 11 |
+1 to IQ Wake-up rolls (Net +5) |
| 12 |
+1 to Fright Checks (Net +2) |
| 13 |
Your side gets +1 to Initiative rolls to avoid surprise, +2 if you are the
leader |
| 14 |
+1 to IQ Wake-up rolls (Net +6) |
| 15 |
+1 to Active Defenses |
Players not starting out with Combat Reflexes along with an appropriate backstory can apply one character point per battle they are in, up to the full 15 point cost of the advantage. CR isn't something you just wake up and have; it is something that your mind develops. Also, not all combats are intense enough to drive you to develop this advantage: "low danger" combats probably wouldn't do it.
On a related note, there is a potential downside to having these kind of reflexes: I once heard of a soldier coming back from Iraq part 1 who went back home after the war, and was sleeping on the floor in his mother's house. His mother got up one night to see how he was doing, and he woke up and had her pinned to the ground before he came to his senses. Scared the bejeezus out of his mom....The question is, should there be some kind of control number to try to keep this kind of reaction from happening, or add in a bit of a disad to CR? (Perhaps use Sleepwalker -5 with a CR12 to simulate this; traumatic battle history might make this CR# lower.)
Pagan: "In my game, which is realistic fantasy, I do this and for characters who want to get CR in play, they can earn 1pt per session that their character significantly participates in combat. Those points are dedicated towards CR and can be spent on nothing else. At that rate, the character would have to have significant participation in 15 combats before they gained CR. I think that is fair, after all, it's still a game and penalizing the players isn't really the goal. This way, if you have a character who doesn't like to enter combat they will either never get CR or it will take a very long time. The characters who turn out to be more aggressive will earn it faster.
(If you need an example, compare the Daniel character from Stargate SG1. Fairly non combatant in the first season and a seasoned warrior in the 8th season)"
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