Flame Weapon Damage for GURPS

Version 1.2 Copyright © 1999, 2001 by Christoph Sticherling.
Expanded GURPS rules for the effects of flame weapons from Greek fire bombs to magic Fireballs and modern Flamethrowers. This article tells you more about your possible protection against flame weapons, the intense pain, the potential eye damage and the slow recovery from burns. It also describes the psychological effect of using a flame weapon and the likely reactions on flame weapon users.

Introduction

The use of flame weapons is widespread among roleplaying game characters. GURPS is no exception in that. The Fireball spell is not by coincidence included in the spell list of the GURPS Basic Set. Most fantasy style adventuring parties seem to regard a fireball hurling mage as a valuable addition. In some TL 5+ scenarios like GURPS Special Ops the characters have access to flamethrowers and other flame weapons. But as John M. Ford wrote in Roleplayer 16: "RPGs have always underrated the effects of injury on PCs, and nowhere more so than large-scale burns: until very recently, anyone with second-degree or worse burns over half or more of the skin was almost certainly doomed."
This article will tell you something about the hard facts of flame damage and how to include them in GURPS. It is the GMs decision to emphasize realistic flame damage or not. It might take some roleplayers by surprise and adds some worthwhile realism to play. As a result players may get a different attitude regarding flame weapons. They will perhaps see them more as what they are: weapons of terror.

Protection

For DR to count against an explosion or an attack like a flamer or flamethrower, it must be sealed or airtight. The burning substances will find any possible way inside your armor. In addition, some burning agents like napalm use up all the available oxygen, asphyxiating anyone without independent oxygen supply.

Intense Pain

Burns are painful. Make a HT roll at -1 for every point of flame damage or be effectively stunned as per p. B127. High Pain Threshold gives +5 to this roll; Low Pain Threshold doubles the penalties.
In addition to the normal Shock (p. B126) burns are so painful that they reduce your IQ and DX by -1 for every 4 points of flame damage. This can only be canceled by pain killing drugs (fast) or recovery (slow).
Anyone stunned by pain will also involuntarily try to retreat from the flames as the perceived source of the pain. If this will bring him into danger, e.g. of falling from something or loosing control of a vehicle, then roll against his (reduced) IQ to see if he can avoid that reaction.

Blow Through

There is no "blow through" with flame damage. All damage is applied to the body and reduces hit points. If hit locations (p. B203, p. B248, p. COII52) are used a location that takes HT damage from burns can be considered not only to be crippled (if possible by the standard rules) but also having received 3rd-degree burns. Toughness helps.

Eye Damage

The eyes may take damage from flame hits even if not the main target of the attack. You may use the following table to determine if the eyes are collaterally damaged or not.

Flame weapon hit at

Probability of collateral eye damage

head, brain, nose, neck or jaw (areas 3-5)

5 or less on a roll of 1d

arm, middle and upper torso, vitals (areas 6, 8-10, 17-18)

4 or less on a roll of 1d

hand, lower torso (areas 7, 11)

3 or less on a roll of 1d

body (center of mass; not using hit locations)

4 or less on a roll of 1d

If one eye is affected by flame damage, it is very likely that both are. Roll 1d. On a 5 or less both eyes are damaged.
More than 2 hits of damage blinds the eye. Closing the eye does not help. Any blinded eye counts as crippled for purposes of recovery. Having your eyes burned is extremely painful. You are at -4 to IQ to think clearly for 1d minutes, in addition to all other IQ modifiers. In some cases the pain never stops.

Recovery

Burns can be as crippling as any other injuries. Roll for recovering from crippling injuries as per p. B129. At TL 6 or less the affected limb may be amputated to avoid severe and potentially lethal complications. If this is not an option the patient is in need of intensive medical care.
All Physician skill rolls for medical care (p. B128) are modified by the extent of burn injuries (-1 for every hit point below 0 HT) and the TL of available medical care (TL-7) (e.g. a victim with HT 10 that took 15 hit points flame damage at TL 4 gives the physician a -8 to his skill). Failed rolls simply mean no extra hit point is recovered. Critical failure costs the patient 1 hit point.
A victim that has lost more than HT hit points from burns is in serious trouble without adequate medical care. Tetanus (p. COII173) is a very likely complication. Before 1890 there is no tetanus anti-toxin.
All rolls for natural recovery (p. B128) without medical aid are at -1 for every hit point below 0 HT. This makes recovering from serious burns very slow, which is realistic.
Most severe burns leave distinctive marks, even if fully healed. Make an additional roll against HT at -1 for every hit point below HT/2. A failed roll lowers appearance by one level (e.g. average becomes unattractive). A critical failure lowers appearance by two levels. Plastic surgery (TL6+) may avoid or correct this. The Surgery skill roll is at -2 per level of appearance that is to be improved. Appearance will never be improved by more than two levels without a critical success. A failure means no visible success. A critical failure indicates lengthy and painful complications and — if the GM is really mean — a further loss of appearance.

Flame Weapons

Flame weapons include but are not limited to Fireballs, Flamethrowers, Molotov Cocktails, Napalm, Oil Flasks and White Phosphorus ammunition.

• Fireballs (p. B159, M34) are mentioned here as an example of many different magical flame attacks. These are the most common flame weapons available to fantasy adventurers. Damage ranges usually from 1d to 3d.

• Modern flamethrowers (TL6/7) can project enough burning liquid per round for 12d burn damage in the first second, with additional damage from the sticking liquid for several seconds after the hit (see p. HT79). This makes taking a full burst highly lethal. But even a single hit (3d in the first second) will burn any affected part of the body seriously.

• Molotov Cocktails are discussed on page B121. Damage for anyone in a burning hex is 1d per second for one minute.

• Napalm is stickier than the filler of a Molotov Cocktails - it will cling to whatever it hits - and it burns hotter (3d/sec).

• Oil flasks are fantasy weapons functionally similar to Molotov Cocktails but filled with "Greek fire" (p. B121).

• White Phosphorus is used in grenades (e.g. the M34), bombs and incendiary devices like the "Handflammpatrone" (HAFLA, p. UT121). The phosphorus fragments continue to burn, inflicting damage each turn. Depending on weapon this can be 1 point each for 120 seconds (HAFLA) or 1d points for 60 seconds (M34), to give two examples. They are difficult to remove and pose additional hazards to the physician treating the injury. If fragments are buried deep within the wound they sometimes ignite spontaneously if brought into contact with air during surgery, jumping - still burning - out of the wound propelled by evaporated body fluids.

Using a Flame Weapon

The victims of a flame weapons are a gruesome sight even for some of the more hard boiled types of adventurers. They scream terribly in their agony, if still able to do so. The stench of burned flesh and hair is awful. Make a Will roll to keep from turning your eyes away. Empathy gives -3 on that roll. The amount by which this roll is made or failed is used as a modifier for a HT roll. Failure indicates throwing up or some similar reaction. Routine helps sometimes. But some people never get used to this.

Reaction to Flame Weapon Users

Witnesses of flame attacks suffer the same consequences as the weapon user, making a Will roll and a HT roll. Depending on circumstances a Fright Check might also be required, especially if the witnesses where not prepared for the use of flame weapons.
Anyone with the Empathy advantage that witnesses the burning of a sentient being will react at -3 or worse to those responsible for that. Likewise anyone with Animal Empathy or Sense of Duty to Nature (like most Elves) will never tolerate the burning of (living) animals.
It would be perfectly reasonable if most people that the adventurers meet have a deep aversion against flame weapons and their users. Imagine how the scene might change immediately if the adventurers boast in a tavern about a fight and one of them mentions the effective fireballs. The other customers might loose the friendly expressions from their faces, turn their backs to the party and here and there a murmur might be heard like "Poor devils. That is too cruel, even for an Orc.", "What a bitter way to die." and "Cold-blooded bastards.".
Sample reaction modifiers are -4 for witnessing the act of burning, -1 for a brief mentioning of the flame effects on the victim, -2 for a detailed description of the flame effects or a picture of the victim, -2 outside times of war, revolution or insurrection, -1 to -4 in societies with a low level of every day physical violence. Generally, the more civilized the audience, the worse the reactions.
Neutral reactions are possible (e.g. because of a very poor imagination, overall stupidity, an unusually low empathy or strong internal suppression mechanisms).
Only pathologic individuals like those suffering from Sadism or the Pyromania disadvantage might react with a positive modifier to the users of flame weapons.