1 Character, 13 Systems - Part 6: GURPS

    I described my character, Korsanian, in a previous post here. 
    Time to jump out of the whole D&D dogpile and into something completely different, here's my character in the GURPS system:

Books Used: GURPS Characters (4th ed)
Approximate time to create: 1 hr, 45 min

Korsanian Vambrae  -  Cursed Wood Elf, Wizard
150 point character

Strength  8  [-20]
Dexterity  8  [-40]
Intelligence  14 [80]
Health  8  [-20]

Damage Base: swing 1d-2, thrust 1d-3
Basic Lift: 13 lbs
Hit Points: 8
Will: 14
Perception: 14
Fatigue Points: 26 [6]

Basic Speed: 4
  Dodge- 7
Basic Move: 3 yrds/rnd
Encumbrance:
  None (0)  1-13 lbs
  Light (1)  14-26 lbs  Move 2, Dodge 6
  Medium (2)  27-39 lbs  Move 2, Dodge 5
  Heavy (3)  40-78 lbs  Move 1, Dodge 4
  Extra Heavy (4)  79-130 lbs  Move 1, Dodge 3
Home Gravity: 1G
Water Move: 1
Air Move: 0

Build: 4'2"  60 lbs
Size Modifier: -1
Dwarfism [-15] -1 size mod, -1 basic move, -1 reach in combat, -2 disguise or shadowing in a crowd
Age: 22 yrs old
Appearance: Average

Tech Level: 3 (medieval), starting wealth $1,000
Home Culture: Elvish
Cultural Adaptability [10] ignore penalties in some other cultures
Languages: Elvish (native) [0], Human (accented) [4], Dwarven (accented) [4]

Advantages:
Acute Hearing +2 [4]
Acute Vision +2 [4]
Ally (faelynx)  50% base points (75), appears constantly [8]
Contact Group (Wizards Council of Northwatch)  magical aid, effective skill 12, usually reliable, appears fairly often (9-) [20]
Detect (Magic) occasional [10]
Eidetic Memory (photographic) [10]
Magery (2) [25]

Skills:
Alchemy/TL3-13  [4]
Animal Handling: Big Cats-15  [2]
Area Knowledge (elvish forest)-15  [2]
Area Knowledge (northern kingdom)-15  [2]
Camoflauge-15  [2]
Crossbow-9  [4]
First Aid-15  [2]
Herb Lore/TL3-13  [4]
Melee Weapon (staff)-8  [2]
  Parry-9
Observation-14  [2]
Riding (faelynx)-8  [2]
Search-14  [2]
Survival-14  [2]
Thaumatology-15  [4]
Tracking-14  [2]
Vetrinary-13  [2]

Spells Known:
Analyze Magic-14  [4]  cost 8, time 1 hr
Identify Spell-14  [4]  cost 2
Detect Magic-14  [4]  cost 2, time 5 sec
Counterspell-15  [8]  cost 1/2 the spell being countered-1, time 5 sec

Weapons:
Quarterstaff  1d cr or 1d-1 cr dmg  0, 1 reach  +2 parry  $10  4 lbs  min ST 7
Crossbow  1d+1 imp dmg  Acc 4  Range x20/x25  RoF 1  Shots 1  6/0.06 lbs  $150  min ST 7  Bulk -6
20 bolts

Armor:
none

Gear:
Backpack (small), Blanket, Lantern (burns 24 hrs/pint), Oil (2 pints), Rope 3/8" 10 yrds, Travelers Rations (15 meals), Wineskin, $651
[approx 30 lbs total gear, medium load if all carried]


    So, when you think about making a GURPS character you think, oh my god this is going to take forever.  And it does.  This took as long as almost two other characters.  In part it's that system knowledge thing, I haven't made a GURPS character since the 90s.  In part it's because of the incredible detail and near limitless possibilities.  I will give GURPS this, you can make anything.  So how well did our character come out?  Not too bad actually.  I was able to pick up the skills I wanted.  I did end up duplicating detect magic, I bought it as an Advantage so that I could do it at will, but then I needed to take the spell as a prerequisite for Counterspell.  I wanted to take Dispel Magic that would work on an area, but you had to take 12 spells as a prereq, and I've only got 4.  This is a one-trick character so I didn't take a lot of spells.  Some other quirks: I am still amazed how strength, dexterity and health are all attributes, with only intelligence for non-physical.  Appearance and such is an advantage or skill, which I kind of get, but at the same time it feels lopsided to me (D&D at least has 3 physical and 3 non-physical).  Why is my crossbow damage based on my strength?  Plus why is there an alchemy skill but no alchemy items or creation rules?  And for those of you who don't play, all the skills and numbers are roll-under on 3d6.
    I'm fairly happy with the character overall, but I'm not sure if I gained anything from all these numbers that I was missing in another system.  I was able to get almost exactly the skills I wanted, happy about that.  Magic uses fatigue points, and I bought a lot of them extra, so I can use my limited magic quite a bit more than the 13th Age or D&D-line.  But my big Contacts advantage could be abstracted to a simple d6 roll in 13th Age.  I do like crunch, but this is a little much for me.  I might try playing this character, but I could live happily without ever playing him.