Encounter: (Inspired by) Violent Roach

Hi... friend!

Earthbound, right? It has some funky enemies that might make some good fodder for some creative mangling. There's kind of an issue, however, when it comes to porting console JRPGs to GURPS; that is that enemies just don't make sense in a consistent way. This means there is usually no magic formula to take an enemy out of a game and put it into another. In any case, let's putz around anyway and see what we come up with for one of these interesting enemies anyways.

First off, let's take a look at some of the most important aspects of the roach: It has a weak attack, it has a debuff "terrible odor," and Terror. First off, we need to figure out which of the two afflictions is most powerful. As an affliction, very close-range Terror is worth 5 CER. Lowering a character's striking strength by 2 and DR by 1 is worth 7 CER. Let's also say this guy is relatively defensive (Exoskeleton) and fast (Roach) Let's see what we come up with as a first run.

Attack Skill		Active Defense	8
Affliction	7	Damage Resistance	3
Damage		Health	0
Fatigue Points		Hit Points	0
Move	4	Will	0
Total Offensive Rating (OR)	11	Total Protective Rating (PR)	11

For a weak enemy, we are already close to my preferred saturation point. We just need to define its attack power.

Attack Skill	1	Active Defense	8
Affliction	7	Damage Resistance	3
Damage	3	Health	0
Fatigue Points	0	Hit Points	0
Move	4	Will	0
Total Offensive Rating (OR)	15	Total Protective Rating (PR)	11

26 is pretty good, I think. Let's classify it is a Giant Animal roach.

ST: 13	HP: 10	Speed: 8
DX: 11	Will: 10	Move: 10
IQ: 4	Per: 10
HT: 10	FP: 10	SM: -2
Dodge: 12	Parry: N/A	DR: 3

Punch (11): Reach C-1, 1d-1 Crushing.
Terrible Odor (10): 2-yard emanation, Based on sense of smell. When scent is released, anyone that isn't holding their breath (unless they have protected breathing or similar) must roll HT-2, Failure means Striking Strength -2 (-1 damage for thrust attacks, and -2 for swing attacks, usually) and -1 DR all over (unless they already have 0 DR). This effect lasts until the end of the fight, or 1 minute, whichever is faster.
Leap Forward and Spread Wings: 1-yard emanation; the Roach startles someone by flying too close to the character's face. This triggers a Fright Check with penalties for being Squeamish or having a Phobia of bugs or filth. People who don't get scared, of course, don't mind.
Traits: Wild Animal, Extra Arms 2, Peripheral Vision, Flexible, Long Arms
Skills: Brawling-11, Innate Attack (Spray)-10
Class: Giant Animal
After defeating a Violent Roach, and Searching (if you choose to do so), you may find a potent "secret herb" for relieving Afflictions provided that your Search roll is a Critical Success.

Other Thoughts and Closing

Haven't done monster stats in a while. SM-2 is pretty big for a roach. You could make a stronger version with extra attacks if you would like it to punch someone up to 4 times. It likes stinky stuff, so if you have gross stuff lying around, you might be able to bribe it by throwing it out of the way. The rules for "Terror" don't feel well defined enough, in my opinion. I assume that it is a sense-based area of effect emanation by default, but no idea what the reasonable range would be. Could be good in a lot of environs discussed in the previous series of posts.