2d Damage
GURPS uses d6 for everything. For purposes of determining damage, GURPS makes use one or several 6-sided dice. 1d6 gives you a flat random distribution. 2d6 gives you linear up --> peak --> linear down. 3d6 (or nd6 where n >= 3) gives you a bell curve. I.e. when you graph these results, 1d6 is flat, 2d6 looks like a pyramid, and 3d6 looks like a bell curve.
I've decide that the 2d6 gives the kind of distribution I want for damage. In general, I think using 2 dice to determine damage should be preferred whenever possible. Furthermore, I want the minimum possible damage to be about 15% of the expected average and the maximum possible damage to be about 185% of the expect average. To that end, the following charts will be used to determine damage:'
Damage Table
Use this table to determine your character's basic thrust and swing damage. This table can also be used to convert GURPS damages to 2d damages.
| ST | 3d6 thr | 3d6 sw | 2d thr | 2d sw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1d-6 | 1d-5 | 2d2-4 | 2d2-3 |
| 2 | 1d-6 | 1d-5 | 2d2-4 | 2d2-3 |
| 3 | 1d-5 | 1d-4 | 2d2-3 | 2d3-4 |
| 4 | 1d-5 | 1d-4 | 2d2-3 | 2d3-4 |
| 5 | 1d-4 | 1d-3 | 2d3-4 | 2d2-2 |
| 6 | 1d-4 | 1d-3 | 2d3-4 | 2d2-2 |
| 7 | 1d-3 | 1d-2 | 2d2-2 | 2d3-2 |
| 8 | 1d-3 | 1d-2 | 2d2-2 | 2d3-2 |
| 9 | 1d-2 | 1d-1 | 2d3-2 | 2d4-2 |
| 10 | 1d-2 | 1d | 2d3-2 | 2d4-1 |
| 11 | 1d-1 | 1d+1 | 2d4-2 | d4+d6-1 |
| 12 | 1d-1 | 1d+2 | 2d4-2 | d5+d6-1 |
| 13 | 1d | 2d-1 | 2d4-1 | 2d6-1 |
| 14 | 1d | 2d | 2d4-1 | d6+d8-1 |
| 15 | 1d+1 | 2d+1 | d4+d6-1 | 2d8-1 |
| 16 | 1d+1 | 2d+2 | d4+d6-1 | d8+d10-1 |
| 17 | 1d+2 | 3d-1 | d5+d6-1 | d8+d10-1 |
| 18 | 1d+2 | 3d | d5+d6-1 | d8+d10 |
| 19 | 2d-1 | 3d+1 | 2d6-1 | 2d10 |
| 20 | 2d-1 | 3d+2 | 2d6-1 | d10+d12 |
| 21 | 2d | 4d-1 | d6+d8-1 | 2d12 |
| 22 | 2d | 4d | d6+d8-1 | (d6+d8-1)x2 |
| 23 | 2d+1 | 4d+1 | 2d8-1 | (d5+d10-1)x2 |
| 24 | 2d+1 | 4d+2 | 2d8-1 | (2d8-1)x2 |
| 25 | 2d+2 | 5d-1 | d8+d10-1 | (2d8-1)x2 |
| 26 | 2d+2 | 5d | d8+d10-1 | (2d8-1)x2+1 |
| 27 | 3d-1 | 5d+1 | d8+d10-1 | (2d6-1)x3 |
3d6 to 2d Conversion
This table shows statistics for the various damage amounts. Use this table to convert GURPS damage to 2d damage.
This table should also be used to find a new damage whenever there is a + or - modifier to the normal damage done. E.g. if the damage done has a +2 modifier, use the result two rows further down. So 2d4-1 +2 damage becomes 2d5+2d6-1. Of course, to avoid having to access this table, one could simply use 2d4+1; but, one should endeavor to keep the +/-'s to within +2/-2.
| GURPS Avg. | GURPS | 2d | Min | Max | 2d Avg. | Min/Avg. | Max/Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1d6-6 | 2d2-4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | n/a | n/a |
| 0.2 | 1d6-5 | 2d2-3 | 0 | 1 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 4.00 |
| 0.5 | 1d6-4 | 2d3-4 | 0 | 2 | 0.44 | 0.00 | 4.50 |
| 1 | 1d6-3 | 2d2-2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0.00 | 2.00 |
| 1.7 | 1d6-2 | 2d3-2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0.00 | 2.00 |
| 2.5 | 1d6-1 | 2d4-2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0.00 | 2.00 |
| 3.5 | 1d6 | 2d4-1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0.25 | 1.75 |
| 4.5 | 1d6+1 | d4+d6-1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 0.20 | 1.80 |
| 5.5 | 1d6+2 | d5+d6-1 | 1 | 10 | 5.5 | 0.18 | 1.82 |
| 6 | 2d6-1 | 2d6-1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 0.17 | 1.83 |
| 7 | 2d6 | d6+d8-1 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 0.14 | 1.86 |
| 8 | 2d6+1 | 2d8-1 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 0.13 | 1.88 |
| 9 | 2d6+2 | d8+d10-1 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 0.11 | 1.89 |
| 9.5 | 3d6-1 | d8+d10-1 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 0.11 | 1.89 |
| 10.5 | 3d6 | d8+d10 | 2 | 18 | 10 | 0.20 | 1.80 |
| 11.5 | 3d6+1 | 2d10 | 2 | 20 | 11 | 0.18 | 1.82 |
| 12.5 | 3d6+2 | d10+d12 | 2 | 22 | 12 | 0.17 | 1.83 |
| 13 | 4d6-1 | 2d12 | 2 | 24 | 13 | 0.15 | 1.85 |
| 14 | 4d6 | (d6+d8-1)x2 | 2 | 26 | 14 | 0.14 | 1.86 |
| 15 | 4d6+1 | (d5+d10-1)x2 | 2 | 28 | 15 | 0.13 | 1.87 |
| 16 | 4d6+2 | (2d8-1)x2 | 2 | 30 | 16 | 0.13 | 1.88 |
| 16.5 | 5d6-1 | (2d8-1)x2 | 2 | 30 | 16 | 0.13 | 1.88 |
| 17.5 | 5d6 | (2d8-1)x2+1 | 3 | 31 | 17 | 0.18 | 1.82 |
| 18.5 | 5d6+1 | (2d6-1)x3 | 3 | 33 | 18 | 0.17 | 1.83 |
Examples
Your character has ST 10, so his basic thrust damage is 2d3-2 and his basic swing damage is 2d4-2. His punch damage is rated as thrust-1. Looking at the above tables shows this to be 2d2-2, and this is what should entered as this character's punch damage.
A weapon does 3d GURPS damage. You would roll d8+d10.