Extra Option

Perk, 1 point

The rules are full of advanced and optional rules that change how the game works in particular situations. Usually, these don’t cost points because they’re campaign options – either everybody uses them or nobody does. However, the GM may allow certain rules that normally aren’t used in the campaign on a PC-by-PC basis. Access to each of these is a perk.

Options that cost FP or character points to exercise are the fairest. For instance, each aspect of Influencing Success Rolls (p. B347) and Extra Effort in Combat (p. B357), as well as Flesh Wounds and TV Action Violence under Cinematic Combat Rules (p. B417), could be an Extra Option perk in a campaign where those rules don’t universally apply.

Rules that inflict penalties are usually fine, too. For example, the GM may not want to use the complicated new hit locations in GURPS Martial Arts – or his campaign might be set before medicine knows about those locations! Then an Extra Option could enable a warrior familiar with one of those locations to target it at the standard penalty. Indeed, many optional rules in Martial Arts could work this way, with access to them becoming attractive special abilities for skilled fighters.

If either kind of rule expands the spectrum of an advantage, cinematic skill, or spell, the GM should require a separate Extra Option perk for each trait that can benefit from the added option. The same goes for cinematic or supernatural rules options available for mundane skills, like the most extreme cinematic rules in Martial Arts: specialization by skill is advisable.

Finally, rules that demand significant time or effort are good candidates. In particular, lengthy, difficult ceremonial magic and enchantment methods from GURPS Magic and GURPS Thaumatology make excellent perks for wizards in campaigns that don’t use those options in general. These perks shouldn’t require specialization by spell, as long setup times and the need for special resources balance potency.