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The GURPS Basic Set Vol 1: Characters, on page 144 says:
Missing Digit
-2 or -5 points
You are missing a finger or thumb.Missing Finger: Gives -1 DX with that hand (only). -2 points.Missing Thumb: Gives -5 DX with that hand (only). -5 points.
I know a couple of people missing a finger who don't appear to be affected by it at all.
Some races are depicted with fewer fingers than humans and aren't given this disad.
It hit me that if it's not affecting you, you don't rate the points even if you don't have a finger where it should be!
Take the -1 for the quirk and make note your left pinky is gone. No DX penalty, but you might get some social stuff from people going, "where's your pinky?"
I've met a couple of people who are REALLY freaked out by a missing digit too. They were physically sick from the person who was missing that right ring finger. <-- That missing finger is a warning about lathes and jewelry, by the way.
Then there's James Doohan. Missing a finger from D-Day, didn't affect his ability to do stuff.
ReplyDeleteThen there's The Claw Callahan, my high school chemistry teacher. Blew his left index and middle finger off mixing chemicals while drunk (a cautionary tale he told his students) but he could work a slide rule as well as anyone I knew, could throw darts accurately with his claw hand, and pick up students by grabbing them at the top of the shoulder, pinching like a claw, and lifting.
There's lots of loggers, woodworkers and other manual labor job workers out there missing parts of or full fingers who are fully functional. Heck, even back in the day a claw hook wasn't that much of an impediment when doing some tasks.
And then there's the movie "The Best Days of our Lives" where a double amputee is able to dress and do stuff, surprisingly dextrous and manipulating even with two WWII-era prosthetics.
I'd give it as a temporary status penalty until the character got either used to it or somehow regrew the missing digit/digits. Or had some dwarf construct a fake finger or fingers or hand or whatever missing limb it is.
Hmmm... magical item - missing limb... We almost have that with some of the running legs now, and some of the admittedly very prototype super hands and such.