Four-Arm Gunwork (Ronin Sanchez) Draft
A GURPS 4e no-lookup combat card, TL11. Practised by Ronin Sanchez. The analogue to Six’s Freefighting card: where Six’s gimmick is zero-G and Six’s answer is momentum, Ronin’s gimmick is a second pair of hands and Ronin’s answer is doing two things at once, always, on purpose.
In one line: a small, fast, four-armed bodyguard who opens a fight with two guns at full skill and closes it with a grapple no two-armed man can break, quoting your survival odds the whole time.
What it is
A two-armed gunfighter has a choice to make every turn: shoot, or grab, or move a gun to the off hand and eat the penalty. Ronin does not make that choice, because the management built him not to. He has four hands and none of them is an off hand. That one fact, threaded through the right traits, is his entire fighting style.
Three advantages carry it. Extra Arms 2 (B53) is the second pair, bio-sculpted below the first. Extra Attack 1 (B54) is the payoff, a second attack every turn, so both upper hands fire at once. Ambidexterity (B39) means neither pair pays the off-hand penalty, which on a four-armed man is the difference between a novelty and a weapon. Stack Combat Reflexes (B43) for the defenses and the never-freezes, a small frame at Size Modifier −1 so everyone shoots him at a penalty, and Acute Vision 2 (B35) feeding every visual roll, and you have a man who is very hard to surprise, very hard to hit, and hitting you twice.
The card — no lookup at the table
Every number is off Ronin’s current sheet. Read it, roll 3d6 under it, keep moving.
| Do this | Skill | Rolls at | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-gun opener | Beam Weapons (Pistol) | 17 each | Extra Attack: a blaster in each upper hand, both at full 17, one turn. 3d(5) burn each. The classic Ronin entrance. |
| Clear leather first | Fast-Draw (Pistol) | 15 ×2 | Both pistols out as free actions (Combat Reflexes in), then the two-gun opener lands the same turn. |
| The four-armed clinch | Wrestling | 15 → 19 | Grapple with all four arms, +4 vs a two-armed foe (B203). He pins at +3 or chokes at effective ST 14. Almost no one breaks it. |
| Shoot while holding him | Beam Weapons | 17 | Two hands own the grapple, the other two keep a pistol on the room. Extra Attack lets him fire while clinching. |
| Eat the shot for the principal | Acrobatics / Sacrificial Dodge | 12 / Dodge 10 | Old bodyguard reflex (B375): cross the furniture, take the round meant for someone else. He will quote the odds while doing it. |
| Don’t get hit | Dodge | 10 | Basic Speed 6 +1 Combat Reflexes, plus SM −1 so attackers are already at a penalty. Parry (Brawling/Wrestling) 11. |
Numbers assume DX 13, both guns at Beam Weapons 17, unencumbered (he keeps himself light on purpose). If DX rises to 14, the guns, the grapple, and Fast-Draw all climb together, which makes DX his highest-value buy the way it is Six’s.
The signature move, spelled out
The two-gun burst. Fast-Draw both pistols free, then spend Extra Attack to fire both upper hands at full skill in one turn, each blaster at RoF 3. That is up to six shots downrange from a man nobody has finished drawing on yet, delivered from a −1-to-hit frame that never freezes. It is loud, it is cinematic, and it is entirely legal on the sheet. This is his Freefighting-equivalent party trick, the thing the build exists to do.
The hard limits (so the table plays him honest)
- Arms committed to a grapple cannot parry. The four-arm clinch is dominant, but while two arms hold a man, those two are off the defense. Grapple the wrong target and a second attacker gets a cleaner swing.
- ST 10, HP 10, small frame. The arms are for guns, not lifting. He is quick and fragile, not tough. Dodge and being hard to hit keep him alive, not soaking damage.
- Alcoholism and Bad Temper. His worst rolls are social and self-inflicted. The drink is how he switches the wetware off, and the temper flips when the odds he quoted get ignored. Both cost the crew at the wrong moment, by design.
- Odious Personal Habit. −1 reactions from anyone he has just told is probably about to die, which is most people, most of the time.
Advancement
Current call: bank earned XP toward DX 13 → 14 [20]. One buy lifts the guns to 18, the grapple to 20, Fast-Draw and every DX skill with them, and nudges the defenses. It is the single highest-leverage purchase and worth saving for over any one technique.
After DX 14, in order of impact:
- Dual-Weapon Attack (Beam Weapons) bought up if Tim ever trims Extra Attack, or deepen it if he keeps it, to make the two-gun opener land even against defended foes.
- Gunslinger (B58) is the dream cinematic buy, no Acc penalty on snap shots, though it is expensive and needs Tim’s cinematic-tier blessing.
- A point of armor out of the unspent Signature Gear budget (ballistic-weave suit lining) does more for his survival than any skill, given HP 10.
All post-approval. The base build is Sean’s, rebuilt by Ant, and awaits Tim’s rulings (the Extra Arms + Extra Attack combo and the human-status question, see the open rulings).
See also
- Ronin Sanchez — the character sheet (Skills, Advantages, Combat Action Chains)
- Freefighting (Spacer Kung-Fu) — Six’s equivalent card, the model for this one
- The Management - Chattel Lien and Retrieval Order (Sanchez) — who owns the hands this card is built on