Disclaimer: The following material consists of rulings on GURPS originally posted to electronic discussion forums, newsgroups, and mailing lists by Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch. Some of these statements have been taken out of context, or have been altered for clarity or brevity; therefore, these are not "official" rulings, and neither Sean Punch nor Steve Jackson Games is responsible for the accuracy of the modified content.

     Yes, but this is *not* damage! This is simply treated as damage for 
*knockback purposes only.* Basically, you roll the dice and compare the
number rolled to the number of hits needed to knock the target back one
hex (8 hits, for a human), assess that much knockback and that's it -- 
no damage. For instance, if you pay 3 energy and create a 6d Air Jet, 
then roll average "damage" (21 points), a human target will suffer two 
hexes of knockback and that's all. Kromm 28 Nov 1996 RGFG

     Yes. This means that normally, you handle an Air Jet as I have
described, but against certain, specific creatures, the die roll should
be read as *real* damage. Kromm 28 Nov 1996 RGFG

This effect only lasts while the spell is maintained. If/when the spell ends
(for whatever reason), the victim will return to his senses and realize that
he has been duped. Use Forgetfulness, Daze or False Memory if you want to 
play with the victim's memory long-term. None of those spells are explicitly
named in the prereq. chain leading to Charm, so there is no reason to assume
that Charm includes that ability. If someone is Charmed, you could order them
not to resist one of these other spells anyhow. Kromm 13 May 1997 RGFG

     If you make a Block roll by more than shield PD, you've warded the
blow off with the rim of your shield. A Deathtouch will not affect you.
     If you make a Block roll by less than that, you've caught the blow
on the face of your shield, right over your shield arm, and you will be
affected by a Deathtouch.
     That's how it is. Kromm 26 Jan 1997 RGFG

Why in more detail

     Simple: If a block defense is made by shield PD or less, the blow
is caught squarely on the face of the shield. In the case of a blow
that carries a Deathtouch, this means that the blow lands on the other
side of a thickness of wood from the shield-bearer's arm. Since armor
will not protect against Deathtouch, neither should a layer of wood, so
the Deathtouch affects the defender. If a block is made by more than
shield PD, the blow is successfully "shield parried" using the rim of
the shield. This keeps the Deathtouch at a distance from the defender
-- just like a weapon parry -- and the subject is not affected. This
is consistent with the fact that a successful parry (sans PD) will
ward off the mage's touch, as per p. M8.
     Ask those with more experience than I at (simulated) medieval
combat to explain the difference between blocking a blow squarely and
warding one off with a "shield parry." Kromm 27 Jan 1997 RGFG

The way Deathtouch interacts with defense rolls is straightforward:

     PD does not protect; otherwise, any active defense is acceptable
(save a bare-handed one). Note that PD *does* protect against the
impact of the fist/staff/whatever that's carrying the Deathtouch --
just not against the Deathtouch part. To illustrate:

Fighter Fred has PD 2 leather armor, a PD 3 medium shield, Block 8, 
Dodge 5 and Parry 8. Mage Mary strike him with her staff and casts
Deathtouch. Fred may roll Block 8, Dodge 5 *or* Parry 8 vs. the 
actual Deathtouch, since PD does not protect. However, a 13 on his
Block or Parry, or a 10 on his Dodge, will keep the impact of the 
blow from doing damage, since PD *does* count vs. that. Suppose he
decides to Parry:
 -- If he rolls 14+, he totally screws up, gets pummeled for damage
    by Mary's staff *and* eats a Deathtouch.
 -- If he rolls between 9 and 13, he wards off the staff well enough
    that it does not hurt him, but lets the staff glide along his 
    armor or shield boss, which is good enough for a Mage's Touch. 
    He takes no staff damage, but eats a Deathtouch.
 -- If he rolls 8 or less, he totally deflects the staff with his
    sword alone. The staff touches no part of his armor or shield,
    and so he receives no Deathtouch.
     If he retreats, add 3 to all the above numbers. If he used an
unarmed parry (e.g., Karate), he'd be Deathtouched no matter what, 
since his arm was being used to intercept the staff. Kromm 24 jan 1997 RGFG

Can you hold Deathtouch?

     No. Deathtouch works as follows:
     (1) Concentrate for one turn (not in close combat).
     (2) At the very start of your next turn, roll your spell roll. 
     (3) Next, attack by striking with a Staff item or fist, or by 
stepping into close combat and hitting, grappling, slamming, etc.
     (4) Your foe defends normally, but PD does not matter vs. the 
spell (it still counts vs. the blow, though).
     (5) If you hit, and if your spell roll succeeded in step 2, 
then roll your damage; DR does not protect.

     At skill 21+, you can cast the spell at *any point during your 
turn!* This makes the spell far more useful, because now it becomes:
     (1) Attack your foe with a Staff item or bare-handed attack, 
either in or out of close combat -- it doesn't matter.
     (2) If you hit, you can choose to cast Deathtouch ("any time 
during your turn," remember). Roll the spell roll; if it succeeds,
roll damage. Kromm 4 Oct 1996 RGFG

It does not grant the ability to continuously spot
all magic in your line of sight, nor does it *locate* its subject.
It is a Regular spell that must be cast on a single, named subject. 
It is cast at -1/hex of range to the target and at a further -5 if 
the target is not visible, just as for any other Regular spell. 
Once cast, it instantly tells you whether the subject is magical 
or not, in a momentary glimpse of insight. That's it. It does 
*not* locate the subject, and it is not an ongoing spell that lets 
you see all magic or anything of the sort. You must be thinking of
the AD&D spell . . .

If you want a spell that locates unseen spells, try Seek Magic on 
p. G60. Note that this still grants a momentary glimpse, not an
ongoing ability to "see magic." Kromm 20 May 1997 RGFG

Enslave does *not* give one the ability to cast spells through the subject's
eyes. Its prerequisites -- Charm and Telepathy -- suggest that Enslave only
grants the ability to give the victim orders and use him for "remote viewing."
If full-fledged possession were part of the spell, then Control Person and not
Telepathy would be a prerequisite. One could use the Enslaved person's eyes to 
avoid the -5 for not being able to see the subject of one's spell, but as Mike 
points out, range penalties would be counted from one's own location and not 
that of one's slave. Kromm 13 May 1997 RGFG

     The spell describes it as "... a flaming sword without the sword
..." In other words, the "light (fire?) sabre" description fits best.
Just treat it as a 1-3 hex sword of flame that can neither parry nor
be parried because it is fire and not steel. There is no reason at all
why this would be any harder to block or dodge than a regular, steel
sword. Since it is maintainable, it *is* constant and does *not* pulse
on and off.
     To answer the questions that frequently follow this response: yes
you can All-Out Attack with a Flame Jet, hitting twice, once at +4 or
using a Feint-and-Attack, but you cannot add +2 damage because your ST
has nothing to do with the damage caused. Kromm 11 Mar 1996 RGFG

I think there's a simple solution here: if the object is large enough to 
support whatever is going to be riding on top of it, simlply total the 
weight of the object and the riders, divide by 250 lbs. and charge for
that many hexes, regardless of actual area. For instance, a 150-lb. mage
riding a 2-hex, 2,000-lb. chest pays for a (2,000 + 150)/250 = 8.6 hex
object, even though the physical size is only 2 hexes. Rounding up to 9 
hexes, this costs 6 + 2*(9 - 1) = 22 energy. Kromm 9 Dec 1997 RGFG

The current rules assume that the weight of the conveyance is effectively
negligible w.r.t. the weight being conveyed. This is a good assumption 
for 1 hex of carpet (about 7 square feet, weighing at most 7-8 lbs.) vs.
250 lbs. of stuff, but when you have 2,000 lbs. of conveyance being used
to cart around 150 lbs. of mage, this gets plain abusive. If anything, it
violates the spirit of the rules. I'd add the weight of the chest. That
means it costs 22 energy, but so what? It's still a real bargain next to
the 27 energy you'd need to cast Levitation on 2,150 lbs. of stuff. Kromm 11 Dec 1997 RGFG

It's really fairly simple: A magical creature (like a creation, demon, elemental, golem or zombie) can cross the boundary of a Force Dome. This is in no way altered by what he is carrying (non-magical gear, 
dead bodies, etc.). A non-magical creature (most living things from this dimension, up to and including dragons, elves, lycanthropes and mages) *cannot* cross the boundary of a Force Dome. This is in no way 
altered by what he is carrying (magical equipment, a tiny demon on the palm of his hand, even a full suit of magical armor). Kromm 18 Nov 1998 RGFG


shape of
     Force Domes are really spheres of magical energy, with the top 
hemisphere showing and the bottom hemisphere engulfing mass as a 
magical (not physical) "anchor." E.g., a 3-hex Force Dome radiates 
2 hexes out from the center hex, and is 5 yards (15') in diameter. 
It must be cast on a patch of ground at least 15' across, and 
appears to be a "dome" 7.5' high in its centre. The other hemisphere 
is under the ground, full of dirt, stone or other solid junk.
     The upshot of this is that a 1-hex Force Dome makes a little
1.5' tall bubble on the ground -- useless for a human. Kromm 28 Aug 1996 RGFG

> Shape Air and Shape Darkness both last 1 minute without maintaining. 
> During the spell duration is the Concentrate Maneuver required to make
> adjustments to the spell.

Yes. With the Shape <whatever> spells, you can shape, shape and reshape 
to your heart's content while the spell endures, but this *does* require
concentration to do, just like manipulating an illusion.

> can the mage walk while doing this?

He can take one step per turn while doing so; see "Step and Concentrate,"
p. B106.

> Also, Shape Darkness states that the mage can shape and move
> 5yds./sec.  Does this mean 5 yds. of volume/area or is this the move
> rate of the change?

In all cases, the area affected by an Area (or volume-affecting) spell
does not change once it is cast. The movement referred to here is gross
movement of the entire area of effect. Kromm 4 Dec 1997 RGFG

     For the record, GURPS teleportation does *not* preserve momentum.
If you're falling from orbit and teleport to the surface, you appear 
on the surface, quite stationary and unhurt. If you teleport across
the galaxy, you do not end up torn apart by the relative motion of
your initial and final locations. In other words, the object falls
into the bottom portal, appears at the top portal without its earlier
momentum vector, and proceeds to fall again. It's speed when it hits
the lower portal is never greater than Sqrt[2gd] in a vacuum, where 
d is the distance between portals; this is limited to terminal 
velocity in atmosphere. Kromm 11 Dec 1996 RGFG