Diminishing shields

[Fitz]

I'm considering a concept for building ablative force fields (actually Force Walls in this case), in which the ablative effect is on the field's power supply rather than the defensive value of the shield itself. Basically, the idea is that the shield draws a minimal amount of energy to maintain itself, but dissipating the energy of an attack draws a great deal more; the exact energy drain would depend on the potency of the incoming attack.

My first thought is to build the Force Wall with an automatic END Drain Side Effect which activates whenever it comes under attack, the only (minor) problem being that the Side Effect would have to be proportional to the attack which triggers it. How would you go about writing up a variable side effect like that?

[Snarf]

I would set the Side Effect's limitation at whatever you think the average Drain would be. Or you could base the limitation's value off of Increased Endurance Cost. If you think it would usually double the END cost, then that's -1/2, triple is -1, and so on.

Once a fair cost is decided, you can make up your own rule about how the cost is paid. 1 END per 10 APs or 1 END per point of damage or whatever.

[WhammeWhamme]

You could do that...

Or you could just go with -1/4: Pays END equal to END cost of Force Wall DEF required to deflect each hit.

And double it if you want to pay x2 END.

[Champsguy]

I've done this before. I just made it a -1/2 limitation that it took 1 Extra End for each Body the FF took.