Making people fall down

[GnarlyOwl]

I am tring to make a Siesmic Shock power that knocks everone down in an Explosion Area of Effect. The Character stamps his foot and everone in a radius who is standing on the ground would have to roll DEX to remain standing.

I think this is a takedown manuever made AOE, but I cannot seem to make it inside a MP. Would this be legal?

Steve

[Fox1]

Not a takedown, that doesn't allow a dex roll as I recall anyway. Change Enviroment with no range and AE is what you looking for if all you want is a DEX roll.

Personally I'd buy a shockwave out of Ultimate Brick and count on the KNB dropping people.

[GnarlyOwl]

The problem with KB is that (1) this guy causes a local earthquake which wouldn't send people flying and (2) I dont want it to do damage. I will look at the Change Enviro. Thanks!

[Gary]

Use the rules in UMA to place Area Effect on a Martial Throw. Note that this automatically makes the characters fall down, so you can probably place a -1/2 to -1 Limitation that targets get a Dex roll to remain standing.

[atlascott]

what about buying it as knockback with limitation, knockdown only, no damage?

[atlascott]

what about buying it as knockback with limitation, knockdown only, no damage?

[Dust Raven]

I've done this effect as a Change Environment. It's basically a modified version of the Ice Slick ability (or whatever the example in the book is called). It should be No Range, Personal Immunity and Instant.

[prestidigitator]

I'm not sure if this is what you want, but I usually buy the ability to cause earthquakes as an AoE RKA that has Double Knockback, "Only targets on ground suffer Knockback (-1/4)," and, "Only does damage to rigid structures (-2)". Maybe add in some kind of, "Knockdown Only," but I think the AoE, SFX and other Limitation handle this well enough myself. If you want it to be widespread, you of course put a MegaArea on it. Personal Immunity if you don't want to be affected and don't want to rely on Flight/Gliding for this.

[Dust Raven]

Out of curiosity, prestidigitator, but why did you use RKA when it doesn't cause as much KB to begin with? Or is your writeup more of an earthquake that does damage power rather than an earthquake that knocks things over power?

[prestidigitator]

Out of curiosity, prestidigitator, but why did you use RKA when it doesn't cause as much KB to begin with? Or is your writeup more of an earthquake that does damage power rather than an earthquake that knocks things over power?
Ah. Because I'd forgotten about the reduced Knockback of KAs, and just was thinking that they did slightly more Body. (Actually, once you surpass 7d6 in a KA, it will on average do more Knockback than a Normal Attack with the same DCs, because the extra average Body done on all the dice exceeds the average 3.5 that the extra 1d6 subtracts for calculating Knockback. That's a pretty big attack, though.) The important thing was just the way of constructing it. EB, RKA, even HA or HKA would do (adding Str might make sense if the SFX were the character punching the ground or something). You are right; in general I would probably use an EB instead.

[Gary]

Ah. Because I'd forgotten about the reduced Knockback of KAs, and just was thinking that they did slightly more Body. (Actually, once you surpass 7d6 in a KA, it will on average do more Knockback than a Normal Attack with the same DCs, because the extra average Body done on all the dice exceeds the average 3.5 that the extra 1d6 subtracts for calculating Knockback. That's a pretty big attack, though.) The important thing was just the way of constructing it. EB, RKA, even HA or HKA would do (adding Str might make sense if the SFX were the character punching the ground or something). You are right; in general I would probably use an EB instead.


If you throw 2X KNB on the attack, the break even point is only 3.5-4d6 before a KA is equivalent to a normal attack. And of course you have a much greater variance in the rolls, so it's easier to achieve really high KNB as well as low.

[NuSoardGraphite]

This one is simple folks:

Going with the Throw angle:

Extra STR or TK: Area Effect, Radius(+1) Only to Throw targets to the ground (-1)

Pretty simple, really. Another limitation could be: "Can be avoided through successful Dex roll (-1/2)

There should be a penalty to the Dex roll based on how much "Body" is rolled on the damage roll...even though it does no actual damage (except to the spot where the attacker stomps...poor concrete). My suggestion is -1/2 Body rolled.

A sample construct.

+30 STR (6D6N) Area Effect/Radius (+1) X4 Area (+1/2) 75 Active
Only to Throw targets to ground (-1) X2 End (-1/2) Full Phase activation (-1/2) Can be avoided through successufl Dex roll (-1/2) Not on soft or yielding surface (-1/2) Real Cost: 19. END: 15 AE: 12" Radius

Note that since this is extra STR with an Advantage attatched, use the normal rules for adding unaugmented STR to Advantaged STR. At most he can add another +30STR, or prorate his STR based on the +1 AE advantage (whichever method is preferred in your game)

Note also the limitation: Not on soft or yielding surface (-1/2). This means if the character is standing on a yielding surface such as mud or sand or deep snow, the attack won't work becuse the surface absorbs too much of the kinetic energy for it to work properly. Only on harder surfaces will the shockwave travel through the ground efficiently.

How is that?

[Vondy]

I would add area of effect to the relevant martial maneuver with a -0 limitation allowing a dex or breakfall roll to avoid the effects. I would make it -0 because having an advantage on a maneuver is pretty potent in of itself. One major reason I would allow the advantage on the maneuver is that this essentially a power trick, but sometimes what should be a simple trick can become unduly complex and expensive.

[Dust Raven]

This one is simple folks:

Going with the Throw angle:

Extra STR or TK: Area Effect, Radius(+1) Only to Throw targets to the ground (-1)

Pretty simple, really. Another limitation could be: "Can be avoided through successful Dex roll (-1/2)

There should be a penalty to the Dex roll based on how much "Body" is rolled on the damage roll...even though it does no actual damage (except to the spot where the attacker stomps...poor concrete). My suggestion is -1/2 Body rolled.

A sample construct.

+30 STR (6D6N) Area Effect/Radius (+1) X4 Area (+1/2) 75 Active
Only to Throw targets to ground (-1) X2 End (-1/2) Full Phase activation (-1/2) Can be avoided through successufl Dex roll (-1/2) Not on soft or yielding surface (-1/2) Real Cost: 19. END: 15 AE: 12" Radius

Note that since this is extra STR with an Advantage attatched, use the normal rules for adding unaugmented STR to Advantaged STR. At most he can add another +30STR, or prorate his STR based on the +1 AE advantage (whichever method is preferred in your game)

Note also the limitation: Not on soft or yielding surface (-1/2). This means if the character is standing on a yielding surface such as mud or sand or deep snow, the attack won't work becuse the surface absorbs too much of the kinetic energy for it to work properly. Only on harder surfaces will the shockwave travel through the ground efficiently.

How is that?

I rather like this. It brings into play the difficult in knocking down an agile character, but also a strong character that can hold his ground through sheer might alone.