Will-based superpowers

[Wanderer]

One gimmick some superhumans have employed to justify their superpowers (such as Shi'ar Imperial Guard's Gladiator, or John Byrne's Man of Steel) is that they are actually willpower-based or confidence-based, psionic or reality-changing in origin (TK for super-strength and flight, pyrokinesis and electrokinesis for energy projection, etc.).

I was wondering how to put this in HERO terms.

High EGO and PRE scores, certainly. And, likely, a Limitation such as "Does Not Work If Character Loses Confidence" (-1/4 ?) on most or all of the Powers.

But how to put loss of "Confidence" in Hero game terms ??

I was thinking of EGO and/or PRE being Drained or Suppressed below 10, or maybe below NCM. Alternatively, or in addition, being Cowed (Target's PRE or EGO +30) by a Presence Attack or completely overwhelmed (Target's EGO +30) by a Mental Illusion or Mind Control attack. Or maybe EGO + 20 level in comparison to the NCM level.

Opinions ?

[Theron]

I had a character with a similar concept. Most of the powers you listed work just fine. I threw in some sort of vulnerability regarding surprise attacks, because it fit the character, and an Aid that could be used to bolster any of his characteristics or powers (he willed himself more powerful for a short period of time).

[Black Rose]

I think a fair amount would have to be role-playing driven, but as for crunchiness, I'd go with limiting the top two DC (if 12 DC max; four if 14-16 DC max) of any attacks as follows: No DC If Low Confidence, +1 DC If At Normal Confidence, +2 DC If Highly Confident. This allows for a minor fluctuation before having to get too deep. Next, I'd add Susceptibility to Negative PRE Attacks (uncommon; instant; 1d6 Drain to All "Super" Abilities): -10 pts and Susceptibility to Disheartening Situations (uncommon; 1 minute; 1d6 Drain to All "Super" Abilities): -10 pts.

Unless you want to get into the idea of PhysLim: Negative PRE Attacks Act As Drain to All "Super" Abilities of Equal Active Points - which you can, but I'm not going to - that should be sufficient.

[nexus]

I think allot of it would be role play driven as well. Its a nice concept but you have to have a player willing to get into the character's head and give him or her psychological weakneses that can be exploited. The crunchy suggetions listed in the thread seem worthwhile.

[Wanderer]

Thanks to all for the ideas and advice, which seem rather worthwhile. However, I'd be quite reluctant to limit the crunchy impact of the concept to a couple Susceptibility and PhysLim.

I have given some extra thought to the concept: assume a mutant psychic that can will oneself into a superpowered form (a kind of psionic-based Captain Marvel) with some meaningful combination of Extra Time, Concentration, and/or maybe Gestures and Incantation, and reverts to normal if he is Knocked Out (maybe Stunned, but I'm much more doubtful about it; I HATE the idea of one lucky gunshot stripping all of the character's powers due to the STUN lottery) AND if he is seriously affected by attacks that induce emotions like apathy, doubt, sadness, despair, and fear (for the situations and occurrences that induce such emotions, I'd say the Susceptibilities Blackrose suggested work fine), meaning that a sufficient X Active Points' amount of Drain/Suppress EGO or PRE, or an (EGO/PRE +X) Effect Roll's amount of Mental or Presence Attack (the three ways you can mess with someone's mental state in Hero, short of Transform) inducing the appropriate mental state may switch off the power.

For the latter, the best IMO crunchy expression may be a Conditional Power Limitation of "Does Not Work If Character is Significantly (or maybe, Strongly) Affected by Apathy-, Despair-, Doubt-, Fear-, or Sadness-inducing Adjustment Powers, Mental Powers or Presence Attacks".

Tentatively, I'd say -1/4 for Severe Mental states and -1/2 for Significant Mental states. According to USPD, significant (basic) is EGO/PRE +10, and severe (strong) is EGO/PRE +20 (Ego/Pre +30 means you're effectively out of the picture for a while anyway, so that you also have your powers switched off means little anyway... or maybe not, since you'd be still easier to subdue).

I'm still rather at a loss about how much draining of Ego or Pre equals a significant or severe emotional state.

The way I see it, there are two possible ways to do the character concept in Hero:

a Multiform with some meaningful combination of (Extra Time, Concentration, Gestures and Incantation) to activate, a Reversion Lim (or a -1/4 "Stops Working If Character is Knocked Out"), and the "Not if emotionally disabled" Limited Power Lim above.

OIHID, plus Nonpersistent or "not if knocked out" on some persistent powers and Chars bought as powers, and "not if emotionally disabled" on most or all powers.