Turning on Defenses

[Rapier]

This is kind of a weird question.

One of my players is giving powered armour a go. He has created this character and had a question that I had never really thought of. Some of the defenses for the armour are not always on. There is an Energy Shunt (defined as 50% Resistant ED Damage Redux). The problem is that the circuitry can only handle about three uses before burning out (it has three charges). Since it has so few charges he doesn't want it to be always turned on and end up wasting the three charges against mooks; he would much rather it be saved for the Big Bad.

I went ahead and told him to take a -0 Lim, since that's not a limitation at all. That's the normal stuff...the weird question:

Damage Reduction and Absorption are considered to be always turned on, aren't they? Can you decide not to turn them on, SFX granting? Is it rational for Absorption (for instance) to take an Always On? Not that I can think of a case where that would be a lim...unless there was some overload feedback thingy. But you see where I'm going with this: there are a couple of powers that I have never considered having to "turn on" and am unsure where they stand.

Thanks.

[Steve Long]

Each Power indicates its standard Duration -- for example, Damage Reduction is Persistent. Pages 98-100 of 5ER have the general rules for how the various Duration categories work. I believe all that should answer all your questions; if not, please post a follow-up.