Special Effect

[yamamura]

This question may have been asked before and if so I am very sorry. But after seeing Arc-welding on the online USD and the Big Wrap Up in Champions, I was wondering how far do you let an aspect of a special effect go before you require a character to pay points for it (for instance see the two above example)? After all sometime the special effect can be fun like Lightning Wielder Guy jumping a stranded motorist car (or should he buy Transform dead battery to charge battery). Anyway I am just curious and knowing some of my players I also wish to be forearmed.

G

[Monolith]

I generally allow SFX to go fairly far. There are certain things I would allow and certain things I would not. For instance, I would never require a brick to purchase a power to wrap someone in a lightpole, but I would not let them have a sonic clap or superbreath for free. The players need to pay for it in some fashion. That's where Power Skill comes in. I have personally found that my players have been getting a lot of mileage out of the Power Skill, and the power stunts which are granted by it. Using Power Skill a brick can do a small sonic clap (possibly good-sized if the roll is low enough) or a form of superbreath, and as long as the skill roll is associated with it, it's ok.

[yamamura]

The power skill idea is a good one and not used that often by my players (or by me :) ). Thanx for the suggestion.

G

[ChuckB]

I tend to give more leeway if the sfx bonus occurs in a non-combat situation because I'm not a big fan of having the combat slow down even more. I don't want combat inundated with complicated maneuvers /tricks that force me to make a judgement every segment.

What I normally do now is ask the players to work out the mechanics (including penalties) and submit it to me.

[JmOz]

I tend to base it on how often the charaacter does it. I f the player tries to on one occasion to use a lamppost, then fine. If they want to do it everytime they fight on the street then they need to buy the power. Also if it is used as a wrap up I will allow it more often (IE, they have all been KO"d I'll wrap them in lampposts)

[BNakagawa]

IMO this is exactly what the Power skill was designed to cover.

$0.02

[JohnTaber]

Power skill is a great way to distinguish rookie heroes from those which have been around for a while. It works really neat...I like it... :)