A different kind of Summon question

[firelynx]

Hiya...

I'm trying to create a Summon power, and am having a little problem getting it to match my concept.

My character is based in Egyptian mythology, and I want to be able to summon a limited, but variety of creatures with an ancient Egyptian flavor.

First, the Summon is in a Multipower.

The Expanded Class advantage covers the variety of creatures summoned, but the problem I'm coming across is the number summoned.

I'd like to be able to summon a single, somewhat more powerful creature, say an Anubis Warrior, or a pack of jackals, or a swarm of locusts, etc, where the power level of each creature summoned was proportionate to the number summoned.

For example, the single Anubis Warrior might be 150 points, while each jackal in the pack of 4 jackals might be 60 points. (It doesn't necessarily have to be linear).

One way of doing this would be to buy a seperate slot for each possible number of Summons, but that would mean buying each doubling step up the maximum number summoned, which seems to be more pricey for the result given. This also opens the can of worms of having each Summon able to be used one after the other, and I only want one Summoned creature(s) in play at a time.

The other way I'm thinking of is to either have some kind of Advantage or Limitation applied to a single Multipower slot.

One idea would be to buy a 150 pt Summon (final numbers may change) with a x32 number of beings summoned (or whatever the max number summoned can be). Then apply a Limitation that each doubling in number of creatures summoned takes off X number of points on the base of each creature.

Does something like this sound fair, or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Steve Long]

This isn't really a rules question, so I've moved it to "HERO System Discussion" in case anyone's interested in chiming in.

Personally, I'd take the Multipower approach, but place a Limitation on the reserve that the "number of Summoned beings" restrictions applies to the whole Framework, not the slots, so that the character can only make use of the Multipower in one way at any given time.

[OddHat]

You could use a VPP, with limited type of powers: Egyptian Magical Creature Summons only (probably worth -1). Then have KS: Egyptian Mythology or Power Skill: Egyptian magic as the control skill. That way you could write up as many different types of Summon as you felt like, subject to GM approval. It would be a fairly expensive construct, but very effective.

[JmOz]

If your GM is willing you could buy Duplication on some of the pack sized animals...

[JmOz]

If your GM is willing you could buy Duplication on some of the pack sized animals...

[Hugh Neilson]

I agree that a separate slot for each separate doubling seemjs excessive in this case. Depending on the number of slots that creates, a VPP may well be more cost-efficient (perhaps for all your Multipower powers together).

An easy "fix" outside the usual rules would be to allow the Summon to be purchased as one standard slot, and doublings as another standard slot. To access doublings, you'd have to reduce the points allocated to the base Summon. That's a dicy one since you essentially have two slots making up one power, however I have seen it allowed with movement and noncombat multiples before megascale came along to make life easier.

Aletrantively, you could take the doublings outside the multipower as a power that adds to the slot. This is another dicy one, as you are effectively buying naked adders, but the higher cost over a second MP slot may persuade a GM to allow it.

The Duplication approach is an elegant and legal solution, however. I wish I'd thought of it! I'd be inclined to try that one out and see if it has the effects you're looking for. If you had a 30 point Summon (150 point creature), you culd build a 75 point creature, plus spend 75 points on Duplication, getting one 75 point duplicate (15 points) and a total of over 4,000 duplicates for the remaining 60 points (12 x 5 points) [WOW! Go with the duplication!], cannot recombine.

If you set your creature at 125 points, you can get one duplicate for 25 points. This is exactly the same as Summon one 125 point creatiure, and one doubling.

You may want to put a cap on the maximum number of duplicates. Summoning locusts may be better done by defining the creature summoned as a swarm of locusts. There was an Adventurer's Club (ahhh...I miss that magazine) article on swarms IIRC. One locust likely isn't worth the hassle, and I suspect your fellow players may kill you before watching you roll attacks for several thousand individual locusts... :( Maybe limit it to the number you would get from using Summon at the same AP cost.

That wopuld be 2 125 point creatures, 4 100 pt, 8 75 pt, 16 50 pt, 32 25 pt or about 64 base humans (1 point)

[firelynx]

Thanks for all the ideas.

I think Duplication is the best way to go in my situation. Should be fun pointing some of these creatures up. :)

Thanks again.