Instant powers

[Fearghus]

I had a concept for a character that was a sort of martial artist whose thing was the longer you fought with him the more he could read your moves.

I am not going to lie this idea came to me after re-reading the find weakness power. the problem is find weakness is an action which takes a 1/2 phase. I have been trying to think of a way to make the power kind of instantaneous. Something the character does every time he gets a phase and it does not interfere with his normal actions so he doesn't have to spend all his time using his power. After all there is no point in knowing someone’s weakness' if you don't have time to exploit them.

My original thinking on this was continuous or some other sort of advantage, but I could not think of one that makes an action take less time.

[tesuji]

you could just do this with a limited power -

As in...

+3 Cv with HtH Combat (15 ap)
-X must fight enemy for "a while" these levels to kick in.

Now obviously, what you define as "a while" and whether the setting holds over (does "i fought him yesterday for three turns" enable you to use the Cvs against him right off the bat tomorrow?) will determine the value for -x. I would start with the value for "takes extra time to start but can do other things" as a baseline value.

Now you can also do the same thing with, for instance, a naked Ap advantage.

Say your biggest martial attack is 10d6

you could buy +1/2 AP naked advantage on my martial attacks (25 ap for up to a 10d6 attack) with say -1.25 (takes extra turn to activate) and say -.5 for "must activate again for each new opponent it applies to" making this naked advantage cost only 9 cp (25 ap.)

So, for 9 cp, after 1 turn in hth combat with a target, you would gain AP on your martial attacks with no roll and no special atction required.

.

[Klaus Mogensen]

You could buy levels with Requires a Skill Roll, using the option to use PER instead of a skill. Some of the levels only require one roll, while others require two; hence it it unlikely that all of them kick in at once.

- Klaus

[Fearghus]

Interesting take on it. You could just have it so he gets to add extra damage classes or extra CSLs for each round you are in combat with him... or his attacks get various advantages that take time to activate… I’ll contemplate that for this build

But... This doesn’t address the root of my question because it could have effects on other builds too. Basically I want a power advantage that makes a power take less time to use. So in this case… find weakness is normally a half phase action… I want to make it a free action so a character can still take a full phase. Is there such an advantage?

[Sean Waters]

The half phase action is a balance device. You can take two 'find weakness' attempts per phase, if you don't want to do anything else, or one and attack/move/whatever.

Find Weakness is pretty close to broken as it is, and I'd be against making the power more, well, powerful, but if you can get your GM drunk enough I'd suggest a custom +1/2 to +1 advantage would do it, +1/2 if you were still limited to 2 attempts per phase, +1 if you were not.

[Fearghus]

Find Weakness is pretty close to broken as it is.

No argument here. Find weakness is pretty close to broken. Worse comes to worse I'll just build the guy with the naked find weakness power and blow a half phase to find weakness then a half phase to do what ever else I will do that phase.

[Kenn]

Naked Advanntage, Armor Piercing on x STR, Limited Power: Only vs Targets that have been fought for three consecutive phases (-1/2), requires an INT roll(-1/2).

[Hyper-Man]

Interesting take on it. You could just have it so he gets to add extra damage classes or extra CSLs for each round you are in combat with him... or his attacks get various advantages that take time to activate… I’ll contemplate that for this build

But... This doesn’t address the root of my question because it could have effects on other builds too. Basically I want a power advantage that makes a power take less time to use. So in this case… find weakness is normally a half phase action… I want to make it a free action so a character can still take a full phase. Is there such an advantage?

Another option would be to use the Trigger Advantage.

example:

30  Find Weakness 11- with Related Group of Attacks, Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger requires a Full Phase to reset; +1/2) (30 Active Points)

[DocSamson]

Another option would be to use the Trigger Advantage.

example:

30**Find Weakness 11- with Related Group of Attacks, Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger requires a Full Phase to reset; +1/2) (30 Active Points)
I was going to suggest something like this. It was for a character that adapted to overcome defenses as he attacked. Every time he attacked he got a little better (Linked to attack, Zero Phase to reset so he only rolled once per Phase). We have a Captain America write-up somewhere with this build on it (along with a beefy Analyze: Defenses for synergy). If you give Cap enough time, he's gonna bring you down.

Also, if you REALLY want to break it, buy it Uncontrolled (or perhaps Persistent). That way you just roll repeatedly until you fail (and therefore it stops stacking). I tried this once and promptly got my sheet torn up, after which I flipped the table and left. The problem was it my house and I broke my own table, but I digress...

[Sean Waters]

One way to build an accumulating 'find weakness' power, if we reason from effect, is to - bear with me - build it this way:

3d6+1 STANDARD EFFECT SUCCOR (+10 points): 17 points

Continuous, 0 END: 42 points

Only to damage the target you are in combat with RSR: (-1/2): 21 points

The effect is that you have to make a skill roll each phase, and each phase you do that, the damage goes up by 2DCs, but only against a target you are actually in combat with. You may want to add further limitations, like no KB on the extra damage (you're not actually hitting harder) and the effect ends when combat ends, or you shift targets. You might also want to add a limitation that the extra damage only counts to negate defences - so you never cause more damage than you would if the target were unarmoured.

I know it is not what you were after, but I thought I'd mention it.

[pinecone]

Also look at the Analyze skills...some can add levels, some can add to Find Weak...use extra time and boost your rolls...

+X dc's, only vs oponite battled for more than 12 phases today....???(Boosting attack power by 50% is much the same as halving defence is it not?)

[schir1964]

I don't think anyone has mentioned "Gradual Effect" yet.

Seems like this Modifier was designed to do exactly what you want... possibly.

- Christopher Mullins