reduced penetration for Stun

[dugfromthearth]

reduced penetration for Body is -1/4
does no stun is -1 I think

I am thinking of a lash specifically but could also be a slap attack - where any protection largely negates the attack.

So I want reduced penetration but applicable for both body and stun. I am thnking a -1/2 lim seems right.

Of course being HERO I could also buy fewer dice with an NND - defense being armor. But that lacks the fine detail I want - tough characters would ignore the lash but those with low PD would get hurt a lot

I could also buy two attacks and link them, which is probably the normal way of doing it.

so does -1/2 seem right and simple and convenient?

[badger3k]

I'd try to equate the effect with the limited power guidelines on p 194 in FRED. A -1/2 limitation loses about 1/3rd its effectiveness. -1 for 1/2 its effectiveness. -1 is probably more accurate, but...

I'd probably go with the -1/2 - it's more of a feel thing. I think -1 would be too much of a limitation, although that can change depending on how big the attack is before the reduction.

I'm unsure why you'd want the reduced penetration for a lash - it's mainly to simulate two low powered attacks made as one (thus the 1/2 body x2 attacks). It just seems a little odd? Something like a cat-o-nine tails maybe? Why not just use a low powered attack (or hand attack)?

I'm unsure of exactly what you want, so I can't give anything more than that, sorry.

[dugfromthearth]

yes, basically a cat of nine tails

the idea is it works great on the unprotected captives but not on characters with armor or just who are tough.

[DigitalGolem]

Originally posted by dugfromthearth
yes, basically a cat of nine tails

the idea is it works great on the unprotected captives but not on characters with armor or just who are tough.

I'd suggest an autofire attack (for multiple hits) and a few dice of normal damage. A 2d6 HA on an average roll will do 0 body and 5 stun. Three hits will stun a target with a con of 14 or less. Against a target with even a little armor, it won't do much at all.

Or, a larger HA with the NND advantage. The defense is just a higher-than-normal PD, which is common enough (I think) to bring down the NND cost to +1/2.

Would either of those work?

DGv3.0

[dugfromthearth]

it doesn't technically have 9 tails.

it is just that whips are easily stopped by any sort of protection. Which thinking about it might justify making it an NND with the defense being resistant PD, but it also does body, and while it is stopped by resistant PD it does not just ignore the target's inherent PD - tough people are less affected by it.

Technically I could just buy it as two linked attacks. But if 50% of it is bought with the -1/2 linked limitation that means I effectively get a -1/4 limitation for the whole power. And reduced penetration for body is a -1/4 limitation - so it doesn't make sense that reduced penetration for stun and body would only be worth the same amount.

[prestidigitator]

For the whip: how about a relatively low-powered Killing Attack with Increased Stun Multiple. Remember that normal defenses only apply to the Stun of a Killing Attack if you have some resistent defenses (or has this changed since 4th edition--I should look that up).