Defensive Power Suggestions

[Supreme]

I'm making a powered-armor character whose suit is adapted from a super-space-suit intended primarily for asteroid mining. So far I have the following:

20 PD & ED, hardened and resistant
25% Damage Reduction, physical and energy, resistant
25% Damage Reduction, physical and energy, resistant, 14-
25% Damage Reduction, physical and energy, resistant, 11-
Life Support: self-contained breathing, vacuum, intense cold, high radiation

Any other suggestions? I'm thinking that the two main things to guard against are solar flar radiation and micro-meteorites. Perhaps some kind of intense magnetic field surrounding the character which deflects the particles as well as ferric projectiles? I want to make this character sort of a defense-specialty brick, so any ideas that you have which extrapolate from necessities of surviving deep space are also welcome.

[Hypnotoad, the]

Forcefield--it could act as that magnetic field surrounding you. Make it ablative--it can hold up to one really powerful solar flare long enough for the astronaut (or hero) to get to safety, and it helps to deflect those pesky micrometeorites (or space junk, if you're in Earth orbit).

Power defense--radiation has often been played as some sort of power attack in some of the games I've been in. Make it conditional to the magnetic field (forcefield) being up.

[Supreme]

Forcefield--it could act as that magnetic field surrounding you. Make it ablative--it can hold up to one really powerful solar flare long enough for the astronaut (or hero) to get to safety, and it helps to deflect those pesky micrometeorites (or space junk, if you're in Earth orbit).

Power defense--radiation has often been played as some sort of power attack in some of the games I've been in. Make it conditional to the magnetic field (forcefield) being up.

Hurm... not bad... Keep 'em coming.

[CrosshairCollie]

For the micrometeorites, I'd go for a Force Wall that has PD but is transparent to Energy (a repulsor/deflector field), especially if you have energy-attacks of your own (like your rock-melting mining laser?). Your LS: Radiation should cover the cosmic/solar radiation, I'd think (not to mention the Damage Redux). If the suit's designed for real long-term use (or long-term survival), some of the extended times on bodily necessities (eating, sleeping) might be in order.

[Outsider]

Flash Defence would seem a must. Accidentally looking directly into the sun without it in space is bad, I think.

Since your head is entirely enclosed, you'd probably gain a little hearing flash defence and lose a little bit on your hearing perception roll. When you're out in the vaccum of space mining asteroids, you arent going to be talking to anyone except through the suit intercom, so it is doubtful that there is an external sound pickup included.

If the suit is not self sealing, you could put a limitation on the life support (vacuum) that it automatically fails if any BODY damage penetrates the suit's PD/ED, and on the life support (breathing) also. Or perhaps, instead of an instant failure on the breathing, it would become extremely limited duration if the suit was holed, depending on its special effect (ie, does the suit hold very little air and have a recylcer, or does it have a long lasting reservoir? If the former, then losing even a little air volume would leave the recycler with nothing to work with, and if the latter, then a hole in the suit would result in several hours worth of air being used up in minutes or seconds, as the suit opens the valves all the way to try to keep internal pressure up.)

[Supreme]

For the micrometeorites, I'd go for a Force Wall that has PD but is transparent to Energy (a repulsor/deflector field), especially if you have energy-attacks of your own (like your rock-melting mining laser?). Your LS: Radiation should cover the cosmic/solar radiation, I'd think (not to mention the Damage Redux). If the suit's designed for real long-term use (or long-term survival), some of the extended times on bodily necessities (eating, sleeping) might be in order.

Not sure if I like the FW, because it's not mobile. I thought of attaching powers related to mining, like tunneling or EB, but then I thought it would be better to keep things simple and say that the suit just allows the miner to work in space with a variety of external equipment. The LS should keep me safe from cosmic rads and the normal solar radiation, but solar flares is another story. Those things can cook you like a steak if you're outside of the magnetosphere. I also thought of extending the LS to cover eating (reducing the need for sleep would require drugs), but then thought it wasn't really necessary for a Champs character and decided he would leave the water and Tang packs at home.

[Supreme]

Flash Defence would seem a must. Accidentally looking directly into the sun without it in space is bad, I think.

Since your head is entirely enclosed, you'd probably gain a little hearing flash defence and lose a little bit on your hearing perception roll. When you're out in the vaccum of space mining asteroids, you arent going to be talking to anyone except through the suit intercom, so it is doubtful that there is an external sound pickup included.

If the suit is not self sealing, you could put a limitation on the life support (vacuum) that it automatically fails if any BODY damage penetrates the suit's PD/ED, and on the life support (breathing) also. Or perhaps, instead of an instant failure on the breathing, it would become extremely limited duration if the suit was holed, depending on its special effect (ie, does the suit hold very little air and have a recylcer, or does it have a long lasting reservoir? If the former, then losing even a little air volume would leave the recycler with nothing to work with, and if the latter, then a hole in the suit would result in several hours worth of air being used up in minutes or seconds, as the suit opens the valves all the way to try to keep internal pressure up.)

You're right about the Flash defense. Astronauts have to wear specially-tinted visors for that. Don't know if I want to give up any hearing, though. Radio L/T sounds quite appropos.

[Supreme Serpent]

Knockback in space can be a real stone-cold *ahem*. Once you fall off the rock you left your spare air tanks on and have spun around a few dozen times, they all start to look the same. I'd recommend an internal gyroscope and omnidirectional stabilizing jets, aka Knockback Resistance.

[Blue Jogger]

Entangle is a good way to make makeshift barriers and repair space leaks. Autofire Entangle w/Charges can be used if you need to quickly lay down a protective screen, it's low-tech compared to Force Wall, but it doesn't need to be maintained.

[freakboy6117]

not mentioned but i would want one if i was mining in space
life support eating and drinking
maybe healing via an auto medic
power defense agssint chemical and biological drains etc using an automedic drug system?

[Supreme]

Knockback in space can be a real stone-cold *ahem*. Once you fall off the rock you left your spare air tanks on and have spun around a few dozen times, they all start to look the same. I'd recommend an internal gyroscope and omnidirectional stabilizing jets, aka Knockback Resistance.

Hmm. That's not bad. I was also thinking of some kind of clinging.

[Outsider]

Knockback in space can be a real stone-cold *ahem*. Once you fall off the rock you left your spare air tanks on and have spun around a few dozen times, they all start to look the same. I'd recommend an internal gyroscope and omnidirectional stabilizing jets, aka Knockback Resistance.

A lower tech solution to losing your grip (that unfortunately wouldnt provide knockback resistance) would be to install a long teather with one end tied to the suit, and the other end with an anchoring device. Much cheaper and simpler (and probably lighter) than the jets/gyros, but with the drawback that the teather line could would be one more thing to keep out of the way when working, could become unanchored (though the jets could run out of reaction mass too) and, if you were in a rapid tumbling scenario, could entangle the miner.

[Supreme Serpent]

Not a defensive power per se, but don't forget some enhanced senses to be able to see trouble coming - radar/funky spatial awareness, etc.

[Dr. Anomaly]

A lower tech solution to losing your grip (that unfortunately wouldnt provide knockback resistance) would be to install a long teather with one end tied to the suit, and the other end with an anchoring device. Much cheaper and simpler (and probably lighter) than the jets/gyros, but with the drawback that the teather line could would be one more thing to keep out of the way when working, could become unanchored (though the jets could run out of reaction mass too) and, if you were in a rapid tumbling scenario, could entangle the miner.

What he needs is a line-throwing gun with a rock-biting grapple on the end. If he gets cast loose, he'd want to be able to shoot a line back to the asteroid, have the point embed itself in the rock, and then haul himself back. You could do that as a limited form of TK, or Stretching. Or use one of the many grapple-gun write-ups that are floating around.

Hmmm...also, so he could get back to a ship or other largely metallic mass, include an electromagnet in the grapple head and a small but dense battery back in the line-throwing mechanism itself. The battery probably wouldn't last long (Continuing Charge) but between the rock-penetrating barb and the magnet, it would let him latch on to just about anything.

A distress beacon would, I think, be standard.

If it looked like it might be a long time before he'd be rescued from a bad situation, perhaps some form of emergancy suspended animation could be available, probably via drugs. Something written up using Simulate Death -- it really reduces oxygen needs, for example.

For that matter, it's possible to sustain an injury (like a broken bone) that doesn't actually puncture the suit but also can't be treated unless you take the suit off -- a really bad idea if you don't have a ship around you at the time! So perhaps some kind of small emergancy bubble shelter could be included as standard equipment with the suit. You could do that as LS: No need to breath, heat & cold, radiation with AOE: 1 Hex (or maybe slightly larger). It would be very small and cramped, but should be large enough for him to take the suit off and tend to an injury.

Oh, and by the way...he may leave the "water and Tang packs at home", but you'd better not forget about some kind of waste-handling system for liquid waste.