An odd END Res REC question

**Dr. Anomaly** · May 25th, '03, 06:43 PM

Okay, folks, here's a bit of a challenge with which I'm wrestling at the moment.

The character I'm trying to help a player of mine build has some -- not a lot, but some -- Kryptonian DNA as part of her make-up. Now, the character in question is based around manipulating force fields (both game-mechanic Force Fields, as well as game-mechanic Force Walls) of very high strengths, and hence high END use. Given that they're already so expensive, we decided against making them 1/2 END or 0 END; plus, the player likes the idea of the character being able to exhaust her powers.

Since she has Kryptonian DNA, I suggested to the player making the REC on the END Reserve dependant on sunlight -- given that the character will often be on missions in deep space, this could mean very careful husbanding of the END in the Reserve, which is fine for the player (she likes challenges like this).

My basic thought was to make the REC function at its base level under a yellow sun at approximately Earth's distance from that Sun; further away, or under a weaker (orange, red) sun, it RECovers at a slower rate; closer to the Sun, or under a more potent Sun (blue, white) the REC works *better*.

Here's the sticky part: How do I punch that out, Advantage/Limitation-wise? I'm tempted to just call it a -0 Limitation, since there are potential Advantages *and* Limitations, but the Limitations are more likely to come up than the Advantages.

The other thought was to build a series of sort of 'nested' RECs, with successively bigger limitations -- if more of them meet the increasingly stringent requirements, the more REC the character gets (ie closer than Earth-Distance under a blue sun, two more of the RECs activate), but this strikes me as inelegant.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

By the way, the breakdown would look something like this, using Earth and Earth's yellow Sun as the baseline:

x2.00 REC - Closer than Mercury
x1.50 REC - Mercury to just closer than Earth
x1.00 REC - Earth to just closer than Mars
x0.50 REC - Mars to just closer than Jupiter
x0.25 REC - Jupiter to just closer than Saturn
x0.00 REC - Saturn or further (no Recovery)

You'd modify your location on the table by star-type; one step down for each star-type dimmer than Sol, one step up the table for each star-type brighter than Sol.

Example: around an orange star, closer to it than Mercury to Sol yields -1 step (star type) +2 steps (distance) for a x1.50 Recovery rate.

**Gary** · May 25th, '03, 06:53 PM

Just purchase the maximum possible rec, under a blue sun, and put a blanket -1 limitation that it gets weaker the less sunlight is received.

-1 should be the proper limitation level since 1 AU yellow sun is where she's going to spend most of her time.

**Dr. Anomaly** · May 25th, '03, 06:59 PM

Gary,

That's not a bad idea, but she's NOT going to be spending most of her time 1 AU from a yellow sun (I mentioned that, didn't I?) This is a character for the Legion of Super-Heroes setting, which is galaxy-spanning. Many of the missions will be on alien planets with sun colors other than yellow, and many more still will have at least part of the action taking place in deep space, quite a distance from ANY sun.

**Rebar** · May 25th, '03, 07:04 PM

You've pretty much hashed it all out. You've set the Rec as per how far she is from the sun under what circumstances.

Now just decide how much that's going to affect her. If she spends most of her time away, then it'll be a limitation. You don't need to buy a zillion levels of Rec with different lims, just average it, and then write up a separate list of the specifics for her to abide by.

**Gary** · May 25th, '03, 07:05 PM

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
Gary,

That's not a bad idea, but she's NOT going to be spending most of her time 1 AU from a yellow sun (I mentioned that, didn't I?) This is a character for the Legion of Super-Heroes setting, which is galaxy-spanning. Many of the missions will be on alien planets with sun colors other than yellow, and many more still will have at least part of the action taking place in deep space, quite a distance from ANY sun.

If she has high inherent FTL travel, then -1/2 is probably the appropriate limitation level, since she can fly near a blue sun relatively easily. If she has low FTL, then -1 would be appropriate. No FTL would probably be a -1.5 limitation. This could change if she has a teammate with change environment bright sunlight or something similar.

**Dr. Anomaly** · May 25th, '03, 07:08 PM

Y'know, I hadn't thought about the team-mate with sun powers thing, and that's really a silly mistake on my part, because one of the Legion members is Sun Boy, who can project practically any frequency/amount of solar radiation he desires. Now, since there are 25 members of the Legion, she won't be with him even 1/2 the time, but still...

And as far as her own movement capabilities -- no, she doesn't have any FTL!

**Chris Goodwin** · May 25th, '03, 09:35 PM

In general, the way you want to do it is to buy the maximum amount of REC the character will have, then apply appropriate Limitations. It sounds like you can probably figure out the values of those Limitations yourself (in other words, "is left as an exercise for the reader").

**DigitalGolem** · May 27th, '03, 02:56 PM

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
Gary,

That's not a bad idea, but she's NOT going to be spending most of her time 1 AU from a yellow sun (I mentioned that, didn't I?) This is a character for the Legion of Super-Heroes setting, which is galaxy-spanning. Many of the missions will be on alien planets with sun colors other than yellow, and many more still will have at least part of the action taking place in deep space, quite a distance from ANY sun.

Star Hero has lots of info on other types of stars, and the effects they have based on distance. There are two systems used in SH: the simple, easy one establishes temperature zones, and describes how far from a given star type they are. The complex/realistic one uses the relationship of stellar luminosity and distance. (4th root of luminosity, divide by square root of distance)

The 'zone system' is probably what you want, unless someone in your gaming group has the "Lightning Calculator" talent.

DGv3.0

**Marcus** · May 27th, '03, 03:35 PM

Hmm... Lightning Calculator Talent, OAF Casio.

**Dr. Anomaly** · May 27th, '03, 03:40 PM

I've been re-reading Star Hero for just that reason, though since astronomy is one of my hobbies, I already have a good notion of how I'm going to run it (the Star Hero reread is for a game mechanics angle).

Despite one of my degrees being in Mathematics, I'm NOT going to do the full scientific/mathematical rigamarole -- just go with some variant of the simple chart I posted above. Rather like how the chart for Charges starts with a base value & then moves up & down it based on Advantages or Limitations, I'll start with a base value (1 AU from a type G sun) and move up and down based on color, luminosity, and proximity.

Originally posted by DigitalGolem
Star Hero has lots of info on other types of stars, and the effects they have based on distance. There are two systems used in SH: the simple, easy one establishes temperature zones, and describes how far from a given star type they are. The complex/realistic one uses the relationship of stellar luminosity and distance. (4th root of luminosity, divide by square root of distance)

The 'zone system' is probably what you want, unless someone in your gaming group has the "Lightning Calculator" talent.

DGv3.0