How to make a "sick" attack.

[Herolover]

In several things now I have seen attacks which make the target sick thereby imparing him in combat. D&D had the stinking cloud spell. Minority Report has the "sick stick."

How would you do these kind of attacks in HERO.

[Derek Hiemforth]

There's a ton of possible answers. The real question isn't how to make the target sick. The real question is what do you want the sickness to do? If you want it to kill them, then it might be a Gradual Effect Killing Attack. If you want it to make them stand motionless clutching their stomach, it may be a DEX Drain. If you want it to disfigure them, it may be a COM Drain.

Start from the effect and work back to the cause.

[BasilDrag]

Originally posted by Herolover
In several things now I have seen attacks which make the target sick thereby imparing him in combat. D&D had the stinking cloud spell. Minority Report has the "sick stick."

How would you do these kind of attacks in HERO.

Depends on exactly what you're trying to do.
Hurt the target: NND (leave at STUN only, probably).
Slow up the target: SPD or DEX Drain.
Decrease target's combat effectiveness: DEX Drain, or perhaps negative OCV with Usable as Attack.
Weaken the target: STR Drain.
Poison the target: CON (or other) Drain, perhaps with Gradual Effect.
Give the target a disease: Transform, or Drain(s) with Gradual Effect.

Of course, there are other ways to get these effects (these are what occured off the top of my head). Then again, perhaps you had something else in mind?

[Chaosliege]

Originally posted by Herolover
In several things now I have seen attacks which make the target sick thereby imparing him in combat. D&D had the stinking cloud spell. Minority Report has the "sick stick."

How would you do these kind of attacks in HERO.

I would make something along the lines of an entangle based on CON instaid of STR(the higher the con the less time it takes to get over being sick)
And maybe have an NND linked to it.

[FeralWhippet]

Originally posted by BasilDrag
Give the target a disease: Transform, of Drain(s) with Gradual Effect.

and make the transform "Sticky", of course this kindda makes "Gradual Effect" more of an advantage than a limitation.

[Oruncrest]

For the 'Stinking Cloud' and 'Sick Stick' types of attacks, I would use... a simple Flash Attack vs. 'sight', with the defense being Power Defense (I wouldn't charge anything for not using a flash defense since FD tends to be about as common as Power Defense). The effects (½ OCV & ½DCV in HTH, ½ OCV & 0 DCV) are very appropriate for a 'sickness attack'.
The Stinking Cloud would be written like this (written up in AD&D terms):
Stinking Cloud: 3d6 Flash vs. Sight, Hearing, Mental, Smell (defense is Flash Defense: Smell); 3" Radius (+1¼), Continuous (+1); 1 continuous charge (1 Minute, -1), charge is 'Fire and Forget' (-1), Components (rotten egg or skunk cabbage leaves, -¼), Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼); AP:97, RP: 26
And the 'Sick Stick':
Sick Stick: 4d6 NND Flash vs. Sight, Hearing, Mental, Smell (defense is Force Field); 1 Fuel Charge that lasts 20 minutes (-¼); OAF (tonfa, -1), No Range (-½); AP: 80, RP: 29

[innominatus]

Another possibility you might consider is an NND attack with the "Instant Recovery" Limitation. This was originally used a BUNCH of years back in the Adventurers' Club for the Auto-Hypnotic Gun.

Basically how it works is this: you build a suitable large NND attack (the AH Gun recommended 8d6 for normals, and up to 12d6 for supers), with the defense being having a sufficiently shielded nervous system, or not needing to eat, or whatever. Then you add on the -1 Limitation "Instant Recovery". What this Limitation means is that, unless the NND does enough damage to either CON-Stun a target or knock him unconscious, the target suffers NO effect from the attack (effectively, he keeps his lunch down). If the attack does do enough damage, he takes the STUN damage and remains doubled over at 1/2 or 0 DCV (depending on how well the attack affected him) until he successfully recovers from being CON-Stunned or takes a normal Recovery. At that point, he immediately recovers ALL the damage and his DCV goes back to normal. Of course, you can hit the opponent multiple times with the Sick-Stick to render him more "unconscious" and delay the point at which he gets to take that Recovery (Post Segment 12 only, Per Minute, GM's Option).

[slaughterj]

For Stinking Cloud, how about using Change Environment, giving targets CV penalties? (I.e., doubling over in pain from the sickness / violent reaction to the stench, etc.)