Weapons Question 1: Star Trek Phaser

[McCoy]

IIRC (and if I do not please correct me) a Phaser has 4 settings, light stun, heavy stun, kill/disintegrate, and heat.

Kill is easy, a simple RKA. Heat, transform object to red hot object. But what about the Stun setting(s)? Is there more difference between light and heavy stun than dramatic necessity? Is the Stun setting a STUN-only EB, or a NND, and if a NND what would be the approperate defense? (Would prefer something other than Force Field, a little overloaded on NND's stopped by non-material defenses now.)

All input welcome, all help appriciated. Thanks everyone!

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by McCoy
IIRC (and if I do not please correct me) a Phaser has 4 settings, light stun, heavy stun, kill/disintegrate, and heat.

Kill is easy, a simple RKA. Heat, transform object to red hot object. But what about the Stun setting(s)? Is there more difference between light and heavy stun than dramatic necessity? Is the Stun setting a STUN-only EB, or a NND, and if a NND what would be the approperate defense? (Would prefer something other than Force Field, a little overloaded on NND's stopped by non-material defenses now.)

All input welcome, all healp appriciated. Thanks everyone!

The only difference between light stun and heavy stun is that one is light and one is.....

Seriously, for 'light stun', just build an Energy Blast.
For 'heavy stun' build an Energy Blast with either Armor Piercing or Penetrating.
Build both settings as separate slots in a four slot multipower.

for example;
slot 1: RKA
slot 2: Transform / Change Environment (normal to hot;increase temp)
slot 3: EB
slot 4: EB, Penetrating

Take an OAF on the entire multipower to reflect the fact that its a phaser to help reduce the cost.

[McCoy]

Syberdwarf2, Penetraiting! Thanks, that'll do it!

[Space Cadet]

The difference between heavy phaser stun and light phaser stun
is that heavy stun flat-out renders the target unconscious, while
light stun leaves the target conscious and able to speak, but not
much else (remember the episode with the salt-sucking vampire?).

Space Cadet

P.S.: Just got through looking at Syberdwarf2's phaser example,
and saw where he had suggested a straight-out EB for the light
stun setting. Setting #3 could also be written up as a DEX Drain,
for those times when you really need to find out something from
someone, but don't want to have to wait for him to wake up.

[SirViss]

Don't forget the Stun Only limitation, at least for the Light Stun setting. I have never seen the Stun settings doing Body to anything (Except in ST VI, where the 2 traitors are found dead from repeated Heavy Stuns at close range.)

[JMHammer]

When we're talking Star Trek, I assume we're talking Classic 60s-era Trek, not New Trek. Like New Coke, New Trek has its good points but has always left a bad taste in my mouth.

This thread reminds me of a very interesting NPC from one of my old supers campaigns. A young boy, a fanatical Star Trek fan, lies in a coma following an automobile accident. To the doctors, he's in a persistent vegetative state. Strange reports begin coming out of New York: It appears William Shatner has gone nuts and has joined the local superhero team! Although the accident has caused some brain damage (hence the coma), it has also activated otherwise-dormant parts of this boy's brain. In his unconscious dreams, he is Captain Kirk. This manifests to the world at large as a psychic, yet physical, projection of the fictional character! No one who sees or interacts with him can tell its a psychic projection. And this projection believes he is really Captain Kirk.

The character had a phaser, tricorder, communicator, and good HTH combat skills as well as all the usual skills you'd expect (Many of which were useless because what good is TF: Federation Starships and PS: Starship Captain in a mostly earthbound supers game?). He had a one-charge-per-day multipower to represent access to the "Enterprise" - a big area-effect indirect energy blast with extra time (phasers from the ship), a big "General Knowledge" skill roll also with extra time, etc. Of course, there was no "ship up there" and all the effects were psychically generated by the comatose kid.

I think I remember the phaser pretty well:
30 .. 60-point Multipower Reserve, OAF: Phaser Pistol
3u .. Stun: 12d6 EB, Stun Only, OAF: Phaser Pistol
3u .. Kill: 4d6 RKA, OAF: Phaser Pistol, No Knockback [SFX: Anything reduced to -(Full Body Value) is considered disintegrated - completely gone.]
3u .. Heat: 2 1/2d6 RKA, Penetrating, OAF: Phaser Pistol, Max Range = 10"
1u .. Overload: 8d6 EB, Explosion, OAF: Phaser Pistol, 1 Charge, Use Destroys Weapon (and one power pack but not "extra" power packs - see below), Range Based on STR, Makes Annoying Warning Sound Before Detonation (+1 to Dive-for-Cover rolls) [SFX: Can Make Annoying Warning Sound For Up To One Minute Without Detonation At Character's Option]
2 .. No recoil: +1 OCV w/Phaser Pistol, OAF: Phaser Pistol
8 .. Endurance Reserve: 120 END, OIF: Hand Phaser / Power Pack
8 .. Endurance Reserve: 120 END, OIF: Hand Phaser / Power Pack
8 .. Endurance Reserve: 120 END, OIF: Hand Phaser / Power Pack
Special Effect: One Hand Phaser / Power Pack is in the Phaser Pistol to start. A fresh one can be swapped in using the same rules for changing clips. A Hand Phaser can also be used alone; it is identical to a Phaser Pistol but does not have the +1 OCV (it's awkward to hold and aim) and uses twice as much Endurance per shot, but it is easily concealable. The Hand Phasers / Power Packs recharge whenever Kirk "goes back to the ship" but he has to wait at least 24 hours before returning if he does that.
Total Cost: 68
[I actually broke some rules in the played version to make it a bit different than this, but this is what it would look like under the strict HERO rules. Well, sorta strict...]

No need to worry about light stun vs heavy stun - just use the Stun setting at less than maximum. This might be done to prevent a target from being completely knocked out or to preserve charge. The Kill and Heat settings can also be used at less than full power. The Heat setting could be used as a cutting / welding torch, to make things hot, etc. Also, don't get hung up on the wide-area beam that was seen in a very few episodes; represent this by just spreading the Energy Blast or RKA a little at the time it's fired.

John H

[AnotherSkip]

Actually i had a similar idea except that the character's best friend turned to evil, and he became "The Lieutenant" in order to oppose his friend "Burn Master". Burn master got damaged in a Superhero battle at a gaming convention causing his change in beliefs.

The Lieutenant modified the ideas his friend and he were working on when BM got hit by the Superheroes. and so armed only with his miniature force field generator, his trusty Mark 2 Phaser, and the ideals of the Federation he wages a battle against his friend.

[Eodin]

My write-up of the old-trek phaser is:
Cost Phaser
90 Phaser Energy Weapon: Multipower (180 point Reserve), OAF (-1)
4u 1) Stun: EB 15d6 (75 Active Points), Limited Effect: Stun Only (-0), OAF (-1), Lockout: No other slot usable when this one active (-0)
6u 2) Wide Angle Stun: EB 15d6, Area Effect (Cone 9� on each side, +1), Limited Effect: Stun Only (-0), OAF (-1), No Range (-1/2), Lockout: No other slot usable when this one active (-0)
6u 3) Disrupt: RKA 8d6, OAF (-1), Lockout: No other slot usable when this one active (-0))
2u 4) Overload: RKA 8d6 Explosion (+1/2), Size of Explosion Limited to Remaining END in Battery (-0), OAF (-1), 1 Non-recoverable charge (-4), Extra Time (1 minute to overload; -1 ½)
108 Weapon Cost
It has an END Battery of 180 END for the hand phaser. Light Stun is only 9d6 from slot 1, heavy stun is 15d6 from slot 1. If you're interested, check out my trek hero stuff at at http://rbrucecom.tripod.com/

[CorpCommander]

If you build a Captain Kirk you'd HAVE TO include the following power.

+20 COM unconrollable (shirt comes off in combat!) Lasts long enough so that Kirk can improve his seduction attempts on the moon princess or any other female within one parsec of the action!

[McCoy]

Originally posted by CorpCommander
If you build a Captain Kirk you'd HAVE TO include the following power.

+20 COM unconrollable (shirt comes off in combat!) Lasts long enough so that Kirk can improve his seduction attempts on the moon princess or any other female within one parsec of the action!

What makes you think it was only females? Kirk always impressed me as being able to overlook such things as species and gender.

[CorpCommander]

Originally posted by McCoy
What makes you think it was only females? Kirk always impressed me as being able to overlook such things as species and gender.

Uhhh, right. Whatever you say.

[Killer Shrike]

Not a big Star Trek fan (quite the opposite actually), but systemically, there is more than one way to "STUN" a cat in HEROs.

One thing you might consider which can be devastatingly effective is to simply Drain END. Its cheap (1 pt of effect drains 2 END), and renders most characters incapable of taking any action for fear of STUNing themselves out, but still leaves them conscious. Of course in a supers campaign with lots of characters running of END Reserves, charges, or the like, or vs gun-toting opponents its a riskier proposition.

Another option is just to Entangle them with a nice little BOECV Mental Entangle. Huzzah; statue time! Stronger willed opponents can 'push' thru it, but weak willed red shirts and thier equivalents are pretty much done.

Of course there is the NND, but why not go all the way to an EB AVLD vs Power Defense? Force Field what? Nope, sorry, no protection there.

Along the same lines, Ego Attack, does not provide Mental Awareness, Visible?

Mind Control: 1 Command "DONT MOVE", based on Con, does not provide Mental Awareness, Visible?

etc

[Jeff]

One way to do heavy versus light stun as different MP slots may be to have light stun trade off some damage-enhancing advantages for reduced or zero END - if it's a lower power setting, it's plausibly one that uses less energy.