Hi folx! Here are some thoughts about Powers that begin with A-E that have occurred to me over the years, along with my brief thoughts on them. I’m posting them here to stimulate discussion, but not to limit or restrict it. These aren’t necessarily all the issues about these Powers that could be considered, nor the only thoughts about them. Feel free to post anything here that you think is relevant and reasonably constructive; you don’t have to limit yourself to what I’ve posted.
Regardless of whatever opinion I post on an idea, I’m always willing to be convinced otherwise if you think you can do it.The fact that I’m posting an opinion doesn’t necessarily mean my mind’s made up on an issue; it just indicates my current thinking on the subject.
Periodically I may post other questions and thoughts that occur to me.
Q: Should Absorption be removed and simply folded into Aid as a special form of that Power?
Steve’s Thoughts: Arguably Absorption is nothing more than a Limited form of Aid. But I think it’s helpful to keep it as a separate Power. If it takes over two pages of text to describe something, doing it as a Limited form of another Power doesn’t really help matters, methinks.
Q: Should the Self Only (-1/2) Limitation for Aid be increased in value?
Steve’s Thoughts: An argument could be made that self-only Aids are a bit too expensive, and that therefore an increase in the Limitation value would be a good idea. OTOH, Self Only is (-1/2) everywhere else, so increasing it here would create an inconsistency.
Q: Should Armor and Force Field be combined into one Power?
Steve’s Thoughts: This idea at least has some surface merit, since they’re largely the same Power. Presumably this new Power (let’s call it “Resistant Defense”) would work more or less like Force Field; you’d buy it to 0 END and Persistent to create Armor (thus making Armor more expensive than it is now, since now it gets Persistent for free). This would make it possible to buy “Armor” in an Elemental Control and have some other minor effects.
Overall I can’t say I’m totally convinced this change is necessary. It wouldn’t bother me to keep them separate. As always I’m interested to hear what the fans have to say.
Q: Should Damage Reduction be extended to allow for 100% Damage Reduction (a.k.a. “Invulnerability”), at least as to one chosen special effect or Power type?
Steve’s Thoughts: I don’t particularly favor this idea and am not going to implement it unless someone comes up with a persuasive argument in its favor. I think the HERO System works better without absolutes stronger than the Absolute Effect Rule. Given what 100% Damage Reduction would have to cost, it’s not as if you can’t spend the same amount of points and effectively be invulnerable anyway... if the GM’ll let you.
Q: Should Damage Resistance be removed as a Power in favor of a Resistant (+1/2) Advantage for abilities that provide Normal Defense (such as regular PD and ED)?
Steve’s Thoughts: This is an idea worth considering. Damage Resistance basically functions as an Advantage anyway; it was just easier to handle it as a Power than a naked Advantage under previous incarnations of the HERO System. Now that rules for naked Advantages are better defined and people are more comfortable with them, switching to a Resistant (+1/2) Advantage makes sense.
Q: Should any functionality be removed from Desolidification, or the Power changed in any significant way?
Steve’s Thoughts: I don’t see any need for this, but every now and then I see someone posting something about potentially splitting Desolidification up into two or more Powers, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to raise the issue. Desolidification tends to be something of a conceptual nightmare from time to time (curse you, Kitty Pryde!), but overall I think it works fine.
Q: Does Duplication need any changes or revisions?
Steve’s Thoughts: While I think the 5ER version of Duplication is better than what’s come before, it still needs some work. Off the top of my head, one thing that immediately occurs to me is that the cost differential (1-for-5 to 1-for-1) and similar elements of the Power cause mathematical problems that we should find a way to avoid. I can’t say that at this precise moment I have an exact solution worked out, but I will by the time I’m writing 6E. In some respects this might make the Power more similar to Summon, but I think there are enough differences between the two concepts that they’re worth keeping separate.
Q: For Enhanced Senses, should “N-Ray” (i.e., the ability to perceive through solid objects) be changed to some sort of Sense Modifier?
Steve’s Thoughts: I can’t say I’m convinced this is necessary, but it might have some merit. It would help to define exactly which Senses are and aren’t blocked by solid physical objects.
Originally Posted by Michael Hopcroft
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