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Change Environment


Quiller

Question

The description of Change Environment includes discussion of an adder: Varying Combat Effects and an advantage: Varying Effect.

 

From the way they are described it is difficult to know how they differ.

 

My interpretation is this:

 

The Varying Combat Effects Adder allows the user to vary effects after activating the power. Changing the effect is a half phase action and may be done in the ways described without the need to re-roll to hit (which is to say an equal number of levels of an effect of equal or lesser cost).

 

The Varying Effect Advantage allows the user to vary the effects between different uses but may not alter the effect once it is established. The mechanism for deciding how many levels of the alternate effect are available is not discussed. One can assume that the mechanism is the same as that for the Adder but this is not made explicit.

 

Is this interpretation correct?

 

If not, what is the correct interpretation of these features?

 

If it is does the Adder not make the advantage almost entirely superfluous?

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I'm sorry the text caused difficulties for you, but I disagree that there's any objective similarity between the Adder and the Advantage.

 


 

Varying Combat Effects:  ... For a +10 Character Point Adder, Varying Combat Effects, the character may switch between different combat effects as a Half Phase Action. 

 


 

Varying Effect (varies):  A Change Environment power with this Advantage can create more than one type of environmental change (though it can’t alter its defined combat effect). [soon followed by a specific example of varying the types of weather created.]

 

The Adder allows a character to switch between combat effects, a specific aspect of CE defined as part of the power. The Advantage allows a character to vary the environmental change created within defined parameters, but specifically states it can't alter the combat effect. That seems like a pretty straightforward differentiation to me.

 

However, you have indirectly raised one issue that needs to be addressed, so I'm glad this came up. I'm going to restate it as a general question so everyone's clear:

 

Q:  If a character has Change Environment with the Varying Combat Effects Adder, can he change the combat effect of a use of Change Environment that already exists? For example, suppose Stormlord has Change Environment (create weather, Varying Combat Effects, Area Of Effect (32m Radius)). In his first Phase he uses it to create -3 to Sight Group PER Rolls (defined as driving rain). Can he, in his next Phase, maintain the CE and use a Half Phase Action to change the combat Effect to, say, -3 Temperature Levels (defined as freezing cold)?
 
A:  No. A combat effect for a use of CE, once defined, cannot be changed. The rules for changing the combat effect using Varying Combat Effect apply to changing the effect between uses. In your example, Stormlord can create driving rain (-3 to Sight Group PER Rolls), but having chose penalties to Sight Group PER Rolls as his combat effect for that use of CE, he cannot change that combat effect thereafter. If he wants to use his CE a second time to create another “zone” of CE, he can switch to -3 Temperature Levels as his combat effect for that second use with a Half Phase Action, but his first use of CE remains as -3 to Sight Group PER Rolls.
 
If the GM wants to allow characters to alter the combat effects of an existing use of CE, he might make that possible for an additional cost to the Adder (such as +5 or +10 points; I'd suggest the former). In that case it would still take a Half Phase to change the combat effect, but no additional Attack Roll or the like would be required.

 

As for the "mechanism" used to determine what qualifies for the "many" (three) levels of Varying Effect, it's the same as the one used for many other powers:  the more the character can do (Very Limited, Limited, or Broad group of effects), the greater the Advantage's value. Given the vast range of possible abilities characters can build with CE, the rules provide a framework, then rely on players and GMs to exercise good judgment in deciding what fits into each level of the framework. If there's any question about what qualifies for each of those levels, the GM decides based on the usual standards of common sense, dramatic sense, and game balance. Published sources (such as Champions Villains and Champions Powers have examples that can serve as guidelines, but if that "default" doesn't suit a particular campaign it still falls to the GM to make the final decision.

 

If there's ever an APG III, providing a list of suggested examples for Varying Effect might make an interesting inclusion for the book, but for the most part I think GMs and players are handling it OK. If you haven't already, you might consider starting a thread on this in the Discussion forum so that GMs and players can give examples of what they think fall into each of the three categories of Varying Effect.

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