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Mechanic vs Special Effect


dsatow

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So we are having a lively discussion about turning polluted water into clean water and its devolved, as such questions are randomly devolved into, a more technical question.  I understand some of these items are more opinions rather than a clear dry effect, so if the answer is "as the GM dictates" that is fine, but I would like to see how you would rule it in your own game and the reason why.  Here are my questions.

 

1) One writer is using life support as a way to clean the purified water, using the special effect of life support need not drink usable by others nearby to say the water is permanently clean.  Several of us disagree saying that if you took the water to someone outside the area of effect, they would be drinking polluted water.  Does the special effect trump the mechanics?

2) One writer is using the usable nearby advantage to affect many people, is there a limit to the number of people it can affect or can it affect up to one per hex out to 10m (>300 people) radius?  This is a basic question that is asking if usable nearby is a cheaper way of getting usable by other area of effect or usable by many others simultaneously.

 

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1. Special effects can’t trump, overcome, or let you ignore mechanics. When building a power you should use all the game elements necessary to simulate the special effect (though of course the GM can handwave anything he considers so trivial that it’s not worth having to pay for).

 

2. The only limits to the number of people that can take advantage of a Usable By Nearby power are ( a ) the number of people that can “realistically” fit into the defined space, and ( b ) the GM’s common sense, dramatic sense, and game balance sense. UBN is primarily intended to let characters create powers that they can extend among a group of PCs, and using it for a “static” effect such as this one may pose game balance problems, so the GM should tread carefully.

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