Body and Stun Drains

[dsatow]

Say I have a Body drain rot power and the target has resistant damage reduction for PD only.  How do I legally determine if the Body drain rot power is a PD or ED effect for the damage reduction?

[Steve Long]

Good question!

 

That should be defined by the GM and player in advance. There's no checklist or anything like that in the HERO System rules to determine if an attack is Physical or Energy. In most cases it's pretty obvious, but in others -- such as this case -- you have to make a decision.

 

One other resource you can use is The Ultimate Energy Projector. It has a sidebar next to each of the 32 special effects it covers indicating whether PD, ED, or in some cases both (e.g., Ice/Cold) is the proper defense. When there's no specific entry for the special effect you're looking for, use the nearest equivalent as a guideline. In this case, there's no listing for "Rot Powers." But there is one for Biological Powers, which are defined as working against PD. Depending on the nature of this rotting power, you might also look at Holy/Unholy (which work against ED), Life Force Energy (ED), or Magic (varies).