BODY of Water? + Power Strength Based on available water?

[SangurianSoul]

Hey fellow gamers,  ive got something to run past you all. I asked over in the rules section at the end of May, but Mr.Long hasnt responded to anyone (i really hope he is doing well). So i thought id bounce over here and ask all of you.

 

I apologize if this has been asked/explained before, but my google-fu seems to be running weak on this topic, and i simply cant seem to find the appropriate places in the rule books.

 

My group has had a revitalized feeling for Avatar: The Last Airbender and wish to play a campaign. Trying to bring the world to life in a Heroic setting, i want to bring a sense of realism and balance. My only real road block at the moment is water. The waterbenders of the Avatar world can manipulate water through the use of their chi. But this is far more of a manipulation of existing water rather than just "water powers"

 

Which brings me to my two issues: the BODY of water for Transform (Or a better way to do this) and how to properly scale things like a (Water)Blast based off of the available amount of water. 

 

Move Water (Telekinesis), and the like are all easy enough. But what about things like Transform? to change water into ice? or vice-versa? how much BODY does water have? the weight of water for things like Telekinesis can be figured out through volume and math. But many abilities require certain amounts of water. and while we can create limitations, (can only use 1d6 of Water Blast per liter of available water) or some such, i think knowing a somewhat appropriate amount of body for water would help with transform, or it being evaporated away by a Firebender's blast.  There are plenty of examples on the body of rock and stone, and the thickness of walls, for Earthbenders. But no listings anywhere that i can find for good examples of water or ice. Would just using the BODY Object Table based on the amount of water in question? is this the simplest route? or is there something more appropriate for water or ice? I could be thinking too literal in this case, but if someone can give me other ideas on how to easily go about water=ice 'transforms' easily and realistically, thats fine too.

The though for attack powers with water, (in a realistic sense) the more water you throw at someone the more it hurts. Would a Limitiation like what i mentioned above (only 1d6 per litre of available water) work? would it be balanced? or would something like a series of 1d6 Blasts that are required to have 1 litre of water, Linked in a series work? Only being able to go as high as the water you have?

 

I could have missed something very obvious, or thinking about this all wrong (or far to realistically) . id love to hear any other suggestions on how to go about this.

 

 

[dsatow]

It similar to restrainable but might be worth more a limitation based on the setting and what the hero has.  I would avoid actual declarations of how much water per liter and let the GM decide but who knows your GM might accept that. 

 

For example, Aqualad in Young Justice has a backpack full of water so the limitation might be only worth -1/2. Its never declared how much water is in the backpack but its enough to form water blades.  But if you rarely had sufficient water with you and almost none in the environment it can range from -1 to -1 1/2.  It depends on the GM and their campaign.

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

I'd wonder why you're using Transform here.  You want to turn water into ice for a reason, right?  To make a barrier, or to walk across something, hit somebody with sharp ice objects, whatever. 

So build that power, with "Turning water into ice and" as the SFX. 

 

Also everything dsatow said. 

[SangurianSoul]

Both fair points. I may be just looking into it a little to much.

I guess the only times where the amount of water really makes a difference (in the show)  is when there is so much that they just launch a deluge at someone. That can just be TK.

So (in your opinions) the capacity to freeze standing water is really just an SFX? Or maybe even just a Power Skill for basic use? I guess it really does kind of come down to the "Does it actually do something to alter the flow of the game? If yes, then its worth points"

[Greywind]

HERO is generally "reason from effect" disregarding SFX.

[mallet]

I agree with the above. Just build the powers as normal with the SFX of "Water/Ice" and a limitation that there must be a large enough source of water close by. And then for attacks maybe they have Indirect applied to them so the direction of the attack is from the water source (so if there is a river behind the opponent and the PC uses a Blast (water) attack on the opponent it would hit the opponent from behind (the source of the water).

[dsatow]

17 hours ago, SangurianSoul said:

So (in your opinions) the capacity to freeze standing water is really just an SFX? Or maybe even just a Power Skill for basic use? I guess it really does kind of come down to the "Does it actually do something to alter the flow of the game? If yes, then its worth points"

 

Depends on how useful it is to the game.  In general, if it has a combat effect, then you pay points for it.  If it's very useful in non-combat situations, you generally pay points for it.  If its sometime useful to only colorful during role playing, generally the GM will hand wave it especially if you have a very tight character concept.  Whether you need to pay points for something is usually something you need to talk with your GM.  Most GMs will say the above in my experience.

 

Example: Iceman in the Fox XMen movies makes an ice figurine in his hand.  This is colorful and most GMs won't make you pay for a power to simulate it.  If Iceman froze the ground to make his pursuers slip and fall, then that's a combat effect and a GM would say to pay points for it.  If Iceman wanted to make Ice Bridges to bridge gaps between the tops of buildings, then the GM makes the call if that's a very useful in non-combat situations.  If the players are seldom on top of buildings in a city, the GM might just let Iceman's entangle power do the trick, rather than forcing him to buy a bridging power.

[archer]

12 minutes ago, dsatow said:

 

Depends on how useful it is to the game.  In general, if it has a combat effect, then you pay points for it.  If it's very useful in non-combat situations, you generally pay points for it.  If its sometime useful to only colorful during role playing, generally the GM will hand wave it especially if you have a very tight character concept.  Whether you need to pay points for something is usually something you need to talk with your GM.  Most GMs will say the above in my experience.

 

Example: Iceman in the Fox XMen movies makes an ice figurine in his hand.  This is colorful and most GMs won't make you pay for a power to simulate it.  If Iceman froze the ground to make his pursuers slip and fall, then that's a combat effect and a GM would say to pay points for it.  If Iceman wanted to make Ice Bridges to bridge gaps between the tops of buildings, then the GM makes the call if that's a very useful in non-combat situations.  If the players are seldom on top of buildings in a city, the GM might just let Iceman's entangle power do the trick, rather than forcing him to buy a bridging power.

 

Iceman makes an ice figurine one time to impress a girl while sitting in class: free.

 

Iceman starts using ice figurines regularly to enhance the use of his Seduction skill during adventures: he pays points.

 

Iceman makes an ice statue of himself to fool bad guys: he pays points

 

Iceman goes into business selling ice sculptures: he pays points but walks away with some cool cash.

[unclevlad]

Converting standing water to ice is exactly that...just SFX.  What you have to consider is...SFX for what?

 

--Change Environment (make a surface slick, imposes movement and DEX skill penalties)

--Entangle

--HA (an ice staff) or HKA (ice spear)

--a water-based Blast would probably have Red Pen;  an ice-based Blast might not

--and an ice-based ranged attack might be an RKA, if you can shape the projectile sufficiently finely, into, say, a spearhead form

 

[dsatow]

7 hours ago, archer said:

Iceman goes into business selling ice sculptures: he pays points but walks away with some cool cash.

 

Love the pun.  Cold hard cash for the win!

[Greywind]

There was a story about Iceman, I forget the details, but he was on a college campus. There was an ice sculpture display of heroes and villains. The guy that was looking for him passed 2 Iceman sculptures in the display. Then Bobby attacked.