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Effect on CVs of Fully Invisible


Hey I Can Chan

Question

When an Attack Power with the Advantage Fully Invisible (also conceals Source Effect; +1¼) (E61 338) is used in combat by an attacker who is visible to the defender, what is the impact (if any) on the characters' CVs?

 

Example: The Cauthon has the Power Unlucky Break: Blast 10d6, Fully Invisible (also conceals Source Effect; +1¼). The Cauthon and King Caribou are fighting over who gets the last beer. The Cauthon's player says that the Cauthon is using Unlucky Break against King Caribou, who is right there and is familiar with the Cauthon's superpowers. Is the Cauthon's attack made normally against King Caribou? Does the Cauthon get a bonus to his OCV? Is King Caribou's DCV penalized?

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Although there are concrete Combat Value penalties for being unable to perceive your attacker, there are no similarly concrete Combat Value penalties for being able to perceive your attacker, but unable to perceive the attack.

 

However, 6E2, page 58 does offer this regarding attempts to Block:

 

Quote

Generally, a character cannot Block an attack he cannot perceive (or, at best, can only Block with OCV 0). That means the GM has to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a character can “perceive” an attack. If the attack is Fully Invisible (including the source of the power), then a character probably has no chance to Block it. On the other hand, if the character can’t perceive the attack but can perceive his attacker gesturing at him or initiating the attack, the GM might simply apply the penalties for fighting an invisible attacker, or maybe a Surprised modifier, to the Block attempt.

 

This offers us some guidance on how GMs should handle the situation in general. Often, the defender will be Surprised by an invisible attack and, if so, the normal penalties of being Surprised apply (see 6E2 page 50). We know from 6E2 page 58 that a character can't Block an attack they can't perceive.

 

In the specific situation you describe, character A uses a fully invisible attack on character B while they argue over a beer (presumably not in combat), which would almost certainly result in character B being Surprised, and therefore at ½ DCV and taking 2x STUN (plus character A gets halved penalties for Placed Shots if using those rules).

 

However, you said that King Caribou is familiar with the Cauthon's superpowers.  That changes everything.  Now, King Caribou has every reason to be wary, and will almost certainly not be Surprised by the Cauthon's attack (unless the Cauthon attacking would be wildly out of character or something). So no ½ DCV, no halved Placed Shot penalties, and no 2x STUN.

 

That said, King Caribou still can't perceive the attack.  So he still can't Block it (as noted above), and it seems very appropriate to give the Cauthon a Surprise Move bonus per 6E2, page 51 (note the following text from 6E2, page 51 below [added emphasis mine]).

 

Quote

A Surprise Move is any maneuver a character makes that startles an opponent, tricks an enemy, takes advantage of a foe’s unperceptiveness, or involves an unexpected action that provides
him with a new angle of attack.

 

When the target literally cannot perceive the attack, even though they can perceive the attacker, that seems worth at least a Surprise Move bonus to the attacker's OCV.  Exactly how much of a bonus is up to the GM, depending on the particulars of the situation, but is generally +1 to +3.

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