Help with power concept

[redwayno]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm an infrequent lurker looking for advice. Please forgive me if my idea has already been discussed and I missed it.

 

Without being too lengthy, the idea is this: I want my character to have a crystalline outer coating the source of which is his blood. Due to the nature of the crystals, it should chip off as it gets damaged and provide less protection. However, at any time the character can expend blood (take BODY maybe?) to replenish his armor shell back up to its maximum value.

 

I considered the ABLATIVE limitation, but that doesn't provide an obvious method to restore back to full value.

 

Any creative suggestions (or even not so creative ones ) would be welcomed.

 

Thanks,

 

- redwayno

[Blue]

Sounds like Armor Ablative + an AID power to boost the Armor's points, possibly limited with an "Only back to full PD/ED" limitation of some sort. AID would likely have charges, since you only have so much blood.

[Yogzilla]

Or make it 0END Cost, but add on Side Effect - - something like "take x BODY for every y PD/ED gained with Aid".

 

-Yogzilla

[Marcus]

Ablative, with an AID to get the Ablative up, with a Side Effect on the AID to represent Stun and/or Body Loss.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

What about just putting a limited version of the Variable Limitation on your armor. Normally it would be Ablative but you could switch it over to Side Effect (6d6 damage). That would 'heal' the Armor and simulate 'blood loss.' Then you could switch back to Ablative with 'fully healed' armor.

 

Maek sure to buy up CON & BODY some if you go this route. Rengeration would probably be helpful too.

[Lord Liaden]

IMO most of the previous posters are on the right track. I think that I would go with the version of Ablative which loses 5 AP for every hit with an attack capable of doing Body damage (-1 Limitation). However, I would suggest Healing rather than Aid to restore the Defensive shell, since it only restores up to starting values and doesn't fade. A Body loss Side Effect on Healing would complete what you're looking for.

[Karma]

What the former posters seem to forget is that in FRED 'Ablative ' causes the defense to have a decreasing 'activation' number unless you use the 'simplified' version at the end if the description (which removes 5 Active points per hit). It does not decrease in defense as it did in former editions.

Since 'returning to full power' can only be done between adventures or at at the GM's discression (like reloading charges) you should dicuss this with him (or if that's you talk to yourself) and perhaps come up with a 'pseudopwer' which returns the armor to max when you take a certain number of BODY.

 

PS I had an idea for a chracter like this once (same concept and everything). I use Absorbtion to show how the more you hurt him the more armored he got. I even came up with a limitation 'only BODY which pierces armor' (since usually you determine how much you'll absorb before defenses kick in) although I can't remember what level I gave it. Anyway this was in an earlier ewdition when you could 'regenerate' your ablative armour somewhat.

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by Karma

What the former posters seem to forget is that in FRED 'Ablative ' causes the defense to have a decreasing 'activation' number unless you use the 'simplified' version at the end if the description (which removes 5 Active points per hit). It does not decrease in defense as it did in former editions.

Since 'returning to full power' can only be done between adventures or at at the GM's discression (like reloading charges) you should dicuss this with him (or if that's you talk to yourself) and perhaps come up with a 'pseudopwer' which returns the armor to max when you take a certain number of BODY.

 

Um, if you lose Active Points in a Defense from a hit as in the simplified Ablative, isn't that decreasing the Defense? 20 DEF, Ablative, which loses 5 AP would be 15 DEF.

 

IMO an Adjustment Power like Healing or Aid should be able to restore those points as per usual, GM willing. After all, BODY damage takes a long time to "recover" normally, but you can Heal that back instantly.

[redwayno]

Thanks for all the replies so far! I like ablative except for that pesky "only replaceable between adventures". Though, I suspect my GM may allow the condition on replacement to be some form of damage since it could have dire consequences. Thanks, Karma, for the reminder of that little 'feature' of 5th Ed. ablative!

 

Kudos to Vanderbilt_Grad for the most creatively different idea so far! I'm looking into the variable limitation idea further.

 

Question, can you use Transfer against yourself? If so, I could have a Transfer BODY to Armor with a limitation 'Usable only on self' to restore to full strength.

[redwayno]

After rereading the FRED writeup on Healing, I've decided Lord Liaden has the best solution. Healing heals pts of powers or characteristics "lost for any reason". With this in mind, I think I can convince my GM this is the way to go. Likewise, the FRED has a sidebar example "Empathic Healing" that describes Healing with a damage side effect (damage equal to amount healed -1 limitation). This is perfect.

 

Thanks everyone for the generous contributions!

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I agree that the Ablative Armor (-1) and Healing works.

 

However IMO what you are *really* looking for is a limitation on the Armor that is ‘like ablative but can be fixed more quickly.’ Leaving aside the blood stuff for a moment if you had said something like Ablative that is fixed automatically after every combat then the GM might have assigned that as a -1/4 limitation. That’s where I start with for your power setup. In essence what you are looking for is a slightly limited form of Armor. Something that should probably be *cheaper* than unmodified Armor.

 

Next lets look at healing … in general Healing is very expensive. In fact if you don’t have a MP or VPP then you will probably end up spending more for the Healing than for the Armor. I have a problem conceptual with spending *more* for Armor + Healing than would have spent just paying for Armor.

 

Secondly Healing is pretty darn limited. You can only heal your Armor *once* per whatever arbitrary limit you have between healings (well you could keep rolling until you get a higher roll but I don’t really count that) … unless you tack Cumulative on the Healing which will make it even *more* expensive.

 

If a player came to me with this sort of Armor + Healing setup without healing as a slot in a MP then I would probably simply turn the PC down & tell them to figure out a way to do it cheaper.

[redwayno]

VG,

 

I like your thought process. You're right on target about 'like ablative but fixed more quickly'. The hard part, as with most things in this system, is making the sometimes arbitrary determination of the value of a limitation. Also common with Hero is the fact that there are many ways to do the same thing depending on how strictly you want to adhere to 'official' guidelines and what specific game mechanics you're really looking for. As an example, I know of a mentalist NPC that the GM bought the Armor power for, with the justification that due to his mental abilities 'people just don't like to hurt him'. In my mind that's a bit of a stretch based on the description of Armor. I might have tried something much more mechanically complicated like Uncontrolled, triggered suppress that affects attack powers when attacked. That could be extremely expensive much like the healing in your analysis.

 

Anyway, I'm inclined to agree after further thought that the healing idea is too expensive. I think the limitation I'm looking for is not worth as much as ablative because it can be restored more quickly, but not too much less than ablative because restoring it causes damage.

 

I guess that leaves me welcoming any other ideas people can throw out.

 

Thanks!

[Crimson Arrow]

Hi,

 

This is a flying visit and just something off the top of my head, so I might be wholly wrong.

 

To get round the "between adventures" problem with Ablative, how about taking a Disadvantage so that on a hit which does more than "X" damage, the character suffers a Drain to Armour?

 

I suppose the Drain would fade over time, which might not quite suit you. On the other hand, I can see how his body might regrow the casing, but that he can spend BODY to bring it back more quickly.

 

You could use the Standard Effect rule for the Drain, or you might prefer that hits will take slightly different amounts of Armour away.

 

Others have covered how to restore the protection.