[Question] A few questions

[The Horror]

Wow. I was about to post up a bunch of questions, and just before I did so I took a quick look at the FAQ. They are really good! Is there an updated version of the PDF available?

 

Here are two questions that I still have though. The first is really only a clarification, the second is more of a question:

 

1) So a focus can always be rebuilt given time/materials, and it doesn't cost character points. Meanwhile an Independent focus can't be rebuilt unless character points are spent once again. Does this mean that if a suit of armor is built in a superhero game using OAF, and it gets stolen, that the character can just build another one? If it gets stolen by a villain, can the villain keep on using it, or does he have to pay character points for it himself if he wants to do so?

 

2) If a PC has a suit of powered armor purchased with Only Usable in Heroic Identity, then gets captured, can the suit be taken away from him by the villains leaving him to fend for himself until he can replace it/re-acquisition it?

 

 

 

The Horror

[rjcurrie]

To quote Steve Long's oft-used answer to questions like these, "it depends on common and dramatic sense." You really need to consider each item individually. This is not really an area where you can have hard and fast rules, because foci can represent so many different things.

 

Basically, when a GM allows a focus in his campaign, he should sit down and discuss with the player how the focus was created in the first place, so he can determine how easily the character can replace it.

 

For example, if it took 2 years and several million dollars to build the powered armor suit in the first place, replacing it may be somewhat cheaper and take less time but it will still not be as simple as going down to the hardware store, buying a few parts and putting it together in an hour.

 

 

 

 

[caris]

Re: [Question] A few questions

 

Ok these are very general answers that can be altered depending on the specific situation.

 

Originally posted by The Horror

1) So a focus can always be rebuilt given time/materials, and it doesn't cost character points. Meanwhile an Independent focus can't be rebuilt unless character points are spent once again. Does this mean that if a suit of armor is built in a superhero game using OAF, and it gets stolen, that the character can just build another one? If it gets stolen by a villain, can the villain keep on using it, or does he have to pay character points for it himself if he wants to do so?

 

(First off, OAF is really unusual for a suit of armor, since that would imply that it could be taken from the character as a single phase action.)

 

How easy it is to replace the suit is really up to the GM, but how long you make it last should also impact how long you let it go until it is rendered useless again. Though in general, I wouldn’t let it be for more than a session or two. If necessary, I would have an extended period of downtime between sessions to cover it, but a lot of that would depend on the player of that character, and the way the character was built.

 

Technically, if a villain steals a focus, they have to pay points to keep the focus for an extended period/permanently. The catch here is that villains (and to a point all NPCs) have however many points the GM wishes them to have. So if you want to create a new villain or enhance an existing villain with a PC’s stolen focus, just give them the points to cover the focus. A situation like this should really rely heavily on your dramatic sense. Would it improve enjoyment of the people playing the game to do this? Would the player who’s focus was stolen, enjoy having an enemy that is running around with his focus, or would the player just get pissed?

 

Originally posted by The Horror

2) If a PC has a suit of powered armor purchased with Only Usable in Heroic Identity, then gets captured, can the suit be taken away from him by the villains leaving him to fend for himself until he can replace it/re-acquisition it?

 

Technically, no, the limitation OHID, doesn’t allow for the power to be taken away after being turned on, but the player and GM can, and should, work out the details of this between them. A good example of this is Dr. Destroyer in CKC. His powers are all bought without any focus limitation to represent how difficult his armor is to damage or remove. This doesn’t mean that if Dr. Destroyer were to be captured in a campaign that he couldn’t be stripped of his armor while in custody (until the Destroids come and rescue him with a spare suit of armor).

[Netzilla]

Re: [Question] A few questions

 

Originally posted by The Horror

1) So a focus can always be rebuilt given time/materials, and it doesn't cost character points. Meanwhile an Independent focus can't be rebuilt unless character points are spent once again. Does this mean that if a suit of armor is built in a superhero game using OAF, and it gets stolen, that the character can just build another one? If it gets stolen by a villain, can the villain keep on using it, or does he have to pay character points for it himself if he wants to do so?

 

First, you need to consider if Focus is the right limitation for the armor. If it's an Accessable focus, it can be taken away with a grab maneuver. If it's inaccessable, then it can be taken away in 12 seconds.

 

However, as for rebuilding/relpacing it goes, I look at it like the Iron Man comics. More often than not, when a suit gets trashed or stolen, it seems like Tony's always got a new prototype or old (slightly weaker) version to use once he gets back to his lab. If he's got EP available, he's got the prototype (though it may still have a few bugs in the new systems); otherwise he's just got the version from before his last upgrade (significant EP expenditure).

 

Originally posted by The Horror

2) If a PC has a suit of powered armor purchased with Only Usable in Heroic Identity, then gets captured, can the suit be taken away from him by the villains leaving him to fend for himself until he can replace it/re-acquisition it?

 

Well, the limitation of OiHID is that if he's not in Hero ID, then the powers can't be used. If the villain can force him out of HID, then too bad for him. If the special effect is that of a suit, then it's going to be more trouble to remove than a focus, but still somehow removeable (even if he needs a super can-opener to do it).

 

Personally, I prefer the OiHID limitation to Focus for powered armor characters. This is mainly because of the 12-second rule (not to mention the breaking foci rules).

 

Deric

[Jhamin]

Re: [Question] A few questions

 

Originally posted by The Horror

2) If a PC has a suit of powered armor purchased with Only Usable in Heroic Identity, then gets captured, can the suit be taken away from him by the villains leaving him to fend for himself until he can replace it/re-acquisition it?

 

It's all about what kind of heroic identity it is and what kind of villian it is.

 

Lets look at it this way: If you have an OIHID power armor guy who gets captured, the suit is somehow sealed so tight that no matter how hard the villian tries, he can't pry it off. He is unable to force the character out of Hero ID.

Now, if the power armor hero gets captured by an evil scientific genius the GM could rule that the genius has enough brain power to work out a way of unlocking the armor. This is a case of special effects interacting (Tech Armor vs. tech minded-genius). A suit of mystic armor might not be removable by a tech genius, but a sufficently powerful mystic bad guy might get it off.

 

An often missed part of the Only in Hero ID limit is that the character who takes it has to specifiy some way of preventing him from changing. This means that if you become a hero by putting on your un-removable armor, then if you get caught without your armor or if someone takes it away you have no way to change until you recover it. You might recover it by getting it back from whoever stole it or by going home & getting a new one.

If Thor lost his hammer, he is up a creek until he gets it back. If Silver-Age Green Lantern lost his ring, he either needs to get it back or have another Green Lantern make him a new one.