Power Limitations?

[GoldenAge]

Okay, we've all heard of the Power Limitation, "Does not work in electromagnetic fields," but has anyone really enforced it? EM fields are much more prevalent in a modern world than one might think. Mobile phones, power lines, computer screens, and anti-gravity generators are examples of equipment that generates electromagnetic fields. 

 

So, how would you enforce this limitation in a modern/near future/Sci-Fi campaign. Would you even allow it?

 

What are some other fun ways to enforce Power Limitations?

[Doc Democracy]

I think the working assumption here is that it means a strong EM field.  I caught a player with that limitation who blithely walked into a fight scene with a minor villain close to three mobile phone masts.  Each had an agent who was focussing the beam onto the combat scene.

 

He could not fly and his force field failed to come on. He was forced to rely on powers he rarely deployed and was suddenly grateful I had not allowed the limitation on his multi power.

 

Never again did he sail into combat without first assessing the risks, and his force field was soon "hardened" against EM interference.

 

Doc

[Rich McGee]

3 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

I think the working assumption here is that it means a strong EM field. 

That.  What qualifies is decided by GM fiat, not mechanics.  You should look at the points the Limitation granted and decide how strong is strong enough, and you probably ought to consider the character's origin and overall style as well.  A modern-day super without a ton of points invested in the Limitation shouldn't have any difficulty with the everyday EM signal levels - their powers wouldn't ever have manifested if a bit of broadcast radio blocked them completely.  OTOH, the same character might have some power with a much more strict (and valuable) EM Limiter that *is* affected by "average everyday" levels of interference, which he might not even have known he had until he encountered a circumstance where those signal were absent - time travel to the past, a shielded underground base, a "no technology works here" magical zone, etc.

 

Long-lived and temporally-displaced supers might easily justify being extremely Limited in modern-day environments due to Limitations that didn't matter as much when they were active at home.  There's a supernatural critter from ancient Babylonian times in one of the Bureau 13 novels who started out with severe Limits involving steel and iron ("star-metal") that hardly ever triggered back then, but the Bureau easily caged it with a bunch of stainless steel spatulas.   

[LoneWolf]

I have only ever seen this as does not work in intense magnetic fields; the book put that at a -1/4 limitation.  That type of field is not going to be generated by a cell phone or even a cell phone tower.   What will generate it is going to be power stations or other areas near high voltage equipment.   This can often include powers of certain types of characters.  Any character that has electricity for a special effect is going to generate an EM field.  Many technology-based powers will also generate an EM field.  Most power armor is going to trigger this limitation. 

 

Electricity is a fairly common special effect.  The fact your force field may not offer protection vs an electrical blast or a lightning bolt seems to be a fairly reasonable way to enforce this limitation.  Also getting near generators or power stations will limit where a character can go.  Another way to make the limitation mean something is that the characters opponents can easily protect their lairs by making sure there is an EM field around it.  

 

In a science fiction campaign the characters power will probably have trouble in the engine room of a starship, or near certain types of weapons.  A railgun for example is going to create problems for the character near it when it fires.  The character will probably still get his defenses from the attack of the railgun unless the character is close to the actual gun.  But if he is standing next to the railgun when it fires his powers are not going to work. 

 

Everything in the game should have a defined special effect.  Look to the special effect of the powers to make this limitation mean something.