The Great Transfer Debate

[Christopher R Taylor]

Just kidding with the title, but this is about Transfer.

 

First off, I understand the reasoning behind dropping it as a power: its not flexible enough.  What if you want the points you gain to fade at a rate differently than the points drained off the target fade?  What if you want to give yourself several powers but only drain one?  There are a lot of possibilities, which without extreme complication, Transfer doesn't handle well as a simple power.

 

However, that said, there's nothing wrong with having it in the rules that Transfer works as it always has, and if you want a more flexible build, here's how you do it (Drain plus Aid, etc).  This would have been a slightly more complicated explanation, but a more elegant and streamlined rule set.  A second, less attractive choice would be to build Transfer as a Talent, then show the guts of it, and how it works if people want variations.

 

That's not what this post is about, though, so let me get to the main point in the next post.

[Christopher R Taylor]

OK so here's the example of how to build Transfer given in Volume One of the Hero System Rules:

 

Quote

STUN Transfer: Drain STUN 3d6 (30 Active Points); Unified Power (-¼) (total cost: 24 points) plus Aid STUN 3d6, Trigger (when character uses Drain, activating Trigger takes no time, Trigger immediately automatically resets; +1) (36 Active Points); Linked (-½), Unified Power (-¼), Only Aid Self (-1) (total cost: 13 points). Total cost: 37 points.

 

Now notice in that build: its two powers linked together... with a trigger.  Why on earth have a trigger?

 

Because in the linked rules, it states this:
 

Quote

If the lesser and greater powers are both Attack Powers, he must use them against the same target.

 

Aid is an adjustment power, which in this case Steve is treating as an attack power: you have to roll to hit someone who doesn't want to be Aided, so it can kind of be treated as one. Since the Drain is on one target and the Aid is on another (you) then it has to have a mechanism to go off in addition to aid, by that logic.

 

This is where we part ways.

 

-First off, you do not need to roll to hit a willing target, per the rules.

-Second, if your "target" is Self Only (-1) then its not a targeting power at all nor an attack power.  It literally cannot be used on anything but you.

-Third, the purpose of this build is to simulate the Transfer power, which means it should be as clean and simple as possible to get the build across for ease of use.

-Fourth, you can use any of your powers on your own phase without needing a trigger to do so.

-Fifth you are fixated on Aid being an attack power, you could treat this as a Multiple attack in which you use several attack powers on any number of targets (including yourself) in the same attack action.

 

I could go on, but I think you get the point.  Its a linked power, not a trigger.  That's pointlessly increasing the cost and complication of the power to no good end.

 

Plus, there should be a small limitation on the Aid noting that it cannot Aid more than you drained.

Edited February 3 by Christopher R Taylor

[Grailknight]

Hadn't noticed the Trigger requirement before and have been building it without it. Hero Designer doesn't flag it, but I suppose that's beyond the scope of the program's checks. The issue of not being able to Aid more than was Drained was just assumed as part of the Linked.