Duplication: Follow-Up Questions

[Guest innominatus]

Thanks for your response, Steve; however, your answers brought up a few new questions in my mind:

 

1.) Regarding mundane items picked up by the Duplicates -- I'm a little unclear what you mean when you say they "vanish" upon the Duplicate's recombination with the original. Do you mean that they simply cease to exist? Or that the items follow the Duplicate into the "Extra-Dimensional Duplicate Storage Closet", and the Duplicate will still have that backpack or candy bar once the base character re-creates that particular Duplicate?

 

2.) Similar question, with regard to the Duplicates selecting unique equipment for their individual VPP's and then recombining with the original: when the base character re-creates the Duplicates, do they still have the unique equipment they "went in" with, or do their VPP's now duplicate whatever gear the base character is currently carrying?

 

3.) If "Duplication is supposed to be Duplication" (and by that I'm assuming you mean, "grinding out exact copies of the base character in his current state") when why do things like BODY and STUN damage, the effects of Adjustment Powers, and so on get DIVIDED among the Duplicates when the base character creates them, rather than having the Duplicates start out just as injured/Adjusted/whatever as the base character? (I know I've strayed into the realm of "Why?" questions and may not get a response to this one; but I feel it needs to be asked anyway because the logic doesn't seem internally consistent. I also understand the need to make certain concessions in the name of "fairness" and "game balance"; but since one could just as easily design a character who could conceal gear in a "pocket dimension" using Extra-Dimensional Movement, I'm not sure how one is any more unbalancing than the other.)

 

Thanks again for your time and input...

[Steve Long]

1. Sorry, “vanish” was too strong a word. Let’s change that to make it simpler: mundane/unimportant objects don’t go anywhere, the Duplicate in effect “drops” them (at whatever position he was at when he recombined) and the original character can retrieve them if he wishes. This does not apply to gear the Duplicate pays points for, of course — that he “takes with him” for potential later use (IOW, characters can’t use this as a cheap and sleazy way to create huge amounts of weapons, or money, or what have you).

 

2. When a Duplicate is created, he has a Gadget Pool that is unallocated. He then has to spend whatever time is required to allocate its points (i.e., build or acquire gadgets).

 

3. Why? Because. There’s a great deal of difference between dividing injuries and using Duplication as a way to create/hide things.

 

Let me offer one additional nugget for consideration: there is no such thing as an “Extra-Dimensional Duplicate Storage Closet.” There are many possible special effects for Duplication, so the rules have to be sort of “generic” (as usual! ) and not make any more assumptions any one way than they have to. If a character wants to store stuff in a “pocket dimension,” he can pay for that ability, but that’s a separate thing from Duplication.