Questions about Energy Blast

[Elbandit]

While I was watching Teen Titans the other day Starfire used her energy blast power to seal a door and I was wondering how you would do something like that in the champions system. (I am relatively new to the Champions system)

 

Is there a basic rule that covers it? Would you buy the EB in a specfic way to do that?

[Hawksmoor]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

It all really depends on what type of game style your group is playing. Some groups insist that all "tricks" be purchased with points, and hence everyone likely has a big Multipower for "Power Stunts". Examples include Entangles where the PC wraps a lightpole around the villian, or Transforms to carve your name in rock with your finger, or the aforementioned sealing of the door.

 

Some games use the Power Skill. Rolls of the Power Skill against certain modifiers based on applicability and training in that use effect the roll. So in this game we could state that StarFire has Power Skill: Energy Blast at 12-, she rolls 3d6 and sees if she succeeds. If she does the doors are welded shut. If not either the doors are made of a heat resistant material or she just blasted them OPEN on an 18!

 

It is really up to you and your group.

 

Hawksmoor

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

While I was watching Teen Titans the other day Starfire used her energy blast power to seal a door and I was wondering how you would do something like that in the champions system. (I am relatively new to the Champions system)

 

Is there a basic rule that covers it? Would you buy the EB in a specfic way to do that?

 

You could buy it as a separate power. However, you could also purchase the Power Skill. This is briefly discussed in FREd, and allows you to use your powers in new and creative ways, with the expectation that anything you do more than once or twice will be purchased as its own separate power.

 

The Until Super Powers Database has a more detailed discussion of use of the Power skill, which provides firmer guidelines for its use.

 

Power Skill - not just for Variaple Power Pools any more!

[Haerandir]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

Essentially, I can think of two main ways you could handle it.

 

If Starfire has a Power skill that applies to her Energy Blast (perhaps 'Power: EB Tricks' or 'Power: Tamaranian Energy Manipulation'), then she could announce her intention to use her Energy Blast to seal the door, and the GM would call for a Power skill roll, perhaps at a penalty if he felt it would be particularly difficult to seal the door. If you were feeling really anal retentive, you could write up a 'door-sealing' power and assess a penalty based on the points in the power, but most GM's will prefer to simply make a roll and move on, in my experience.

 

Alternatively, it's possible that Starfire's Energy Blast is in a Multipower or Variable Power Pool, in which case she might have a slot devoted to a pre-built 'door-sealing' power (possibly an Entangle or Transform). In the case of a VPP, of course, she could make up such a power on the spot.

 

There's also a chance that Starfire's GM prefers a fairly free-form style of play, in which case he may simply have allowed her to seal the door on the theory that it was a clever application of special effects. This is allowable in the rules, but is largely a matter of GM preference. Some GM's will think, "Sure, Starfire's energy blast appears to have a heat component, so there's no reason she couldn't use it to melt a door shut." Others will be more likely to think, "Well, Starfire's Energy Blast is pretty destructive, and the door isn't all THAT strong, so she's far more likely to blow it up than to seal it."

 

If you know your GM, you can tailor your character writeups to the style of game he prefers. When I'm designing a character, and I expect to want to do wacky power stunts, I prefer to have something on the character sheet that allows me to do so, just in case my GM doesn't see things the same way I do. Sometimes just the fact that your character sheet represents greater control and/or flexibility is enough to convince a GM to let you do something outside the norm.

[RDU Neil]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

The beauty (and terror) of the Hero System is that there is "no one way" to do anything.

 

As stated above, you could have a separate transform powers (Metal to Welded metal) as a stand alone or more likely as part of a Multi-power. Over time, I know I prefer EBs in my game to be reflected by a Multi-power that allows each slot to reflect a different way of using a basic power effect.

 

But, the Power Skill is definitely another way to go. My problem with this is that it has this vague "Anything done more than once should be paid for with points" which unfortunately puts the GM into the position of rule cop if a player is very clever with her use of the Power Skill.

 

For yet another way to handle this "Use a power in a way not specifically paid for"... check out this thread...

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15893

 

I was surprised when TheQuestionMan posted this (we'd been talkign via PM) but my Chit rules incorporate this power flexibility into them, with a built in limit about how many times it can be done (only as long as you have a Blue chit, basically). It works really well in my games, and something you might want to use. It's more simple in play than it sounds in the write up.

 

Good luck,

Neil

[JmOz]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

If I was GMing it, it would be a power skill roll, and probably additional end

 

Having said that, one thing I would allow is for characters to hold points and spend them in game, so that if she did have a MP she could use a couple points to add a new power to it

[RDU Neil]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

Having said that, one thing I would allow is for characters to hold points and spend them in game, so that if she did have a MP she could use a couple points to add a new power to it

 

I often allow this, especially with new characters. Leave some KS blank... leave some points unspent... because during the actual game is when you most often smack the forehead and say, "Of COURSE my character would know that kind of thing..." and just plug it in at that point.

 

To reiterate... the most consistent and effective way to generate "various effects from one power" is probably the Multi-power. It is cheap and flexible, and has little downside, especially if all the powers inside are attack powers, like an EB, and EB with Area Effect, an RKA, a Transform (melting/welding), etc.

 

The MP is where I would start when constructing a character, especially with new players to the game system.

 

YMMV

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

Basically, this is a 'me too' post.

 

Odds are, if it were a Teen Titans Champions game (shudder), Starfire's player used her Power Skill to weld the door shut (although, from what little I know, I didn't think Starfire's attacks were heat-based, so I probably wouldn't have let it work ... but I don't claim to know this for a fact). If she thinks that trick will be useful in the future, she could purchase a Multipower slot to do so regularly, and at full power (since Power Skill stunts are usually at a fraction of the usual active points).

[Whitewings]

Re: Questions about Energy Blast

 

I didn't think Starfire's attacks were heat-based' date=' so I probably wouldn't have let it work[/quote']

 

I'd have to agree there. Starfire's starbolts, despite the name, seem to be, in both the show and the comic, straight concussive blasts, so welding the door shut with them seems appropriate.