Usable By Others and Stacking Powers

[Fedifensor]

I'm working on a group of agents who get more powerful when adjacent to each other. I've come up with two powers for them, and I want to make sure the stacking of UBO powers is legal.

 

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Shielding Link: Force Field (+2 PD/+2 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people at once; (+1) (10 Active Points); Must Remain Adjacent To Another Link Member (-1/2)

 

Basically, the power of the agents' FF increases by 2 PD and 2 ED for every adjacent agent. The power is negated as soon as the agent leaves the link (moves more than a hex away from another link member).

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Energy Link: Energy Blast +1d6, Usable By Other (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Ranged (+1/2) (11 Active Points); Must Remain Adjacent To Another Link Member (-1/2). Defined as adding to the agent's 7d6 EB - individuals without that specific 7d6 EB cannot benefit from the UBO.

 

Each agent has a 7d6 EB by default. The agent can either use this power to increase that to an 8d6 EB, or loan that +1d6 to the agent leading the link. This allows the leader to throw very powerful energy blasts if he has enough agents backing him up. Heroes can disrupt this by using knockback or other means to disrupt the link.

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I searched the FAQ for Usable By Others, and didn't find anything to dispute the stacking of UBO powers. Is it legal by the rules?

[Steve Long]

Re: Usable By Others and Stacking Powers

 

There's nothing in the rules, per se, that prohibits a single character from receiving a similar or identical power from two people using Usable On Others in some form (though in many campaigns I suspect the GM would have some concerns, and rightly so. In this case you're the GM, so that doesn't matter; do whatever you want. ) The problem is that mechanically, what you've built isn't going to give you what you want, because of the need for each agent to take Actions to grant other people powers and such.

 

What you want is something like this:

 

1. Force Field (+24 PD/+24 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (60 Active Points); May Only Use 2 PD/2 ED For Each Fellow Agent Within 1" (-1). Total cost: 30 points. (I chose 24 here on the grounds that the most you could reasonably expect to have would be two agents in each of the 6 hexes surrounding a character; feel free to choose whatever other number you think is appropriate.)

 

2. EB +1d6

 

3. EB +12d6 (60 Active Points); May Only Use +1d6 For Each Fellow Agent Within 1" (-1). Total cost: 30 points.

 

That may not be exactly what you're after, but if you tinker with it you'll get what you want. It's more expensive, but it has the virtue of correctly simulating the effect you're trying to create (at least as I understand it from your description).