Legal or no ... Dispel Damage Shield?

[CrosshairCollie]

Something I just thought about while at work (it was slow, I was bored). I had an idea for a gas-using villain in my Teen Hero game, which has a weather-manipulating PC with the 'Shield Of The Winds' power. In theory, if my baddie blows a puff of KO gas at him, the winds should dissipate it before he has to breathe it.

 

I'm trying to decide if I should make this a limitation on the gas power, or if linking a Dispel Damage Shield to his wind-shield is the 'more correct' way to do it. You'd think that having a bullet-deflecting windcurrent wrapped around your body would do a number on any gas or smoke clouds you come in contact with, even without actively trying to dissipate it.

 

The question, of course, is ... is this legal?

[Arkham]

Re: Legal or no ... Dispel Damage Shield?

 

LS: Immunity all airborn poisons. 5 AP. -1/4 visible. 4 Real Points.

 

Give or take...

[Bengal]

Re: Legal or no ... Dispel Damage Shield?

 

Arkham is right, this should be a purchased special effect of the damage shield. HOWEVER... I would rule that if the PC's player wants to use this life support in this context, he may, but then would have to put XP toward making it a real power as soon as such XP is available.

 

 

Which is a way we build a lot of our powers in our group- they start out as power stunts before we pay the points for them.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Legal or no ... Dispel Damage Shield?

 

wouldnt it be easier just to buy it as a force field only against gas based weapons?

[Blue]

Re: Legal or no ... Dispel Damage Shield?

 

This is where the mechanics get a little funky.

 

With the LS option, the life support would take care of NNDs that specify that sort of thing and more common environmental contaminants, but for 4pts it wouldn't outright stop attacks that were poison gas based unless they were NNDs that specified that sort of thing..

 

With the FF v. Poison Gas option, that would stop any poison gas that was designed with the more pedestrian effects (EB, KA, etc.) but wouldnt' handle an NND that specifies life support (which is the most common form of poison gas attack).

 

You may end up needed both if you're covering the angles.

 

But personally I'd just go with the LS and move on. Beyond that yer bumping up against the Law of Diminishing returns.

[Houston GM]

Re: Legal or no ... Dispel Damage Shield?

 

You'd think that having a bullet-deflecting windcurrent wrapped around your body would do a number on any gas or smoke clouds you come in contact with, even without actively trying to dissipate it.

Not necessarily. The wind current could suck the smoke into it, turning the shield opaque as long as the hero is in contact with the smoke cloud.

 

Similarly, gas could get sucked into the shield, then disperse on the interior of it. Since the shield does not interfere with normal breathing, it is clearly gas permeable.

 

However, a puff of gas implies that it is small and aimed at the face, which the shield would logically deflect and difuse. In that case, I might decide that the inability to penetrate this wind shield was a limitation on the attack.

 

If the player wants the shield to affect gasses, he should build it as Arkham indicated.