Immunity and invulnerability

[Chris Goodwin]

I came up with a way of doing invulnerability (to everything) and immunity (to a specific special effect) that doesn't cost huge amounts of points and doesn't use any (okay, no more than one) questionable constructs.

 

First, buy the Automaton Power Takes No Stun. If you're buying immunity buy it "Only Vs. X". In the latter case, a kind GM (incluidng me) wouldn't require you to buy all of your defenses at 3x cost with this (though I would for full invulnerability). This is actually the trickiest part of the whole thing.

 

Next, buy resistant defenses equal to twice the campaign maximum Damage Class. That's enough defenses to totally bounce the BODY from an incoming attack. For immunity buy "Only Vs. X".

 

For immunity, buy Life Support against the appropriate condition. For invulnerability, buy Life Support vs. everything.

 

Buy Regeneration with the Resurrection Adder (and possibly the Heals Limbs one). For immunity, buy it Only Vs. X. Buy as much or as little as you want; note that 1 BODY per Turn regenerates 300 BODY per hour.

 

You're finished.

 

Note that this is comic book style invulnerability or immunity. In the comics, invulnerability never means fully invulnerable; for instance, Johnny Storm has been taken down a number of times by "cosmic flames" or some such.

 

Here's the cool thing. If you're killed by your immunity condition (or anything but your invulnerability condition) you'll come back from the dead pretty quickly. So the special effect of being dead from that condition is that you're unconscious. It was too much for you, it overloaded your system or whatever, and you "passed out". (In Marvel, at least, most "invulnerable" characters can still be killed by scattering their atoms -- they wouldn't survive walking on the surface of the sun or being at ground zero of a nuke.)

[Black Rose]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Okay, looking at the Standard Superhero Campaign Guidelines from reFREd (pg. 28), let's run the numbers for total invulnerability and immunity to, say, fire:

 

First, Takes No STUN; 60 points to only take BODY.

 

Second, Resistant Defences. I'll keep this easy and only buy Armor, foregoing the Damage Resistance shuffle. 14 DC is 28 rDEF for Invulnerable Man (costing 84 pts) and 28 rED (only vs. fire; -1/2) for Immune to Fire Kid (costing 28 pts).

 

Third, Life Support. Invulnerable Man gets the full package (costing 50 points), with Immune to Fire Kid only buying Safe Environment: Intense Heat (costing 2 pts), though you could buy Expanded Breathing: Smoke and Related High-Temperature Fumes or Self-Contained Breathing (only in fire; -1).

 

Finally, Regeneration. Invulnerable Man's version will be at 1 BODY/turn (costing 25 points), as will Immune to Fire Kid's (costing 21 points).

 

Totals?

 

Invulnerable Man comes in at 220 points (60+84+50+25). He'd better have some other abilities, or he's not going to be much fun to play.

 

Immune to Fire Kid comes in at 111 points (60+28+2+21). Expensive, but not horribly so. And you'd save a little by converting the fire-only Armor to a broader-based defense.

 

Not bad, Chris. Not bad at all.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Actually, that's 388 for Invulnerability Man, as you need to tripple the cost of his Armor because of the Takes No STUN.

 

Immune to Fire Lad will actually cost a bit less, because he get's a limitation "Only Versus Fire" on his Takes No STUN.

 

 

 

 

Overall, it looks really nice. I'm not too sure about a limited Takes No STUN, but I like the normally invulnerability. It's really expensive but appropriatly so.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Of course, HERO 5ER clearly states that characters of a caliber rivaling Superman (in terms of invulnerability and the like) are generally inappropriate for any campaign, since they are extremely unbalancing. I suppose the fact that you CAN build Superman with enough available points shows how flexible the system is, though.

 

Speaking of which, Superman would cost -- what -- 1,000 points to build properly? More? Mega strength. Flight faster than the speed of sound (and running, too); total invulnerability (but with a Weakness to Kryptonite); super hearing; super vision; x-ray vision; laser beam eyes; ability to change clothes at an alarming speed....

 

I ought to try and build him sometime....

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

At least now you can build him.

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

When you do, don't forget the 75% resistant physical and energy damage reduction on top of the defenses listed, probably with a "not vs. magic, kryptonite, red sun based attacks" or something of that nature. He can shrug off nuclear blasts, after all.

[Black Rose]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Actually, that's 388 for Invulnerability Man, as you need to tripple the cost of his Armor because of the Takes No STUN.

 

Immune to Fire Lad will actually cost a bit less, because he get's a limitation "Only Versus Fire" on his Takes No STUN.

 

I completely spaced on that. It was pretty late and I was using the thought experiment to stay awake.

 

Overall, it looks really nice. I'm not too sure about a limited Takes No STUN, but I like the normally invulnerability. It's really expensive but appropriatly so.

 

If you accept having Invulnerability and its little sister Immunity into your campaign and House Rules, the idea isn't nearly so bad. I like the idea of a limited Takes No STUN on a non-automaton a lot more than I like the non-limited version. Assuming you take Damage Reduction as a lead-in....

 

Power Name

25% resistant Damage Reduction; STUN Only (-1/2) AP 15/RC 10

50% resistant Damage Reduction; STUN Only (-1/2) AP 30/RC 20

75% resistant Damage Reduction; STUN Only (-1/2) AP 60/RC 40

Takes No STUN AP 60/RC 60

 

...it balances out. Even if you add a limitation like "Only Vs. Fire (-1/2)", the cost (40 points) isn't too bad. Just throw a Stop Sign on it, and make sure to look for ways it could really screw up your game.

 

Hmm. Just occured to me: any game you allow this in should have a couple SFX that are consodered so common, there is no reduction in cost; Chi in Anime Martial Arts games, Cosmic Energy in Galactic Champions games, bullets in Dark Champions games....

[Hawksmoor]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

First I want to say Bravo! to Archer for thinking about the problem of Invulnerability in HERO. Now most attacks in HERO will do no body to most characters in 5ER rules. The problem from my perspective has been in the taking of extreme amounts of Stun. So again Bravo to Archer for creative use of the Toolkit in advocating the use of the Takes no Stun power.

 

I will, however, disagree with Dust Raven in that Invulnerability should be an expensive power, especially a disablingly expensive power. Invulnerability to greater and lesser degrees is a common power in the Superheroic Genre. IMO a reasonable charge for Invulnerability would not exceed 90 CP. This price would not scale upwards in higher point games since Invulnerability becomes increasing *more* common as the power levels rise. One should be able to include Invulnerability as part of a suite of powers and not as the core concept of the character (Bulletproof I am looking at you!).

 

Further the level of invulnerability is scalable since the level of defenses the character has is entirely in the hands of the player/GM. Want Rogue level invulnerability? Get a 18rPD/18rED. Want Kryptonian/Daxamite level invulnerability and well 60rPD 60rED is what you are looking at. (Based on ignoring the damage caused by a fall from Earth Orbit)

 

I would think that Invulnerability from the LS angle would only include the environments (Hot, Cold, Vacuum, High Pressure, Radiation, and Zero Gravity). Adders like Eating, Sleeping, Immortality, and the Toxins+Poisons are nice but not required.

 

On the whole good work Chris Goodwin and some meager rep to your total.

 

Hawksmoor

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

All I really have to add, at this point, is that invulnerability could make for some hellishly long combats.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

All I really have to add' date=' at this point, is that invulnerability could make for some hellishly long combats.[/quote']

Especially if both combatants are invulnerable. At that point it becomes time to try to come up with a different way to settle matters.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Well, that's what entangles are for... I just love it when non bricks try to be invulnerable.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Speaking of which, Superman would cost -- what -- 1,000 points to build properly? More? Mega strength. Flight faster than the speed of sound (and running, too); total invulnerability (but with a Weakness to Kryptonite); super hearing; super vision; x-ray vision; laser beam eyes; ability to change clothes at an alarming speed....

 

I ought to try and build him sometime....

 

Superman can be built on 250 points. It all depends on what genre/time you're taking him from, and how you build everything else in the game. The the biggest attacks in the world are 1d6+1 KAs, it's easy to build an invulnerable powerhouse.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

I had some thoughts. You may want to Harden it at least once, otherwise Armor Piercing attacks will do you BODY. You might also want to invest in some Lack of Weakness; that could push full invulnerability over 500 points (using Black Rose's calculations).

[prestidigitator]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

I tend to just use Desolidification with whatever SFX I feel is appropriate. It does tend to make your attacks rather expensive, though. That can be a problem in campaigns with AP caps.

 

If the Desolidification only prevents damage from a particular type of attack (e.g. fire), and that attack doesn't constitute a majority of Attack Powers in the setting, I don't require the character to buy Affects Physical World on their Str and all their Powers. This allows for creatures like fire elementals (which darn well should be immune to fire-based attacks!).

 

EDIT: BTW, not requiring Affects Physical World in some cases doesn't sound more questionable than allowing normal cost for a character with Takes No Stun IMO (or allowing a PC to buy Automaton Powers at all, for that matter).

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Of course, HERO 5ER clearly states that characters of a caliber rivaling Superman (in terms of invulnerability and the like) are generally inappropriate for any campaign, since they are extremely unbalancing. I suppose the fact that you CAN build Superman with enough available points shows how flexible the system is, though.

 

Speaking of which, Superman would cost -- what -- 1,000 points to build properly? More? Mega strength. Flight faster than the speed of sound (and running, too); total invulnerability (but with a Weakness to Kryptonite); super hearing; super vision; x-ray vision; laser beam eyes; ability to change clothes at an alarming speed....

 

I ought to try and build him sometime....

 

depends on which superman, 60's superman where he could "withstand the power of an exploading [tank] shell" isn't too hard, a tank is only 4-5 dice RKA, and he didn't fly, he just had leaping. But if you are talking about hella-strong superman before marvel scaled him back down, where he could do things like *oh* throw planets, then yes, you're talking 1500 pts or so, this is something me and my friends talk about at dinners.

 

The problem with invunerable characters is there is no risk. They have nothing to fear, so there is no drama. If for example they have total psychological limitations to protect the innocent like superman, then they can still be threatend by threatening innocents, but if they don't have some sort of code, then they are pretty much unstoppable killing machines

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

...before marvel scaled him back down...

You mean before DC scaled him down post-Crisis, right?

 

And it was the Golden Age Superman with leaping instead of flying; Superman in the 1960s was well into the Silver Age / "move planets" level of power.

 

Just a couple of friendly nitpicks.

 

You have an excellent point about the invulnerable character needing Psych Lims as vulnerable spots, though.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

yeah sorry i admit my mistakes. My friend who is the comics expert used to make these points and i'd sorta let the information osmos into me. I guess it wasn't all there.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

yeah sorry i admit my mistakes. My friend who is the comics expert used to make these points and i'd sorta let the information osmos into me. I guess it wasn't all there.

As I noted above, it was said in a "friendly" or "in the spirit of fun" fashion, so don't worry about it. It was just the Geek Side showing through a bit...

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

right, all in good fun

[zornwil]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Chris, I just noticed the name change!

 

Excellent work, I don't think I've seen quite this take. I can't rep you just now but shall when I can. Worth a bump, anyway.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Immunity and invulnerability

 

Here's an old thread where I posted a possible custom Power to do Invulnerability:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1698

 

Here is the full post:

---

 

If Invulnerability were really really desired in a campaign, I would recommend using the 'Create New Power' rules in FREd.

 

 

 

Figure out how much it costs to be Invulnerable to an SFX using Desolid vs Damage Type, and then redefine it as "Invulnerability" with a behavior tailored to the effect desired.

 

 

So, Desolid, Only to Protect against Limited Form of Attack, 0 End, Persistant gets us close. Then, we will want to "Buy off" the built in "cant affect Physical World" limitation of Desolid; the book indicates that a GM can insist on making people taking Desolid to mimic Invulnerability buy Affects Physical World on everything else or not as they see fit. Im betting most GMs dont, however Ill comprimise with a +1 Advantage to accomplish this half way between buying it off and not buying it off. Usually with Desolid you have to define a SFX that will affect the character, but we can skip that with our version because this form of Desolid is explicit rather than implicit; in other words ALL other SFX hurt the character normally EXCEPT the one the Invulnerability is bought against.

 

Cost	Power	END
60	Invulnerability: Desolidification , Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Buy off Cant affect Physical World (+1) (120 Active Points); Only To Protect Against Limited Type Of Attack (-1)

 

Power Cost: 60

 

OK, so we define Invulnerability:

 

60

Invulnerability: Custom Power (60 Active Points) Constant, Self Only, 0 END Persistent [Notes: A character with this Power is immune to the direct effects of any Power directed against him with a Specific tightly defined SFX, whether that effect would be beneficial or not. This includes any of the characters own powers which are not Self Only or Sensory in nature; thus Instant powers such as Aid and Healing cannot be used on oneself unless specifically limited to Self Only if they are of a SFX covered by the Invulnerability.]

 

 

This compares well to 75% Resitant Dmg Reduction for PD or ED, which is more generally broadbased, but doesnt stop all damage, and Invulnerability will protect vs some powers that dont fall under Dmg Reduction because they dont deal in pure damage.

 

 

 

A character with this power would be Invulnerable to a single tight SFX. Thus 'Mutant powers' may or may not be tight enough depending on how prevalent mutants are in a campaign setting; similarly 'Magic' is rather broad and will not be tight enough in a Magic-heavy campaign but would be fair in a campaign where Magic was rarer. See below for more on this. For example, the Marvel hero Collossus is Invulnerable to Magic (for all intents and purposes); Magic is fairly uncommon in the Marvel universe (it comes up, but is relatively Uncommon) so this is acceptibly tight in that setting.

 

An Invulnerable Character still takes Knockback normally and Invulnerability does not provide protection from Knockback damage unless the SFX of the Invulnerability covers Impact damage or Knockback damage (Invulnerability to Knockback Damage, 60 Active Points, Nonpersistant (-1/2), Activation 14- (-1/2), 30 real cost). Characters that want to represent a complete nullification of effects by a SFX to include not being affected by Knockback should buy Knockback Resistance Linked to thier Invulnerability.

 

 

 

A few Modifiers might be specifically appropriate to Invulnerable.

---

Scope: The broadness of the SFX defined should have an effect on the cost of the power. A reasonably tight single SFX should represent a SFX that approximately 10-15% of the potential opposition possess within the campaign as whole. Thus, SFX: Heat/Fire, SFX: Radiation, SFX: Magnetism are all tight single SFX in most supers campaigns but SFX: Mental or SFX: Mutant Powers are usually not as they cover a broader range of powers/abilites unless mutants or mental powers are abnormally scarce. Similarly Invulnerability to "My Brothers Mutant Powers" is much more specific and should be less expensive. To affect a broader or more narrow SFX use the following chart:

 

Scope	Modifier
Vs. a tight SFX and a single specific Individual with that SFX	-2
Vs. a tight SFX and a Small Group (family, fellow test subjects) with that SFX	-1 1/2
Vs. a broad SFX and a single specific Individual with that SFX	-1 1/2
Vs. a broad SFX and a Small Group (family, fellow test subjects) with that SFX	-1
Vs. a tight SFX and a Group (race of people or a large sub-race) with that SFX	-1
Vs. a broad SFX and a Group (race of people or a large sub-race) with that SFX	-1/2
broad SFX (appoximately 25% prevalent)	+1/2
very broad SFX (appoximately 50% prevalent)	+1
extremely broad SFX (appoximately 75% prevalent)	+1 1/2
encompassingly broad SFX (appoximately 100% prevalent)	+2

 

 

For example, SFX:"Blunt" or "Impact" (however you want to phrase it) would be a SFX that stops, among other things (including Knockback and falling damage), STR based damage; practically EVERYTHING can do this type of damage in HEROs, so this is an Encompassingly Broad SFX (+2) and costs 180 points. {Off hand, that seems fair to me for the magnitude of such a power.}

 

 

However, SFX:"Slashing/Piercing" or "Edged" (again, semantic of choice) damage is a tighter SFX; maybe 50% to 75% of the opposition will have a piercing/slashing weapon (including projectile weapons). In most supers, with an emphasis on non-lethal I would go with 50%, but in a Fantasy or Dark Champs setting 75%. Thus this would cost 120 to 150 points depending on setting.

 

Thus, in a normal supers campaign with more non-lethal attacks, it would cost 300 points to be Invulnerable to Blunt and Edged Damage which is pretty encompassing. Points wise it is equivalent to 100 PD Hardened x4 Armor.

 

SFX:"All Energy" is similar to "Edged", but reversed. In most supers campaigns many enemies will have Energy attacks, whereas in Fantasy or Dark Champs, etc they will be less prevalent; therefore 75% in supers, 50% in more realistic settings where EBs and RKAs vs ED are less common. Thus this Invulnerability would cost 150 points in a Champs game.

 

To be Mr. Invulnerable with no offsetting Limitations would therefore cost 450 points in most Champsion games, granting across the board protection from Physical and Energy attacks regardless of source. If that character applied even a single Limitation such as Visible to all 3 forms of Invulnerable detailed above, it would cost 360 points, and when combined with Nonpersistent (-1/2) comes in at 257 points, leaving almost 100 points for Strength Linked to Invulnerable and sundry other abilities in a 350 point starting game.

 

 

SFX: All Superhuman Powers (ie anything bought as a non-FOCI/item based superhuman ability built using the Powers rules) is obviously a +2 Scope. However, it is important to note that Invulnerability only protects against affects that apply effect or damage directly, and not the secondary benefits of such powers. Thus an opponent with Density Increase or Strength bought as a Power has great strength, and when striking with strength damage would still affect a character with this type of Invulnerability. So for example, Collossus's strength-based strike, Wolverine's Claws (bought as SFX: metal claws, not SFX: mutant power), and Cyclops shooting a tree branch overhead to fall upon such a character would all do damage as normal, but all direct Power Attacks such as Storm's lightning Bolts, Psylockes Psi-blade, or Leech's Power Suppress would fail to affect a character with this Encompassing SFX Invulnerability. As a secondary example, someone with Invulnerability to all Mutant Powers (depending on campaign, ususally either Very Broad, 120 pts or Broad, 90 pts) in the same situation would also be immune to Storm, Psylocke, and Leech since all of those characters are using Mutant Powers, but would not be safe from the Human Torch's Nova Blast because that does not have a Mutant Power SFX; the character with the Invulnerability to all Superhuman Powers would be completely safe from it.

 

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Hulled: If a Character or Vehicle's Invulnerability stems from a protective outer skin or outer layer and thier insides do not benefit from any sort of Invulnerability, having only any normal defences, then that is roughly equivalent to a mild form of Restrainable and is worth a -1/4 Limitation. Any attack, including some Conforming AoEs (such as gas clouds and similar), some Change Environments, and some Indirects which can circumvent the Invulnerable Hull are applied normally, ignoring the Invulnerability. Further, some circumstances may circumvent the Invulnerability for all attacks outright, for example an Invulnerable Hulled Vehicle with an open door would lose the benefit of its Invulnerability to an attack that was able to exploit such an opening, typically with a -2 to hit or with a Called Shot if using Hit Locations. Finally, opponents that have successfully Grabbed an Invulnerable character or Vehicle may strike at openings in the Hull with the usual penalties for Grabbing while keeping a hand free if they can reasonably reach those openings. For most characters, as opposed to Vehicles, openings in thier 'Hull' would include thier eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth, and other bodily orifices at the GMs discretion.

---

Weakness Some Invulnerable Characters have a specific exclusion clause to thier Invulnerability. For some, it is a literal location on thier body (an Achille's Heel), for others its a specific material (such as Baldur and Mistletoe or Superman and Kryptonite), and for still others its more abstracted. If a character has a single location on thier body that is not protected by thier Invulnerability, this can be best represented by using a process similar to the Focus rules. The spot may be either Obvious or Inobvious, and either Accessible or Inaccessible. It is usually appropriate to also take either a Vulnerability or Susceptibility (or both) revolving around the Weakness to depict a truly serious frailty.

 

An Inobvious Inaccessible Weakness is a -0 Limitation; it represents a Weakness which is neither apparent or exploitable in combat and is not limiting enough to gain points from. Such a Weakness basically serves as a flavorful character hook or as an enabler for a larger concept; for example a character with such a Weakness may take a Physical Limitation that occurs if the Weakness is exploited as Infrequent or something similar.

 

An Obvious Inaccessible Weakness is worth -1/4; it represents a part of the characters body that is noticably unprotected or

vulnerable, such as thier eyes perhaps, but which is generally difficult or impossible to target in combat; suprise attacks or attacking the character while they are incapacitated will do the job; this form of Weakness can be used to represent a character that must concentrate to maintain thier Invulnerability, like Captain Britain for example, and when caught by suprise or incapacitated are as vulnerable as anyone else (aside from any other defenses they may have).

 

An Inobvious Accessible weakness is worth -1/2; it represents a Weakness which is not obvious or apparent but which can be targeted in combat to circumvent the Invulnerability. There are two basic types of Inobvious Accessible Weaknesses, Locations and Materials. Location Weaknesses are a place on the body of a character which is not protected by the Invulnerability; an opponent that knows about the locations may take a -2 OCV on attack rolls if not using Hit Locations, or may make a called shot if using Hit Locations to target this area and if successful will completely bypass the characters Invulnerability. Material Weaknesses represent an Invulnerability which does not affect a specific type of material such as alluminum, silver, or wood; a weapon constructed of that material (even a makeshift weapon) will always circumvent the Invulnerability. Superman's weakness to Kryptonite or the Norse god Baldur's weakness to mistletoe are examples of this type of Weakness (Material), as is the classic Achille's Heel (location).

 

 

An Obvious Accessible Weakness is worth -1; it represents a weakness which is both clearly identifiable and exploitable in combat. By taking a -2 OCV to thier attack rolls or by making a called shot if using Hit Locations, opponents can circumvent the characters Invulnerability entirely. Such a weakness is rare, but examples include the classic Power Suit\Super Body Armor without a Helmet or face mask.

---

Some existing Modifiers might behave in interesting ways with this power. Some of them are listed below:

 

Affects Desolidified: Though derived from Desolid, Invulnerability is now a seperate power and is not affected by powers with this Advantage.

 

Area of Effect: Normally this has no bearing on Invulnerability, but Areas of Effect that are bought Conforming do have an effect on Hulled Invulnerability. A Conforming attack treats a Hull as a wall, but may at the GMs discretion seep into any breaches or openings in a Hull circumventing the Invulnerability and having its normal (or a reduced) effect. For a character with a Hulled Invulnerability, this might indicate a poison gas or a fire ball which gets into his respiratory system even though his skin is unharmed.

 

Armor Piercing: AP has no effect vs a character Invulnerable to the SFX of the AP attack.

 

AVLD: AVLD has no effect vs a character Invulnerable to the SFX of the AVLD attack. Invulnerable is not a 'Defense' per se and thus cannot be defined as the targeted Defense of an AVLD attack.

 

BOECV: If the Invulnerability applies to the SFX of the BOECV attack, then the BOECV attack has not effect.

 

Inherent: Invulnerability can be bought Inherent.

 

Indirect: Normally Inderect is immaterial to Invulnerability, but can interact with Invulnerability if the Hulled Limitation is taken with Invulnerability. If an Indirect Attack is bought in such a way to circumvent a targets 'outer layer', or which indicate a particularly accurate form of attack which is 'guided' then as circumstances indicate Indirect of this sort will allow the circumvention of Hulled Invulnerability. Often the Invulnerable character can take steps to minimize this flaw by closing any breaches in thier Hull but at the GMs discretion a suitable Indirect attack may continue to exploit this weakness by taking an appropriate penalty to thier attack roll ranging from -2 OCV up even if the Invulnerable character is attempting to prevent it.

 

NND: NND has no effect vs a character Invulnerable to the SFX of the NND attack. Invulnerable is not a 'Normal Defense' per se and thus is not circumvented by an NND attack if the SFX of the NND Attack is covered by the SFX of the Invulnerability.

 

Penetrating: Penetrating has no effect vs a character Invulnerable to the SFX of the Penetrating attack.

 

Personal Immunity: This Advantage may be taken on Invulnerability, although it is a limited use case. This would allow a character to affect themselves with a targeted beneficial effect if the SFX of the Invulnerability would normally prevent it. The primary use for this would be if a character had an Aid or Healing Power not bought Self Only which had a SFX covered by thier own Invulnerability.

 

Usable On Others: This can be applied normally to Invulnerability. However, some duration or other means of ending the effect should be defined as normal for a 0 END Constant Power.

 

Variable Special Effects: At the GMs discretion, this Advantage may be allowed to represent an Invulnerability which may be 'fine tuned'. However, this could be very powerful and should be considered a STOP sign ability.

 

 

 

Ablative: This is not appropriate to Invulnerability; a better way to represent an "Ablative" Invulnerability is using either a Burnout Activation or Charges.

 

 

Activation: Activation Rolls are appropriate to Invulnerability, particularly with either the Jammed or Burnout rules. Burnout particularly could be used to model an "Ablative" coating.

 

Charges: In general, since Invulnerable is already a 0 END Constant power, Charges are inefficient. However, they can be taken with Invulnerable if desired, and is another method that can be used to represent an 'Ablative' coating or even a '9 Lives' effect. However, the Fuel option should not be allowed, or at least treated as a Yield sign power. Boostable Charges have no relevance to Invulnerability.

 

 

Nonpersistant: This can be taken with Invulnerability, and can also be combined with Concentration, Costs Endurance only to ACtivate, Increased Endurance, and Extra Time to represent a kind of Invulnerability that takes some effort to 'turn on', and when combined with Visible may indicate some kind of Armorskin or a metamorphosis into some more durable form.

 

FOCI: Foci works normally with Invulnerability unless the Weakness modifier is also taken on Invulnerability. A GM should carely examine an Invulnerability with both FOCI and Weakness to ensure that they are 2 seperate issues and not a 'double dip'. Typically a FOCI will benefit from whatever Invulnerabilities it grants. Thus an Amulet of Fire Prevention which grants Invulnerability to Fire would itself be immune to fire damage. This is open to GM's interpretation however, particularly in the case of a Fragile FOCI.

 

Gradual Effect: This is not appropriate for Invulnerability.

 

OIHID: This Limitation is appropriate to Invulnerable, but see Visible below and Nonpersistent above.

 

Restrainable: This is not normally appropriate to Invulnerability; see Weakness instead.

 

 

Visible: Much like Armor, Visible Invulnerability takes the form of some outward indication that the target is particularly resistant to harm. Unlike Armor, the visual appearance should give a very strong clue of the appropriate types of damage the Invulnerable character is resistant to. Thus someone with Visible Invulnerability to fire may have red skin and constantly flaming hair as a SFX. Someone with a Visible Invulnerable to Mental may have an effect apparent to any with Mental Awareness such as a specific aura or a constant mental static surrounding them. The net effect is anyone possessing a power of the SFX that the Invulnerable character is protected from should be able to 'guess' thier Invulnerability by making an Intelligence check, PER Roll, Power Skill check, or even automatically as the GM decides before deciding to attack them.