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The Uber-Blast


ghost-angel

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Ok, here's one I'm not sure what direction would best simulate the idea, not sure if it's been asked before (too lazy to search ATM)

 

Take a standard Energy Projector type, some flight, extra speed and DEX, a FF and a MultiPower with various Blasts in it. How would you model an overload type of blast where it takes all the energy the character has and rolls it into one massive blast thus removing access to the MP, taking down their FF, disabling the Flight and removing the SPD and DEX bonuses (or possibly not just from a ease of gaming/use POV on that). The phase afterwards the Character can't just bring it all back online, they're powers are effectively "stunned," it's not until their second phase afterwards that all the Powers come back.

 

Would you

1) Put a limitation on all the Powers: May not be in use after UberBlat.

2) Put a Side Effect on the Uber Blast that took down and prevent use of for one phase all the Powers.

3) A combination of both.

4) Something I didn't think of.

 

Incidentally all the powers are OIHID, otherwise the character is mostly a Normal as far as Powers are concerned. I can post the character as they stand if requested. Thanks in advance.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Ok, here's one I'm not sure what direction would best simulate the idea, not sure if it's been asked before (too lazy to search ATM)

 

Take a standard Energy Projector type, some flight, extra speed and DEX, a FF and a MultiPower with various Blasts in it. How would you model an overload type of blast where it takes all the energy the character has and rolls it into one massive blast thus removing access to the MP, taking down their FF, disabling the Flight and removing the SPD and DEX bonuses (or possibly not just from a ease of gaming/use POV on that). The phase afterwards the Character can't just bring it all back online, they're powers are effectively "stunned," it's not until their second phase afterwards that all the Powers come back.

 

Would you

1) Put a limitation on all the Powers: May not be in use after UberBlat.

2) Put a Side Effect on the Uber Blast that took down and prevent use of for one phase all the Powers.

3) A combination of both.

4) Something I didn't think of.

 

Incidentally all the powers are OIHID, otherwise the character is mostly a Normal as far as Powers are concerned. I can post the character as they stand if requested. Thanks in advance.

Make the uberblast blow out all the endurance in the character's reserve?
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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Lockout!

 

I knew there was something I wasn't thinking of.. need to buy up my KS: Hero Rules obviously. And the really silly part of that is I was messing around with Lockout on another character... der.

 

thanks MitchellS.

 

Agents X - hadn't thought to put an END Res on the character, the only issue I'd see with that is you'd have to wait for the END Res to Recover which could lock out all the powers for more than a single Phase. But thanks for the idea.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Make the uberblast blow out all the endurance in the character's reserve?

If the powers normally use an END Reserve, I think that would be the best option.

 

Lockout works, but it's an absolute restriction. If that's what you'd prefer, great.

 

Or, you could just take enough Increased Endurance Cost to make it blow out the character's normal END. I think it's a bit more heroic to give the character the option of continuing to pay END to keep the powers up - at the cost of spending STUN for END and possibly knocking themselves out. Or they can take a Recovery to get enough END back to function normally.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

If the powers normally use an END Reserve, I think that would be the best option.

 

Lockout works, but it's an absolute restriction. If that's what you'd prefer, great.

 

Or, you could just take enough Increased Endurance Cost to make it blow out the character's normal END. I think it's a bit more heroic to give the character the option of continuing to pay END to keep the powers up - at the cost of spending STUN for END and possibly knocking themselves out. Or they can take a Recovery to get enough END back to function normally.

Certainly a possibility. The problem is if the Character has started to spend END, and the UberAttack uses say X Amount, and the character has X-Y Amount left then they automatically drop into STUN regardless.

 

I was trying to avoid the whole numbers keeping aspect of what's the END? Ok, how much is left? How much goes to STUN... etc...

 

And modeling that a character is taking all available energy at their disposal and throwing it into one Big Bang Finale and then spending a moment re-energizing.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

One recoverable charge on the uberblast and link all the powers that switch off to the uberblast, eg:

 

Uberblast 12d6 EB (adds to slot 1 in multipower) 1 recoverable charge (recovers on phase after next) Let's make that 3 levels down the table...(-1): 30 points

 

Multipower (60 AP) Linked UB 40 points

4m Slot 1 12d6 EB Linked UB

4m Slot 2

4m Slot 3

4m Slot 4

 

Flight 20" +4 NCM linked UB 27 points....etc...

 

 

Now this is a particularly effective build as you are likely to save far more than the 30 points you spent on the UB on the linked advantage, so there may be an inclination to NOT use it, and just run a more powerful character. So....you may need some limitation to force the character to use the UB with some frequency, although a 24d6 EB is quite a temptation in itself....

 

Lockout would so something similar - and with similar potential concerns...

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

One recoverable charge on the uberblast and link all the powers that switch off to the uberblast, eg:

 

Uberblast 12d6 EB (adds to slot 1 in multipower) 1 recoverable charge (recovers on phase after next) Let's make that 3 levels down the table...(-1): 30 points

 

Multipower (60 AP) Linked UB 40 points

4m Slot 1 12d6 EB Linked UB

4m Slot 2

4m Slot 3

4m Slot 4

 

Flight 20" +4 NCM linked UB 27 points....etc...

 

 

Now this is a particularly effective build as you are likely to save far more than the 30 points you spent on the UB on the linked advantage, so there may be an inclination to NOT use it, and just run a more powerful character. So....you may need some limitation to force the character to use the UB with some frequency, although a 24d6 EB is quite a temptation in itself....

 

Lockout would so something similar - and with similar potential concerns...

If you link it they need to be used together. You can't link something and only use half of it. Link doesn't mean available for use, it means used. In your example you could use the uber-blast without the other things, but not the other things without using the uber-blast.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

I was trying to avoid the whole numbers keeping aspect of what's the END? Ok, how much is left? How much goes to STUN... etc...

 

And modeling that a character is taking all available energy at their disposal and throwing it into one Big Bang Finale and then spending a moment re-energizing.

Fair enough on the bookkeeping issue. Although, if you're taking all available energy at your disposal, and you're nearly empty to begin with, the blast shouldn't be as powerful.

 

If I was doing it, I'd just buy added dice of EB at a x5 or x10 END cost. That way, the character can use as many as he wants to drain down to 0 END without knocking himself out.

 

As an example, say the character's base EB is 10d6. Then buy +10d6 EB at x10 END (real cost: 10 pts). If the character normally has 56 END, the blast will almost completely tap them out (55 END for a 20d6 blast). If the character is down to 30 END, then they could use a 15d6 EB, and so on. You can even add additional limitations on the bonus dice like 'must use enough dice to drain END completely'.

 

If a 20d6 blast is too powerful for your game, put on a limitation like 'must spread the EB by enough dice to reduce the attack to Xd6 or below. That way they can make attack rolls on multiple hexes or get a bonus to OCV without breaking campaign maximums on damage. That allows the blast to still qualify as 'uber'... :thumbup:

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Fair enough on the bookkeeping issue. Although, if you're taking all available energy at your disposal, and you're nearly empty to begin with, the blast shouldn't be as powerful.

 

If I was doing it, I'd just buy added dice of EB at a x5 or x10 END cost. That way, the character can use as many as he wants to drain down to 0 END without knocking himself out.

 

As an example, say the character's base EB is 10d6. Then buy +10d6 EB at x10 END (real cost: 10 pts). If the character normally has 56 END, the blast will almost completely tap them out (55 END for a 20d6 blast). If the character is down to 30 END, then they could use a 15d6 EB, and so on. You can even add additional limitations on the bonus dice like 'must use enough dice to drain END completely'.

 

If a 20d6 blast is too powerful for your game, put on a limitation like 'must spread the EB by enough dice to reduce the attack to Xd6 or below. That way they can make attack rolls on multiple hexes or get a bonus to OCV without breaking campaign maximums on damage. That allows the blast to still qualify as 'uber'... :thumbup:

Excellent points..

 

Looking over how I built the character, so far, I have 0END on the FF, so it looks like a Combo of Lockout and High END cost to sufficiently "drain" the character appropriately as envisioned.

 

I like the Must Spread idea, very cool there. I'm at work so when I go home tonight I'll have to work up the power and post it.

 

Personally, I like the Side Effect route. Make it a drain on certain SFX powers so that they slowly build back up to full power after the Nova blast.

 

 

 

 

(Sorry...megablast :D )

uber-mega-nova blast... :P

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

I would suggest adopting the followng House Rule:

 

In extreme or dramatic circumstances, Player Characters (and master villains) may Push a Power for more than 10 Active Points. This is called an EGO Push. To EGO Push a Power the player declares how many Active Points he wishes to push his Power by, up to the Active Points in the Power. The character then makes an EGO roll with a -1 penalty for every 5 points over 10 he wishes to push. If the roll succeeds, the EGO Push is successful. If the roll is failed, the character only pushed by 10 points. In either case, the Active Points of the Power are temporarily reduced by the amount successfully pushed. The character will recover these points at the rate of 5 Active Points per Turn. In addition, until the Power is fully recovered, the character must make an EGO roll with a -1 penalty for every 5 points not yet recovered to use the Power. Just like a normal Push, the END cost is 1 END per point Pushed.

 

 

Alternately, you can just buy some extra dice in one of the character's attacks, apply x10 END and some Side Effects.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Fair enough on the bookkeeping issue. Although, if you're taking all available energy at your disposal, and you're nearly empty to begin with, the blast shouldn't be as powerful.

 

If I was doing it, I'd just buy added dice of EB at a x5 or x10 END cost. That way, the character can use as many as he wants to drain down to 0 END without knocking himself out.

 

As an example, say the character's base EB is 10d6. Then buy +10d6 EB at x10 END (real cost: 10 pts). If the character normally has 56 END, the blast will almost completely tap them out (55 END for a 20d6 blast). If the character is down to 30 END, then they could use a 15d6 EB, and so on. You can even add additional limitations on the bonus dice like 'must use enough dice to drain END completely'.

 

If a 20d6 blast is too powerful for your game, put on a limitation like 'must spread the EB by enough dice to reduce the attack to Xd6 or below. That way they can make attack rolls on multiple hexes or get a bonus to OCV without breaking campaign maximums on damage. That allows the blast to still qualify as 'uber'... :thumbup:

This is pretty much how I'd do it. I probably wouldn't do the "must spread" limit, but it depends on the campaign levels I was working with.

Though the way that I run games, I'd almost certain reword the limit from 'must use enough dice to drain END completely' to "must use at least as many dice as needed to drain END completely". I'd have no problem letting them dip deep into their stun for an Uberblast like this :D

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Personally' date=' I like the Side Effect route. Make it a drain on certain SFX powers so that they slowly build back up to full power after the Nova blast. [/quote']

 

ah! I've been scooped again!

 

I was toying with the idea of putting the big blast on its own END reserve, recovering only when the other powers were turned off, but it didn't really mandate the off-switching of the other powers.

 

So I thought "Side effects! Drain the other powers!"

 

Too little; too late..... ;)

 

Log, you're a genius! :D

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Or, though I am a fan of limtations and not disadvantages in general: Accidental Change (Automatic): when the character uses the Uber Blast. The character has to then deal with the sudden loss of power and the resultant lack of END and STUN in his normal mode. I always used the proportion rule. And would have to recover a bit (take a recovery from being STUNNED say) to reactivate the OIHID.

 

Hawksmoor

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Or, though I am a fan of limtations and not disadvantages in general: Accidental Change (Automatic): when the character uses the Uber Blast. The character has to then deal with the sudden loss of power and the resultant lack of END and STUN in his normal mode. I always used the proportion rule. And would have to recover a bit (take a recovery from being STUNNED say) to reactivate the OIHID.

 

Hawksmoor

While I love that idea ... it'd kill the Secret ID portion of the character.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

I think it depends on the exact effect you want for the "Uber-blast". Lockout would work if you just want the character to need time to recover. On the other hand, if you're thinking of a "Human Torch's Nova Blast" kind of thing, you need to buy lots of dice at Increased END so that it kills all your END, possibly even making you burn a little STUN.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

If you link it they need to be used together. You can't link something and only use half of it. Link doesn't mean available for use' date=' it means used. In your example you could use the uber-blast without the other things, but not the other things without using the uber-blast.[/quote']

 

I'm glad someone is paying attention...:)

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  • 2 years later...

Re: The Uber-Blast

 

Excellent points..

 

Looking over how I built the character, so far, I have 0END on the FF, so it looks like a Combo of Lockout and High END cost to sufficiently "drain" the character appropriately as envisioned.

 

I like the Must Spread idea, very cool there. I'm at work so when I go home tonight I'll have to work up the power and post it.

 

 

uber-mega-nova blast... :P

 

How about Reduced by Range twice? Or spread with a max xd6 damage per target as the above? Uses all END. Side-effects or other heavy drawbacks that make it pretty detrimental to the user to discharge the Nova strike very often.

If his flight is tied up into the MP he'll definately want a backup maneuver that's 0-end Persistent to get him safely to earth if he's forced to kick it off while airborne. :) I've lost count of the number of times I've gone splat or tumbling due to no contingency flight/running.

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Re: The Uber-Blast

 

The character never got played. . . Or even past the design stage sadly.

 

Anyways, at the time the final model was:

16D6 Energy Blast; Lockout; Side Effect: All Powers Cannot Be Reactivated For 2 Phases.

 

Never had a chance to play test it though.

 

I'd be interested in seeing how this would work in an actual game. In on-line gameplay (ie, City of Heroes), it turns out that powers like this don't get held in reserve for last-ditch saves. Instead, they get used as opening moves, middle moves, AND finishing moves, as the ability to one-shot a target is more beneficial than the crash at the end. Team strategies get build up on allowing the blaster to do this as often as possible, as it's easily the best way to one-shot a minion group, or else stun-lock a powerful single target.

 

With a haymaker, that's a 20d6 attack, and a mighty fine opening move. How many villains in the campaign can take that without being stunned? As a player, I'd be tempted to use that power 2x a round, with the "cooldown" turns being dedicated to dodging with an ally protecting me.

 

Oh - and loosing the SPD might be problematic, as it requires a good deal of bookkeeping to handle variable SPDs in a turn.

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