Help w/ Drain

[kjamma4]

I want to create a Drain power that takes BODY away when I hit someone in combat w/ my sword (Fantasy HERO campaign.) I modelled it like this:

 

Arterial Strike: Drain BODY1d6, Trigger: Must hit in combat (+1/4) (12 Active Points); OAF (-1), 12 Charges (-1/4) 5 points.

 

Is this correct? Do I get to use the charges when I want or do they just apply to the first twelve swings? First twelve hits?

[ArgusSK]

Re: Help w/ Drain

 

Arterial Strike: Drain BODY1d6, Trigger: Must hit in combat (+1/4) (12 Active Points); OAF (-1), 12 Charges (-1/4) 5 points.

 

Is this correct? Do I get to use the charges when I want or do they just apply to the first twelve swings? First twelve hits?

 

I might do this by purchasing the Drain with the "no range" limitation instead of the Trigger, since Drain needs an attack roll anyway. By the letter of the rules, the Charges would be expended whether you hit or not, although if you Link this power to your sword, you could choose whether or not to use the Drain portion and still attack with the sword as usual.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Help w/ Drain

 

Not exactly.

 

First, you don't need Trigger at all. You can just use Drain and the sword's attack power in a Multiple Power Attack. The Drain does not need No Range, because it never had range in the first place.

 

The charges work when you want them too. Every swing doesn't have to use the Drain, but every attempt to use the Drain will use a Charge.

 

Now, if you only wanted to lose a Charge when the Sword actually hits, it gets complicated. You can use Trigger for this effect, and the value will be +3/4 for a single triggering condition that automatically resets after it is triggered. I'm not sure of the letter or even the spirit of the rules concerning chances of hitting with such a Triggered attack. My best guess is that you'll still need to roll to hit with it, as it wasn't used in a Multiple Power Attack. I'd probably let that slide and forgo the roll though, assuming the Power wasn't too abusive.

 

In either case, if you can only use the Drain in conjunction with the sword's attack, then you can also put Linked on it. Without the Linked, you'll be able to use the Drain without actually using the sword's attack. I'm not sure if that suits your SFX or not. I'm guessing not based on the name of the Power.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Help w/ Drain

 

What DR said... You probably want the Linked and Triggered (+3/4 vers) on the Drain.

 

If you can choose when the Drain is used then you're set - if not there is a version of Linked "Must use both powers" that you'll want to use.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Help w/ Drain

 

Whilst it may seem that drain is the very thing I would beg to differ.

 

First off something defined as an arterial strike should surely only do extra damage if the carrier attack penetrates defences enough to cause BODY damage. OK you could set up a custom limitation on the drain, in fact, whaever you do you'll probably need a custom lim on the drain (actually....*)

 

Second drain recovers quickly - the BODY is back within a turn or two, which does not really accod with the effects of massive bloodloss. OK you could buy down the recovery rate fro the drain, but it gets more expensive...

 

Third, and to my mind, the definitive problem, is that drain is stopped by power defence: 1d6 drain would be stopped by 6 points of power defence, which makes little or no sense to me: power defence makes arteries harder to find does it?

 

So what would I do?

 

I'd give it +1/2 d6 HKA (10 points) Can't add strength (-1/2) Only to cause BODY (-1/2) Only if the main bit of the attack causes at least 1 BODY (-1/2), OAF (-1). If you want 12 charges, all well and good, but that seems awfully DnDish to me, so I wouldn't. Anyway it doesn't save costs.

 

Active cost 10 points, real cost (-2 1/2) 3 points and adds 1 END to the END cost of the attack. You don't need to worry about triggers or linked or MPAs (all of which have their problems) as the HKA will just be a limited part of the main attack, so works with it seamlessly. In effect, if you are trying for an artery and the 'main attack' gets through armour and other defences then you do +1 to 3 extra damage. Obviously it only works if you are already through defences, so this means that all the added damage takes effect.

 

You could add a limitation that it only works against a particular type of target (humans or humanoids or whatever). The lim value would very much depend ont he campaign.

 

Yo ho ho.

 

 

 

 

*you could make it a form of NND does BODY, but that is probably overcomplicating