Steve: MPEW/Phasers and the NND

[ImperialOne]

I am really fascinated by this bit of reverse engineering and was hoping to get your opinion:

 

Inspired from a discussion regarding Trek Hero conversion of what a phaser translates to in Hero terms. While a discussion of the MultiPurpose Energy Weapon (from Star Hero pp154) was done, there was some disagreement about giving the MPEW NND status in its attacks:

 

"I have read (and re-read) the Multipurpose Energy Weapon, and have come to the conclusion that the GMs may choose whichever one they like. My personal feeling on the NND vs. any FF ED (1+) is it's not quite right. Phaser fire can bring down an energy wall (as in when the Enterprise fired on the forcewall surrounding Vaal), and can lead to abuse (20 PD 1 ED FF would be immunity to phasers). And if the Borg can adapt their forcefields to ignore phasers, then they've got more than 1 ED in their FF). That's my take, anyway."

 

A recent addendum to this comment: "what you could do with the NND if you want to give it a try...I'd do something like make the Defense either 10+ ED in the FF, or Hardened ED FF, or something similar. 1+ ED FF means phasers in starship combat would never do damage to another starship with its shields up."

 

Is that right? What is your opinon o the matter?

 

By the way, ith regards to the Borg forcefield issue, another user suggested: "perhaps the Borg forcefield could be written up as Missile Deflection, possibly with a Limitation that it only works versus an attack already used against another Borg, or with a lot of extra Skill Levels with that Lim."

[Steve Long]

First, you're assuming the MPEW is a direct attempt to mirror a Trek phaser. That's not correct. It's obviously inspired by the phaser; I wouldn't deny that for a minute. But it's not a direct correlate, so complaining that "it's not quite right" or "it doesn't work just like a phaser ought to work" is missing the point, unless you're just using it as an example.

 

Second, the GM can define an NND defense as whatever he wants given the campaign's parameters. Though the rules generally forbid establishing "defense thresholds" for NNDs (like "defense is 10+ PD FF"), there's no reason a GM couldn't allow that if he wants to. It's a lot less problematic in a Heroic game where characters buy equipment with points and everyone has the same sort of weapon and knows how it works.

 

As to the "how to" aspects of your question, I don't usually answer those sorts of questions. They're best left to general debate on the other boards, since Herodom Assembled usually has lots of cool ideas.