Selective Invisibility?

[Yamo]

Say I want a character who can become invisible only to specific people. For example, in a melee, he could become invisibile to his enemies, but not his allies. He would also be able to change who he appears invisible to at any given moment.

 

Any ideas?

[Lightray]

I have a villain in my campaign who has a multipower with two slots for Invisibility -- each with different limitations (only to mortals, only to immortals). The multipower itself is Always On, so it's GM's-permission-on-the-edge-of-broken, but as I'm the GM, I okayed it.

 

You should probably look at Variable Limitation for yours. It's probably going to be a very, very small limitation (just how limiting is it to only be invisible to your allies?).

[Lord Liaden]

While having a single type of Invisibility which is not effective vs. certain people could be a Limitation of varying size depending on the specifics, IMHO being able to pick and choose who you would be Invisible to would be a distinct tactical advantage: being able to signal your allies while being indetectable to your enemies, or freaking someone out by running a "Harvey" gag on them.

 

My initial thought (after "I can't see allowing this in my game" ) would be to make it an Advantage on Invisibility - at least +1/2, but I could consider making it even higher.

[Ndreare]

Nice and Abusive...

I would have you build this as follows

 

Cost Power

70 Selective Invis.: Mental Illusions 14d6, Reduced Endurance 1/2 END (+1/4), Area Of Effect (70" Radius; +1 3/4), Selective Target (+1/4) (227 Active Points); Limited Power Only to Make Self Invisable (-1), No Range (-1/2), Stops Working If Mentalist Is Stunned (-1/2), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4)

 

20 +10 with Metal Illusions

Powers Cost: 90

 

 

P.S.: If I were you GM I would make fun of you thinking I am crazy enough to allow this.

[Yamo]

I wouldn't like the effect to require an attack roll, so Mental Illusions is out. Basically, I want standard Invisibility with selectivity.

[Talon]

Invisibility plus Detect You (based on Sight) Usable by Others, Ranged (or UAA plus AOE Selective).

[Yamo]

Invisibility plus Detect You (based on Sight) Usable by Others, Ranged (or UAA plus AOE Selective).

 

That seems like it might work. I'll play around with that.

[altamaros]

I would probably charge a -0 limitation for that :

 

Ennemies cannot perceive you : OK, regular thing.

Friends can perceive you : good thing for you, obviously

Mind-controlled friends can perceive you ... oops !

along with people using clairsentience "through the senses of others".

 

so basically, i should not consider this neither a advantage nor a limitation.

 

otherwise maybe you can take the regular Invisibility power (without any selective stuff) and then add :

 

"hello, i'm over here!"

Images vs sight group and hearing group, 1" [15 base points]

+ 0 END +1/2

+ uncontrolled +1/2

- set effect (image of self, own voice) -1/2

- no range -1/2

- only affects friends and allies -1/2

- linked with invisibility -1/4( -1/2 ? i never recall the cost of "linked")

 

Base points : 15 points

Active points : 30 points

Real points : 11 points (or 10 points)

 

Hope this helps

[Lord Liaden]

Ah, I see, you're looking for system workarounds, not necessarily a new Advantage for Invisibility. My misinterpretation, sorry.

 

Geoff's Detect suggestion is very practical. Now, thinking about the SFX, you want some people of your choice to be unaffected by your Invisibility; that sounds like a type of Personal Immunity to me. How about buying Personal Immunity for your Invisibility as a Naked Advantage and applying UOO to it?

 

One observation on altamaros' suggestion: the mechanic is reasonable, but given that the purpose of this power is to allow the character's friends and allies to find him when enemies can't, I'd consider "only affects friends and allies" in this case to be an Advantage rather than a Limitation.

[Kid Chaos]

Originally posted by altamaros

- only affects friends and allies -1/2

 

I would probably reverse this to +1/2 Selective. This reflects the intent of what he's looking for better I think. As with Selective you could reapply the power and exclude someone or include someone.

 

Another factor is how is the power sfx defined? What specifically allows him to alter his invis so some people can see him. If it's psionic in nature I would apply some sort of must be aware of person to exclude them limitation.

[PhilFleischmann]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

How about buying Personal Immunity for your Invisibility as a Naked Advantage and applying UOO to it?

I think LL has nailed it. Does UOO allow you to switch who has the power on the fly? Should one of your friends fall victim to an enemy's Mind Control, for example, can you shut off his immunity to your invisibility? I think you can. Of course, you have to be aware that he's been mind controlled.

 

I would buy it exactly as Lord Liaden said for the purpose of saying, at the time the power is turned on, "I become invisible to everyone except Bill, Jim, Fred, and Tom (or however many people you've bought your UOO for)." If Tom gets mind controlled, you can turn off Tom's immunity on your phase, but it won't automatically shut off. You won't be able to say, "I become invisible to everyone who isn't being mind controlled."

 

What if you want to be visible to everyone except for one or a few people?

 

At first I would have suggested a simple +1/2 advantage to the invisibility - equal to the difference between Selective Target and Non-Selective Target. I still think it's not a bad solution, and it's certainly simple.