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Transfor: Limitation into Disadvantage


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Re: Transfor: Limitation into Disadvantage

 

Arise, yet again.

 

I'd been toying with this again lately, and built some test characters. Some would normally have various foci, some OIHID, some built straight up, etc. I ended up making them at 350pts and feel they're pretty balanced against each other overall as built. Foci, OIHID not included on their builds but other limits like charges if appropriate were.

 

The battlesuit guy would have saved 46 points if OIF was allowed.

 

The guy with the superweapon but that is still pretty tough without it would have saved 29 points if OAF was allowed.

 

The OIHID lady would have saved 33 pts if OIHID was allowed.

 

The two inate powers people would save nada.

 

While actually lower than I expected going in, still pretty significant chunks of change. And since I feel the builds were pretty balanced without the 'source of power' limitations, I'm feeling even better about changing them to disads instead.

 

At the moment I'm dividing current Limitations into two general categories. First - source of power - "Is it available for use?" - things like Focus and OIHID, only works underwater will fall here and be turned into Disadvantages instead. Second - restrictions of power - "Will it work when you try to use it?" - things like Activation, Charges and only vs. robots fall here and remain Limitations.

 

Going from a basis of what we've talked about so far, especially Shir's chart, I'm currently working with the modifiers below for the "source of power" Disads. Of course all the levels are subjective and should be worked out between the player and GM.

 

Severity:

How much of the character's powers/abilities are affected? How significant would the loss be to the character?

 

Few/very minor: +0

Some/minor: +5

Significant/major: +10

Most/critical: +15

 

Frequency:

How likely is the character to be denied the powers once they are in play? Special effects that lead to more obvious counters increase the likelihood, as do obvious and/or accessible foci.

 

Very unlikely: -5

Unlikely: +0

Likely: +5

 

Timeframe:

Once the conditions are met, how quickly does the power loss occur?

 

Instant: +5

Short term: +0

Long term: -5

 

Convenience:

How easy are the powers to start/restart?

 

Easy: +0

Inconvenient: +5

Very inconvenient: +10

 

Don't want this post to get too long, will try some examples in following post.

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Re: Transfor: Limitation into Disadvantage

 

Let's try some examples.

 

Wonder Man's powers are mostly innate. His flight however is obtained through a rocket belt.

 

Severity: very minor +0. It's only one power, though a commonly used one (main movement source)

Frequency: unlikely +0. While they could be interfered with/destroyed, it doesn't happen that much, and the rockets are small targets. If he's captured, they're easy to take away though.

Timeframe: instant +5. Without the belt, he drops like a rock immediately.

Convenience: easy +0. The belt is fairly easy to conceal and if lost is ready to go again soon after it is recovered.

 

Total: 5pts.

 

Batman has loads of gadgets in his utility belt. He's a tough customer without them, but the gadgets are a significant part of his character and are used frequently.

 

Severity: significant/major +10. He can still whup the Batmobile's weight in thugs without them, but without his swing lines, smoke pellets, surveilance gear and the like you notice a pretty significant crimp in his style.

Frequency: unlikely +0. Hard to take his stuff away while he's up and about, but easy enough if he's captured. Also if he can't reach the belt he can't use the gadgets.

Timeframe: instant +0. No utility belt, no bat shark repellent.

Convenience: easy +0. While some specific limited-use gadgets like bat-gliders could be awkward, the utility belt itself is pretty easy to hide/carry/use.

 

Total: 10pts.

 

Hawkeye has a bow and lots of trick arrows that provide almost all of his available punch. Without them he's a skilled normal that would have a very hard time against all but the weakest Avengers foe.

 

Severity: critical +15. While he has good stats and lots of skills, he's simply outclassed without his arrows given his environment.

Frequency: likely +5. Easily taken away if beaten, needs significant freedom of motion to use properly, if entangled or grabbed pretty much out of luck.

Timeframe: instant +5. No residual arrow-powers.

Convenience: inconvenient +5. Multiple parts to make the system work - if bow damaged arrows much less effective, sometimes arrows can get scattered around, etc.

 

Total: 30pts.

 

The Human Torch's flame can be put out in a variety of ways - dousing in water, sucking the air out of the area, etc.

 

Severity: most/critical +15. He's a good driver and mechanic without his flame. Maybe Terrax wants to race?

Frequency: likely +5. Most people know how to put fires out. Prepared or improvised extinguishing plans likely.

Timeframe: instant +5. Covered in the flame-proof foam, the fire goes out instantly.

Convenience: easy +0. Knock the foam off, get out of the water, etc. and Flame on! again.

 

Total: 25pts.

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Re: Transfor: Limitation into Disadvantage

 

Very interesting, but I really don't see this working well outside of Champions or any kind of archetypes. With free-form PC builds, this will get extremly chaotic.

 

I always thought having no limitations on a power is too expensive. It's so easy to come up with -1/2 to -1 and usually not very limiting, at least not as much as you get points out of it. On the other hand, I assume it makes characters a bit more diverse.

 

Also, your change might result in the opposite. Instead of anyone taking limitations, people might want to not have them. After all, only 15 points for being nearly defenseless without my gadgets is HARSH.

 

I've had a demon once which used a 3d6 HKA (incuding STR) claw (restrainable, nothing else), whereas another character in the party bought a Katana with money and used Martial Arts. That was really, really unfair :( Heroic campaign.

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