character design help, please (long)

[secretID]

I'm very inexperienced, and I've been wrestling for hours trying to fit the rules to a character.

 

The power(s) in question:

Every day she powers up with a device, Green Lantern style. This gives her a finite energy supply to use on STR, SP, and armor. She can only boost them to a set amount, and she has to boost them all together. Basically, she turns herself superhuman for a limited time. She doesn't have to use all of her energy in one activation - she has a limited energy supply that she can use in spurts throughout the day. This is her main power.

 

Things I've tried that don't seem to work:

 

Multiform - Because the form must be based on the same number of character points, the new form would have to have way too many disads.

 

OIHI - Intriguing, but her on-the-spot power-up shouldn't be cumbersome, and it still leaves the issue of limiting her time in that form.

 

Powers cost END, with a END reserve - This seems like the obvious solution, but my big problem with this is the way that the END is charged. Paying for STR every phase makes sense, but it irks me to pay a lot more for, say, armor, simply because the character is fast, so has more phases. Paying for the SP is even stranger - the increased SP almost becomes a disad, because it makes everything else so expensive. The ER would have to be enormous - hundreds of points.

 

My best shot, but still in doubt:

STR, SP, and armor are all turned constant. SP and armor cost END. They're all in an EC, which always looks suspicious to me, but in this case I think it makes perfect sense. Then the important part - there's a one-hour single charge for the EC and the powers. (It doesn't matter in this case whether it's considered one power source or several, since it's a +0 adder.)

 

The problem is that she ended up looking damn powerful when I did it up, considering all the limitations. The EC and each power each get -1/4 for the drop to constant. The SP and armor get -1/4 for the cost END. 70 points for the whole EC buys quite a bit.

 

My questions:

Is there a better way to do this, considering my strong aversion (partially on principle) to paying every phase?

Did I miss something in the way I did it?

Is it really that much of a weakness to be normal all day long when you get to be awesome in a fight?

 

Thanks for reading this long post, and for any help.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

Nice concept.

 

I'd be inclined to go with the END Reserve myself, but with some minor adjustments to the other abilities. I suggest looking up "Endurance Limitations" in the rulebook. If you buy Armor and SPD with "Costs END Only To Activate" (-1/4), then your character would only have to expend END from the Reserve when first using these Powers, not every Phase (although you could certainly define the extra STR as drawing from the same Reserve).

 

Another option is to use buy all of these abilities with a set number of Charges, which she recovers by "charging" herself daily. With all the Charges options available - Continuing Charges, Fuel Charges, Boostable Charges - I bet you could find the right combination of time duration and draining of the charge "pool" per use to suit your concept.

[Zed-F]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

My thought would be to go with the END reserve, and buy the SPD and Armour as 'Costs End Only to Activate' as LL suggested. I generally wouldn't allow characteristics in an EC.

[Ascolacicola]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

that is a good idea -- I wrote a clone of green latern but did it this way:

 

1.) Go with the end reserve, like 500 end, with no recovery.

 

Then buy a focus that gives you something like 12d6 aid to end reserve and put one charge on that (you will have to pay extra though so the fade rate is longer).

 

Combine that with the end only to activate and that seems to best simulate what you describe

 

to me, but what do i know

 

nothing, that's what.

[CBikle]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

that is a good idea -- I wrote a clone of green latern but did it this way:

 

1.) Go with the end reserve, like 500 end, with no recovery.

 

Then buy a focus that gives you something like 12d6 aid to end reserve and put one charge on that (you will have to pay extra though so the fade rate is longer).

 

Combine that with the end only to activate and that seems to best simulate what you describe

 

to me, but what do i know

 

nothing, that's what.

 

I agree with Assface.

 

Hi Assface !!!

[freakboy6117]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

you could just buy the recovery for the powers with charges

[wagnern]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

ok, how about just buying the multiform or what ever as having one continous fuel charge, with like an hour charge. Less book keeping than an end battery (I myself love this option, piticularly for spells and stuff)

[secretID]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

The problem with making the abilities cost END only to turn on is that there's nothing then limiting their time on.

 

I'm avoiding the END reserve for the reason I gave - I just dislike it on principle that the armor, e.g., will be charged by phase instead of by segment or turn.

 

The fuel charge is what I had written up ("My best shot") - I guess I didn't explain it well. It's good, except that the character ended up very powerful, and it felt like I was manipulating the rules.

 

Something else did occur to me - maybe I'll just make them all OIHI, say that hero identity can only last for an hour total per day, and call all of the powers limited powers as a result. I would call that about a 1/4 limitation - it's a much shorter time than the day/night limitation, but the character gets to pick when exactly the powers are on.

[Marketeer]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

My suggestion would be a hybridization of the other approaches:

 

Fuel Charges with Costs End on the STR.

 

Armor and Speed would be purchased as powers with the Continuing Fuel Charge Limitation

 

STR would be purchased with as a Continuing Fuel Charge with Costs End (note that because of a quirk in the rules this would make it not add Figured Characteristics).

 

I think the character would only look too powerful for the points if you put the Armor and Attributes in an EC--without an EC the character looks fine, or even somewhat weak for the cost.

[Checkmate]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

I've done a character similar to this. I had basically a GL clone (but I used bracers ) He had an END reserve and when the END ran out he lost all of his powers that were OIHID. So picture Captain Marvel (Shazam CM not Alien CM) fighting the bad guy and all of a sudden poof he runs out of END Reserve and turns back into Billy.

 

Anywho back to your problem: The first question is do you want the change to be a set time? Do you want it to be an hour every time? If so, you buy all your powers and stats 1 recoverable charge lasting 1 hour.

 

However if you want it to depend on the amount of energy you use, go with the END Reserve. Make the armor etc Cost END only to activate, take the -1/4. But who says you can't limit the power more? Make Costs END Every Phase 12, or costs END every minute.

[Haerandir]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

I think you've been too quick to dismiss Multiform. Assuming your 'powered' form doesn't exceed whatever the standard character value for your campaign is, you don't need to pile on Disads. It's a touch tricky, if you want your 'normal human' form to be a perfectly average joe, but it can be done.

 

Assuming a standard superhero character (200 base + 150 Disads), design the 350 point 'powered' character you want, with the usual gamut of Disads, crazy powers and characteristics, etc. Then design the 'normal human' form, shooting for around 275 total points. Of course, a 275-pt. 'normal human' is pretty impressive, but no one says you have to spend those points efficiently. Don't be afraid to sink points into Skills, Perks, Talents, equipment and so on, particularly if you can think of reasons why the character wouldn't have access to those resources in 'powered' form (Contacts are limited to the Secret ID, powered form doesn't need Combat Luck, doesn't carry a gun or ride a motorcycle, etc.) Then, spend the last 75 points on "Multiform to 350-pt. character, 1 Hour-Long Fuel Charge (+0)." Voila! Just what you were looking for, and you've got the same amount of points in Disads you would have had, anyway. With a character like this, many Disads (especially Psych Lims) are going to be identical between the two characters, though you may have to get creative with identity-specific Disads like Secret Identity or Distinctive Features. Things like Skills will generally port over, too, though there can be some variation, depending on exactly how much (or if) the transformation affects the character's personality and mental capacity.

 

Of course, the only reason this rigmarole is necessary is the time limit on the powered form. If it was just a case of saying 'Shazam' and turning into a superhero, you'd designate the super as the 'true form' and have him dump 5 or 10 points into buying your puny mortal form. But such is the cost of having a clever character concept...

[secretID]

Re: character design help, please (long)

 

My suggestion would be a hybridization of the other approaches:

 

Fuel Charges with Costs End on the STR.

 

Armor and Speed would be purchased as powers with the Continuing Fuel Charge Limitation

 

STR would be purchased with as a Continuing Fuel Charge with Costs End (note that because of a quirk in the rules this would make it not add Figured Characteristics).

 

I think the character would only look too powerful for the points if you put the Armor and Attributes in an EC--without an EC the character looks fine, or even somewhat weak for the cost.

 

That looks basically like what I did. Maybe my mistake was using the EC, or maybe I just can't properly gauge character power. One reason it seemed a bit like a cheat was that the character is considerably better with a fuel charge than with, say, several one-minute charges.

 

One question: Without the EC, do I take linked for the powers - seems like I should.

 

Off topic: Nice tag line. I've often found my self saying something similar. "It was just your opinion before you said it out loud - now it's your statement."