Elemental Contol vs Elemental creation.

[Bluefire]

One of my players came up to me with a character concept that thru me for a small loop. Basically it boils down to he wants play a Piro

 

He cannot create the force in question, but he can manipulate it in many different ways.

 

I did not find an easy way to give him this (first time plyer) without giving him a VPP with a ton of limitations.

 

Anyways, just wanted to ask some of you what your opinions were.

 

Thanks

-Jason

[tiger]

Well one answer is to add the limitation to a MP or EC, Must have fire or outside source of fire.

 

either would work. If he's gonna be whering a flame thrower or the like I wouldn't give him anything for the limitation then. I'd still have him take it.

[Maccabe]

Piro-Man

 

I am very strict about VPP's because they can be so easily abused.

How about a Multipower with the Limitation (needs a source to manipulate)?? Something like this;

 

Multipower (40 pt reserve)

8d6 Energy Blast

4d6 Entangle

Force Field (20 PD/ 20 ED)

 

Etc

[Killer Shrike]

Build him just like any other Fire-based (or whatever SFX) character with the -1/4 lim "needs existing element".

[Peregrine]

Like the character in X2, right?

 

Simple. Build the character as a fire FX, with whatever powers would be appropriate. Use the above suggested limitation.

 

And when the player wants to carry a 'normal lighter', make him buy it as a focus - I'd recommend OAF, because he has to display it prominently to use it, and it's obvious that the fire comes from it. Let him use appropriate skills (Concealment comes to mind) if he wants to 'hide' his use of the lighter, with penalties to the roll based on the Active Points of the effect he's trying to produce - the more fire he's trying to produce, the harder it is to do so while concealing the lighter.

[Killer Shrike]

The character depicted in X2 is Pyro, who has been around a long long time; his origin was changed to shoehorn him into the movie but the character concept and name are the same. He was one of the Brotherhood of [Evil] Mutants back in the day. IIRC he died of the (idiotic) Legacy virus while fending off the Brotherhood's second attempt to assassinate Senator Kelly, having a change of heart at the last minute.

 

Thats why it was amusing to see him subverted in the movie X2 by Magneto, who of course formed the original Brotherhood of [Evil] Mutants in the comix for his own nefarious ends.

[Snarf]

I agree with Maccabe, A VPP should be avoided when it's unecessary. You just have to build an EC (or multipower) with all the powers the player wants, then limit the base cost and all the powers so they can only be used in the presence of fire.

 

Elemental Control: Fire Powers (AP 25); Will only work around fire (-1/4) (RC 20)

Flame Jet: EB 5d6, Continuous (+1) [since he seems to be able to keep things burning] (AP 50) (EC Bonus 25) (Remaining Cost 25) (RC 20)

Wall of Fire: EB 4d6, Continuous (+1), Area of Effect: Line (+1) (AP 60) (EC Bonus 25) (Remaining Cost 35) (RC 28)

 

and so on. I think the elemental control is good because it makes sense that all the powers are drained together.

[Lord Liaden]

I'm in accord with the general concensus of Limiting the power to require a flame source. I would call it an OIF: "Fire of Opportunity."

 

If you don't have a strict active point cap, you can add versatility without a VPP by tacking Variable Advantages onto the Powers in a Multipower.

[Tempuswolf]

There are some new rules for using Telekinesis on energy in UNTIL Superpowers Database that you might find useful.