How do you build this power?

[DocMan]

I'm playing around with a character concept of a teleporter who creates "gates" which normal objects can pass through. One aspect of this idea is to have a defense reflex where if the character can see an attack coming, he can open a gate between himself and the attack and cause it to teleport from in front of him to behind him. In a lot of ways, this is like Missle Deflection, or a limited Desolid, only to avoid taking damage from certain attacks. The problem is that Missle Deflection would cause the character to sacrifice actions to apply this defense, and the Desolid would cause the character to buy Affects real world with all his attacks. This is the character's primary form of defense. I don't think it should be this expensive.

 

Any ideas how I could build this differently?

 

Doc

[Tom Carman]

Re: How do you build this power?

 

Originally posted by DocMan

I'm playing around with a character concept of a teleporter who creates "gates" which normal objects can pass through. One aspect of this idea is to have a defense reflex where if the character can see an attack coming, he can open a gate between himself and the attack and cause it to teleport from in front of him to behind him. In a lot of ways, this is like Missle Deflection, or a limited Desolid, only to avoid taking damage from certain attacks. The problem is that Missle Deflection would cause the character to sacrifice actions to apply this defense, and the Desolid would cause the character to buy Affects real world with all his attacks. This is the character's primary form of defense. I don't think it should be this expensive.

 

Any ideas how I could build this differently?

 

Doc

If it doesn't defend against area-effect attacks, it can be very simple: +DCV vs all attacks, only if aware of them. The SFX is that he is "gating" them past him. To handle area-effect, maybe a Forcefield, only vs area-effect attacks that he is aware of. Damage can "leak" thru a Forcefield: this is the blast wave that gets around the open gateway.

[Monolith]

As Tom stated above, it is a fairly common SFX to buy levels of DCV where you are having them represent small teleports the character is making to avoid incoming attacks.

[Lord Liaden]

Another possibility is to buy Missile Deflection Uncontrolled, so that once the character starts it operating it would continue to function without the character losing any actions. There are further clarifications to this effect on p. 137 of FREd, and in the FAQ under "Missile Deflection."

 

If that doesn't work for what you want, please feel free to post more details so we can get it right.

[Deacon Blues]

Originally posted by Monolith

As Tom stated above, it is a fairly common SFX to buy levels of DCV where you are having them represent small teleports the character is making to avoid incoming attacks.

Anyone remember Phaze from the 4th edition VIPER sourcebook? He "flickered" in and out between this dimension and a variety of others; he had a +8 DCV with activation 14- (might have been lower). Hard to time your shots right, but when you did, he fell down hard.

[Tamashii2000]

I would go with both, a big plus to dcv defined as the 'teleport' and missle deflection for when ever he is concentrating on defence.

[Klytus]

Why not split the difference?

 

Buy levels in DCV that have the Limitation: Must be Aware of Attack (-½) to represent the "reflexive" teleport shield that is there all the time - maybe even include an initial expenditure of END to create the field so it isn't there even out of combat.

 

On top of this, you can also buy Desolidification, Only to Avoid Damage (-½) to simulate the creation of an ever larger teleport-gate that only works when you concentrate on it (spend half a phase to activate the power), but which can be used to avoid even larger effects like an Area of Effect or Explosion. But combined with the DCV levels effect above, you are never totally without your warp-gate defenses. As it is MIssile Deflection, it also simulates the fact that anyone in hand-to-hand can simply sidestep the gate and pummel you.

[DocMan]

I knew you guys knew the new rules better than I do.

 

Ok... we have...

 

+x DCV, Only vs Ranged attacks, Must be aware of attack (-1/2), w/ SFX of small, reflexive teleport gates.

 

Desolid, AOE 1 hex, Only to avoid damage(-1/2), Concentration?

 

Missle Deflection, all attacks, Reflection, indirect

 

The last is when he's turning his opponent's powers against them as an active offense.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Doc

[Klytus]

Originally posted by DocMan

Desolid, AOE 1 hex, Only to avoid damage(-1/2), Concentration?

You don't need Concentration on it, I think. The DCV level's shield is there all the time, but you have to deliberately activate the Desolid version of the power when you have a Phase - thus showing that it requires more concentration (the word, not the Limitation) than the reflexive gate.

[DocMan]

Right.

 

It's an Abort Action, so it requires an available phase to pull from...

 

Ok. New tactic. What about the classic tactic of creating a Teleport Gate under a character's feet to teleport them up a hex so they just keep falling through the same hex over and over again?

 

I'd be tempted to make this as an entangle that either loses a body every phase, or otherwise has a fixed or limited duration. This makes it more of a fire-and-forget power.

 

Thoughts?

 

Doc