Naked Power Advantages

[Snarf]

A while ago I posted a question to Steve about what sort of powers naked power advantages can be applied to and he responded that there are no official rules about it. So, I made some of my own house rules and I'm wondering about what everyone else is using.

 

In my games, by default, a naked power advantage is an instant and self only power that costs END, as the 5th edition book recommends. Uncontrolled, Persistent, Usable by other, a focus limitation defined as universal, and Reduced Endurance may be used to change these properties.

 

By default, the advantage can be applied to only one power, but it can be applied to any form of that power the character possesses. For example, the armor piercing advantage that can apply to any gun that was the example in the book. Varying Effect can be purchased to increase the advantage's scope. For +1/4, the advantage can be applied to any power in a related group of special effects, one at a time. For +2, every power in a related group at the same time. The stuff in between works similarly.

 

This is the FTL drive I made, which enhances the range of a psion's teleportation enough to send a ship between star systems:

 

Jump Drive: 1 Light Year Megascaling for up to 30" Teleportation (AP 210), IIF Bulky Expendable (requires promethium crystals, difficult to obtain, -1), 2 Charges (-1 1/2), (RC 60).

 

These would just scale up range for either any psi powers, one power at a time or all at once:

 

General Psi Enhancer 1: 1 Light Year Megascaling for up to 60 cp of any psionic power, Varying Effect (+1/4), (AP 225), IIF Bulky Expendable (requires promethium crystals, difficult to obtain, -1), 2 Charges (-1 1/2), (RC 64).

 

General Psi Enhancer 2: 1 Light Year Megascaling for any number of psionic powers of up to 60 cp each, Varying Effect (+2), (AP 330), IIF Bulky Expendable (requires promethium crystals, difficult to obtain, -1), 2 Charges (-1 1/2), (RC 94).

 

Do these rulings sound reasonable? What sort of system have you been using in your games?

[VictorVonDoom]

what are naked powers?

[Tom McCarthy]

What is a naked advantage ?

 

Suppose I can do a shockwave by slamming my fists into the ground.

 

I can do it using a 10D6 energy blast with the explosion advantage and limitations to reflect no range and it only affects people on the ground.

 

Or I can buy the following: Explosion advantage for strength 50 (25 points), only affects targets on the ground (-1/4) (20 points). It's an advantage which can be used optionally to boost another power.

 

Other examples:

- A dead-eye shooter, where all guns become armor-piercing in his hands

- Master of blades, who can throw any edged hand to hand weapon, even those considered impossible to throw

- A ghost hunter, who may strike incorporeal beings with any weapon he wields

- Replay, who can make any attack which hits hit twice

[Snarf]

Victor, you can read more about naked power advantages on page 157 of fifth edition. Since you're still a beginner, you probably shouldn't include stuff like that in your game.

[VictorVonDoom]

i know but still couldn't figure it out why the word naked is here for ??

[Kintara]

Originally posted by VictorVonDoom

i know but still couldn't figure it out why the word naked is here for ??

It's because a power advantage like, say, Armor Piercing is usually written in with ONE specific power.

 

For example, Energy Blast 10d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2) (75 Active Points).

 

But it would be written "naked" if it applied to, say, all the guns he uses. In this case, he buys Armor Piercing with a maximum AP limit. Any gun he uses that is lower than the AP limit can be Armor Piercing.

 

Armor Piercing (Pistols), Max AP: 60. Real Cost: 30.

 

Anyway, the point is that it's a notation thing. Most of the time a power advantage is part of the write up of a power. Sometimes it's divorced from a specific power, and is just there alone. Alone=naked.

 

(Edit: Also note that this isn't the only style of naked power advantages. Read here.)

[Snarf]

See Victor? No literal nudity involved

 

Advantages are almost always part of a power. When they're seperate, they're called "naked."

[VictorVonDoom]

duh !! and how do i see if a power has such naked advantage? or how do i know such power has one or can have one?

 

 

[Blue Jogger]

Originally posted by VictorVonDoom

duh !! and how do i see if a power has such naked advantage? or how do i know such power has one or can have one?

 

If I understand the FAQ, the advantage is listed first.

 

0 End Cost on 60 STR

Autofire on any pistol up to 60 Active Points

 

Think of a Naked Power Advantage as a New Power that modifies some other Power. This new power must state which powers it can affect.

[Snarf]

After that initial listing, you can apply advantages and limitations to it as appropriate. In the original post of this thread, I talked about an unusual way to apply advantages to naked advantages.

[VictorVonDoom]

still not getting it

[Blue]

I have an NPC in my campaign, a low-level NPC. Lucretia has the ability to take any normal gun (with active points of 40 or less... so this can go all the way to shotguns in many cases) and apply one of the naked advantages she has set up.

 

She has an Autofire Naked Advantage (called "Triphammer") a an Armor Piercing Naked Advantage (I forget the name) and a No Range Mod Nake Advantage (called something like "No Way in Hell...!").

 

I basically built a 40pt power, added the "Armor Piercing" advantage, and then subtracted out the original 40pts. As a condition of the character, she cannot carry a weapon with her. She can only use "weapons of opportunity". As a result she hangs around bars where the bartender might keep a gun behind the counter, or where armed thugs hang, etc.

 

So in this case the naked advantage is there to simulate an ability that is not built into the weapon itself. It's something that SHE has and can apply to guns (physical killing attacks of 40 Active pts or less). It's... a "naked advantage" with no power attached to it. She gets the "power" associated with it by borrowing someone's conventional gun.

 

(This she does through a series of martial arts moves for disarming foes.)

[Snarf]

Victor, if you need more examples, name any power advantage that intrests you and I'll show you how to make a naked power advantage out of it.

[VictorVonDoom]

I only want know to know how to detect them ...

For me any advantage is an advantage. I don't the system that correct to know or what is naked or not?

[Snarf]

If it is attached to a specific power, it is "clothed". If it is independant of a specific power it is "naked", and becomes a power. The difference is shown by how it's written.

 

I still think an example is the best way to demonstrate. Here is an ordinary, "clothed" form of Armor Piercing:

 

Rifle: Ranged Killing Attack 2d6, Armor Piercing (+1/4), (Active Points 37); Charges (8, -1/2), (Real Cost 25).

 

Here is armor piercing as a naked power advantage:

 

Super Shooting Ability: Armor Piercing for any gun of up to 2d6 (Active Points 7); Charges (8, -1/2), (Real Cost 5).

 

With this power, you can make any gun which does 2d6 or less damage into an armor piercing gun eight times.

 

All the power advantages in 5th edition are normal, "clothed" advantages, but you can turn them naked by using the procedures on page 157.

[VictorVonDoom]

what is the difference?

[Snarf]

Super Shooting Ability: Armor Piercing for any gun of up to 2d6 (Active Points 7); Charges (8, -1/2), (Real Cost 5).

 

The first one is just a gun. The second is an enhancement that can be used on any gun you pick up.

[VictorVonDoom]

oh

so "any" points on naked !!

[Snarf]

Actually, the specific words and phrasing may vary. It will probably always be something that means the same thing as "any".

 

The exact same thing might be written differently. Like this:

Super Shooting Ability: Armor Piercing for guns of up to RKA 2d6 (Active Points 7); Charges (8, -1/2), (Real Cost 5).

Or like this:

Super Shooting Ability: Armor Piercing for up to RKA 2d6 (Active Points 7); Charges (8, -1/2), (Real Cost 5).

 

These rules are pretty vague and open to interpretation. Don't look for a specific format, just try to figure out what it's intended to mean.

[VictorVonDoom]

that makes it not easier for me to understand it... sigh..

[Snarf]

I wouldn't worry about it much. It's a pretty rare ability.

[Hugh Neilson]

As easy as I can put it:

 

In most cases, an advantage applies to a specific power possessed by the character.

 

So, he may have Energy Blast, 0 END or RKA, Armor piercing.

 

A naked advantage is purchased without any power to which it is attached. Perhaps the character has Absorption to his Energy Blast, and his Energy Blast costs END normally. However, he wants his Absorbtion dice to cost no extra effort. Assume his limit absorbed is 40 active points.

 

He buys "Extra EB from absorption costs no END" He doesn't have the EB to attach it to, so it's naked. He pays 20 points (the 40 points of EB he wants at 0 END x 1/2 advantage) for this naked advantage.