Drawing on multiple resources

[Pteryx]

Help! I'm confused as to how best to represent how my character fuels his abilities!

 

The character in question is a robot who can replicate crystal at a moment's notice (I presume I'll need Object Creation sooner or later, but for now I'm just figuring out the groundwork). In order to do this, he needs energy from his grid (plain old END -- no problem) and some combination of common elements which are slowly recovered as a by-product of his engine and through breathing (an Endurance Reserve with a low REC and the Personal REC disadvantage -- no problem) and/or rare elements that he can hold a good amount of, but that he does need manually refilled sometimes (my best guess here is another Endurance Reserve, this one with Limited Recovery). The effectiveness of his powers can vary depending on the exact resources he draws on (which I presume I can kludge with mix-and-match Aids).

 

My general areas of confusion are twofold:

 

1) Given that the Rare Elements pool can be refilled under rarer circumstances than the samples given for Limited Recovery (wall sockets are easy to find in civilized areas, and a character's house or Base probably has several, suggesting that a character with such a limitation could recharge that reserve between adventures; OTOH, locating and obtaining more chemical compounds contining rare elements could easily constitute an adventure in itself and there's just about nil chance of recovery between adventures), should it qualify for an even worse limitation than -2? Does the fact that it and the Common Elements reserve aren't interchangable count for something, seeing as the default assumption seems to be that END reserves normally are? Or am I going about building this particular resource in entirely the wrong way?

 

2) How do I have a power draw on two resources to power it by default? If he had too little END in his grid, he'd have a distinct problem mustering the energy to use his replication systems in the first place... and if he's used up both his element reserves, what's he supposed to make the crystal with? Thus, I need to make a power require both END and power from a Reserve to work. Does "Costs END" work on something that already costs power from a Reserve work, or is there no "official" way? If there's no official way, then what level of limitation would you call this?

 

Thank you for your time. -- Pteryx

[Farkling]

I'll take a stab at it, and hopefully the actual number crunchers can help you out further.

 

My observations::

 

A) The grid is a special effect. Go with simply an END reserve, and the limitation "must have access to the grid to utilize END Battery"

The rare earths combination of your effects sounds like a wierd application of recoverable charges with either increased recovery time and/or an additional limitation on where/how the charges can be recovered.

 

1) "should it qualify for an even worse limitation than -2?"..using that construct, I'd look at the VPP control cost modifiers for a ballpark limitation.

Is this the wrong way? Up to interpretation...the charges idea gives two seperate resources. There is no wrong way however. There is always more than one answer in the Hero system.

 

2) Clarification:: if it can be done with charges (representing the rare earth's availability), the powers can have "charges Cost END to use" tacked on for additional powergaming effect.

 

SideBar::

If you do not have a specific powerset in mind that does not change, and are instead dealing with a semi-sentient robot that can and will restructure itself (like ye olden NimRod of the X-Men days), you should look at a limited Variable Power Pool setup. The "change only between adventures" (-1/2), "requires access to rare earth elements" (-1/2 ?), and "character has limited control over how powers change" (-1/4 ?) limitations can go on the control roll, inherent time is already built in, and rare earth requirements become a matter of special effects.

"Sorry Crystallix Prime, but there is a distinct lack of radioactive Xenon in this area, you will be unable to recharge your existing RKA, and can only replace it with an Energy Blast with 12 charges or 1/2 END"

[Lord Liaden]

2) may be the easier conundrum to solve. It sounds as though your robot's crystal creation power accesses both his normal END (his power grid) and an END Reserve (his byproduct elements). You could do this as an Advantage on his Power, "Can draw END from Character or Reserve" (+1/4), unless you want him to have to draw END for both simultaneously. That one I'd have to think about.

 

As for (1), it sounds a lot like an Expendable Focus for the Power - perhaps an IIF if it's not immediately apparent that the robot requires the material to create crystal, and if the element reserve can't be removed from him without time and effort. You should balance how difficult it is for him to obtain more of these elements with how much he can carry at one time, to determine the level of Expendable for the Limitation.

 

Don't know if that suits what you have in mind. If not, come back and we'll keep plugging.

[Farkling]

Expendable Focus would certainly be a much niftier limitation on the Control Roll of a VPP....

 

I'd forgotten about the expendable focus rules.

[Pteryx]

To clarify...

 

1) His energy grid is a special effect, but for his normal END, not something additional. It would be used for same sort of things as regular END and have the same game effects. I don't need to buy anything special for it to exist.

 

2) Charges were one thing I considered, but they seem to get messy for anything permanent or even potentially long-lasting... which is no problem for, say, an Energy Blast with conjure-and-throw-a-crystal-orb SFX, but gets tricky when he wants to sit down and take the half-hour or so to replicate a nice yellow jade spear for his commander to use while said commander's OAF one is in the shop being repaired -- and have the jade spear still exist and be identical a year later barring any troubles that might befall any ordinary object. (My character is rather powerful in that way...)

 

3) It's a mostly set group of powers, though some would have mildly varying applicability; a VPP wouldn't fit, but a Power skill for stunts would in extreme cases.

 

4) I won't be tracking exactly what rare elements he has on him specifically, though there may be some kind of Ablative-esque limitation or disadvantage on him for checking to see if he's still got a specific element he wants to use when he's low on Rare Elements in general, has used a lot of that one element recently, got struck in a storage unit with a deep lightsaber wound (Vulnerable to slashing and piercing weapons) in the previous session, etc.

 

5) Yes, I do want his powers to require both END and some combination of his Common and Rare pool to work, so I guess you will have to give that one some thought, Lord Liaden.

 

6) The problem with an Expendable IIF is that he can carry quite a bit at once, and the Expendable rules only seem to account for things that are entirely gone after one use. The thought of relegating it to a plain IIF with his running-out being relegated to the level of an occasional plot device has occurred, but I'd rather stick with a trackable limited resource.

 

I've actually played this character in the past, in case you haven't figured it out yet. It wasn't in a published system, but in a one-shot rules-lite game whose mechanics were almost exclusively for combat, much as can be found in many other scattered online MU*s and RP groups, and thus didn't cover anything I'm trying to cover here. -- Pteryx

[Farkling]

Okay, let's toss out the box and look at some more ideas.

 

If you are carrying multiplte expendable foci, then each one could be a foci, or each one could be a Charge... Then the charges are defined as "recoverable only under rare circumstance X, between adventures" (implied by Charges limitations and VPP Control costs. I've seen multipowers that could only shift points "between adventures'...)

 

As to the longer lasting effects, unless I missed it in my reading, the activation of a charged power costs the charge, if the power is persistent it used to keep running as long as END was paid, for no additional charge cost. I suppose worst case scenario would entail building it with the "fuel charges" gimmick. I dunno...and I don't have FREd handy to look it up iin.

[Talon]

If you wanted to draw from both simultaneously, I'd just allow that as a special effect, as long as it wasn't clear that you were just trying to spread out the END to make it last longer (which is clearly not the case here). It's not really an advantage, since you need both sources.

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

2) may be the easier conundrum to solve. It sounds as though your robot's crystal creation power accesses both his normal END (his power grid) and an END Reserve (his byproduct elements). You could do this as an Advantage on his Power, "Can draw END from Character or Reserve" (+1/4), unless you want him to have to draw END for both simultaneously. That one I'd have to think about.

 

If he's drawing normal END from both the battery and his personal END, I'd buy the power with the battery and add "Also costs personal END" for +1/2, same as costs END for any other power that wouldn't normally draw on your personal END.

 

As for the grid, it depends on the effect you're trying to create. The fuel charge with a difficult to recover expendeble forcus seems like the closest match. The limit deoends on how hard the materials are to come by, but it would cap at/just below the limit for "charges never recover" (I don't have the book here, so not sure of that value).

[Fireg0lem]

I'd call "draws half endurance from END and half from END reserve" a -0. Must draw full from both would therefore be -1/2.

As for the effects of normal and rare elements, I'd go with something along the lines of a partially limited Endurance Reserve. For example

Endurance Reserve, 75 Endurance + 25 Endurance (Elements used in Recovery must be rare)

Recovery, Needs Elements

Then, buy his powers with a bit extra, then limit that bit extra to only work if END from the last 25 is used.

Note that this setup is fairly abuseable, so watch out.

[Farkling]

Hmmmm.

 

He could always buy two powersets and link the bettery set to the personal set. THen he could function if the battery was flat, just not well.

 

Wimpy Example::

 

6d6 Energy Blast purchased normally, and an additional +6d6 Energy Blast linked to the first EB, and drawing from the END battery instead.

15" Flight and an additional linked 15" Flight utilizing the END battery.

30 + 30/1.5 = 50 points each. Looks like a great deal of mathematical shenanigans for such a minor savings. Many GM's would just choke on the construct.

 

Let's see...how about a 1/4 Limitation on all the powers stating they must draw half the END expenditure from the END battery? That is just about the same point reduction. 60/1.25 = 48. It also follows Fireg0lem reasoning...

Custom limitations are much more acceptable in general than custom advantages...

[Farkling]

And as to the recoverability and rare elements, you could purchase an AID power that requires the previously mentioned charges or expendable focus or a combination of the two to exemplify the rare elements. If you buy the Aid for "+1/4 one power of crystal special effects" then you could pretty much burn the rare elements to boost powers temporarily, or in an absolute emergency, possibly recharge the empty END reserve (depends on GM). Be sure to buy the fade rate down though, or extra power will fade very fast in comparison to recovery effort.

 

Expendable Focus for tracking down and remaking the rare earth "core" if you will.

 

Personally, for a character in a campaign, I woul dopt for "difficult to recover, charges" of some amount. I hate needing a one shot power in an adventure and using it in the wrong place.