Damage Shield/Area of Effect

[revxopher]

Okay, so the visual of the power is a cloud of energy that constantly billows out around the character, when attacked the cloud lashes out at anyone that the character would perceive as a threat.

 

Could it be built as:

 

Energy Blast 3d6, Continous, Persistant, 0 END, Damage Shield, Area of Effect Selective. / Always On

 

Also if the Damage Shield is bought to work against Mental attacks, then would the mentalist have to be within the range of the AoE, or would it affect him as the damage shield normally would?

 

Also would the people within range of the AoE be automatically hit since a damage shield doesn't require a to hit roll, or would only the attacker get hit automatically and some form of To Hit roll would need to be made for any others.

 

Help? Thoughts? Feedback?

[Sean Waters]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

As it is Damage Shield, I'd suggest that only the people who attack you would be hit as DS is a sort of specialised trigger. If you wanted to hit someone at range when they attacked you WITHOUT an attack action, you'd need the 'trigger' power modifier (and remove DS).

 

If you wanted to, you could remove 'damage shield', give it 'no range' then it would affect anyone around you and I'd allow it to move with you so you don't need to keep making attack rolls. You could then limit the power to only affect people who attacked/touched you (and were within the AoE).

 

Finally I would not allow 'always on' with a selective AoE because you can select 'no one' and so, effectively, turn the power off.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

I keep wondering whether for many powers it would be better to summon an energy monster that hit people for you than to pay for a damage shield.

 

Anyone done some maths on it? I'd bet there is a break point at which it becomes cheaper for the summon...

 

 

Doc

[Sean Waters]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

I keep wondering whether for many powers it would be better to summon an energy monster that hit people for you than to pay for a damage shield.

 

Anyone done some maths on it? I'd bet there is a break point at which it becomes cheaper for the summon...

 

 

Doc

 

 

Given that you have to buy a damage shield with continuous (+1) and damage shield(+1/2), that only leaves 24 points of actual attack to get under a 60 AP campaign cap. It is not going to be expensive to summon something that can do less than 5d6 damage.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

Given that you have to buy a damage shield with continuous (+1) and damage shield(+1/2)' date=' that only leaves 24 points of actual attack to get under a 60 AP campaign cap. It is not going to be expensive to summon something that can do less than 5d6 damage.[/quote']

 

If I was going to summon rather than damage shield then I think I'd want more than the 5D6 I can get from the shield! :)

[prestidigitator]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

The benefit of Damage Shield above a Trigger is that you don't need an attack roll with a Damage Shield. Selective Area of Effect does require attack rolls. So I'd say the approaching it with DS is kind of pointless.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

Here's one way to build the effect:

 

48 When Shields Attack!: Energy Blast 3d6, Area Of Effect Accurate (One Hex; Only to determine DCV of Selective Targets; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; Only vs. Targets that attack character; +3/4), No Normal Defense ([standard]; +1), Continuous (+1), Area Of Effect (7" Radius; +1), Selective (+1/4) (97 Active Points); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2) - END=0

[BNakagawa]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

I keep wondering whether for many powers it would be better to summon an energy monster that hit people for you than to pay for a damage shield.

 

Anyone done some maths on it? I'd bet there is a break point at which it becomes cheaper for the summon...

 

 

Doc

 

Because a monster has a SPD score, and thus a finite number of times it can hit people while a damage shield can hit people in theory, an infinite number of times.

 

Unless you build a monster with a damage shield usable by others in which point out come the torches and pitchforks...

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Damage Shield/Area of Effect

 

This (NPC) character has a AoE Damage Shield:

 

Meltdown

 

with this disclaimer:

 

"The Radiation Field power deserves special mention; the intent of this ability is for anyone within 576" that he attacks with the blasts in his Radiation MP (or in HtH) also take this Radiation damage as well; and anyone attacking him from within 576" also take the damage. This is not a strictly legal usage of Damage Shield, but is a more straightforward way of accomplishing the effect than buying a Triggered EB with a Detect and so forth. GMs not comfortable with this usage should drop the AoE and upscale the dice of effect instead to meet the minimum AP requirements of the EC."