Desolidification and Abort

[Snarf]

This is a bit of a rules question but it has a follow up.

 

Can a character abort to become desolidified? This would make someone nearly invincible for 40 points, so I'm guessing the answer is no.

 

If you can't, how would you simulate the ability to avoid attacks by becoming desolidified? DCV?

 

I vaguely remember a thread about this but I can't find it with a forum search or check on the FAQs.

[Lupus]

*grins* I started looking into this after watching Matrix Reloaded.

 

I came up with the following: you can turn desolid as an abort. But that's all you do - you can't dodge and turn desolid, for instance. So if the attack affects desolid, they attack your base DCV. (Well, you can redistribute levels, as usual.)

 

Of course, since you've aborted to an action, you lose your next action. Activating a power may be a 0-phase action, but dodge is a 1/2-phase action and you end up losing the other half. If you go desolid, you lose your entire next action. But you're desolid and the shots pass through you.

 

Unless they affect desolid. Doh.

 

I will note that in the game I'll be running, affects desolid attacks won't be too uncommon. I'm making desolid a little cheaper because of this. In a game where AD attacks are real rare... well, you may want to rethink letting people take desolid at all.

[BenKimball]

5E 236 specifically mentions activating Desolidification as an example of a Defensive Action to which you may Abort.

 

Cheers!

Ben

[Snarf]

Thanks fellas!

 

I guess desolidification is more powerful than I thought.

[BenKimball]

Don't forget the very important rule about Desolidification: the character must define the special effects of a reasonably common group of attacks which will affect him while he's Desolidified.

 

But yes, I agree — it's a very powerful, er, power. Which would explain why it's also a "Stop Sign", uh, power.

 

Cheers!

Ben

[Guest Keneton]

Correction

 

You can both abort to desolidification and any other defensive action at the same time. This includes dodge or dive for cover as an example.

 

If you are holding an elect to go desolid as a zero phase action in resonse to an attack, you do not have to abort. You would make dex rolls or an appropriate fast draw against the attck. If you win, you are desolid against the attack. If you lose you are hit and then go desolid.

 

The other side of non abort desolids is that they can be defated with a simple presence attack to cause a delay.

[Bartman]

As has been mentioned you can abort to desolid. In my most recent combat, we had to fight a villianess who did precisely that, repetatively. However that meant she could not do anything to help her associates. She was effectively neutralized. And when we were ready to take her out, those characters with affects desolid did so rather easily.

 

Most teams should have at least one character with an affects desolid attack. And if they don't there is still a good chance that some character on the opposing team wil have the common effect that will affect the desolid character. And even then there are abilities that will still work including mental and presence. Against a well rounded team, no ability is really unbeatable, at least until you reach the 2000pt villians.