Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

[Kenn]

I have a character who has an Aid to self that's based on environmental conditions. I want to give him Absorption (only vs attacks with the same special effect as the environmental conditions). I intend the points from Absorption to go to the same place(s) as where the Aid goes.

 

The idea is simply that if the character is empowered by sunlight, that a solar blast should have a similar energising effect.

 

But I don't want the maximums for the two powers to stack; I want them to complement.

 

If the maximum for the Aid is 30 pts., I want the max for the Absorption to also be 30 but essentially the "same" 30. If the Aid has already provided 18 pts. then I want the Absorption to have a maximum of 12. If the Aid has already provided 27, the Absorption has a maximum of 3. If the Aid is has provided 1, then the Absorption has a maximum 29.

 

Obviously, this sounds like a "Limited Power" limitation. My questions are

1) how much of a limitation should it be?

2) should the limitation be applied to both the Aid and the Absorption?

[Sean Waters]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

Difficult.

 

It doesn't really limit either power in that they can each work at maximum efficiency.

 

You could just build it like this:

 

Solar Accumulator (43 active, 29 real)

Aid 2d6, Can Add Maximum Of 30 Points, Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger requires a Full Phase to reset; +1/4), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Minute; +1/4) (43 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2)

 

You could then make the trigger 'being hit by solar energy' so if you are standing in bright sunlight or hit by a solar energy blast the trigger activates and your Aid goes off. The reset on the trigger means that you can only 'self aid' once per phase.

[schir1964]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

Sounds like two standard Multi-Power Slots to me (with the power pool serving as the Adjustment Pool). Not sure if that helps or not.

 

- Christopher Mullins

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

I think it might help to remember that Aid is primarily intended for boosting the abilities of others.

 

Instead of using Aid or Absorption you could instead build the abilities that would have been boosted in two tiers.

The first tier is the 'non-boosted' state and the second tier is the 'boosted-state'.

Just put an appropriate value Limitation on the second Tier and you're done.

This would eliminate all the Messy game time bookkeeping as well.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

I think it might help to remember that Aid is primarily intended for boosting the abilities of others.

 

Instead of using Aid or Absorption you could instead build the abilities that would have been boosted in two tiers.

The first tier is the 'non-boosted' state and the second tier is the 'boosted-state'.

Just put an appropriate value Limitation on the second Tier and you're done.

This would eliminate all the Messy game time bookkeeping as well.

 

 

True, but then it depends what the solar energy is boosting: if it is boosting multiple abilities it can be much more point efficient to use an adjustment power.

 

Also some people like all that book keeping

[prestidigitator]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

I'd probably go with a -1/2 Limitation on both and be done with it. Doesn't seem to halve the effectiveness of each because the circumstances under which it would come into play probably wouldn't be all that common. Yet it "seems" more limiting than a -1/4. Don't forget to save some headache and make their fade rates the same also.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

The problem is you are going to need to build the Aid with a trigger anyway - unless you want to have to 'manually' activate it only when in sunlight (and it counts as an attack action, technically). That being the case it is certainly easier to just expand the aid to cover sunlight and sunlight blasts. It also harmonises the maximum and fade rates.

 

ASIDE:

 

In the example I built above, the trigger goes off when in sunlight /solar blast (it should probably be +0: user can not control activation of trigger).

 

In that case sunlight is probably common enough that it would be worth little, if any, limitation. However, if we take a more obscure example: a trigger that goes off when hit by negative energy, which is rare.

 

Compare:

 

2d6 Aid (20 points) only in phase when hit by negative energy (-1)

 

2d6 Aid (20 points) Trigger (takes a phase to reset, no time to activate, user does not control trigger: only when hit by negative energy) +0

 

Should the second build get a limitation because it only works in the presence of negative energy, like the first? It seems logical but then you mind up with a more potent build that costs the same...

[Kenn]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

I'd probably go with a -1/2 Limitation on both and be done with it. Doesn't seem to halve the effectiveness of each because the circumstances under which it would come into play probably wouldn't be all that common. Yet it "seems" more limiting than a -1/4. Don't forget to save some headache and make their fade rates the same also.

 

The fade rates being the same is something I'd already concluded would need to happen.

 

There are several reasons why I like using the Adjustment Power route. The gradual fade of ability in the dark is one. Another is that the I want the multi-tiered effect expanded, so being in the tropics the character would be more powerful than if he were in Seattle; noontime is more effective than dawn or dusk. And this can be achieved with a single limitation on the Aid.

 

There are ways of keeping the bookkeeping in check.

 

The idea of just including the use of solar/stellar powers on him is what I've been doing. But it doesn't quite catch the same feel as Absorption. The idea that blasting him with a solar blast during the day is going to make him more powerful than him just being out during the day.

 

I've been debating between the -1/4 and -1/2. I think the -1/4 might be more apt for the Aid since the Absorption being applied won't be that often. But since the Aid would have added points most days, it would be rare that the Absorption would ever not be limited.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

You could simply buy both powers at half the total you want; but then you can't Self Boost all the way up.

 

I would, as a point of fact, say "Maximum is shared with another Adjustment Power" at -1, mostly because you just want an overall effect of a 30 Point Boost - from two different Mechanical directions (Internal and External). So I see no reason to charge you for more than the grand total you want (i.e. 30) even if each component can produce that 30 by itself.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

Kenn - how many dice of Aid and Absorb are you considering?

[ghost-angel]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

Well, he said 30 Points in the OP. I'm assuming 5D6 Each.

[Kenn]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

The Aid is 1d6, with +24 for a maximum aided points of 30.

Gradual build up is the goal, with the idea that the sun's position in the sky and the weather could cause the GM to only allow a half die for a time, or that to say the max cannot go above _____.

 

The Absorption I've not had any set amount in mind. 1d6, +24 max. ; 3d6, +12 max. It hasn't been decided.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Two adjustment powers sharing the same maximum.

 

Either way it seems the absolute total cannot go above 30.

 

It sounds quite possibly like a MultiPower Pool with the Absorption Slot active most of the time... Probably the easier way to purchase it.