Ego Attacks in 5e

[johnvalentine]

Why would you take this power? for 10 points per 1d6, which does not Body damage, my players have all been taking energy blasts that are 5 points per 1d6 which DOES Body damage.

 

What makes it so special?

[Matt Holck]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

Most opponents do not have defense against ego attacks.

Opponents are usually easier to hit with ego attacks.

Ego attacks do not suffer a range penalty to hit.

[johnvalentine]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

Okay by saying they have no defense do you mean they use ecv against it? and then if so does their pd/ed apply to it?

And what is the range on ego attacks?

[Matt Holck]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

the physical defense(PD) and energy defense(ED) do not apply versus ego attacks

The defender must have Ego Defense and most have none.

 

The ego combat value(ECV) of the defender determines who difficult the defender is to hit.

[Wolf]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

Ego Attacks work off of your ECV (EOCV + 11) - EDCV, and folks rarely have a very high ECV... Also the Ego Attack is resisted by Mental Defenses (so neither PD or ED are applied to Ego Attack). Also you can purchase the "Takes Body" advantage to the Ego Attack, and now you have a ego combat blast that does body. (and still ignores your dcv and PD/ED).

 

I would delete, but I worded it differently enough that it might take two looks at it to finally get it... one never knows.

[Nuclear Fridge]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

The range on most Mental Powers is Line-Of-Sight. If you can see it, you can 'brain-fry' it.

The USPD is probably the best assembly of Mental Powers in one place you can find.

[Beast]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

if you have mind scan or a N-ray based perception that allows you to Id your target

you may attack them and do not need to have the indirect advantage

[Haerandir]

Re: Ego Attacks in 5e

 

Plus, with Mind Scan, you can attack someone even if you can't see them, so Ego Attack has essentially unlimited range, above and beyond the fact that it was Line of Sight to begin with. Given a successful Mind Scan, you can sit in your apartment in New York and attack some poor slob in Los Angeles whenever you want. Can't do that with Energy Blast (at least, not without a bunch of Advantages that make it cost at least as much as Ego Attack).

 

Let's see, there was something else... Oh, yeah. Ego Attack, like other Mental Powers, is invisible to anyone but the target and other mentalists. Which is nice.

 

Also, it's significantly harder to accidentally kill someone with attacks that don't do Body. Short of your GM ruling that the shock causes a heart attack, or they fall down and hit their head, or something like that. I've had characters with Code vs. Killing who've accidentally killed opponents by punching them too hard, which is awkward to say the least. So there's value in having a non-lethal attack option.