How to emulate a smothering power.

[johnvalentine]

I have an Air powered hero who I want to build a power for that lets him 'bubble' air away from a villains head, making a small vacuum and essentially forcing them to suffocate until they black out.

 

It doesn't have to kill them, in fact it should just force the target to act as if they are holding their breath, without the option for them to actually breathe. Like if someone were being drowned.

 

How would one do that?

 

It cant be an energy blast, or any kind of damaging attack, Ego attack wont work either I don't think.

Transform? no, you arent changing anything about them. What about Change environment? I just can't see how to do it.

[KX_Mushashi]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

Blast with no normal defenses (self contained bereathing) at the dice count for sufficating would work right?

Edit: forgot you could add constant or duration to make so you only have to bubble them once or once every so often unti they are Knocked out.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

In the 6E Advanced Players' Guide there's an option for Change Environment to inflict the 'Drowning' condition on a target. Sounds like just what you're looking for.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

In the 6E Advanced Players' Guide there's an option for Change Environment to inflict the 'Drowning' condition on a target. Sounds like just what you're looking for.

 

Yeah, what he said! Must spread rep...

 

APG is a great source for "things I can't do under the 6e rules", and the suffocation effect is one I'm glad to see have an official rule at last. This seems a not uncommon effect in source material for many genres.

[Cassandra]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

48 Multipower (60 Points) Not in a Vacuum (-1/4)

5 u) Drain to STUN 3d6, NND [LS: Self Contained] (+1/2), Ranged (+1/2)

5 u) Drain to BODY 3d6, NND [LS: Self Contained] (+1/2), Ranged (+1/2)

 

Cost 58 Points

 

The Stun Drain represents suffocating someone to the point of unconsciousness. Body Drain is fatally suffocating someone.

[Escafarc]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

I would go with the APG "Drowning" power myself.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

You can do drowning as an attack, now? Dang, I really need to get my hands on 6th.

[johnvalentine]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

sweet guys. thanks for the information!

 

... Rep? I can has Rep now?!? Interesting.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

... Rep? I can has Rep now?!? Interesting.

Yup, you just need 50 posts for it to start showing up.

 

Then you become a target, but don't worry - we hardly ever lose two in a row.

 

[Kraven Kor]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

I always Drain REC + END when doing suffocation or drowning.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

I always Drain REC + END when doing suffocation or drowning.

 

So how do you make that work vs. a character who has 1-4 points invested in Life Support Extended Breathing: 1 END per X Minutes?

[Matt Holck]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

I always Drain REC + END when doing suffocation or drowning.

 

In sixth endurance is 1 for 5 and recovery is 1 for 1,

that's rather an effective drain in 6th

[Kraven Kor]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

So how do you make that work vs. a character who has 1-4 points invested in Life Support Extended Breathing: 1 END per X Minutes?

 

Suffocation / Drowning shouldn't work very well against such a character.

 

But as it Drains recovery, what it will do is make it so they can't take a recovery or get much less END back if they do. So your self contained breathing guy might be able to hold his breath plenty long, but can he do so while also expending END to swim, fight, move, etc.? All while having both REC and END drained?

 

Now, depending on the exact nature of the power, I might to it as an NND Drain, with the defense being LS: Extended / Expanded Breathing.

[johnvalentine]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

Can someone post the writeup on the Change Environment 'Drowning' effect? I would really like to do that, but I don't have 6e.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

In sixth endurance is 1 for 5 and recovery is 1 for 1,

that's rather an effective drain in 6th

 

Not really. Both are also Defensive Abilities in 6e, so you Drain the same amount of REC as 5e, and 25% more END.

 

Suffocation / Drowning shouldn't work very well against such a character.

 

But your Drain works perfectly.

 

But as it Drains recovery' date=' what it will do is make it so they can't take a recovery or get much less END back if they do. So your self contained breathing guy might be able to hold his breath plenty long, but can he do so while also expending END to swim, fight, move, etc.? All while having both REC and END drained?[/quote']

 

Yet he should not be affected. And the guy with power defense should be.

 

Even if you make it NND vs LS, the character can still sit quietly and lose no STUN, and he will never die from drowning.

 

Suffocation was very difficult to accurately simulate, and the builds that seemed to work were vastly overpriced for the effect.

[johnvalentine]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

The thing that makes suffocation hard to simulate is that suffocating stops you from taking recovery actions. Otherwise a drain would work A-Ok I guess if done properly.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

The thing that makes suffocation hard to simulate is that suffocating stops you from taking recovery actions. Otherwise a drain would work A-Ok I guess if done properly.

 

That was my reasoning behind draining REC. And even the guy with Extended Breathing should be unable to take a recovery while holding his breath. While not perfect, it seems the most reasonable approach. And NND vs. LS would be stopped entirely by such LS, when it should merely be "less effective" against someone who can hold their breath for a long time or something, and not work at all on someone who simply doesn't breathe. So, yeah, not perfect, guess it depends how much you lean on SFX over RAW in your games.

 

Drain BODY 2d6, REC and END simultaneously (+1/2), No Normal Defense ([LS Self Contained Breathing]; +1), Continuous (+1) (70 Active Points) {Main issue here being it doesn't actually create suffocation, merely a close mock-up of the effects of suffocation}

 

The Change Environment version... I'm not sure how to build. I suppose you would price out "LS: Self Contained Breathing" and the CE would cost that much + size cost:

 

Change Environment 1" radius, Creates pocket of no air (suffocation) (15 Active Points)

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

The Change Environment version... I'm not sure how to build. I suppose you would price out "LS: Self Contained Breathing" and the CE would cost that much + size cost:

 

Step 1: Purchase Advanced Player's Guide

Step 2: Read the section on Change Environment

[Kraven Kor]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

Step 1: Purchase Advanced Player's Guide

Step 2: Read the section on Change Environment

 

Difficulty: Not doing 6E yet and can't afford to even just to slowly adopt new rules

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

Well, if you can't afford the Cadillac, make do with the skateboard and define a cost for "Suffocate" that works for your game

[bigbywolfe]

Re: How to emulate a smothering power.

 

You can also find the Change Environment version of Suffocation in 5E's UNTIL Superpowers Database (Vol 1). Strangely, I found it under Force Powers, not Air or Water Powers, as an option for a Suffocation Bubble or something like that.