Autofire Blocking

[Ockham's Spoon]

I just wanted to get some input on how others would handle this situation:

 

I have a player with a speedster martial artist who started with an Autofire as a naked advantage for his Martial Strike. The Martial Strike with STR and extra DC and such is 8d6, so the 5 shot Autofire (+½) has a real cost of 20 points. So good so far.

In combat the speedster was fighting a swarm of foes and decided to block. Now the player contends “Hey if I can Autofire punch, I should be able to Autofire block too, so that there aren’t any cumulative blocking penalties for the first 5 blocks.” Now that has a certain logic to it, and I don’t deny that the character should be able to perform such an action conceptually, but the question is how to pay for it.

 

For the sake of game play I let it slide, although I made him pay END on his STR for it since he had to move so quickly to perform the maneuver (he didn’t have a Power Skill like Speedster Tricks, which in retrospect would have been a good idea). But for future applications of this ability I want it priced fairly, so how would you do it?

 

Does having Autofire that covers your STR justify Autofire Blocking? Would you make the character pay END for it even though Blocking is doesn’t normally cost END?

 

Should the Autofire be purchased with an advantage allowing use with multiple maneuvers? Or perhaps a Multipower with naked Autofire slots for different maneuvers? How would you price a Block for a naked Advantage?

 

Should the speedster just buy PSL to offset cumulative blocking penalties?

 

And now just to make things more complicated, suppose the speedster had a naked Selective AoE advantage for his Martial Strike instead. How would you handle an AoE block?

[Escafarc]

Re: Autofire Blocking

 

I just wanted to get some input on how others would handle this situation:

 

I have a player with a speedster martial artist who started with an Autofire as a naked advantage for his Martial Strike. The Martial Strike with STR and extra DC and such is 8d6, so the 5 shot Autofire (+½) has a real cost of 20 points. So good so far.

In combat the speedster was fighting a swarm of foes and decided to block. Now the player contends “Hey if I can Autofire punch, I should be able to Autofire block too, so that there aren’t any cumulative blocking penalties for the first 5 blocks.” Now that has a certain logic to it, and I don’t deny that the character should be able to perform such an action conceptually, but the question is how to pay for it.

 

For the sake of game play I let it slide, although I made him pay END on his STR for it since he had to move so quickly to perform the maneuver (he didn’t have a Power Skill like Speedster Tricks, which in retrospect would have been a good idea). But for future applications of this ability I want it priced fairly, so how would you do it?

 

Does having Autofire that covers your STR justify Autofire Blocking? Would you make the character pay END for it even though Blocking is doesn’t normally cost END?

 

Should the Autofire be purchased with an advantage allowing use with multiple maneuvers? Or perhaps a Multipower with naked Autofire slots for different maneuvers? How would you price a Block for a naked Advantage?

 

Should the speedster just buy PSL to offset cumulative blocking penalties?

 

And now just to make things more complicated, suppose the speedster had a naked Selective AoE advantage for his Martial Strike instead. How would you handle an AoE block?

I asked Steve about PSLs for this and he said you need CSLs for it. So that's what I use.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Autofire Blocking

 

Yeah, you can't really buy PSL's to offset the penalty of autofire or multiple attack - think about it. Let's say you have a 5-shot autofire and a +4 PSL to offset autofire penalties - which means that, if you hit, you pretty much automatically hit 3 times. Whereas if you had, say, +4 with HTH combat, you would be more likely to hit 3+ times:

 

With +4 PSL to offset Autofire Penalties: OCV 7 vs. DCV 5; Need 13- to hit, you roll 10. Hit 3 times on 13, 1 more on 11. Roll 13? Hit 3 times.

 

(For some reason I can't properly word the math that comes to these results... probably because I suck at math, but still.)

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Autofire Blocking

 

Good point on the PSLs; thanks for the input.

 

Well I just got 6E Martial Arts Handbook, and the rules for making an Autofire Block are right in there. In fact it gives cost basis for all combat manuevers you might want to put naked advantages on. And you do have to buy the naked advantage separately for each manuever you want to use it with. So I will probably go with that. Although if the player wants to buy CSL's for to represent autofire blocking, I'd let him.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Autofire Blocking

 

And now just to make things more complicated' date=' suppose the speedster had a naked Selective AoE advantage for his Martial Strike instead. How would you handle an AoE block?[/quote']

 

It is suggested in 5e UMA that AoE HTH attacks should still be blockable (and Indirect HTH attacks still be Dodgeable). Minion/Agents might be surprised by the attack but not regular super-villains who have seen the speedster in action. You could also allow the speedster to apply the minimum level of IPE to some attacks to represent "faster than the eye can see" and define the Enhanced Sense Rapid as the 'defense'. If a target can't perceive an attack, they can't attempt to block or dodge it.

[Matt Holck]

Re: Autofire Blocking

 

at -2 OCV per additional shot

rare is a situation where 4 or more shots hit

given the choice and endurance, three shots seems the most efficient

 

the Riddler is rarely riddled by rapid rate attacks

 

I've been considering lowering the penalty to -1 OCV per shot

suddenly, I'm dealing with a Gradient of penalty skill levels: one for the second shot, two for the third shot

I've thinking of creating a

+1/4 advantage on autofire to give a -1 OCV penalty to each additional shot

 

or just changing auto fire rules out right

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Autofire Blocking

 

Last night, I more or less accidentally killed every NPC in a room with an autofire build. (WWII game; 2d6+1k Thompson + Suppression Fire + Germans who had already acted in the phase = mass killings.)

 

Be very careful adjusting the math on autofire attacks.