Fusions

[ErikModi]

For those who haven't played Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (and really, if you haven't, what kind of superhero gamer are you?) one of the mechanics is called a "Fusion." The basic idea is that two heroes combine their powers for a kind of "ultimate attack." There are three types in the video game, Targeted (meant to do a lot of damage to one enemy), Clearing (meant to damage a lot of enemies at once), and Guided (sort of a middle ground between the two.) That's largely irrelevant to the concept's application in HERO, but helps as I describe some of the Fusions from the game. A Clearing fusion might be Iron Man firing a repulsor blast at Wolverine, who uses his adamantium skeleton to diffuse the blast into a large area, striking multiple opponents. Or Spider-Man may gather several enemies with his webbing, pulling them all together into one clump that Iron Man blasts with a high-power repulsor shot. A Guided fusion might be Iron Man and Ms. Marvel firing their energy bolts at each other, the energy meeting and combining in the middle into a higher-powered area, while they fly around the room hitting anything that gets caught between them. A Targeted Fusion might involve Spider-Man snagging Wolverine with a webline, spinning a few times to build up momentum, then hurling him at an opponent in a sort of mutated Fastball Special. Or Venom may pick up a large chunk of the ground, which the Green Goblin will decorate with Pumpkin Bombs before Venom clobbers the offending opponent with it.

 

The specifics of these examples aside, I'm wondering how to build these sorts of Fusion Powers, where two characters combine their abilities to greater effect. A certain amount of this can be taken care of with the Teamwork rules, but I'm looking to build a specific power that involves two or more characters combining firepower. I looked at the "requires multiple users" limitation, but it seems to only decrease an ability's effectiveness if the "crew" are not met, not prohibit its use completely.

 

Anyway, anyone have any thoughts on how to tackle this problem?

[Christopher]

Re: Fusions

 

Coordinated Attack.

 

If you have the APG I, take a look at page 164 - Enhanchment, a special form of Coordinated attack in wich the attacks add directly to another.

 

There are Rules for the Fastball special in Champions 6E 179

[薔薇語]

Re: Fusions

 

All depends on exactly the kind of things you want to emulate. For the most part, TeamWork and the "power" skill can get you around momentary (first time) uses. Beyond that, just build a single power that each player must pay a portion into and place on the limitation "requires multiple users" to activate / sustain. This will cover your bases quite well. In essence, this is kind of how team bases are built (everyone, y, in the team donates X points and gets the benefit of yx points of base).

 

La Rose.

[Christopher]

Re: Fusions

 

Almost forgot this part:

APG I 58 also discusses combiend characters (basically makign a Mega-Zord) and how to built the "component" characters.

 

There is one approach with a shared Multiform:

Everyone component charatcer pays, but they get a -1 "Only when every character present" Limitation or they only pay "their share" of the Multiform (divide the Active Points).

The advantange is, that everyone can limit "his" share of the combined power seperately (extra END).

Should be easy to adopt to other powers.

 

Pooled Resources:

To build on 8d6 Mega laser on 5 characters, one buys 4d6. The others buy +1d6, useable by others (+1/4), Must remain Joined to guy with the 4d6 (-1 or -2, depding on how mayn characters).

This approach is ideal, if you want a "fewer parts, fewer power" approach.

 

As far as I can tell and asuming you have fixed teamups, shared Powers is the best approach.

[Reality]

Re: Fusions

 

I asked a similar question on this post.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Fusions

 

A lot of these are just Coordinated Attacks, or just using teamwork (not Teamwork skill) in general.

[ErikModi]

Re: Fusions

 

I took another look at Requires Multiple Users, as that was the first thing I went to for trying to build this ability, but that limitation doesn't seem to support simply having two characters use a power that cannot be used without them. The "Not possible" entry seems to require nine or more characters, and our superhero team is only four.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Fusions

 

So just declare that part of the Limitation is that it does require X number of people. Add -1/4 to the value of the Limitation if you think it's worth it.

[ErikModi]

Re: Fusions

 

I may run that past the GM.