Power Frameworks? What are they?

[Kaz Wolther]

Hey Im new to the Hero System and have liked what Ive read about it so far especially after reading Sidekick. The only thing that's been bugging me so far is what the heck Power Frameworks are. It doesnt seem to be clear enough to me as to what theyre supposed to do, why we may need them (if at all), etc. Can someone please explain this to a newbie?

[RexMundi]

Re: Power Frameworks? What are they?

 

The short and the sweet of it. It's basically a way, to duplicate a field of related powers and effects with the minimum amount of points. In a sense, it's the tool that let's you do what you see with a given character in a comic book, without having to buy each effect specifically by itself (though you can do that as well)....

 

A good comic book example would be a character like Cyclops of the X-Men. Basically just an Energy Blast; but his Power Framework, allows for different uses of that same Energy Blast. Slot 1: Energy Blast. Slot 2. Energy Blast Area Effect Line. Slot 3: Energy Blast Area Effect Cone. etc etc etc ... Pay the points for the Framework Pool in the case of a Multipower, and then the slot costs. It then becomes basically, One big power with a lot of "uses" ....

 

Elemental Controls are a different, but basically those give you a foundation of points that come off the cost of each "like" ability. Common theme though, so I guess a good way to describe it as well is as a Theme based Point Savings. Folks will start posting a pile of examples now, heh. It's the Hero Boards. Ask for Crayon we build you a Crayola factory.

 

~Rex

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Power Frameworks? What are they?

 

See the link in my Signature below for a comparison of Multipower, Variable Power Pool and the Variable Advantage.

 

A simple example might help.

 

If you wanted to model a M16 machine gun with an underslung 40mm grenade launcher you would want to use a Multipower to do so (a reserve big enough to handle the highest active point build, and 1 slot for bullets and another for grenades). It's a good bet that it's even one of the examples in the full rules.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Power Frameworks? What are they?

 

My personal favorite example for a Multipower is a Star Trek phaser or Star Wars blaster pistol. 'Set to Stun' is one slot, 'Set to Kill' is another, but you can't do both at once.

[Lucius]

Re: Power Frameworks? What are they?

 

It was more complicated and harder to explain in prior editions, but here's a good way to wrap your mind around the concept as it exists in 6th edition.

 

Think about how you normally buy a power with points. You basically define how the power works and how powerful it is, and this gives you a price in Character Points, and you set aside those points for that purpose and you have the power. Other than spending experience to improve it or completely re-writing the character, those points will always be associated with that power.

 

Now, imagine that you have a pile of points that are NOT committed to one power permanently. They can be used to buy, say, Flight, and then later the same points can be used to buy Blast or Telekinesis. That's basically how Frameworks work; you have a set of points, a Pool or Reserve, that can be applied to more than one power. Very flexible, but a little more expensive (as it should be - your buying not just one power but the potential for however many others.) The main thing to keep in mind is that you still have finite points - maybe you can have 50 Active Points of Flight or 50 Active Points of Telekinesis, but NOT both at once.

 

For a Multipower, you have to define everything you can use the points for up front. A Variable Power Pool allows more "ad - hoc" use of powers. Do not try to use a Variable Power Pool yet if you can help it, they're kind of advanced for a beginning player.

 

An example of a Mulitpower might be a superhero with an energy field he can use for protection, to project at range as a weapon, or to propel his body. That could give him a flight power, a force field, and some kind of blasting attack, but since he only has so much energy available at a time, he can not use all at full power at once. With experience, maybe he can learn to move things other than himself

 

Sort of related to the Framework idea is the Skill of Cramming (you have that in Basic right?) By paying 5 pts, you gain the ability to use a single 1 pt Skill, but you can use a different 1 pt Skill in each adventure.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Variable Palindromedary Pool

[Christopher]

Re: Power Frameworks? What are they?

 

Hey Im new to the Hero System and have liked what Ive read about it so far especially after reading Sidekick. The only thing that's been bugging me so far is what the heck Power Frameworks are. It doesnt seem to be clear enough to me as to what theyre supposed to do' date=' why we may need them (if at all), etc. Can someone please explain this to a newbie?[/quote']

It sounds like you use 5E or before. I can't really talk about anything before 5E, but here is how I see them:

Power Frameworks are a way to save points, wich in turn means you can put more powers on your sheet. Some are closely related to Advantages like "Usable as other form of Movement" and "Variable Advantage".

The downside is that you are strongly limited how to use those powers. You cannot combine powers bought in Power Frameworks. You can only use some of them at a time. Or they are vulnerable to Drain.

 

Multipowers (MP) are a very common thing. They very often used for "Blaster" types. First you buy a Reserve. Then you buy the Slots, but at a big discount. The one thing limiting the use of a Power is the relation between the Powers Active Points and the Reserve you bought. They do not work that well with strongly Limited Powrs.

You can see them most often for things like "Weapon Arrays" or "a thousand ways to blast someone". Almost any Superheroic example Character has one.

 

Elemental Controlls (EC) are unsual, because you can actually use all of the powers of a Framework at once. The downside is, that they are really vulnerable to Drain. A Drain that hits any power in the EC, affects all powers in the EC. It is also the most expensive Power Framework and all powers need to have a common SFX.

6E non longer has EC, but instead uses the Unified Limitation.

The ultimative examples is propably the Human Torch (or the equivalent example Characters "Human Flambeu" and "Firebird").

 

Variable Power Pool (VPP) allows you to built "any power you can imagine", with any SFX on the Fly (while in the adventure). There are two limiting Factors:

Controll Cost and Pool.

No power in the VPP can have more Active Points than Controll Cost. And the number of Powers you can have "slotted"/availible/use at once, can not cost more Real Points than the Pool Size you bought (so they work better with limited Powers).

Without a Power Skill you can only change the selection outside of combat, in about 1 Minute.

With a Power Skill roll, you can also change it during combat, with a Full Phase and a Power Skill Roll (penalty based on Active Points of the Powers you build/10).

You can apply two advantages, one with wich Lowers or negates the need to take time to change. The other to negate the use for a Skill Roll. Together these two are often written as "Cosmic (+2)". That has nothing to do with the Comisc Special Effect, it only means you can change the selection as 0-Phase Action without a Roll.

VPP's area a Powersets with "so many uses, you cannot think of all in advance". Hardlight Constructs, "Smokeforming" and "Supermages" are typical examples. But if you try to write up any of the "big 7" of the Justice League, you will inevitable tend to a VPP. Long established Characters like Superman, Flash or Batmans Utility Belt simply had TOO many uses over the course of their publication history.

 

GM's generally dislike VPP's without a clear definition what they can't do. This is most often about the non-combat powers a VPP can produce. Things like Mind Controll or Telepathy can easily break an adventure. And you can mix and match Advantages at will (i.e. built a Penetrating+Cumulative to overcome the strongest Mental Defense).