Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

[phoenix240]

A character wants to be purchase a Base. She has Full Life Support and Powers that allow her to manipulate earth and rock so wants her base to be subterranean and only accessible via tunneling into it. It will be air tight, not a vacuum but air will probably be breathable for most terrestrial creatures. There will be no light sources. She can see in total darkness so wouldn't be hampered by this.

 

Basically, the Base provides a serious home court advantage to her (and some of her team mate how have similar Powers to overcome this conditions). There's some obvious drawbacks to all this. For instance some of her team mates can't use this Base at all but it still its a sizable advantage as well. How should this Base be constructed?

[gojira]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

I'm thinking the size of the base needs to be bought, and Darkness for all hexes. I don't think she needs to buy anything for being Air Tight, most buildings are assumed to have some sort of structural integrity. She might have to buy Def for the base equal to "rock." And the air supply is fine, most builds are ventilated, no special points for that.

 

I think the base needs to be super well hidden, you'd need a serious Detect to find the thing. *She* might need some special detect to "see" where she's going when under the earth, or be able to "read" where she's going so she can actually find the thing. Unless it's actually relatively close to the surface.

[psyber624]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

I am not sure I would require Darkness for all hexes to be purchased. Would you require that for a normal base where someone could just "turn off the lights"?

 

As I see it this is just a normal base, possibly with the Concealment Skill (to represent that its hidden). Also note that underground costs +20 pts. (6e2 190) which represents the difficulty of accessing it as well as the added DEF gained from rock. Whatever DEF you buy for the bases walls would be used to resist attacks once someone dug down deep enough to reach the base (ie when it goes from "rock" to wall)

 

You might also buy "Life Support: Self Contained Breathing" for the base if you wanted to, but I don't think it would be required (If I was a GM I would allow it to mean that you had an advanced filtration system able to filter out any form of "Toxins" introduced into the base's atmosphere, but again not really necessary.

[phoenix240]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

A bit of clarification on what the player wants:

 

 

The Base would be a series of rock vaults deep underground accessible only by digging. They would have no inherent lighting or air supply so would be constantly dark and with very little if any breathable air. The character (Gaia) has Life Supports and Enhanced Senses that would negate these conditions for her as do some of her fellow PCs but some of them would need assistance to survive for long under these conditions.

[psyber624]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

The "no air" would definitely need to be bought in some fashion (I would probably say Life Support: Non-Breathable Atmosphere under the reasoning that I would allow someone to buy the same thing for a base with a different "air" than our own (say an alien who needed to breathe methane buying this for his base). It simply means that anyone in the base cannot breath normally and would be subject to the suffocation rules.)

 

If you want it to be TRULY accessible only by digging make sure to buy some form of protection vs teleportation.

 

There are a number of practical considerations with this concept (namely is the base powered, and if so, how? ) but we can probably ignore them for the sake of gameplay.

 

Everything else so far described is just a description of the base and does not require any specific build considerations.

[phoenix240]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

Teleportation would work (beyond not know where it was and risking appearing in solid rock). A better way to put it might be that there's no conventional entrance. Power won't be much of an issue. No lights, little active equipment. It's most a place for solitude and study.

[psyber624]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

Honestly in that case I do not see a need to buy it as a base at all. You normally wouldn't require a PC to pay points for their home and that seems to be all this "base" really is. With the lengths your player is going to in order to ensure that it cannot be reached by others I would probably simply allow her to have her "base" for free, design it however she wants, and let it go at that.

 

You only really need to buy a base if you want access to labs/prisons and such (or you actually WANT a place where you can be attacked/found)

[Martin2]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

If its just a hole underground which the one character with all the LS to survive underground is possibly not cost anything.

 

But considering a hole underground it will have no breathable air. It will possibly uncomfortably warm (underground tends to be). It has no plumbing or air conditioning and will possibly fill with poisonous or explosive gasses and will fill up with water (or other liquids if its under a city or industrial area).

 

So anyone who does breathe will have a problem. Several SFX technology like air tanks will fill the area with carbon dioxide so any air will become toxic so if someone removes that means of breathing they will start to die. Also the air will fill up with body odours etc from bodily functions which cannot escape.

 

Also staying in a box under ground with no exits may give someone claustrophobia if they did not have it in the first place.

 

So I would call this a big disadvantage and totally uncomfortable if not dangerous for you average hero who does not have natural powers that allow them to live underground.

 

So for other players to use it will need to be built as a base with costs for size, concealment and a whole list life supports. If that is going to happen you may as well install electric lighting of some sort .

[phoenix240]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

Gaia's little bolthole is going to have "labs" (more like libraries in this case) and some other useful devices. Some of the other PCs could potentially access the location as could some of her enemies. I was mainly cocernced about costing the location as it gives her some notable tactical advantages should anyone ever invade her sanctum or if she needs a good place to hide away for awhile (a good likelihood considering the nature of the game).

[psyber624]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

If that is the case you have a number of options.

 

The "Darkness": Honestly I would not charge for this myself. For one it should be doable by anyone's bases by simply turning off the lights. For another, if you buy it as a darkness power you would probably want to limit it such that Light sources penetrate it (for instance Images, Set Effect, Light Only work in this base although they would normally not work at all under the standard Darkness power). You could also possibly use a CE: to give standard penalties to PER Rolls (4 is enough for normal darkness, if you want TOTAL darkness you would probably want a few more).

 

The "Lack of Air": I see three options for this. The LS: Alternate Atmosphere I suggested above, a CE: Suffocation power as seen on [APG 83], or some mind form of constant NND Attack where the defense is self contained breathing (if you don't have or want to use APG) Something like (Blast, 1d6, NND (LS: Self contained breathing), 0 END, Constant, Persistent, Always On).

 

The rest of the abilities that are granted by being an underground base are covered by the +20 cost for Location: Underground. She would buy the base like normal other than these things (unless there is something else I am missing.)

[MagePro]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

I agree that the main concern here would be the environment and fresh air. There is also the concern of leakage of liquid or gases that might be toxic. One more concern is the possibility of collapse. If purchase as a Base, the +20 points for being underground should take care of the collapsing, but does it also imply that it is safe from leakage and supplies fresh air?

[psyber624]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

That should be assumed to be true for any base, and any additional difficulties that might occur due to location are covered under the location points cost. Of course you could buy a disadvantage or something if you WANTED your base to be leaky, but thats up to you.

 

The "no air" thing is all about what it gives you. For the OP, since she doesn't need to breathe then there is some advantage to not having an atmosphere, so a GM may decide she has to pay points for that ability (depending on what he plans to do with bases, IE if Villains will never be assaulting a base then its "fluff" and requiring her to pay points for it is unnecessary). If it is a team base and some members actually need to breathe then you probably shouldn't allow it normally, although you might allow a "Pop the hatch" style rapid decompression ability for the base (see above for ideas).

[Martin2]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

Gaia's little bolthole is going to have "labs" (more like libraries in this case) and some other useful devices. Some of the other PCs could potentially access the location as could some of her enemies. I was mainly cocernced about costing the location as it gives her some notable tactical advantages should anyone ever invade her sanctum or if she needs a good place to hide away for awhile (a good likelihood considering the nature of the game).

 

It sounds like this bolt hole for one character with the powers to build a bolt under ground and survive in a nasty environment has become a minor base with labs that other people can use.

 

I think the cost of having it there should go. The player pays for the labs they want and the area has a disadvantage of being a leaky hole in the ground which requires life support cold and heat, no need to breath and some levels of discomfort for "normal" people living there. Its not going to have an air supply unless they have powers to do that. And your average super hero will not want to stay in a place that you can only get out of it by tunneling or teleport and you cannot breath as it is a toxic environment (things left in it will also start to be contaminated by the hostile environment).

 

But I would say if you are tunneling in all the time you will build up regular pattern of tunnels in so that will make it easier for other people with tunneling to find it. Also how does the character find its bolt hole? Other people will find it as well.

 

Or you could decide to give the character a power tweak and the base becomes more survivable to normal characters by allowing the character to "clean" out the base and give it a breathable atmoshere that lasts for 1 or 2 days and that character has to be there. Possibly some sort of transform that lasts a certain amount of time (equivilent to a full slot in a MP). The player arrives first and does the transform and this allows people to breathe and remain comfortable in this underground base. If they want more things maybe again you have to assign slots in a MP. Then they pay for the labs as well etc.

[MagePro]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

Oooo! Contamination! For some reason, I hadn't gotten to that part yet. The things in her library/labs could be affected as well as visitors clothing or belongings that are kept down there. This is also determined (partially) by depth and the surrounding area. Perhaps knowing where this was and how deep, might shed more light to this.

 

So, the 'bolt hole' is closed or open-air? By this, I mean does Gaia leave the tunnels open if there are visitors? As for making it a slot in a MP for a transform to keep it clean, this could be a rather large area to do a Transform to. Perhaps 'Change Environment' would be a better choice.

 

If it's not going to be used much or involved in the campaign other than just a place to hide away, I'd say that as long as Gaia has the Power skill, she can do it however she wants. Considering Tunneling gives you an option to close the tunnels or leave them open, I think it's all covered. Minimal cost in points won't matter until the GM decides she needs to start putting some points into it to maintain it. IF it is decided that it needs to be a Base, then just the area covered, its underground location and maybe it being Secret would be all that needs to be applied.

[Ice9]

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx

 

For the darkness - no cost, that's just the absence of lighting. Buying the power would only be necessary if it was actually impossible to bring lighting down there.

For the atmosphere - I like LS: Alternate Atmosphere. Shouldn't be many points, but seems reasonable. Upgrading this to LS: Self-Contained Breathing would make the base airtight and prevent leaks, which may be a good idea.

For being underground and hard to access, the existing cost modifier works fine there.

 

The circumstances do give the character an advantage, but that advantage has already been paid for - by buying the appropriate powers on the character. Also, it's not a pure advantage for the base, as it prevents certain uses (keeping people you want to protect there, for example).