Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

[bigdamnhero]

Looking for a few second opinions:

 

The rules define Susceptibilities and Vulnerabilities as things that cause damage to the character; #d6 in the case of Susceptibilities or a multiplier for Vulnerabilities. But there are plenty of genre examples of substances that affect characters in some other way than (or in addition to) causing damage; the most obvious one being Kryptonite, which depending on the color (and on the writer...) weakens Superman's powers in addition to killing him.

 

Dependance has options for causing Weakness, Incompetence, or adding a Skill Roll to Powers; it'd be easy enough to just adapt those, but do the costs stay the same? And what about something that acts like a Drain/Suppress on a character's powers? I've seen that done as a Limitation on the Powers themselves, but adding it on to every single Power can get tedious. Besides, that's what Complications are for.

 

Anyway, thought I'd see what Herodom Assembled thinks. Thanks,

 

 

PS - Part of me is surprised and a little bummed that spell check doesn't recognize "Kryptonite."

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

6E1 p. 430 has what you're looking for.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

6E1 p. 430 has what you're looking for.

Sorta. (And I should've referenced that section in my OP - sorry.) But I was more looking for specifics, especially regarding costs & balancing?

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

I'm pretty sure one of the APG's goes into this in some detail.

[psyber624]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

APG 1 pg 155, Expanded Vulnerability Effects:

x1½ Value

„„Character is always ½ DCV against the

defined attack type (or 0 DCV, if his DCV is

also being halved by some other factor)

„„Character recovers from negative Adjustment

Power at one step down the Time Chart (e.g.,

5 Character Points per Minute for a typical

5-per-Turn power)

„„Character suffers a Drain of some

non-damage-related Characteristic with half

the Active Points of the attack

„„Character suffers a Flash of an appropriate

Sense Group with half the Active Points of

the attack

„„Character suffers an Entangle of the same

special effect with half the Active Points of

the attack

„„Character suffers x1½ Knockback (minimum

of 4m) from the attack

„„Character is automatically Stunned by the

attack regardless of the amount of STUN

damage he actually takes

„„Character automatically suffers a “run away

in fear” Presence Attack of (Active Points in

attack/10)d6

„„Any BODY damage taken from this attack is

automatically considered Impairing

„„Character suffers the damage from the attack

again on his next Phase

 

x2 Value

„„Character is always 0 DCV against the

defined attack type

„„Character recovers from negative Adjustment

Power at two steps down the Time Chart (e.g.,

5 Character Points per 5 Minutes for a typical

5-per-Turn power)

„„Character suffers a Drain of some

non-damage-related Characteristic with the

same Active Points of the attack

„„Character suffers a Flash of an appropriate

Sense Group with the same Active Points of

the attack

„„Character suffers an Entangle of the same

special effect with the same Active Points of

the attack

„„Character suffers x2 Knockback (minimum of

8m) from the attack

„„Character is automatically Knocked Out by

the attack (reduced to 0 STUN) regardless of

the amount of STUN damage rolled

„„Character automatically suffers a “run away

in fear” Presence Attack of (Active Points in

attack/5)d6

„„Any BODY damage taken from this attack is

automatically considered Disabling

„„Character suffers the damage from the attack

again on his next two Phases

 

Of course you can always come up with other examples/effects on your own. Generally speaking for Vulnerabilities the x1.5 and x2 are almost always priced correctly and its just a matter of determining frequency. Susceptibilities can be a bit trickier. If a character takes a Susceptibility instead of a Limitation on the powers then you should generally be sure that the Susceptibility is something truly debilitating. If it just drains one combat option but leaves him with plenty of others its not really that big of a deal and therefore shouldn't be worth much, but if it drains all of his powers such that he has trouble in combat that is easily as bad as taking dice of damage (and I would price it as the same amount of dice of drain as dice of damage). For instance, a fire blaster with "Susceptible to Cold Temperatures, 3d6 Drain vs all Fire powers) is quite appropriate and I would price it the same as if he had 3d6 damage instead (of course he might also opt for BOTH!!)

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that the task of Complications is not just to provide weaknesses for characters, but to make them more interesting, well-rounded characters. So I would generally say to be more lenient on Complications that make for interesting characters. Of course if someone is obviously trying to get away with making Complications that aren't really going to affect him (3d6 Drain INT when he has no Int skills or INT powers or anything like that) feel free to step in and say NO! (of course you can sit back and play Evil GM and require him to make PER rolls in combat in this case... with a 0 INT all the sudden he can't actually perceive anyone to attack and so effectively fights blind. )

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

"...must spread rep around..." Thanks psyber624! Ironically, I don't think I've looked at APG I since I got APG II.

[Matt Holck]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

„„Any BODY damage taken from this attack is

automatically considered Disabling

 

I'd take that in a champions game

[psyber624]

Re: Non-Damaging Susceptibilities & Vulnerabilities

 

Just remember that if you do your GM is justified in having you face a villain with a KA based upon the type of damage you selected strong enough to ensure you will take BODY damage from it. One thing I would always explain to my players is that Limitations and Complications are you as a player asking to have to deal with this. If you dont want to deal with it, DONT take it!.