Outside the Box powers

[phoenix240]

One of the great and most flexible things about Hero System is the idea of Special Effects vs Mechanics. The thread on buying powers to represent tactics and group attacks got me thinking about really outside the box thinking when it comes to using Powers. What are some of the more unusual abilities you've seen in your games?

 

 

One I thought up for a Mind Control specialist was

 

 

"No Peeking." Flash vs Sight, AVLD: Mental Defense, Psionic (only works on targets that could be targeted by a Mental Power). The Special effect being an overwhelming mental command to close your eyes.

[Thommi]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

We had a character once who could tell people just about anything and make them believe it... or even mimic others with ventriloquism so that the target would believe what they were hearing from somebody else. A great example was one time he player told the big nasty brick, right after he hit me for 25 dice with a move through, that he was blind. So of course it worked as a flash and the big guy really thought he was blind. The next round he mimicked the bricks best friends voice just outside the window screaming, "Crusher, help me! They're killing me!" Crusher then jumped out the window to save his friend, who had actually fled the battle already. We were in one of the top levels of a skyscraper. Needless to say, we got some good laughs from that one.

[Maccabe]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

I had a character called BLACK-OUT, she made you forget you saw her;

"Black-out"- Flash, Area Effect, only vs sentient.

[Greywind]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Works until the flash wears off. Then what?

[phoenix240]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

I had a character called BLACK-OUT, she made you forget you saw her;

"Black-out"- Flash, Area Effect, only vs sentient.

 

Invisibility might work too. It would be amusing since she still shows up on camera displays and recordings.

[UberGeek88]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Speaking of flashes:

Distracted by the Sexy: Mental and Sight group flash, BOECV - md applies, only works if the target can perceive something he is sexually attracted.

 

flavor the empath increases a targets lust to the point where the target can not focus on anything else

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Speaking of flashes:

Distracted by the Sexy: Mental and Sight group flash, BOECV - md applies, only works if the target can perceive something he is sexually attracted.

 

flavor the empath increases a targets lust to the point where the target can not focus on anything else

 

If the person with this power isn't wearing the skimpiest costume in history, something is very wrong.

[phoenix240]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

If the person with this power isn't wearing the skimpiest costume in history' date=' something is very wrong. [/quote']

 

"This looks like a job for...Captain Banana Hammock!"

[Maccabe]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Works until the flash wears off. Then what?

 

She walks up to a guard, uses BLACK-OUT, he forgets he saw her, she then walks past him.

By the time the Flash wears off she is long gone and the guard doesn't remember ever seeing her.

[Lucius]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

She walks up to a guard, uses BLACK-OUT, he forgets he saw her, she then walks past him.

By the time the Flash wears off she is long gone and the guard doesn't remember ever seeing her.

 

But he might remember being temporarily blinded

 

Lucius Alexander

 

He never saw the palindromedary

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Energy Sword Multipower:

Energy Sword Glare: Darkness to Sight Group 3" radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4) (37 Active Points); No Range (-1/2)

Energy Sword Flare: Sight Group Flash 3d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Area Of Effect Nonselective (16" Radius; +1 1/2) (41 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2)

Energy Sword Glow: Sight Group Images x8" Radius (+3/4), +4 to PER Roll (38 Active Points); Only To Create Light (-1), No Range (-1/2)

 

 

Hmmm...

 

 

QM

[phoenix240]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

"Group Hug!" Entangle Def 4 4d6 AE: Radius. All targets must have at least one other character adjacent to them, Entangle is limited by that character's effective Grab Strength in Active points (20 gives a Def 2 2d6 Entangle, for example). Halves if Adjacent character makes Ego roll, ineffective if Ego roll made by 3, cannot create barries

 

sfx: The characters are commanded to wrestle/grapple their nearest ally.

 

"Quit Squirming!" Add: Backlash

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

I gave my character Super Model this power based on her distracting good looks:

Turn Every Head: Change Environment, -3 to Normal Sight PER Rolls, Area Of Effect (16m Radius, +3/4), Constant (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/4); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Only Works On Men (-1), Unified Power (-1/4)

 

Men's eyes are drawn to her so strongly that they have difficulty looking at anything else.

[Greywind]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Won't work on lesbians?

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

In my recent campaign, the luck-based character had Invisibility to all sight, AOE 1 hex, defined as other people looking elsewhere while she walked past. The AOE meant that somebody could walk alongside her and take advantage of observers looking elsewhere. I put a "situational" Limitation on it (-1/4, I believe) for times when an observer really couldn't look elsewhere, but I don't recall it ever coming into play.

 

A shrinker PC had a "subliminal questioning" power, basically no-range Telepathy that required the target be asleep while she whispered questions in his ear and listened for the answers. It had a Limitation of "potentially vague or unclear answers". We had a lot of fun roleplaying that, as she frequently interrupted dreams and sometimes unwittingly altered dreams in progress with her questions.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Won't work on lesbians?

 

GM's option to replace the single-digit percentage of men that wouldn't be captivated with the single-digit percentage of women who would be.

[Greywind]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

If you think that's a single digit percentage you're behind the times. Women, lesbian or not, tend to check out other women. Threat assessment.

[Clonus]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

I had a character called BLACK-OUT, she made you forget you saw her;

"Black-out"- Flash, Area Effect, only vs sentient.

 

I don't see how that special effect matches up with the mechanics at all.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

If you think that's a single digit percentage you're behind the times. Women' date=' lesbian or not, tend to check out other women. Threat assessment.[/quote']

 

The more recent surveys I've seen indicate that the 10% figure that's used as cultural shorthand is pretty inflated. And the power models infatuated distraction - I think the character's 4 levels of Striking Appearance would serve just fine for whatever reaction the GM wants from onlookers with no romantic interest.

[Old Man]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

One of the great and most flexible things about Hero System is the idea of Special Effects vs Mechanics. The thread on buying powers to represent tactics and group attacks got me thinking about really outside the box thinking when it comes to using Powers. What are some of the more unusual abilities you've seen in your games?

 

Well, let's see. There was the hero with 50% Damage Reduction bought with IPE, so by the end of any prolonged combat he looked... really messed up. There was the earth elemental with the Entangle that wasn't useful as an Entangle; it was just the mechanic used to create hexes of dirt and rock. There was the hero who had two or three powers linked to trigger off of taking damage--he'd basically blow up if someone hit him too hard--of course he quickly figured out that his most useful attack in combat was a kamikaze move through. And I got a lot of mileage out of a leech who could suppress END. That one was really effective.

[Cassandra]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

In the 1987 movie The Hidden an alien took over the bodies of humans by crawling inside them.

 

This would be a HKA with a Linked Shape Change. The change would be limited to those killed, so it wouldn't be that expensive.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

In the 1987 movie The Hidden an alien took over the bodies of humans by crawling inside them.

 

This would be a HKA with a Linked Shape Change. The change would be limited to those killed, so it wouldn't be that expensive.

 

Is that the one where the alien looked like some sort of giant mosquito? When it wasn't inside anyone, anyhow.

[Maccabe]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

I don't see how that special effect matches up with the mechanics at all.

 

Here's how it goes; Suppose you are in a 10x10 room with someone, a guard say. Now with a normal FLASH you would make it so the guard couldn't see ANYTHING. Now restrict that blindness to just the sight of the character. She is standing in front of you and you can't see her for a number of segments equal to the FLASH. You can still see the room, walls , floor etc but not her, all is normal. By the time the Flash wears off she is long gone and you don't recall seeing her there at all.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

Here's how it goes; Suppose you are in a 10x10 room with someone' date=' a guard say. Now with a normal FLASH you would make it so the guard couldn't see ANYTHING. Now restrict that blindness to just the sight of the character. She is standing in front of you and you can't see her for a number of segments equal to the FLASH. You can still see the room, walls , floor etc but not her, all is normal. By the time the Flash wears off she is long gone and you don't recall seeing her there at all.[/quote']

 

New people entering the room can see you just fine.

 

Invisibility with a time limit also works like this, but new people entering the room won't see you either.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Outside the Box powers

 

New people entering the room can see you just fine.

 

Invisibility with a time limit also works like this, but new people entering the room won't see you either.

 

Using a Flash based mechanic requires a roll for duration + tracking that duration. A straight Invisibility effect is easier in play.

 

Here's an Invisibility based version I've used in the past.

 

From I-Mind:

 

18 Psionic Powers: Elemental Control, 44-point powers, (22 Active Points); all slots Requires A Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4)

23 3) Mental Invisibility: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, Smell/Taste, Radio, Touch and Mystic Groups and Spatial Awareness , No Fringe, Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Limited Power Only vs. Sentient Targets That Character Is Aware Of (Not vs. Targets with EGO + Mental Defense Greater than 35; -1), Requires A Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4)

 

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