"Non-Standard Effect" & "Effect Reserve"

[mhd]

Two quick questions:

 

1.) Is there anything like the inverse of the standard effect rule, i.e. turning a fixed advantage into a dice-based one? For example, I might have PD 2d6 instead of PD 6 -- either determined when activating the power (e.g. when I'm drawing some material to form armor and its presence varies randomly) or after each hit (e.g. surrounded by swirling metal plates or when I'm really keen on simulating RuneQuest). Requires Roll is just a binary decision and RR + Proportional sounds a bit overly complicated for this.

 

2.) How would you build a limitation for the total effect of a power? Let's say I have Healing 3d6, but want to limit this to 50 point of BODY per day (or per charge, or with something like a REC recharge). Endurance Reserve/Charges would limit the activations, which have different costs, of course.

(Another common example would be a force-field belt that can only take so much before shutting down)

I'm thinking of a standard-effect based solution, again. So if I get 3d6 Healing for 3 END, that means I roughly get 3 points of BODY for 1 END. Thus I'd just buy the "effect reserve" as an Endurance Reserve for 1/3 the cost (plus a -1/4 or even -1/2 if it just applies to that one power).

[Christopher]

1) 6E has a rule for Armors that only cover certain Hit Locations. For games without Hit Location this Limitation is translated to a simple Activation Roll. 6E2 212 "ARMOR COVERAGE TABlLE" A Compound Power could (part without Activation Roll, Part with Activation Roll).

I am almost certain there was an Activation Roll/RSR Roll variant where "amount activated is based on relative Success".

 

Otherwise this would propably fall into Campaign Rule Territory. Note that PD in particular does not works that well when translated to Dice. 6 PD would become 2D6 PD. While it has a chance to work as 12 PD it also has achance to only work as 2 PD. With the average being 7 PD. Wich means that those 6 points of PD would no longer be able to reliably bloc the Body damage from a 6D6 Blast.

And Rolling on Resistant Defenses does not sounds helpfull either - you could end up being insta killed.

Aside from the increased time to resolve Combat there is the general P&P RPG theory that more randomness will make PC's die faster/be generally to the disadvantage of PC's - they have to roll more often then any other Character will ever have too, so if someone get's more bad results/Character it is always them.

 

2) Don't you have to account for BODY being a defense Characteristic? I never fully understood the Adjustment Power Rules, so I am not certain.

I guess you would have to eyeball it. 50 Body sounds like a lot. Is propably the total positive body of an adventuring group 4 people strong.

 

It might be better to use this as campaign Rule, something like: "In this game healing cannot heal more then AP in Body equivalent per Day". Normally healing is limited to "Maximum effect per person per Day". For heroic campaigns there is the sugestion to use "Maximum effect per Wound per Day". This sounds like it could be a third Campaign level limit.

[Christougher]

I don't have immediate answers, but your questions are intriguing enough to ponder.

 

For the first, consider using Damage Negation as a guide.  Damage Negation could be thought of as stopping 6 Stun, so reversing Standard Effect gets you 2 DCs.  So I'd say 1d6 of Random Defense would cost half as much as 1 DC Damage Negation, but I suspect that to be too cheap.

 

For the second, Charges isn't a bad place to start.  Figure that at standard effect, how many uses would you have before hitting the imposed cap.  With 3d6 Healing and Imposed Cap 50, you get 9 (or 10 if the GM is generous) points of effect, which translates to 5 BODY per use, for 10 uses per day.  Ten charges is IIRC a -1/4 limitation.

 

You'll probably want to tweak the numbers some.

 

Chris.

[Lucius]

 

Just buy a minimum amount of the Power you wish to randomize (such as PD) and then buy AID that enhances it.

 

AID with a slow drain rate if you prefer, or else AID with the Limitation "Instant" if you want to re-roll every phase or every use.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And a herd of 2d6+1 palindromedaries

[Ndreare]

I would just buy 3 Def and call it random effect. The 14% discount could be easily justified by the fact that rolling a 1 or 3 could be death.