Abilities Based on Automaton Powers

[Steve]

Recently, I got the notion to experiment with some of the Automaton abilities for Heroic-level characters. I realize they are GM-approval abilities.

 

 

Attack Avoidance:  No Hit Locations (10 Active Points); Instant (-1/2), Requires A Roll (DEX roll; -1/2), Nonpersistent (-1/4). Real Cost: 4 Points

 

This ability is meant to simulate a character moving just enough out of the way of a blow that Killing Damage is rolled normally instead of based on the struck Hit Location.

 

 

Stun Resistance:  Cannot Be Stunned (15 Active Points); Instant (-1/2), Requires A Roll (CON roll; -1/2), Nonpersistent (-1/4). Real Cost: 7 Points

 

The character is so tough that they can shrug off a Stun result.

 

 

Resist Blood Loss: Does Not Bleed (15 Active Points); Requires A Roll (CON roll; -1/2). Real Cost: 10 Points

 

The character coagulates quickly or is so tough that they don't spurt blood.

 

 

[sinanju]

I've used the "stun resistance" effect in a game. I was playing the Black Knight. His sole superpower was that he healed virtually instantly from even the most destructive attacks. The GM collaborrated on building the character. W gave him a moderate amount of armor, high damage reduction (all of it resistant), and the "takes no stun" automaton power, plus regeneration. The idea was that he had no actual armor, he actually TOOK all that damage, but most of it (what was accounted for by armor and damage reduction) healed instantly; the rest of it healed very fast (i.e., regeneration), and because he healed so insanely fast, he wasn't even slowed down by most attacks (i.e., takes no stun).

 

End Result: a character who could be machine-gunned at point blank range, producing a spray of blood and viscera on the wall behind him...then punch out the guy who just shot him.

[Lucius]

Recently, I got the notion to experiment with some of the Automaton abilities for Heroic-level characters. I realize they are GM-approval abilities.

 

 

Stun Resistance:  Cannot Be Stunned (15 Active Points); Instant (-1/2), Requires A Roll (CON roll; -1/2), Nonpersistent (-1/4). Real Cost: 7 Points

 

The character is so tough that they can shrug off a Stun result.

 

 

Options: Base it on EGO (resists through sheer will power) or DEX (rolls with the blow.)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary and I have been down these paths before

[Merrick]

I actually just recently built a power for a PC of mine who, through an extraordinary set of circumstances, can feel no pain or pleasure.

 

So I purchased him the 15 Point "Cannot Be Stunned" to simulate that in addition to selling back his sense of touch.

[Vanguard]

I've used the "stun resistance" effect in a game. I was playing the Black Knight. His sole superpower was that he healed virtually instantly from even the most destructive attacks. The GM collaborrated on building the character. W gave him a moderate amount of armor, high damage reduction (all of it resistant), and the "takes no stun" automaton power, plus regeneration. The idea was that he had no actual armor, he actually TOOK all that damage, but most of it (what was accounted for by armor and damage reduction) healed instantly; the rest of it healed very fast (i.e., regeneration), and because he healed so insanely fast, he wasn't even slowed down by most attacks (i.e., takes no stun).

 

End Result: a character who could be machine-gunned at point blank range, producing a spray of blood and viscera on the wall behind him...then punch out the guy who just shot him.

 

You just described the special effect of my character, Vanguard's, defenses.  The only difference is I didn't have the "take's no stun" power.  I did by extra presence, only when taking body.

 

'Cause facing down a guy who just took a full burst from an M60 to the chest, and didn't die, is going to be down right scary.

 

 

I actually just recently built a power for a PC of mine who, through an extraordinary set of circumstances, can feel no pain or pleasure.

 

So I purchased him the 15 Point "Cannot Be Stunned" to simulate that in addition to selling back his sense of touch.

 

You do know that by doing so, you now have to pay 3x the points for Defensive powers right?

 

And speaking of that, would you folks, as GMs, charge the increased cost for power purchased like the OP described?

 

I'd almost say "no" as they aren't always on, always effective like the full blown Automaton powers but am curious as to what other GMs think.

[TheRealDeal]

The x3 Defenses Cost applies only to Takes No Stun (45 AP or 60 AP), not to Cannot Be Stunned (15 AP) or any of the other Automation powers taken individually. 

[Steve]

That's good to know. I wasn't aware of that.

 

The Does Not Bleed power might also be good for fast Regen builds. I saw in the rulebooks under Bleeding that Regeneration does not stop Bleeding damage.

[Vanguard]

The x3 Defenses Cost applies only to Takes No Stun (45 AP or 60 AP), not to Cannot Be Stunned (15 AP) or any of the other Automation powers taken individually. 

 

It does?

 

Huh, I thought it applied to all of them, at least the Stun ones. i can see it not applying to Does Not Bleed.

 

That's good to know. I wasn't aware of that.

 

The Does Not Bleed power might also be good for fast Regen builds. I saw in the rulebooks under Bleeding that Regeneration does not stop Bleeding damage.

 

Again, really?

 

I thought Regen automatically stopped bleeding.. ::looks at the rules:: Well, I'll be. That is rather . . . not good. I mean, if Regeneration doesn't stop bleeding then how does it regenerate damage?

 

Maybe that's why I always thought it did. We housed ruled it to do so.

[Steve]

I suppose a Wolverine type of fast Regeneration build could take one or more points of Regeneration at the per Turn level and Does Not Bleed and take both powers with the Unified Limitation or maybe take Linked on Does Not Bleed.

[Christopher]

Attack Avoidance: I build something more scaleable using Change Environment, specifically for games where the GM is against "No Hit location":

-X to Called Shoots, Side Effect (counts as bonus to hitting a x1 BODY location).

Basically an attacker has three chocies:

Roll Randomly and risk hitting something worse then a x1 location.

Make a called shoot to anything higher then a x1 region, resulting in abysmal chance to hit

Make a called shoot to a x1 location, no chance to get a 0.5 result and propably no called shoot penalty left (and potentially even a bonus). Not quite as abolsute, but more expensive.

 

Stun Resistance: Removing the Stunned or STUN Damage rules from a PC can be a very problematic thing. While he can still be knocked out in your case, he does not need much CON. And he won't looses phases to being stunned either. This can make other stuff (like high SPD) too effective.

 

Resist Blood Loss: I am certain "Cannot Bleed, UOO" is listed somewhere as "very advanced autodoc or healing system that can instantly stabilize the patient."

Of course just having enough regeneration should cancel out normal blood loss amounts. Anything beyond that propably falls under "canceling out the healing factor".

 

 

The Wolverine: Personally when building "Super Regeneration" Types, I would not invest into the regeneration power. It is simply not very cost effect. Instead I would use:

Resistant Protection up to Tank level. Maybe limited to not prevent STUN fully (he can still be stunned, just killing him is hard).

plus

some minor Regeneration

 

The resistant Protection simulates preferctly the "heals so fast he is not affected by it" aspect. Only of he recieves tremendous ammounts of damage (so much his Defenses are overcome by body) does he actually need to heal that outsite of the phase/segment he received it.

 

Note that stun does not correspond to Pain. A sleep spell could be build as Mental Blast or Blast, NDD. It would deal normal stun damage and when the target is knocked out (by the spell or maybe spell plus attacks) he is unconsscious for a moment. However long his REC can STUN need him to get out of the STUN cellar..

[randian]

I'm surprised Regen doesn't stop bleeding seeing as, if I recall correctly, even 1 point of healing stops bleeding. That means a Regenerating character with the 6E1 max of 1/Turn doesn't actually get better when < 1 BODY, which is quite odd. Two BODY/Turn for 32 points is grossly overpriced, the APG price of 18 for 1/Phase is much more reasonable.

 

No Hit Locations doesn't seem all that powerful. Sure the bad guys can't get a lucky head shot, but neither can they get an unlucky foot shot. The average damage the NHL character takes isn't any lower.

 

Part of the problem I have with RP as instant regen is BODY Only is grossly undervalued at only -1/2 Limitation, it should be more like -1 to -1.5. 

 

So far as I can tell the only real advantage a Doesn't Bleed character has over a Regen 1/Turn character (other than the 1 point savings) is they don't lose BODY when taking actions while bleeding to death. It is rare in my experience for a character to remain awake after having taken enough damage to leave them bleeding to death. Otherwise the latter is far better.

[TheRealDeal]

I think the reason for Regeneration not stopping Bleeding as a default is because you can buy Regeneration of a very weak amount (like 1/Day) to represent a fast healer but really still just a natural healer, just faster than usual. The spirit of the rules seems to indicate that if you manage to Regenerate 1/Turn at least, you should be allowed to stop bleeding (GM can simply say so). I would probably say if you choose to not heal 1 of the Body you should on that Turn from Regeneration, you can end Bleeding instead.

 

No Hit Locations, at least how I run it, also means no Critical Hits against the target. You may not use that optional rule of Critical Hits (which in my game means you deal maximum damage) and if you do not this does not matter, but I think if you do use Critical Hits, you should consider making creatures with No Hit Locations immune to them.

 

The only time I might make an exception to this is if the attacker had Luck and rolled well enough to get a Critical against say a golem or animated dead or even a wall. In that case I would probably just give it to them (they got Lucky and found a weak point) and if they made their Luck by enough, they could point out the weak point to others and allow them to also get Criticals against the target (maybe I would require a -2 OCV to obtain it, like a called shot).

[randian]

I think the reason for Regeneration not stopping Bleeding as a default is because you can buy Regeneration of a very weak amount (like 1/Day) to represent a fast healer but really still just a natural healer, just faster than usual

That's easily fixed: you don't stop bleeding until you actually Regen 1 BODY, which in the case of 1/Day can be a very long time from when you were wounded.

[bigbywolfe]

That's easily fixed: you don't stop bleeding until you actually Regen 1 BODY, which in the case of 1/Day can be a very long time from when you were wounded.

I'm not sure how that is "fixed" as you would have bled to death by then...

[randian]

I'm not sure how that is "fixed" as you would have bled to death by then...

Think of it as encouragement to buy more than 2 points of Regen if you want to stop bleeding.

[Steve]

Well, unless you have that Regen going every Turn or maybe every Minute, a bad wound will have you bleeding out too quickly for it to matter how many points of Body you are healing.

[Lucius]

I could be wrong, but as I see it, a big advantage of No Hit Locations is effective immunity to impairing and disabling.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The excited palindromedary wants No Hit Locations until I explain that it doesn't mean none of your locations can be hit.

[Vondy]

It does?

 

Huh, I thought it applied to all of them, at least the Stun ones. i can see it not applying to Does Not Bleed.

 

 

Again, really?

 

I thought Regen automatically stopped bleeding.. ::looks at the rules:: Well, I'll be. That is rather . . . not good. I mean, if Regeneration doesn't stop bleeding then how does it regenerate damage?

 

Maybe that's why I always thought it did. We housed ruled it to do so.

 

Bleeding is an optional rule -- not a default rule. So, out of the box its not an issue. If a GM does decide to use the bleeding option, they can optionally ignore the statement on 6E2 113 that says regeneration doesn't stop bleeding -- which is, in of itself, a counter-intuitive and arbitrary restriction. If you don't like it... strike it down. However, if a GM is uncomfortable with that, you could give the character Paramedics 20-, Resetting Trigger, Only to Stop Bleeding. Or, as suggested, Does Not Bleed.

[Christopher]

Bleeding is an optional rule -- not a default rule. So, out of the box its not an issue. If a GM does decide to use the bleeding option, they can optionally ignore the statement on 6E2 113 that says regeneration doesn't stop bleeding -- which is, in of itself, a counter-intuitive and arbitrary restriction. If you don't like it... strike it down. However, if a GM is uncomfortable with that, you could give the character Paramedics 20-, Resetting Trigger, Only to Stop Bleeding. Or, as suggested, Does Not Bleed.

We need to be very precise here, as there are two "bleeding" rules.

'Bleeding to Death' is a default gamerule (6E2 107, "Death")

Bleeding is an optional Rule (6E2 113) that while sounding similiar is distinct and much more severe (it applies to positive hitpoints and can kill you faster).