what is OIF?

[zombietots]

I know it has to do with power armor but I can't find it in the Hero Designer. what does OIF stand for? and how do I use it on the HD

[Christopher R Taylor]

"Obvious Inaccessible Focus"

 

Look under Focus in your rule book, but basically it refers to a device which others can prevent you from using by taking it away, but that is difficult to remove.  Like a suit of armor such as you mentioned, or an object that is so ubiquitous that you can usually find one lying around.  For example, OIF rock.  You can use any rock for this, but it has to be a rock that can be grabbed out of your hand.  Some places won't have rocks around, so its a limitation.

[Critias]

Which is why it's normally on a powered armor type of guy.  It's Obvious to everyone that Iron Man's stuff comes from his armor (a Focus) instead of him just shooting repulsor bolts from his hands or flying on his own, but it's pretty Inaccesible because good luck gettin' him outta it!

[Echo3Niner]

Also note, that CC recommends that for a full-on powered battle armor guy, you may want to use "Only in alternate identity".  You'd be hard pressed to get Stark outta his armor in 12 seconds...

 

CC pg. 105

"An Inaccessible Focus cannot be easily taken away from the

character (examples include a ring or a suit of armor). It can

be targeted in combat to damage it as above, but it cannot be

Grabbed, Disarmed, or removed while the character is in combat

or resisting. An Inaccessible Focus can be taken away from an

unresisting target out of combat (or the target can otherwise be

deprived of its use) in 1 Turn. If the character can’t be deprived

of its use at all, it cannot take the Focus Limitation (see Only In

Alternate Identity, page 111)"

[Christopher R Taylor]

It depends on the setting.  In the movies, the stuff comes off like tissue paper, flying all over the place.  In the comics, its a lot harder to remove. Then again, scene by scene its harder to take the armor off sometimes than in others; mostly the exploding armor effect is for comedic impact than plot.

[pinecone]

Or it's based on what Lim you took. OHID, just aint coming off...OIF, maybe so, in any case it could be damaged (and lose functions) as you go along.

[zslane]

Maybe it's different in 6e, but Accessible used to mean it could be taken/disabled from a character with a successful Grab manuever (i.e., during combat), whereas Inaccessible meant you could only remove it from a character out of combat. In both cases, however, you could target it in order to damage/disable it. If you didn't want anyone targetting it, then you made it Inobvious so nobody would know what to target.

[Critias]

One problem (or perk, depending on how you see it?) with emulating comic books with an RPG is that the comics themselves are so often inconsistent.  There are times Iron Man's suit or even Thor's hammer could be done as a focus, times they should be done as a heroic ID, and times they're basically just effects (when was the last time Thor lost his hammer in a big team magazine, versus how often his Norse-specific enemies mess with his hammer in his solo title?).

 

I think there's a tendency to gloss over the disads in big team titles, and focus on them a bit more in a character's personal monthly comic.  Batman getting rocked by a lucky punch from a street-level thug, Superman running into some wacky kryptonite, Tony's armor (or alcoholism!) screwing up his day, Thor being separated from his hammer, Spidey running out of webbing fluid...they're all things that seem to come up more often in a personal story where their personal foibles/flaws/weaknesses are an issue, and less likely (as a general trend) to come up to interrupt the flow of action in a big, group, comic.

 

So sometimes the same character can seem to have his armor busting apart and falling off all the time, and other times the same sweet suit of power armor is nigh-indestructable, making multiple interpretations (for Champions, for instance) both perfectly legit.  How often do you, the player, want it to come up?  Pick the right one that fits, and it's gonna be just as 'canon' as someone else and their interpretation.

[Cassandra]

IAF Inobvious Accessible Focus Examples - Justice League Unlimited Earpiece.  In both "Double Date" and Grudge Match" the earpiece communicators can be removed with a grab.  TV Wonder Woman's Magic Belt.

 

OAF: Obvious Accessible Focus Example - The Avengers ID Card, Wonder Woman's Magic Lasso, Batman's Batarang, Hawkeye's and Green Arrow's Bow*

 

OIF: Obvious Accessible Focus Examples - Thor's Hammer, Black Widow's Bracelets, Batman's Utility Belt, Wonder Woman's Bracelets, Iron Man's Armor**

 

IIF: Atom's size and weight control belt.

 

*Should get another -1/2 for "Two Handed Weapon"

 

**Early models before he gets enough experience to make it a -1/4 Only In Hero ID.

[Echo3Niner]

OIF: Obvious Accessible Focus Examples - 

 

I think you meant Inaccessible in the spell out...

[zslane]

It is important to understand that what we write on our character sheet is intended to represent the "norm" for the operation of focii and the behavior of powers. However, this being an RPG, the GM is free to make these things subject to The Plot every now and then. That's how you end up with a magical hammer that is Inaccessible by default, but then gets lost in an alternate dimension for a game session because thats how the session's plot gets started.

 

A little bit of flexibility makes the rules go a long way towards capturing the sometimes unpredictable/inconsistent nature of the source material. That's why Rules Lawyers ruin the game for everyone except themselves. If you can't relax the letter of the rules now and then, and just indulge in the spirit of the genre, then I don't think you're going to get the most out of this hobby.

 

And believe me, I am well aware of how easy it is to become fixated on the rules text. The highly logical nature of the Hero System can lure one into thinking rather too rigidly about this stuff; as such, it was always refreshing back in the day to hear Steve Peterson talk about the game system, because it served as a valuable reminder, to me anyway, of how it was meant to be used/played.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I agree, genre and story should trump rules any time there's a conflict, but the most recent editions can lead GMs into forgetting that and second guessing themselves too easily.  If you can shake that, the game hasn't changed a bit in its play since the first gray book came out except in minor details.

[death tribble]

It can also stand for, in Britain only, Off 'Is Face

[L. Marcus]

... Does that saying have any relation to alcohol at all?