Idea for a power build

[drrushing]

I have a character, Task.  He's a gadgeteer, with abilities very similar to those found in Tron: Legacy.  I thought of a power, to isolate individual combatants...sort of a virtual reality.  It's not a full-blown cyber world, etc...I didn't want that, but can it be done, to isolate a combatant, to only "fight" him.  I would assume the VR component would just be special effect, but not sure how to go about constructing something like this.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Tom Cowan]

maybe EDM Usable on others?

[Greywind]

If no one else can interfere then EDM Usable on Others is probably the best way to do it.

 

Only other thing that comes to mind is a barrier, but that can be breached, which interferes with the isolation clause.

[Christopher]

This is one of those powers that could be potentially very unbalancing, as it removes a character from the combat without any obvious or likely defence. Hence there is no direct, balanced way to do it. We can look at different levels of approxmiations. The closest example I could find would be Yukio from the Fullbring Arc of Bleach.

 

It's danger is mostly for the ability to remove combatants entirely, without them having any feasible chance to return.

 

Barrier. Simplest build. Just asume that somehow the borders of this subdimension are damageable. Wich is kinda what happened with Yukio's Fullbring near the end. You will need adders to make the walls non-transparent to senses (sight and sound at least). As the enemy could escape on his own, no allied/own presence in the field is nessesary. But it can be helpfull (i.e., the enemy could not risk Haymakers to get out).

 

EDM, Usable As Attack: I never was a fan of using Usable As Attack on any Movement power.

A movement power that is also a stop sign power? Not even a discussion for me.

 

Transform: Rather then using something as hard to manage as EDM, UAA how about a Transform?

The asumption is that the dimensional location of a Character is a property changeable by Major/Sever Transform. The same way not being a stone statue is.
It would be easy to define a Side Effect "caster must be in same dimension" and a healing condition "defeat caster".

If I wanted to build a "send into the Cornfield" power, Transform would be the way to go for me.

 

Teleport, UAA + Images: Rather then actually going to another dimension, just teleport the target someplace close. Wich has a illusion aplied to it to look like Cyberspace.

 

There is one hard and fast rule about making hero system Powers:
Model the game effect.

Do not let the special effect or original idea force anything about the used power, advantages or limitations.

[akrippler]

Have a friend trying to make something similar, a mage that can "phase shift" an enemy.  We were thinking EDM usable as an attack but were having a hard time making it seem fair.  The enemy has to have a chance to escape or some opposed skill roll of some sort. All we've come up with so far is a duration limit, and maybe forcing concentration or something on it, is that enough to balance? Any ideas? 

 

 

 

Barrier. Simplest build. Just asume that somehow the borders of this subdimension are damageable. Wich is kinda what happened with Yukio's Fullbring near the end. You will need adders to make the walls non-transparent to senses (sight and sound at least). As the enemy could escape on his own, no allied/own presence in the field is nessesary. But it can be helpfull (i.e., the enemy could not risk Haymakers to get out).

 

 

 

 

Would it be possible to use the barrier option specifically on a piece of equipment an enemy is holding? Say their sword? I'd rule some sort of disarm roll needs to be made in there somewhere right? 

[massey]

I have a character, Task.  He's a gadgeteer, with abilities very similar to those found in Tron: Legacy.  I thought of a power, to isolate individual combatants...sort of a virtual reality.  It's not a full-blown cyber world, etc...I didn't want that, but can it be done, to isolate a combatant, to only "fight" him.  I would assume the VR component would just be special effect, but not sure how to go about constructing something like this.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

I'm going to go in a different direction and suggest Mental Illusions.  At the +30 level, the other guy no longer interacts with reality.  They just sit there in a corner, drooling.  At higher levels, they can also take actual physical damage while they're in the illusion.

 

So I'd suggest a large Mental Illusion, with a fairly big limitation (-1 maybe) that they actually get to fight back against you.  The GM may allow you to define it that the whole "dream combat" takes place in just one phase, that way the characters aren't there drooling on the floor in the middle of combat.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Mental illusions is my first thought. Maybe a Desolid UAA to show that they're largely somewhere else.

[Cancer]

I'd also suggest thinking about what the defenses against the power might be. Is is possible for a target to actually win once he's been sucked into the other world? Can the target resist being sucked in? Can he resist even if he's never seen the effect before and has no idea what's going on? Could the character who has the power survive an attack by some other entity that has the same power?

 

Answering "No" to all of those (or even all but the last) means you have a murder weapon, not a player character power. The GM should flatly disallow the power, no further negotiation.

 

If you've answered "yes" to any or all of those, now describe how. Once you've done that exercise, then you can think about how to build it.

[Christopher]

Would it be possible to use the barrier option specifically on a piece of equipment an enemy is holding? Say their sword? I'd rule some sort of disarm roll needs to be made in there somewhere right? 

Barrier has an option to Englobe a target. Effectively taking it out of the combat (until it breaks out). You could in theory apply that to a single item.

 

But with a Focus in superheroics, this can get muddy.

In all likelyhood the attack powers (the part you want negated) are on the item. So neither can the weapon free itself (no action), nor will the user be able to free his weapon (without the damage he get's from it) against the defenses of that barrier. You might have entirely negated a Focus. And thus a focus user as well. Without locking yourself out of attacking the Focus user.

It is one of those cases where a smaler scale makes it less balanceable. Less of an issue if they are a team (a ally might be able to break that barrier with a casual attack).

 

If you can disarm him first so the weapon is under your control, it should work out. But the disarming maneuver (Telekinesis or normal combat maneuver) and activating barrier would have to be two seperate action, I think. The target needs at least some way to his item back.

[massey]

Mental illusions is my first thought. Maybe a Desolid UAA to show that they're largely somewhere else.

 

The only problem with combining Mental Illusions with some other power (Desolid UAA, XDM UAA, etc) is that once you have the other thing, you don't really need the Mental Illusions anymore.

 

The cheapest way would be a couple inches of Teleport, megascale, UAA, fixed location. 

[freakboy6117]

Barrier with images to fake the virtual world

[Anaximander]

Could it be some kind of mental entangle that could escaped be either mentally or by defeating the Task?  I'm not sure how I would actually build the power I just described, but it seems that it should work.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

The only problem with combining Mental Illusions with some other power (Desolid UAA, XDM UAA, etc) is that once you have the other thing, you don't really need the Mental Illusions anymore.

 

The cheapest way would be a couple inches of Teleport, megascale, UAA, fixed location. 

 

I didn't explain my idea properly. The problem with Mental Illusions is that the world could still interact with the victim. I assume given the description of transporting them somewhere that this should no longer be possible. If you go strictly mental illusions, teammates and others could still see and interact with them, which is likely to ruin the effect very quickly. If you made them desolid as well then that would be taken care of as they would be a ghost in the real world.

 

It was a thought.

[Hyper-Man]

A very Limited EDM UAA could work for this. Call it "Enter the Fight Zone". It transports the target and the power's owner to a pocket dimension until one of them is knocked out. Then they get returned to where they left. Still fairly expensive.

HM

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

I think I'd personally go with either the UAA EDM or the Force Wall, with the side effect that the power user is always transported as well.  Toss in that it only ends (moves both back, wall comes down) when one of the two is unconscious, and ...

[massey]

I didn't explain my idea properly. The problem with Mental Illusions is that the world could still interact with the victim. I assume given the description of transporting them somewhere that this should no longer be possible. If you go strictly mental illusions, teammates and others could still see and interact with them, which is likely to ruin the effect very quickly. If you made them desolid as well then that would be taken care of as they would be a ghost in the real world.

 

It was a thought.

 

No, I get where you're coming from.  I recognize the same problem.  I think Mental Illusions is great.  It gives you an existing way to simulate the power, where a legitimate defense exists.  It does it without resorting to the old catch-all of XD Movement.

 

The only problem is that it doesn't literally remove both of you from the battlefield.  If you end up having to buy another power on top of Mental Illusions, why buy the Mental Illusions in the first place?

[Hadmar von Wieser]

Remember that the rules state that UAA when applied to movement powers demands a defense to be defined - just like NND.

I had a similar power for a demon sending you for a short trip to hell, including lesser demons attacking you there, and the defense of defeating them and that way ending the trip.

I like the EDM approach with a side effect "Gadgeteer has to go there, too". That way we have
1. a reasonable chance of defense for the victim
2. a classic combination of death trap and showdown with lots of narrative potential
3. an expensive limitation making the power affordable. (The gadgeteer wouldn't use this on the arch villain built to fight the whole team.)