Change Environment for power disruption

[eepjr24]

There is a thread going on about CE right now and how exactly some things would function. If I buy a CE that causes a -4 to EGO rolls and thus forces an EGO roll and call it a Mental Power suppression field, can I force mentalists to succeed at an EGO roll to use any mental power?

 

Same question for say a spell caster, can I have a CE with -4 to INT rolls called a "Anti-spell zone" that causes an INT roll that you must pass to cast any spell? If this is the case, does it matter if spells require a roll that is based on INT or if they have a required roll at all?

 

I get the distinction with environmental effects like ice or oil and forcing a DEX (or breakfall) roll to not slip and fall.

 

I did read through the 6e1, 6e2, APG1 and APG2 sections on Change Environment again but did not find clarity. The closest was APG1, 82 under addling limitations, which could be used to add Requires a Roll to a single power and then perhaps improved with Expanded Effect and Variable Effect from the adjustment powers section?

 

- E

[Steve Long]

Change Environment is by definition a flexible power with a a wide array of potential uses. Whether any given usage is permitted is up to the GM, of course, with examples published in various Hero Games books providing guidance as to the sort of abilities that are intended.

 

There are certainly common examples of characters using CE to build abilities that require the target to succeed with some sort of roll or suffer a physical consequence:  for example, succeed with a DEX Roll or fall down. But in published instances the consequences of failure aren’t usually that severe. Getting to one’s feet or picking up a dropped object are simple matters. The complete loss of a category of powers you describe is another matter altogether.

 

On the surface, the idea of “succeed with an X Roll or lose access to these defined powers” is an interesting and potentially useful one. It provides an intriguing alternative to simply Draining (or otherwise removing) one or more powers. But the ease with which this is accomplished may raise game balance issues.

 

For example, let’s suppose that this power — succeed with a roll or lose access to a defined group of powers while the CE remains in effect — costs 20 Character Points as a combat effect (the same as, for instance, Suffocation). In that case, make an EGO Roll at -10 (highly unlikely at best) or lose all access to Mental Powers would cost 50 Character Points. But if you tried to do this through more traditional methods — let’s say Drain Mental Powers 12d6, all Mental Powers simultaneously (+4) would cost 600 Character Points. Even if we reduce it to, say, Drain 4d6 and invoke the Absolute Effects Rule, that’d still be 160 Character Points.

 

Therefore, absent strong GM control, I’d be reluctant to sanction this sort of CE. At the very least I’d want the power to affect a relatively small Area, not be something that could “attach” to a single target. I’d also want to see ( a ) specific built-in controls that limit how long the power can function (e.g., a pre-defined short time limit, or a really high ongoing END cost) and ( b ) a reasonably common way the victim can end the effect (in addition to simply leaving the affected Area).