Chain Lightning/Bouncing Attack/Bending Line

[LordQulex]

I'm trying to build your classic chain lightning spell. I've built a blast with autofire, but it just doesn't feel right. I'm looking for something that will allow me to take AoE: Line, and "bounce" my blast from target to target.

 

I can't find any Area of Affect options that allows this, or anything that allows a bouncing attack special affect. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[Hyper-Man]

A lot depends on how faithful of a translation you are going for.

 

AOE Any Area plus a minor Limitation defining the 'order of the chain" might be the most simple approach.

 

The Trigger Advantage could also be employed to define the effect with much more accuracy.

(ex:  AOE Accurate + Trigger to hit 1 target and then auto-target the next closest Target X number of times)

 

HM

[Doc Democracy]

Yeah.  I am with HyperMan here.  I would define an area effect and, within that area, you should be able to chain the lightning - selective targets within the area.

 

That would not be cheap but it would allow, for example, you to hit three agents without hitting any of the hostages standing in front of them...

[Christopher]

Thirded.

Just make a "AoE, Selective" and you are golden. If you want it to still work against normal DCV, use non-selective (we really need a better name for that variant).

 

Technically a "chain lightning" spell might be able to do stuff a normal cone can not (like hitting a enemy behind cover, using another enemy as "bounces off point".
But afaik AoE usually flows around obstacles to affect the area behind fully anyway. Only explosion might be a bit more limited there.

[JohnnyAppleseed098]

Thirded.

Just make a "AoE, Selective" and you are golden. If you want it to still work against normal DCV, use non-selective (we really need a better name for that variant).

 

Pardon me if I am incorrect, but doesn't AOE Selective already work against the target's normal DCV? (Per 6E1 324)

 

For me, this is a rather large AOE Selective and No Range. I have done powers like this before (like once or twice), and I think that was way I built it. 

[Lee]

I'm trying to build your classic chain lightning spell. I've built a blast with autofire, but it just doesn't feel right. I'm looking for something that will allow me to take AoE: Line, and "bounce" my blast from target to target.

 

I can't find any Area of Affect options that allows this, or anything that allows a bouncing attack special affect. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

There is a variant of Area of Effect in Digital Hero #10 pp 49 that does what I think you want:

 

AREA OF EFFECT (RICOCHET)

By taking the Advantage Area Of Effect

(Line) with the Conforming modifier, an attack

can continue in a straight line until it hits a

surface, then will “bounce” and continue until

the Line’s distance is used up. If the Reduced By

Range Limitation is used a power with these

Advantages, it can be determined at the time of

purchase that the power loses a DC for every

bounce, instead of every Range Increment.

 

An attack power with these Advantages will

bounce any time that it hits an object with greater

DEF + BODY than the DC in the attack

(otherwise the attack would destroy the object,

and continue through). Against a “soft target”

such as a person, the attack will bounce if it does

not knock the target down.

 

So, if you use something like this with maybe No Knockback/Knockdown it might give you what you want.

 

Lee

[Christopher R Taylor]

You have to break the power down into what it does.  Does it hit a bunch of people in an area?  Does it hit a limited number of targets?  Does it hit targets and weaken each time it hits, over a time period?  Once you have the basic concept down you can start to design it.

 

For me the toughest build was one called "sparks" from the Might & Magic series: the spell in play fired off a dozen or so lightning balls the size of tennis balls into an area like a fan in front of you.  Each time one hit, it did damage, and they would bounce about randomly for a few seconds.  If you could pin someone in a corner, you'd hammer them with the whole basketfull, but usually it would only hit once or twice on each target.

 

Because the balls were bouncing around you had no guarantees anyone would be hit, but you could concentrate them very powerfully on a target in a contained space so they would get hammered.  Its a sort of uncontrolled autofire, with no idea who's going to be hit or how many times.

[bigdamnhero]

The Trigger Advantage could also be employed to define the effect with much more accuracy.

(ex:  AOE Accurate + Trigger to hit 1 target and then auto-target the next closest Target X number of times)

Fantasy Hero has a Follow-Through Attack Talent, where killing one opponent in melee Triggers a "free" attack on the next mook in line. You could do something similar here, but to have multiple Triggers so that you get more than one follow-through would get dicey and expensive. I agree that just calling it AOE Line, Selective with a Limitation for "Attacks each target in turn, effect stops when it misses a target" or something.

[Christopher R Taylor]

For most definitions, just an area effect with selective works fine -- or even without selective.  What's really the difference between an area filled with energy, and an area with energy that arcs between to strike each target?  It gets a bit more complicated if the damage is reduced after each strike, though.  You could probably use an explosion variant; full damage first target, -1 DC for each subsequent target.

[Christopher]

Pardon me if I am incorrect, but doesn't AOE Selective already work against the target's normal DCV? (Per 6E1 324)

You are right. Selective was non-Selective with the "can choose not to attack allies" Modifier wich moved the whole into Advantage territory.