Black Rose Posted April 24, 2018 Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 This is one of my least-preferred threads to find -- the "I read this somewhere, but now I can't find it. Find it for meee!" request. My apologies. I am 99.9% sure (though that is slowly shrinking) that I read in a HERO System book a short (maybe a column or so) discussion of a spell casters' aura interfering with technology. I might be wrong about this point, but I think there was an example of both a "pure Complication, can't twist it to your use" version and a "PITA, but can sometimes use it for your own benefit" version. I first found it looking for a good example of a gremlin to use for a summoning spell; I was surprised that the Bestiary doesn't have one. I have also seen a thread here that used a 1-pt RKA Damage Shield, with a Suppress to... well, suppress the effect to a degree. Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted April 24, 2018 Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 Well I had a thread about using Drain to break items and THAT got into a lot of disagreement. Mainly that even though you can break a item using Drain body per Raw, some try to say that the item would still recover (like a normal drain). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Rose Posted April 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 5 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said: Well I had a thread about using Drain to break items and THAT got into a lot of disagreement. Mainly that even though you can break a item using Drain body per Raw, some try to say that the item would still recover (like a normal drain). I dunno, that makes sense to me. I'd say that only unimportant things can be permanently broken using Drain, though. This was actually in a book. Unless I've reached the point where I am dreaming so lucidly I can actually read it. I mean, I can actually see (in my head) the text in the right-hand column and everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted April 24, 2018 Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 Black Rose I did look in fifth revised and couldn’t find as an example in the side bar of what you are looking for. Could it be in a Super mage supplement? And as a correction, my last post should have said Dispel not Drain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted April 24, 2018 Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 16 hours ago, Black Rose said: I dunno, that makes sense to me. I'd say that only unimportant things can be permanently broken using Drain, though. This was actually in a book. Unless I've reached the point where I am dreaming so lucidly I can actually read it. I mean, I can actually see (in my head) the text in the right-hand column and everything. I remember a gadget-breaking power in one of the martial arts books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWolf Posted April 27, 2018 Report Share Posted April 27, 2018 If the aura only manifests when casting a spell you could use side effects to simulate it. Then take a complication for the character so he is affected even when he is not casting spells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 On 4/23/2018 at 5:26 PM, Black Rose said: This is one of my least-preferred threads to find -- the "I read this somewhere, but now I can't find it. Find it for meee!" request. My apologies. I am 99.9% sure (though that is slowly shrinking) that I read in a HERO System book a short (maybe a column or so) discussion of a spell casters' aura interfering with technology. I might be wrong about this point, but I think there was an example of both a "pure Complication, can't twist it to your use" version and a "PITA, but can sometimes use it for your own benefit" version. I first found it looking for a good example of a gremlin to use for a summoning spell; I was surprised that the Bestiary doesn't have one. I have also seen a thread here that used a 1-pt RKA Damage Shield, with a Suppress to... well, suppress the effect to a degree. Can anyone help? You can find this discussed in Urban Fantasy Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Rose Posted May 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 21 hours ago, Steve said: You can find this discussed in Urban Fantasy Hero. Ah, finally found it under Physical Limitation. Very frustrating that it never came up anywhere else, especially considering the sheer number of Harry Dresden quotes in the book. OTOH, the description suggests using, "Suppress, usually from 1-3d6 (similar to the amount of Unluck dice as outlined above), Damage Shield, Invisible Power Effects, Reduced Endurance, Persistent, Always On, Only Affects Technology (-1)." Since you gotta keep the END cost for Suppress now, that won't quite work. I suppose you could use Drain... If you Drain an inanimate thing down to "nothing", and then the Drained points return, is it fine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drunkonduty Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 There was a recent discussion here about Dispel & foci. Some said that Dispel would destroy the focus. Some said it should only turn it off. Drain has similar issues. I believe that a Drain on BOD that does 2x the focus's BOD would destroy the focus. Anything less than that and the device recovers from it. How an inanimate object is meant to recover without outside help I don't know. How about a fully invisible RKA with 0 range that only effects tech? Make it AVLD with the DEF being dependent on how high tech the item is, with lower tech items get more DEF. This bypasses the recovery problem. Also only a little BOD damage needs to get through to start making the device lose powers. The question I have now is, is it a power the player should pay points for or is it a disadvantage that they should get points for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 If you Drain an item to 0 Body then it’s broken until repaired. drunkonduty and Vanguard 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 I'd go with 1-3d6 Unluck and Luck only vs Items younger than me maybe put a time limitation of 1hr presence needed-1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drunkonduty Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 18 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said: If you Drain an item to 0 Body then it’s broken until repaired. Oh yeah! I stand corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted May 9, 2018 Report Share Posted May 9, 2018 It’s no biggie. But I did go some rounds with some posters because they ignore this exception and had fast that an object should heal back as normal. To be fair though CC says items may be considered broken not are broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted May 9, 2018 Report Share Posted May 9, 2018 Sorry for the thread derail and my venting. My bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher R Taylor Posted May 17, 2018 Report Share Posted May 17, 2018 I would just call this a campaign feature: people with magic have no luck with tech (unluck) and eventually cause it to break down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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