Powers don't work in bright light

[Steffen]

Hello!

 

One of my players wants to play a darkness themed character whose powers don't work in very bright light and stop working when he gets attacked with light-based powers. How can this be built?

 

I'm thinking about a Physical Complication (Infrequently; Fully Impairing) and/or a -1/4 Conditional Power Limitation on relevant powers.

 

Thank you!

[dsatow]

How bright is bright?

•  Daylight bright?
• Classroom or office building bright?
• An average living room bright?
• Would a maglight cancel his powers?
• How about a handheld spot light?

I wouldn't treat it as a physical complication and I would give it a much higher level of limitation unless you are just going to be running games at night in shadowy alleyways.  Mankind is very adept at chasing away the darkness in a physical sense.  Heroes are needed to chase away the other type.

 

[IndianaJoe3]

The canonical way is to buy all the relevant powers with the Conditional Power limitation you described, with the value depending on how often the situation comes up. (The -1/4 level would mean it doesn't come up often - bright sun, a floodlit stage, etc.) Taking it as a Physical Complication is an interesting idea, but I don't know how it would work in-game.

[Doc Democracy]

I remember having a character with a psychological complication of believing his powers did not work under certain circumstances.  It was interesting as it lead to A-Team style circumstances where the team would look to get round this psychological disorder and allow the character to utilise the power they needed.  Much fun, though it does need the player to be tuned into the game you want to play.

 

Doc

[Steffen]

3 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

I remember having a character with a psychological complication of believing his powers did not work under certain circumstances.  It was interesting as it lead to A-Team style circumstances where the team would look to get round this psychological disorder and allow the character to utilise the power they needed.  Much fun, though it does need the player to be tuned into the game you want to play.

 

Doc

 

The player in question also wants his character to have hallucinations of a being talking to him, demanding to use his powers for evil. He doesn't want to give in, just be distracted by the demands. I expect this to be another challenge for the group and me as the GM...

[Steffen]

17 hours ago, dsatow said:

How bright is bright?

•  Daylight bright?
• Classroom or office building bright?
• An average living room bright?
• Would a maglight cancel his powers?
• How about a handheld spot light?

I wouldn't treat it as a physical complication and I would give it a much higher level of limitation unless you are just going to be running games at night in shadowy alleyways.  Mankind is very adept at chasing away the darkness in a physical sense.  Heroes are needed to chase away the other type.

 

 

He defined "bright light" as standing outside on a very sunny and cloudless summer day or standing under a floodlight. I think the idea is that the character gets illuminated from all sides, similar to what IndianaJoe3 wrote. I don't think that this will happen very often so I went for the -1/4 Limitation.

[Hugh Neilson]

3 hours ago, Steffen said:

 

The player in question also wants his character to have hallucinations of a being talking to him, demanding to use his powers for evil. He doesn't want to give in, just be distracted by the demands. I expect this to be another challenge for the group and me as the GM...

 

The question then becomes how often this will impact the character, and how.  As an extreme example, if he is constantly distracted, and needs to roll 14- each time he gets a phase or he can do nothing new, just maintain ongoing events, I would call that a major limitation - very common; huge impact; 25 points.  If, maybe once a turn, he is distracted and suffers -2 OCV, -2 DCV, that's less frequent and less significant, so maybe 10 - 15 points.  It may be as minor as "talks to imaginary being" Distinctive Features for 5 or 10 points.  Or it may be some minor personality quirk with no point value, and no real adverse effects.

 

He has defined the special effect.  Now define the mechanical effect, and price a Complication accordingly.  This seems like a player who may need clarification that YOU THE PLAYER define how much these issues are worth by YOU THE PLAYER defining how often they will affect you, and how significant the impact will be.  My job as GM is to deliver the challenges from this complication as often, and with effects as severe, as you instruct me by the point value you place on it.

 

2 hours ago, Steffen said:

 

He defined "bright light" as standing outside on a very sunny and cloudless summer day or standing under a floodlight. I think the idea is that the character gets illuminated from all sides, similar to what IndianaJoe3 wrote. I don't think that this will happen very often so I went for the -1/4 Limitation.

 

Sounds reasonable - again, if he wants a higher limitation, he is essentially telling you he wants it to happen  more often.  Lots of adventures on bright summer days; plenty of opponents who learn of and plan to capitalize on this weakness.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

I'm thinking about a Physical Complication (Infrequently; Fully Impairing) and/or a -1/4 Conditional Power Limitation on relevant powers.

 

Might be worth more depending on the time period and location of the campaign.  How often are the games outside?  Is the game set in a big city?  Modern times "bright lights" are really common, particularly as most people are carrying around a phone they can turn on a flashlight setting.

[dsatow]

6 hours ago, Steffen said:

 

He defined "bright light" as standing outside on a very sunny and cloudless summer day or standing under a floodlight. I think the idea is that the character gets illuminated from all sides, similar to what IndianaJoe3 wrote. I don't think that this will happen very often so I went for the -1/4 Limitation.

 

I would suggest coming up with a lumens amount.  Lumens measure the brightness of a situation.  If the limit is about 2000 lumens, then he's probably safe out of direct sunlight in the shade on a cloudless day.  But 2000 lumens could be created with a few 100 watt light bulbs.  If he's a known shadow user, most people would think to use sunlight like silver vs. a werewolf.  So a higher value might be warranted.

 

A good simple link is https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/sunglass3.htm which describes glare but gives a good explanation of the relative brightness of levels of lumens.

An example of a shadow user and people using light to overcome it is in the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5tk4oj) at the 16:40 mark.