Variable Advantage Help

[Syberdwarf2]

A player of mine recently submitted a character to me for review, and I had a little trouble figuring out one of his powers. Okay, here it is...

 

Characteristic

30 STR 20

 

Powers

52 Variable Advantage; +3/4 (+1 1/2) on 30 STR, (7, 4, or 0 END)

 

Okay. 30 STR. 20 points. (If I can't figure that out, I don't need to be playing.)

Seriously, when I looked up VA, I read the description pretty thouroughly. I understand how it works as an advantage, but for some stupid reason I just don't understand the power write-up. How do you put an advantage on the characteristics? How would you figure up the BAR (base, active, real) costs on STR as a characteristic. I know that STR can be bought as a power, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Am I looking at this right or did I have a brain fart?

[Monolith]

I think you are having a brain fart. All the character is doing is putting a Naked Advantage on 30 STR. The Base from which the Naked Advantage is working from is 30. So in this instance the Naked Advantage (Variable Advantage) should cost 45 additional points, not 52 (30 (base) *2.5 (variable advantage) = 75 - 30 (base) = 45 (cost of Naked Advantage)).

[Lord Liaden]

Any Advantage on a Characteristic is figured on what that amount of a Characteristic would cost, not what the character actually payed for it. Let's say a character had 10 STR (the free beginning amount) but wanted to buy it to 0 END, a +1/2 Advantage. Since STR is 1 Char. Pt. per point of STR, 0 END would require an additional 5 Char. Points, even though the character payed nothing for his STR as such. The same holds true for any Advantage that might be applied to STR.

 

I agree with Monolith's math as to what this Advantage should cost - I don't know where the player came up with 52 pts. However, this wouldn't necessarily be a Naked Advantage; the player could make this a plain Advantage on his Strength, applying the different Variable Advantages from Phase to Phase as appropriate. The END Cost he quotes indicates that he's including Reduced Endurance at the Half and Zero levels as part of the Variable Advantages.

[JmOz]

As said above, Plus his 1/2 END is off by 1, it should be 3. The one thing to make sure of is that he includes a list of Var Advantages he can use...trust me you want it...

 

As for the BAR:

 

Base Points: 30 (Points of Str)

Active: 75 (30 with a +1.5 Advantage)

Real: 65 (20 for Str, 45 for Advantage)

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

The 52 Points came from a brain fart.

 

My mind wandered back to 4th ed where Var Advanatage was = to advantage cost + 1. So Var Advantage + 3/4 was +1 3/4.

 

Believe me I felt silly once I spotted that mistake.

 

Oh and Hi SD.

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by Vanderbilt_Grad

The 52 Points came from a brain fart.

 

But the real question is...... who farted?!?!

 

Okay, so let me get this straight. I'll try to use a slightly different exampe to make sure I got it.

Generic Man has been built with a 25 DEX. In his 'Powers' section on his writeup, he has listed:

 

Variable Advantage +1/2

 

This comes out as a +1 modifier. So to figure it out, we look at the points paid for the DEX score, which is 45 points. This is also base cost for the purpose of figuring the naked advantage cost. So.....

 

45 (cost of characteristic) times 2 (1 plus the modifier) = 90 active points. The Active cost minus the 'base' gives you the real, final, quit-looking-at-me-in-that-tone-of-voice cost.

 

So, VA of 1/2 as a naked advantage on a 25 DEX would cost 45 points.

 

Did I get it this time?

[Lord Liaden]

Not quite.

 

If you're going to put an Advantage on the whole amount of a Characteristic, you have to look at what that Characteristic would cost without the initial free amount to determine what the unmodified Base Points would be. In the case of DEX, each point would cost three Character Points, so 25 points of DEX would cost 75 Char. Pts. You include the cost for the base 10 DEX that the character doesn't pay for, because the Advantage applies to that as well.

 

So, putting a +1 Advantage on all of it would bring the cost to 75 x 2 = 150 Char. Pts. Subtracting the Base Cost, that makes the cost of the Advantage 75 Char. Pts. To get the total Real Points paid for DEX plus the Advantage, you'd subtract the initial free 10 DEX which comes to 30 Char. Pts., making the Real Points 120 (45 pts. to raise the DEX to 25, plus 75 pts. for the Advantage on 25 DEX).

 

The figures you used would be appropriate if you wanted the Advantage to apply just to the DEX above 10 that you paid for.

 

Let me give you a slightly different example: All characters start with a free 6" of Running which they pay no points for. Using that running costs 1 END. Now buying 6" of Running would cost 12 Char. Pts. If you don't want your base Running to cost END, you'd have to buy a +1/2 Reduced Endurance Advantage on those "phantom" 12 Character Points. 12 x 1.5 = 18 Char. Pts., minuse the 12 Base Points = 6 Char. Pts. for the Advantage. So, it costs 6 pts. to bring your base Running to 0 END, even though your base Running didn't cost you anything. If you added extra inches of Running, you'd still have to account for the initial free amount when applying any Advantages to all of it.

 

Did that make sense?

[Syberdwarf2]

Now I get it. Thanx everybody.

[Farkling]

Forget the complicated stuff...

 

6" Running = 12 character points.

0 END (+1/2 Advantage) => 12 Points * .5 = 6 pts cost. Active Cost is 12 + 6 = 18.

 

50 STR at 0 END = 50 pts * .5 = 25 pts. Active Cost = 50+25 = 75

 

45 DEX with +1 Advantage = 45 * 3 = 135 cp * 1 = 135 pts. Active Cost is 135+135 = 270.

 

100 END with a +1/2 advantage = 100*.5 = 50 cp * 1/2 = 25 pts.Active = 50 + 25 = 75 AP.

 

Get my drift?