Multiple Defenses

[Rapier]

I'll admit that this whole AD&D (1st Edition) conversion is really pushing me. I've found a bunch of oddities in HD that Simon patched, and a bunch of really strange questions. It's actually been pretty enjoyable.

 

I've done more digging to try and find the answer myself but no dice...so here it this morning's quandry:

 

AD&D was fond of the total effects (magic missiles ALWAYS hit, some spells are save or DIE!) that Hero doesn't do (which I admit is nice, it always sucked to have a world renowned uber powerful character instantly destroyed for flubbing a single die roll), but there are some effects that do need that kind of total effect to keep the flavour. So I'm working on Phantasmal Killer from the Illusionist spells. In short, it is "cast an illusion that is so terrifying that if the illusory monster lands and attack you die." I started a build with Mental Illusions, but I was concerned that this would require a lot of work on the GMs part to decide on-the-fly what OCV/DCV, damage, etc the monster would have. Us GMs have enough to worry about without having to not only come up with all this but track it. So I was thinking that I could even keep the flavour of the AD&D version by using Transform. At least, right now, that is my intent. I may go back to Mental Illusions as I ponder this.

 

Anyway, so I've got a 2d6 Severe Transform and every time the 'Monster' lands an attack (with OCV 5) the poor victim takes 2d6 Severe Transform effect and if the 'Monster' lands enough damage to hit the Transform threshold they die BUT this is still a mental attack. So I'm using AVAD Power Defence -> Mental Defence, but I think I might want to also allow Power Defence (since that is how I've defined generic 'Magic Defence'). I guess what I'm rambling on about is that I'm trying to build a Transform that can be defended by Power Defence AND Mental Defence. 

 

Even if I decide to go back to Illusions for this, I'll need these builds going forward. Since I'm using Power Defence as the "Magic Defence" I'll need to know how to handle EGO attacks (erg, I mean Mental Blasts...I'm old school) that can be defended by either Mental Defence and/or Power Defence.

 

So how do I build it? How much is it worth? If a character has both Power and Mental Defence, do they add? Do they use the higher value?

 

Normally, I would just make a decision and move on, but since I'm leaning towards Sourcebook I want to make sure I'm being fair and doing things properly (which means I bug you).

 

Hope you are having a good day, it's still 0 here and the snow is thick on the ground! Oh and THANKS!

[Steve Long]

If I understand you, this all boils down to a simple question:  how do I build a power that either of two (or more) forms of defense can protect the target against?

 

The answer to that is:  I swear I have addressed this issue before, but I'll be damned if I can find it right now. So I reserve the right to change this answer if and when I do find it (or someone reading this remembers where it is and tells me  ). You can represent this by taking a Limitation, Multiple Defenses Apply, for the offensive power being used. Typically this is worth -1/4, but the GM can alter that value based on how common the second defense is in the campaign.