Is this a thing?

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

I feel these are disparate enough that they can't be grouped into a single mechanic. 

 

Holy Bolt is basically "Heal friendly" stapled to "Harm undead".  I'd have a player build that as Healing Selective (+1/4) Linked (-1/2) to Blast Limited to Undead (-varies by campaign) Linked to preceding (-1/2).  I'd also demand they buy Ranged Detect Friendly and Ranged Detect Undead both Limited to Determining Power Effect (-2). 

 

Chaos Bomb is too much rolling for one power and I'd veto it.  If it were "each use, randomly determine one effect that applies to all in area" I'd say to build it as a Multipower with NCC (-1) on the reserve.  Any "dud" slots like the bluing effect should be an activation roll on the reserve instead of being actual slots, with a failed activation roll meaning "harmless but strange effect".  Any "reverse effect" slots like a healing effect would be Side Effect and aforementioned activation roll. 

 

Touch of Nature sounds like Variable Effect but moreso, so just apply Variable Effect twice and call it a day. 

 

Ghost Bolt is Blast Limited to Undead (-varies by campaign) Indirect (+1/2 but - 1/4).  I'd demand the aforementioned Detect. 

[Doc Democracy]

1 hour ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I'm not sure how much it should be, probably not a huge amount since autoswapping isn't an enormous advantage, sort of a really dedicated trigger.  I'm thinking +¼?

 

There are two questions here, not one.  I am of the opinion that if I had a multipower and, when I wanted to use it, it fired off a random power that this would be a limitation rather than an advantage.  I am losing utility.

 

Now, when you add area effect or autofire to the multipower reserve then you hit multiple targets and each advantage here has differing costs based on how difficult it is to hit each target after the first.  The effect on each target being random, to me, still smacks of being a limitation.  I would also question, if you used area effect or autofire whether each target would get a different effect (though I would be inclined to count the randomisation being +0 in either way).  You might decide to implement a fancy trigger - if the multipower is used then it triggers an attack versus every opponent in a set area.  That allows multiple attacks, with the relevant END being spent, and the randomisation is already built in.

 

Doc 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Lets keep it simple.  One power with two possible alternate effects depending on the target. 

[Ninja-Bear]

14 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Actually an idea occurred to me.

 

What if this was an advantage on Multipower.  Bear with me here.

 

What if you bought an advantage on multipower that let it automatically swap slots when used based on the target?  That way you're paying not only for the power but each slot it can swap to on its own, and the more slots you have, the more expensive it can get (since you would buy it on each slot that applies). 

 

So you buy your Multipower as usual

 

50 MULTIPOWER (various effects) + advantage that makes it autochoose when used

5f  5 damage class killing attack (only affects undead) +advantage

5f  5d6 heal body +advantage

 

I'm not sure how much it should be, probably not a huge amount since autoswapping isn't an enormous advantage, sort of a really dedicated trigger.  I'm thinking +¼?

What comes to my mind is Trigger and it’s advantages 0 time to reset. Perhaps looking at Trigger would help?

[Christopher R Taylor]

Trigger could help, as I mentioned its kind of like a dedicated trigger, but this acts a bit differently since its swapping multipower slots based on the target.

[Doc Democracy]

As has been said before, I have little issue with random but when you begin to discriminate between targets then you are potentially getting a detect sense for free.  Is it possible that discrimination might not work?  You are potentially creating exploits left right and centre...

[Ninja-Bear]

Christopher Taylor Holy Bolt on my campaign would just be 3D6 Healing because Undead already have a Complication taking Damage from Holy and or Healing.

 

Another idea though would be 3D6 Healing and have a side effect 6D6 Blast vs Undead.

 

[Grailknight]

On 2/6/2019 at 11:37 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

Lets keep it simple.  One power with two possible alternate effects depending on the target. 

 

I have to agree with Doc Democracy here. This is effectively a Multiple Power Attack and can easily become too useful and abusive. In fact the rules of  5th and 6th specifically forbid using a Multipower in this way.

 

For example, adding area affect let's you heal all allies and damage all enemies on a battlefield with one action. The "randomness" being built in makes the Selective Advantage unnecessary and functions as a Detect after the effect.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

when you begin to discriminate between targets then you are potentially getting a detect sense for free.  Is it possible that discrimination might not work?

 

if this was built with trigger, then it could only discern between targets that the character can perceived; trigger goes off the PC's senses.

 

I don't know where on earth people are getting the "multiple power attack" concept from, that's ridiculous.  That's attacking several times with different powers, not one power that has different effects.  You're not blasting both the zombie and the warrior fighting it at the same time, its one single attack.

Even if you are looking at the chaos bomb attack, its STILL not a multiple power attack because it goes off all at once, and hits everything in an area.  This isn't someone blasting everyone in the area with a different power, you can't even do that with a random/no conscious control power in any case.

[Hugh Neilson]

7 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 don't know where on earth people are getting the "multiple power attack" concept from, that's ridiculous.  That's attacking several times with different powers, not one power that has different effects.  You're not blasting both the zombie and the warrior fighting it at the same time, its one single attack.

Even if you are looking at the chaos bomb attack, its STILL not a multiple power attack because it goes off all at once, and hits everything in an area.  This isn't someone blasting everyone in the area with a different power, you can't even do that with a random/no conscious control power in any case.

 

There is a terminology issue here.  Multiple Power Attack is not a 6e term at all (I just searched for it).

 

By the 6e rules, I would suggest it is a Combined Attack, using two or more powers (like a Blast and a Heal) once against a single target.  In the case of the Holy Bolt, those two attacks happen to be Linked so they must be used together, and are Limited in a fashion that only one of the two will actually affect the target.  It is still a combined attack.

 

The Chaos Bomb very much is "blasting everyone in the area with a different mechanical Power - you listed the different mechanical Powers.    The Chaos Bomb power is a combination of multiple Powers that affect everyone in an area, limited such that each target is affected by only one Power.  [note "power" is "ability on the character sheet", such as Holy Blast or Chaos Bomb; Power is the game mechanic used to construct those powers on the character sheet, coming from the Powers section of the rule book, such as "Transform:  turn target blue; Blast; Heal).