Zed-F

Ok, that's fairly close to what I thought. It might be more clear (at least IMHO) to write "affected by DEX and SPD Drains (-1/4)" for all your DEX-related powers rather than using that semi-arcane linked structure. Additionally, as it stands, you're not getting any point break on your DEX for it being vulnerable to SPD drains.

I was just wondering why there is a linked modifier between several of your character's stats and powers, and her Dex. On first glance, it's not quite obvious what the limitation is supposed to be. Is it so that if your Dex gets drained, it affects all the linked powers/characteristics as well? Normally you can only use a linked power in proportion to the power it's linked to, so that would make sense. Since the greater power is not just constant, it's 0 END and persistent, I'm not sure what the limitation would be otherwise.

She doesn't have Mind Scan -- at least, not at this time. She's not a traditional mentalist, she's an electrokineticist. Sight is her only targeting sense. (Mental sense is by default not targeting.) I fully expect to occasionally blind teammates and innocent bystanders as a result of the flash. That will likely happen far more often than blinding enemies, unless something has gone seriously wrong. Her main defense is invisibility, and all her mental powers are IPE or BoECV, so she probably will not be in melee combat to begin with. Moreover, the flash will give her general location away in addition to blinding her. Anyone that does get flashed as a result of her side effect gets the benefit of flash defense, whereas she does not (even if she had any.)

It took me a while to come up with an idea for a SPD-enhancing power (as opposed to just buying extra SPD, which I didn't want to do) but I eventually wound up changing it: from +2 SPD, only for mental actions (-1/2), for 13 RP to +4 SPD, costs END to activate (-1/4), RSR (-0), Side Effect (Flash, AOE, self & environment, -1 1/4) for 16 RP. Does that sound more to your liking?

And how often do real jet aircraft destroy property while taking off and landing? Better yet, how about VTOL craft, which is what your jetpack is? All you need is a relatively small patch of a city street or country road and you have no problems at all. Point your jet straight down, and your exhaust only affects the hex you're standing in; even if you say it's conforming, 7 hexes will still only affect a 2" radius. A nice quiet intersection is about a 2" radius, and even if you can't find one that's perfectly quiet, most people will stop driving into an intersection that a jet-powered vehicle is about to land in, so unless it's bumper-to-bumper it's probably not too hard to find somewhere to land. That's assuming you're not attacking from the air in the first place, which is probably the most likely case since you have extra SPD while flying, in which case there's nothing around to feel the effects of your exhaust unless you get knocked back into a building or something. The fact that your jet exhaust might set something on fire might be worth a limitation, but not -1 3/4 in my book. Again, though, if your GM says it's ok, it's his call. I agree with Speedball about making sure that that limitation really is a limitation, though.

7" is only 14m, so unless you're inside (in which case you are unlikely to be flying in the first place) it's quite easy to avoid having that hit anything significant -- just gain a bit of altitude first thing when you liftoff and fly along the streets. I don't agree with taking a -1 3/4 limitation for a side effect that's easily manageable, doesn't affect the character directly, and can provide you with a combat advantage, to boot. If someone sneaks up behind you, you activate the jetpack, fry them, then turn around and blast them with your uber-chain-gun-pistols to boot. A side effect that is basically no more than a free attack is not kosher in my book, regardless of what's in TUV or UMV. That's not to say I'm entirely against side effects that affect the environment, but you'd better have a very convincing story, and it helps if the side effects affect the character too (so he's not at a combat advantage.) The side effect is supposed to be a limitation, so you'd better be aware that the GM is going to treat it as such, especially if it's a big one. I don't agree with taking substantial limitations for buying your equipment according to heroic rules, if you're playing in a superheroic game. If you are not using encumbrance rules, you get no limitation for how your gear encumbers your character. If you are playing with heroic rules, why are you buying your gear with points instead of with money? Sorry, the whole thing smacks of munchkinism to me. But, it's your game (or your GM's game) so feel free to disregard if you're so inclined.

Does a persistent power that requires a skill roll automatically become a constant power?

Re: TK conundrum If he buys Uncontrolled STR, and just wants to be able to increase mass by touching it, I would rule that he doesn't need to buy continuous or range to acheive the effect he is looking for. STR is already continuous to some degree (e.g. Grab) and an uncontrolled attack doesn't require the character to do anything to maintain the power other than feed it END to start with. Might be good to ask a question about it on the rules forum if you want to investigate further, though.

If I have a multipower with the ability to run 2 full-strength powers out of it, e.g. a 90 AP reserve with all 45 AP powers, and I have a major side effect that affects all slots and thus the reserve, is that a 60 AP side effect (based on slot size) or a 90 AP side effect (based on reserve size)?

If I have a multipower with the ability to run 2 full-strength powers out of it, e.g. a 60 AP reserve with all 30 AP powers, and I have a major side effect that affects all slots and thus the reserve, is that a 30 AP side effect (based on slot size) or a 60 AP side effect (based on reserve size)?

That's extra phase, not full phase. Extra phase, it happens at the end of your next phase. Full phase, it happens at the same time it would have otherwise (on your dex in the phase in which you activated it), BUT it takes your full phase and you can't do anything else in that phase (e.g. half-move.) You said, Under most circumstances, a small extra time limitation is similarly pretty meaningless in non-combat time. Especially one like full phase, which doesn't actually have any effect at all on how long it takes to do something -- just on how many things you can do at the same time. I guess I wasn't sufficiently clear, I was asking how you would model a character whose mental reaction speed was faster than his physical reaction speed. I suppose you'd just buy a (relatively) high INT and low DEX, without reference to SPD?

I probably would not allow the side effect on the flight. FREd specifically frowns upon side effects which can provide a combat advantage, such as damaging another character. I would rule the mass limitation on the armour as a -0 limitation in a superheroic campaign as it will almost never have any impact on play -- encumbrance is almost never considered in superheroic games. The -1/4 for real armour is enough to represent the limitations of having real armour (including its mass.) I suppose the extra stealth is supposed to represent camouflage-like effects on the costume. I'm not sure I'd allow the "Only in darkness and shadow" modifier, but you might replace it with "Only vs. sight-based stealth rolls" for the same -1/2 lim. Certainly you would have to pay 3 points per skill level before limitations as per FREd. Personally, I would think you might prefer nightvision (see FREd) to ultravision, as that more accurately represents realistic military gear. For your radio perception, I would write the "Audible" lim as "affected as Hearing and Radio", which conforms to the format in FREd p. 85. It's probably still worth -1/4 though. Personally I wouldn't allow a machine pistol with a "real weapon" limitation to be a 3d6 RKA. No such real weapon exists, nor anything even close. An autofire micromissile launcher might be a better idea if you want a 3d6 RKA, or maybe at most 1 1/2d6 for a "real weapon" machine pistol. Moreover, a 125 AP attack is probably outside the permissible range for most campaigns (not as much of a big deal if it's an NPC though.) I would also not allow the STR minimum for a superheroic campaign; heroic rules are not designed for superheroic gear.

STR, Only to Hold Down, by default only works if he has to keep touching it in order for it to stay heavy. Maybe you could add Uncontrolled to allow it to stay anchored once it's been anchored, but you'd still have to work out END cost to do so, means to de-anchor, etc. Probably by the time you worked it out, it would cost the same as the TK in the end.

He wants to increase an object's mass, not decrease it. A 60 STR TK, only to pull objects to the earth (or the nearest gravity well) might be more appropriate. This is especially true if he wants to be able to touch something, increase its mass, and have it stay heavy as long as he maintains the power.

There are lots of limitations that are pretty much meaningless outside of segmented time. How about Extra time, takes full phase? Yet we still allow those sorts of limitations on all kinds of powers. Just to add my 2 cents to the debate, the character's major power is Multiform on a technological focus, and it is *not* a mental power. She definitely has stuff she wants to be doing other than using mental attacks. Moreover, her mental powers are all 45 AP powers in a multipower, and I don't think she has a single attack above 3d6. (This on a 200-pt. low-powered super.) Her mental powers are useful when she needs to be stealthy, or when she's caught without her Multiform focus & needs to deal with a thug or a low-powered agent, but they are not the be-all and end-all of the character. Most of the time, when in combat, she would prefer to switch to a more combat-effective form as soon as it was convenient to do so. Also, all her continuous powers (and most of her other ones) are bought to 0 END, so the question of END cost doesn't come into play. If they were not, I would make her pay END for continuous powers in all her phases. My concept of how physical vs. mental actions works is that she gets to take physical actions on phases that are common to SPD 2 only, since that's her physical SPD. That's why I chose a multiple of her base SPD to buy up to. As far as physical actions lasting during mental phases goes, that is a very good question and raises some interesting thoughts. I would say that the physical SFX may last throughout if it's a continous physical action (eg. running,) but the character gains no further benefits from the action once the mental phase arrives if she takes her mind off what she was doing physically and takes a mental action. So if she blocks in phase 6, she would have the benefit of the block until phase 9; after that, if she took a mental action, her body may still be "blocking", but her mind is somewhere else and so she cannot block effectively. If she wants to keep blocking, she must keep her mind on what she is doing, so she would have to take no mental actions in phase 9. How this interacts with held actions would work normally; IIRC a martial artist who dodges in phase X and holds his phase Y action retains the benefit of the dodge until he takes his phase Y action, so the same would apply here. -1/2 seems appropriate to me under the circumstances. If you don't like it, how would you build it?

Regarding the non-persistent lim, I don't really expect to use it, as I don't have a good in-character reason for it. I was just thinking that it seemed to have munchkin potential. It's basically the same as Costs End to Activate, without the END cost. Regarding the extra SPD, only for mental powers, this is for a character with no physical training, a physical disability, and a base SPD of 2. She is, however, relatively intelligent; her mind simply works faster than her body's physical reaction speed. The extra SPD for mental powers seemed to be the best way to represent this. Besides, in order to be properly heroic, a SPD higher than 2 is in order. It seems like a -1/2 lim is the right answer. Thanx.

I have a mentalist that has some extra speed only for using mental powers. I'm guessing at a value for the limitation at -1/2, since the character can't move, dodge/block, recover, or use any non-mental powers or attacks on those phases. Does that sound about right? Is there any reason I should/shouldn't make it non-persistent SPD as well? (Leaving character conception aside for the moment.)

Supposing I have an attack that's defined as a +3d6 HA, usable by others. Say I use it to enchant someone else's attack such that extra fire damage is done when he strikes someone. How does that work if: 1. The recipient attacks someone with his own HA, e.g. club, punch, etc. 2. The recipient attacks someone with a HKA, e.g. sword, etc. 3. The recipient attacks someone with a no range (touch) attack, e.g. a no range EB spell, contact poison, etc. My first inclination would be to treat the attack as a multiple-power attack, is that correct? If so, can the attacker's STR be added to both attacks? If not, should the damage from the 3d6 HA be calculated separately and added to the original attack, or should it add DCs to the original attack?

I'm pretty sure metallic objects only counts as a -1/2 lim according to FREd.

Here's another possible thing to check out: I noticed that Zardoz has concentration 0 DCV on his multipower, which means each slot has concentration 0 DCV. But, while looking up concentration, I see that it indicates that a character using a power requiring concentration cannot use another power with concentration. So, you might need to remove that limitation from the multipower if you want him to be able to use more than one slot at a time (as the 120 point reserve would suggest.)

How about absolute range sense, linked to clairsentience?

Some details on the 2 options. The effect I'm trying to achieve is a small group of ball lightnings are created and swarm to attack a target. They can attack multiple times and will last until dispersed with a wind, water, or electrical attack, or until they strike a well-grounded target, at which point they explode for more damage. They can also be set to guard a particular area. They are composed of burning hot ionized gas, and inflict burn damage both on the exterior surface of the body and through inhalation/bodliy orificies. In addition to some minor powers and a small amount of flight, the summon (automaton) would have the following primary powers (both 90 AP): Plasma Body: Desolid (Affected by Electricity, Wind, Water), 0 END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Innate (+1/4), Not through solids (-1/2), Not in contact with well-grounded objects (-1/4), Always on (-1/2) Plasma Burn: 1/2d6 EHKA (10 AP Base, 90 AP Adjusted), Affects Solids (+2), NND vs. Force Field (+1), Does BODY (+1), 0 END (+1/2), Area: One Hex (+1/2), Accurate (+0), Continuous (+1), Persistent (+1/2), Inherent (+1/4), HTH Damage Shield (+3/4), 1d6+1 Stun Multiple (+1/2), Side Effect: 90 AP power [RKA explosion, one hex area], when attacking well-grounded target, -3/4), Always On (-1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), No STR/Move bonus (-1/2) The attack power would look something like this (80AP). Note that this loses out on the explosion for extra damage when attacking a well-grounded target, unless I buy extra dice to add to this with the limitation, only against well-grounded targets: Ball Lightning attack: 1/2d6 ERKA, NND vs. Force Field (+1), Does BODY (+1), 0 END (+1), Area: One Hex (+1/2), Accurate (+0), Continuous (+1), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Autofire x5 (+1 1/2), Variable Trigger (+1/2). No KB (-1/4), all autofire attacks against same target (-1/4), full phase (-1/2), not in high winds (-1/4) Of the two, the ball lightning as an attack seems more powerful (i.e. abusive) to me, since: overall it costs considerably less & is more efficient there is no limit on how fast the lightning balls can track the target there is no limit to the number of lightning balls that can be summoned. However, there are no practical alternatives to 0 END. Since the power's AP value is quite high, 1/2 END cost is insufficient to reduce the END cost to a reasonable level, and charges is not appropriate for the SFX. The summon's main advantage is it's difficult to get rid of without appropriate powers. (This is also true of the uncontrolled attack.) However, it's quite slow & relatively easy to evade, and its attack doesn't do a lot of damage, despite the high AP value, unless the target does something to ground himself. A straight 18d6 EB is far more impressive. Personally I think the summon is a lot more likely as an allowable candidate to acheive the effect I'm looking for. Any comments?

I am trying to create a ball lightning effect for one of my characters. I want the lightning to be able to act independently of the character to a limited degree (e.g. guard a location, etc.) Currently I am treating this as a summon automaton, whose main powers are desolidification and a (small) affects solids damage shield. The damage shield also has a side effect such that if it is used against a well-grounded target, the ball lightning explodes for extra damage (but destroying the ball lightning.) Another possibility would be to use an attack power to do the job. The problem is, in order for it to work the way I envision it, I would have to buy it as a 0 END Uncontrolled attack with a variable trigger. I don't know about you, but I tend to be leery of uncontrolled 0 END attacks. Which would you prefer to see a PC bring to the table?

Detect Minds (with appropriate adders) works.

I am creating a ball lightning construct to act as a summon. Its main powers are Desolid (0 END, Persistent, Inherent, Always On), and a Damage Shield (0 END, Persistent, Inherent, Always On) with a RKA Side Effect Explosion (no range) which occurs when the damage shield activates against a grounded conductive object. The special effect of the RKA is the ball of lightning explodes against whatever conductive object it hit. The explosion should be large enough to eliminate the ball lightning's BODY. Obviously the side effect should affect the physical world, and ought to be reasonably impressive. Here are some questions: 1) Can I take a Side effect that's greater than the largest given AP value for the side effect? I assume in that case I'd still max out at a -1 base value for the limitation (so with the limited circumstance, that's a -3/4 limitation.) 2) Do I need to buy Affects Solids for the side effect? Since in FREd p.165 it mentions that Inherent powers can be turned off, should I assume that the desolidification is automatically turned off with the ball lightning's final self-immolation? Or should I make up some custom limitation on the Desolid such that it automatically turns off when the damage shield contacts a grounded conductive object?