TrickstaPriest

Re: DCV penalty to dodge? Thanks. About what I thought, I just wanted to verify. I'm using a Multipower to create a "super martial arts" type of ability, and its helpful to be able to apply that sort of thing. Now I just need to decide how to give the user minus's to DCV in the same way. I guess that'll take a bit more work. ¬_¬

I was working on a few powers, and I realized something. Some powers would technically be easier to hit with (which can be handled with Skills), but some would be harder to avoid. Now, in this situation Area (one Hex) would be overkill, but Negative Combat Skill levels seem off (since they apply for a period of time, if I remember correctly). Now, the obvious solution would be to simply add skill levels (since there wouldn't be a difference in the dice roll either way), but I was wondering about the fact that situations that halve the defenders DCV would also make the penalty less (since it'd probably apply first). I was considering making this a new Advantage/Limitation on Combat Skill Levels: Penalizes DCV instead, but I'm not sure if this should be a +0, -1/4, or what. What are people's opinion on this?

Re: Is It Worth The Points? I know that method, I know it well. It works very well with me too, though I occasionally write something in to help out a bit. Still, they manage to do things well on their own. It's one of the reasons why I don't always concern myself with what they have. You can do it occasionally, but it's usually best to let them handle that end. What annoys me is when things come together so well by accident that it makes my actual planning look shoddy. I seem to make things run better by GMing on the fly, even though it totally exhausts me. I think it means I either need to plan better, or give up most of the planning and save time.

Re: Killing Attacks vs. Energy Blasts Hmm... alright, I think I got it. One of the peculiar things is that the genre that the game is played in kind of emphasizes both KA and EB a fair amount. There are some extremely nasty and lethal abilities, but at the same time killing people can get the character in a fair bit of trouble. Thus, if people use KA, they tend to have to "pull their punches", which can make things harder for them. However, the campaign is a fair bit darker than Silver/Golden Age, and people may kill an opponent depending on their morals and "if they can get away with it." However, the intent of the attack does seem to be a good way of handling that. And thanks a whole lot with the splitting of Armor Piercing and Penetrating, Dust Raven. That distinction FINALLY makes sense to me.

I was thinking up some of the stats for a few powers I had been working on, and I discovered a problem. I couldn't really decide on whether certain powers should be killing attacks, or energy blasts; whether they should have armor piercing, penetrating, or merely be high in damage. So, I was curious to hear how people tend to split these categories up. I'm not just asking for help on the examples below, I'm also generally curious to how these categories are split by people. For some examples, for a character who can project microwaves to "cook" someone and cause their body to boil, bubble, and possibly to burst, I'd personally treat it as a Killing Attack vs. ED, but I'm not certain on that. Another attack I've been working on, the NPC hurls nearly human-sized stone battering rams at high speeds. It could be an Energy Blast... but if it's thrown fast enough, should it be treated as a Killing Attack instead? This is a rather important distinction, since the character can "wind up" over a period of time (from a phase to a turn) to hurl them even faster.

Re: What character concepts make you cringe? I can sympathize with those who get annoyed with players playing characters of the opposite gender. I allow it, but I haven't had the problems some other people have had. I generally make some allowances because it's a "fantasy", but I do tell people "no" who consistently do things like: outrageous COM scores, inhumanly flirty characters, and not distinguishing gender in the character's "romantic" interests ever (the term romantic used liberally here). I don't have anything against any of these individually, but all together they tend to represent a rather annoying concept that I see repeated by people too into their fantasies. Once, maybe, but if they do it multiple times with their concepts? I may have the occasional NPC approach this, but if so in an original way, and I'd have trouble counting more than one or two like this out of the hundred or so I've made. Fortunately, this has only come up once, and the player moved out of town after a while. I tend to get annoyed with lots of character concepts that are "omni" effect, or "steal/copy/cancel powers" effects. For example, having the ability to steal or cancel out powers is ok for a major NPC or villain, and if it is limited enough, it's good for a player. But, with incredibly strong powers like this I really require some form of common limitation. I also like people to _decide_ on a concept, instead of doing a "D&D style" mage without a specialty of some sort. It can work in some of my campaigns, but usually it is just frustrating to have to deal with. Concepts are important, especially in the way I run my games.

Re: Full Desolidification I think what attracted me to Desolid was that it affects all sorts of powers in the SFX, not just the ones that would use that particular defense. Of course, having an attack that doesn't use that defense but does use that SFX would be unusual, but since the Desolid is all based on SFX anyway I could just go "okay, although it's a mental power it sounds like it'd affect him." Of course, I would generally treat that as the SFX of the character design if Inorganic lifeforms like Dee were at all common. Still, I'm considering a different approach now, thanks to people's advice. Now, if I can just stop designing these downright BIZARRE powers for a minute or two... Nah, now that I have a power design for Gracie, I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon.

1. Well, this is what they call a "Mexican Standoff."

Hmm... interesting. I realise that a large amount of Mental Defense would work, i was just considering whether it'd be appropriate for someone who may be able to feasibly resist NND Ego Attacks as well as normal ones. Then again, it might be appropriate... I'll have to look at some of the different mentalists and "odd mentalists" and come up with a thought on that.

Hmm... very true. The range of powers in the setting is fairly diverse, it's mainly that there are very few non-humans, at least things that range out of the animal kingdom. I suppose a better definition of it would be Desolid vs. ECV, Only vs. Normal Mental Attacks. Hmm... I guess the main reason for the Desolid is, like I said, if it's an SFX that is extremely rarely occuring, I'd generally have it bought as a power. You do provide a good argument for simply leaving it as a "class of minds" though. Hmm... definitely falls into a debatable thing.

He can reason per se, but more or less like an AI. However, since it is a character itself that I am creating and trying to represent, I'm leery about using Computer or Automation rules to reflect this. Simply buying mental defenses wouldn't work too well, because it's not a matter of how strong the mental powers are, but whether they can hurt him at all. It's really the only time I allow "absolutes" in a game, and I find Desolid works well to represent absolute immunities (since the things that you can choose that can affect the character are normally based on SFX). For the disease immunity, it could be "Desolid, Only vs. Diseases -1, Can be affected by diseases that affect inorganic lifeforms." Under normal circumstances, I probably would just say that it's a certain class of minds. But if the inorganic lifeform is maybe... one of three that may be in the entire setting, I can see where that might require an entire power to relate. That is, if I simply attribute it to SFX, it would seem overly powerful. I usually just leave it to SFX when the circumstances that it takes place in aren't common. So, for an average human, electricity might cause them to go into spasms and other disorienting jerking motions for a while (Dex drain + Dmg). However, electricity in water might also have an area of effect. This I'd simply represent with SFX, maybe keeping the attack's AP the same (or lower) and just adjusting it to have Area in that circumstance. The problem is that, for the average psychic in the setting, they wouldn't be able to affect him mentally. Thus, the "average" case that ECV comes up means that he is immune to it. Looking at it from the psychic's point of view, he is restricted to "Human Minds." However, the circumstances are so rare that it is pretty much considered impossible for him to run into an AI, so it really only covers "Human vs. Animal". Thus, the "immunity" as it were seems to be more on his side than the psychic's failings (although, I know that in reality that isn't the case, I'm just trying to decide where the cost of this relationship should go). Instead of adjusting the "scope" of minds available in the setting for every psychic to affect, I'm more interested in buying this immunity for the two or three exceptions. >>As for Desol vs disease. What is damage do to "shock"? I've been playing HERO a long time and I've never heard of this. Usually, diseases/poisons and such are either bought NND/AVLD or with a Limitation: Not Versus Appropriate Life Support. All you should need is LS. Althought complete immunity is expensive, it's cheaper than Desol and easier to figure out. Err, maybe I'm remembering an older version of HERO... I remember reading that simply having Life Support immunities made you resistant to the "average" problem, but powers of that nature would still do damage to the character. But yes, that approach does make sense. That case would work better than giving him Desolid vs. Disease, since anyone in a quarantine suit would have that immunity. It still wouldn't fit for the mental attack immunity, though, since it is too rare of an occurance to warrant an adjustment to the overall workings. Hm.... if a recommended adder is +40... perhaps I could treat it as a seperate Desolid vs. ECV attacks (as opposed to OCV). The Desolid vs. ECV would be expensive (since it wouldn't likely get any Limitations on what it could affect), but it fits for what I want to do. That Desolid, and a bit of Life Support, then. Thanks everyone!

You probably get this question a lot, but I wanted to ask you since I would think you'd have a better idea on how much this potentially unbalancing Advantage is. How much should an Advantage or Adder cost to Desolidification to make it able to affect even ECV powers and gases (not senses, "Immunity" to senses would be Invisibility). I'm wondering because I have an NPC here that doesn't have a mind, so he'd be kinda "unhurtable" to pretty much any ECV attack. Since I'm using Desolid anyway to represent his immunity to most diseases (he's an inorganic life form), I think I could just add the Advantage and broaden the Disadvantage slightly. (Although I could use Life Support, he'd still take damage due to "shock", which isn't what I want for this Invulnerability.) The handy thing about Desolid is that it affects any power, not just damage, which makes it more of an SFX-style defense. He'd still be vulnerable to "Affects Incorporeal", but I was going to define that for affecting this type of power (that it only could be hurt by specialized versions of Affects Incorporeal to the desolid's SFX).

MA does seem pretty powerful in HERO as a whole. However, consider two things of note. One, it has a limit to how high it goes (maximum amount of points you can spend in a maneuver). The second is that you can only use one maneuver at a time. So, instead of picturing its cost flat, picture all the maneuvers in a Multipower that can perversely be directly added to other maneuvers. It's not MUCH better, but it is better... with that understanding, RMA can be fairly appropriate. However, both MA and RMA depend on the situation and attacks being used quite a bit, maybe more so than other abilities. So I feel it tends to even out, a least if you are careful to check over things and okay everything.

Wow, this stuff is very useful. Maybe it could be poked into another edition of UMA (*frantic waving at Steve!*). Would be helpful for Dee, since he fights on... telekinetically controlled rollerblades. He's not much of a martial artist, but he might have a few of these. *copies and pastes!*

Hmm... this is a fairly interesting thread, and I like how people have managed to discuss things fairly well without having a total breakdown. [edit] I have a pet peeve I noticed no one bring up at all. AVLD, specifically for "more common defenses." Isn't that a disadvantage? I mean, +3/4 is a lot of extra points for something that makes a power essentially weaker anyway, and that's before you look at needing a +1 addition for doing BODY. This makes a big difference to me, since I do a LOT of Advantages/Limitations based on unusual SFX. Yes, it means I tend to get downright prohibitive APs on some powers, because they tend to be stacked with quite a few advantages and disadvantages. Then again, I rather regularly come up with some downright bizarre powers. Still, to have a sonic attack that does "Dex Drain" have its dice nearly halved for using Flash Defense instead of Power Defense is rather annoying. I still need to decide what kind of an Advantage is "Heals as BODY". This is important, because it brings up another problem I have below (Transformations). Now, there is still going too far for this... like, requiring electrical attacks to have "Area when Underwater", but I generally just handle it with the "average circumstances effect." If your average someone gets hit with a lightning bolt, they are going to have a HELL of a time walking around or fighting for a bit and pity anything in their utility belt... I agree Power Defense is odd, but I find requiring "Only vs" a good way of handling that. All it really needs is a few lines outlining and recommending that. Of course, I find a lot of "scope problems" with powers can be handled by simply tacking on a Limitations. I generally require appropriate Advantages and Limitations for powers SFX (unless I deem the advantage/limitation too minor, in which case it's purely SFX). After all, isn't the reason WHY you take those because of the SFX? Yes, you get points back, but even if you give it a -1 limitation it's functionality might actually be reduced quite a bit more than that. Transformations I'm very leery on, even for physical effects. Why? Because I find that, unless it's a Major Transformation (or maybe Cosmetic), I find handling it very clunky. If I want a character that can blow out someone's eardrums and unbalance them, I could use a Major Transformation with Partial to represent a loss of Dexterity (or at least a destabilization of their body) with each dizzying blast of the attack... or I could use a Dex Drain, which feels better to me because that's basically what the power does anyway. (Either way, I'd probably also have a small Linked STUN only AVLD.) However, Transformations are the only way of causing lasting or long term effects, which is kind of annoying to me. It might make sense on occasion for game balance purposes, but for quite a few effects I practically beg for a "Medium Transform"... something better than the effects of a Minor Transform, less than a Major... and even then that's still jumping onto the Transform bandwagon. It's comfy there, but it's occasionally annoying. I could apply the"increased time to heal", but that doesn't always make sense, especially for things that essentially "Heal as BODY." STR, and the various rules for it. It seems fairly cheap, but I understand why they don't want people to easily buy Advantages on it. However, if I want a character who can throw around people while Desolid, it becomes a real pain to buy Affects Desolid on each of their martial arts attacks. At that point it becomes easier (and probably cheaper) to make a Martial Arts Multipower... but it doesn't have lots of the useful little things that martial arts have (like building in OCV & DCV bonuses to the attack, Move Throughs, etc). This does make a big difference on some of my designs, I have quite a few powers that I wish I could get bonuses like these on, and Skill Levels don't work for all the different things for it. The sheer complexity of the character sheets. Don't get me wrong, one of the reasons I like HERO a lot is because I can FINALLY represent some of the freaky abilities I come up with fairly well. (Yay me! Dee has a character sheet now!) However, those powers can look really, really nasty when written down. A handy solution I've thought of is simply to have a seperate write up for "play", and a bookkeeping sheet for the math. Just have a few important notes down (like, END use, the Power's AP, and what I often put down (AP total per die (for Drains/Suppresses)), and then some very short notes on effect. I don't include much other numbers, like the sizes of advantages and stuff, just a quick summary. Still, if you don't do this you can be getting things really ugly looking. The difference between AP and Base Cost. This is notable, because like I said I often get lots of Advantages and Limitations on powers. This means I tend to regularly need 1/2 END to have the power not having a prohibitive cost, and AP caps tend to rather hurt. This becomes notable when you are buying a Multipower, since any Advantages applied to the Multipower as a whole are applied to the AP of the pool, not the Base Cost. This makes a big, big difference to me. Because of this, I generally allow people to take "Variable Limitation" on the Multipower's pool if the powers in the pool all have at least the appropriate amount of Limitations on them, to represent the low Real Cost the powers would have. Thus, if all the powers have at least -1 total Limitations, the Multipower pool gets a -1/2 Variable Limitation. This also becomes a bit annoying when I want to build a power that has two or three "modes"... or essentially two or three different (maybe slightly different) Limitations or Advantages. The only way to represent this is in a Multipower (or Variable Advantage/Limitation, which could be nearly ~anything~, not the direction I wanted to go). This means that I generally get quite a few tiny Multipower pools, and then end up paying a prohibitive pool cost (since the AP of the powers is so high) even after Variable Limitation is applied. I'm a little annoyed at the lack of ways of doing some specific things. It doesn't seem to allow some things (I completely understand why, game balance wise), but sometimes I need to use these. What makes it more balanced? Appropriate Limitations. If I need someone to throw fireballs as a 0 Phase action, I need someone to throw fireballs as a 0 Phase action. If I want an NPC to not Bleed, I want them to not bleed. I tend to make NPCs based on the overall effects of the powers, NOT their total character points or AP points. I understand why sometimes people need a "GM shield" or a GM needs a "Player shield", but if you have abusive GMs or powergamer players, there are better ways to handle it. Even having a "GM only or extremely special circumstances" (or, simply the "STOP") stamp on some super-powerful Advantages would be helpful. I do think that every power should have some way of countering it or some special "thing" it doesn't work against. If it doesn't, maybe you need to look at the powers SFX more. However, sometimes these might not be the methods used in the abilities rules. For having characters that have outright immunities to things (as rare as that is, if it is immune by definition...), I generally use Desolid with "Only vs". The handy thing is that it generally suggests that you don't need to get that prohibitive +2 advantage for still being able to hurt people, but if you want to be "invincible vs almost everything" you need to pay for your ability to kick butt back (even if the advantage is... a _little_ steep). But, this creates the problem of having "Affects Desolid" powers still hurt them. The other problem is dealing with Desolid vs. powers that normally "Affect Desolid". Like... Flares and Mental Assaults (correct me if I'm wrong, I don't have my book on me). If Dee is an AI, no amount of Psychic Illusions or Mental Assaults is going to make him twitch. Menton can try and command him until he's blue in the face, but it's not going to help much. Of course, someone who can control circuitry at a distance might find their "Mental Assaults" work quite well. Except for the "Affects Desolid" and the occasional powers that automatically do so, Desolid is a nice way of representing Immunities (or groups of Immunities) to things since it is a defense that's not based on rules, but on SFX (That is, it is a defense against just about every power, except for a few SFX you choose. Damage Reduction only affects ~damage~). The only hole is the problem with "Affects Desolid" and powers that do that naturally. I guess maybe allowing "Hardened" on Desolid might bypass this... From what I hear, some don't like counting END. I find that fairly understandable, I sometimes get very hairy bookkeeping in combat, and if it doesn't _seem_ to be a big factor in fights (or at least that fight) it makes sense to ignore it or find another way of using it. It can really, really slow down fights. Just recently I had a fight that lasted several sessions long (the players had a lot of fun, because of the way I handled the fight, but still...). I actually like the END system, especially when it starts hitting your STUN. It's a simple and useful way of letting characters push themselves and showing the effects of exhaustion. I find it especially useful in low-scale fights, like swordfights. Using END for STR and Movement makes a lot of sense... if you have someone using all their STR (even to parry) consistently, they are going to tire out. If you have a martial artist who merely sidesteps attacks and occasionally throws the person, he's not going to tire out at all. If you have someone who's leaping around like a monkey to avoid getting hit, he's eventually going to wear out too. A very dangerous enemy for small-scale Martial Artist characters who emphasize speed is an animate suit of armor. Heavy defense, so their light, stinging attacks aren't going to hurt him much, probably has uses 0 END on STR and Movement, and the poor martial artist will probably be diving and dodging up a storm to avoid getting cleaved, especially if it has an axe. Oh, it's certainly easy to dodge, at least at first... (poor Edward. ) So, I find END works fairly well at the small scales, but I tend to simply allow people to buy Uses 1/2 or 0 END (and put it in some/most Power Frameworks) for higher up campaigns... unless I really want to keep track of it. I really like the HERO system overall. I like how it handles BODY, Stun, and END seperately (and the relationships inbetween), even if I may alter these roles (and amounts) depending on the setting. I also like how it lets me pretty much come up with whatever crazy-assed power I need, even if the costs might be a little... strange. I just feel that every system is going to need some tailoring to suit how you feel about it, even if you risk changing the balance of the game. That's why I come in and occasionally ask annoying questions on how much "this Advantage" or "that Limitation" sounds like.

I LIKE that, it's goood. Thanks a lot for your help, and for everyone's suggestions. Probably will add those to his "Regenerative Hibernation" state, and he can't exactly do much in it anyway.

Alright, now that I got that build I was trying to make, I'm just curious in general. Two trigger questions. One is a general question, the other is on a new Advantage I'm pondering for some other character designs. First, assuming a character sets a "Trigger" ability as a 0 phase action (like it is with most abilities), can they turn it off similarly? Or does it have to be deliberately activated before it can be "off"? Also, if I wanted to make an Advantage for a power that allows it to be activated by the user even when the Trigger is set (so it can activate either when it is Triggered, or when the person activates it (without having to meet the Trigger requirement)), how much do you think that'd be? Another +1/4, +1/2, in addition to the Trigger's cost? I'm curious to see how powerful people think this is... assume that if it is activated by the character, the Trigger would need to be reset again.

Don't know exactly where to post this, but... I was curious about reading the Superhero Showdown fiction that was written up (curious to see how things might go, tactically speaking)... but I haven't a clue where they are located.

Hmm... that's interesting. *notes it* It's a rather unique way of doing it. *C* As for the dying, 'Dee' is going to need that Vehicle power of "Does not Bleed" because he kinda doesn't have blood. (See below) I like your construct, it works about like I wanted, though I do have a thought. I haven't fully decided yet on whether I want him to become totally one thing, or remain semi-"apart". If the latter, then Involuntary Change would work. If not, then it might not (as he can turn off the fact that he would IC from the damage). I suppose I could add that the IC only can happen when the Multipower is in use. *thinks* Though I'm going to do a quick thread on what people think of that Trigger advantage I pondered, and one other one. ^^ As for bleeding... He's an inorganic life form, made out of metal, and with the capability to telekinetically control his body, even on the micro level. This wouldn't be enough to say, shapeshift, but it is enough to allow him to "grab" neighbouring protons, neutrons, or electrons with his own subatomic particles, and using his thermal energy batteries to fuel the process, he rebuilds his body at the subatomic level... as long as he's 'alive', anyway. He needs to do this every night to remove the stress caused by using his metal malleably. It also explains why he needs to eat, drink, and sleep, yet isn't organic (yes, I had some fun with working out this character's design Very odd, yet most of his powers are quite simple. Most).

Umm... if I may ask, can we cool down the argument a bit? Arguments are good when they involve trading a lot of info back and forth, even if it involves a lot of pain and upset, but the embittered side-comments don't help with it any.

I LIKE that, thanks. ^^ *copies it* The problem that I'm mainly having is the fact that, if Dee takes enough damage to break apart when at a "mid level" cohesion, he would need to break apart manually (use an action). Let's say that, using that model, he automatically breaks apart when he takes BODY damage, and this is his trigger for his Desolidification (let's say it isn't in his Multipower). However, while this Desolidification is constantly "set" with this rechargable Trigger, he can also opt to break apart manually. So, Dee is lured out into a street during a fight, and then is plowed into by a character driving a car. His defense takes a whole bunch of stun and a few BODY damage, but the impact would totally break him apart, sending blocks in all directions. This basically would activate his Desolid automatically, triggering it. However, let's say that he see's the car coming, and with his Dex he can act first on the Phase. Although his Desolid trigger is always "set" for when he takes Body damage, he opts to activate it before he's hit. Currently, he'd need to take Body damage himself to activate the trigger's conditions. If I wanted to avoid this, it'd require buying the entire Desolid twice, and probably not in a Multipower (since if he arranges all the points in the manual one in one Phase, but is hit before he can use it, he still would break apart). I was considering having it as an additional Trigger advantage, that you can activate it manually even when it is set, without having to require the Trigger's conditions. Hmm.. actually, would that be in that expanded Trigger's article mentioned earlier? If so, then I just need to be patient until I send out that check. ^^ If not, this question still stands.

It does make quite a difference, playing out different systems. Canned settings can be nice when you don't have the time to make your own, or if you need a break from writing up all that stuff. It is still possible to run games using specific books for a similar genre, but a different setting, but I find it easier to know only one or two systems and go with that. I've run quite a few Tri Stat games that work out very well, and I'm learning HERO slowly but surely. Learning two different generic systems should give me a handle on just about anything I want to run (I hope ^.^). Now, if I can just convince the players that I have to give HERO a bit of a chance, I can experiment with it a little more. and PS... ...speaking of blankets and towels (from much earlier), I just realized that a major villain of mine uses a 'blanket'. Rather, a long and thin but extremely durable cloth that he can control... getting entangled with it and then "wrung out" is a major owwie... I still haven't decided what the "extremely likely to cause dislocation of various joints" effect would be.

Hmm... I thought Inherent had to be Always On. *nods* Alright, it sounds like it makes sense. Thanks. And thanks for the mailing info, btw, and the advice on the articles. I'll definitely look into getting a pack. With "Dee", he basically is a construct made up of blocks. The thing is that he can control the amount of force holding himself together. This is useful for, let's say, hard work where he needs to keep together, or if he's out in a secret ID. He can make it reasonably easy up to quite hard (I guess this could qualify as a "settable" Trigger with the -0 restriction that it has to be a certain type of trigger to set it off). It's just hard in my head to work out a power that lets him break apart when he's hit, but not 100% of the time. However, if an Inherent power can be activated instantly, maybe an Inherent power with an adjustable rechargable trigger is what I'm looking for... except with the one issue that he can still voluntarily break himself apart. This is like the power surge ability in that it can be activated by a certain thing without having to be "set" each time, but still can be activated manually as well. I guess the main question now is, rechargable aside, is it possible to have a power that can be activated by a trigger and manually? At least, without buying the entire thing twice... in a Multipower, it could technically work, but the power wouldn't be able to trigger when the points were distributed manually. The power surge could be used twice in a phase, once manually, once automatically, and the same goes for the block ability. His arm could be cut off, then he could break off his other one. Maybe that could just be allowed as a unique advantage to Triggers, allowing them to be "set" and activated at the same time? I guess then the question is, how much would that be? +1/4, +1/2 more? And then there is the fact that the power surge would require an Attack Roll for Dispel, even with Self Only, which would mean it would prevent the character from using it manually and attacking at the same time. This is quite powerful, of course, but it can be done by the character in question (the power uses a ton of END as it is, so it turns out more reasonable). Grr... maybe I'm just making things too complicated. Ah well, thanks for the help so far.

The problem is that, with the way her powers work, she doesn't HAVE to go incorporeal in shadows. Rather, she can have the power "on" when she's not in shadows, which won't do anything. However, when she enters the shadows, the power then will activate. Think of it as a switchboard, with two AND connections. If and only if both are on, the ability activates. Incorporeal = Power "On" && "In Shadows?" The power can be turned on or off when she's not in shadows, but it won't have any effect until she's in shadows. She could be feasibly represented by a Trigger (Activates When in Shadows), but some of the other examples wouldn't work. Also, this mechanism would require her to concentrate for a half phase to activate the power on herself, in which she couldn't attack. This isn't the case with how I want this power (or some of the other "reactive powers") to work. The "resetting" trigger might work for this one, but she also needs to be able to "turn off" the trigger when she wants to. Also, this won't work very well for the abilities that can be activated voluntarily, like "Disc's" breakable body.

Hm... but I so hate handling money over the internet. ~_~ I'll figure something out..