limaxophobiac

Look, to me, a bit of game mechanic on a character sheet (in this case, the Focus limiation) doesn't oblige anyone at the table to anything outside following the rules of that piece of game mechanic. Also lol @ people talking like I don't know how to play RPGs just because I prefer running things differently than them (and no, I don't run them anything like wargames, I'm pretty sure I've run and played more sessions with no combat than I have with combat). I think I've had about enough of this community. Goodbye.

I think it goes beyond that; I think it becomes incumbent upon the GM to play those Limitations. That doesn't mean that if the character has (say) an OIF it should be taken from him 33% of the time, just that there is some likelihood of that Focus being taken away during combat, malfunctioning, being immediately unavailable, or even stolen. It doesn't have to be the whole scenario, just during it. As an example: a powered armor type in our campaign was once kidnapped while in his Secret ID after his helicopter was shot down; and was unable to put on the suit he was carrying in his briefcase because his kidnappers just left the briefcase in the wreckage. He ended up having to escape from the bad guys without his armor; which ultimately let the player experience one of his favorite adventures. So in that session he got hit with both one of his Limitations (OIF) and two of his Disadvantages (Secret ID and Hunted). Of course, the key to his escape was another DisAd, because the character's DNPC girlfriend was an expert SCUBA diver and it was only logical that our hero would have gone SCUBA diving with his girlfriend even if he lacked the TF. So he managed to swim to safety (he was being held on a yacht at sea), recover his armor, and fly back to stomp the badguys. That's one of the advantages of building characters as opposed to stacks of numbers. The player was so enthused by the experience he ended up buying TF: SCUBA. "I think it goes beyond that; I think it becomes incumbent upon the GM to play those Limitations." Ok so if that's the style of play and GMing it was priced for and I don't care for running it like that, I guess the value of the limitation should probably be less.

Yeah, but Flash without the Speed Force or GL without his ring have a pretty hard time running around having adventures with Supes & Wonder Woman who still have their powers. It would obviously be far less problematic for a solo game.

"On the other hand if someone builds their entire character with all their powers in a single IIF, then yeah, it's your job as GM to occasionally make sure that Limitation comes up." So if I don't run things like that I should probably reduce the value of the limitation I take it? I mean it could still totally happen but I wouldn't set out to do it for the sake of balance any more than I'd intentionally kill people who don't have regen with resurrection just so the guy who does doesn't feel cheated.

So is the price of the limitations based on the idea that the GM will more or less fiat that they be taken/broken, or the risk that they might be broken/stolen 'naturally' in play? Is it supposed to be a risk that they might end up broken or stolen if you screw up or have some bad luck or is it supposed to be that they will be taken from the PC for some time as a price you pay? Because the later really isn't how I'm used to running or playing RPGs.

"I have read stories where Cap has had his shield taken and even broken once." Yeah Cap probably isn't the best example given that he's pretty decent without it.

How to other people handle focus-limitations in their games? Because I have a hard time seeing how to make having all or most of your significant powers granted by one limiting enough that players who don't do it don't feel a bit cheated and in line with how things tend to work out in comics*. Do you (as a GM) just decide to have characters foci taken from them on occasion for balance, and how do you deal with the fact that they can't really participate much without their powers if you do? *How often does a Hal spend an issue of Justice League without his ring? Or Cap in Avengers without his shield?

Oh. I would have thought the Impenetrable Defense had to be high enough to stopp the Normal Damage of the attack by itself, just needing enough to match the BODY like seems kind of raw deal compared to Armor Piercing vs. Hardened given that Penetrating is twice as expensive.

Refers only to any one specific defense build. It does not apply to the combination of ALL the different defenses a character may posses. If any single defense has Impenetrable at an appropriate level then it negates the Penetrating. Good to know. So in this example I assume it would not negate it given that the Resitant (PD 20) alone isn't enough to stop a 10d6 Blast?

Character A has a 10d6 Blast (Penetrating, +1/2), hits Character B who has a PD characteristic of 15 and Resistant Protection (20 PD/20 ED) (Impenetrable, +1/4), and Char A. gets an average result of 35 STUN, 10 BODY, how much STUN does Character B take? If both the PD & the Resistant Protection was Impenetrable he would clearly take 0 STUN, and if neither were he'd take 10 STUN. Does the line "A given defense must be all Impenetrable or it’s not Impenetrable at all. A character can, however, have some defenses that are Impenetrable, and others that are not." mean that if the Resistant Protection has the Impenetrable Advantage the PD characteristic must also have it?

I don't have the APG, but as an Autofire Skill, doesn't that still automatically halve DCV and take a Full Phase Action? I want it to represent an inherent quality of the attack that has low recoil and thus places shots in a tighter group rather than a skill/technique learned by the character. (I'm converting from another system.)

Hmm, it's +1/4 to halve range penalties, and this seems like it would be about as effective to me.

What I'm trying to build is an autofire attack where additional shots hit for every 1 point by which the attacks beats the targets DCV rather than for every 2 points. Currently all I've got is buying Specific Combat Skill Levels limited to only applying to 2nd and subsequent, 3rd and subsequent etc. shots in an autofire attack against a single target, so for an "Autofire: 5 shots" attack you'd buy: CSL: +1 Specific (Limited Power: Only to increase OCV for 2nd and subsequent shots against a single target in an autofire attack, -½) Cost: 1 ​CSL: +1 Specific (Limited Power: Only to increase OCV for 3rd and subsequent shots against a single target in an autofire attack, -1) Cost 1 CSL: +1 Specific (Limited Power: Only to increase OCV for 4th and subsequent shots against a single target in an autofire attack, -1½) Cost 1 CSL: +1 Specific (Limited Power: Only to increase OCV for the 5th shot against a single target in an autofire attack, -2) Cost 1 A: Is there any way to get this effect I'm missing that isn't quite so wordy (esp. for 10+ shot attacks)? B: Does this seem like a reasonable build to you?