unclevlad

This is a 5E construction.  One thing to note is that Damage Shield doesn't affect me if I stand right next to you and don't attack you, or you attack me.  

I might add, very, very few D&D critters have a drain-life kind of aura that I can recall, and anything that does, is VERY high level.  Fear aura, more common.  Ghasts have the stink.  But an aura of negative levels would be a major, major problem.  So I really don't have a problem if this comes out to 75-100 active even if the dice involved felt rather low.

Yeah, the likely use is actually just to keep a guard dog quiet.  And that may not work on a well-trained dog.  Not worried about any attack potential.

That detection is not built into Animal Friendship, and it's gonna have its own cost.  Even if you can detect, you don't have any Summon or communications built in, either.

How big a limitation would you call that?  This'd be for a supers game, not for a Druid or somesuch in a fantasy campaign.  

The target's narrow by comparison, but also the one animal type that's likely to be meaningful with any kind of frequency.  How many guard cats does one ever see?

Some are narrow, some are broad.

my bad.  ok, then make it a bonus to Persuasion rather than Acting.  Still not a great fit, as Persuasion is rather more broad, but skills granularity is an issue.

1 hour ago, JmOz said:

Easier to get rid of OAF and replace with Physical Manifestation

Are you talking about the Callable power, or the Returning power?  The Returning power...not really because it returns after it's been thrown.  It can be taken away.  The Callable power...maybe.  One thing of note is, MegaScale teleport is non-combat teleport...so it takes an extra phase.  

So...couple options.  #1, require it to be Breakable.  Durable, sure, but Breakable.  #2, the Teleport only has 1 charge, then the effect has to be restored on the item.  #3, say the Trigger takes 5 minutes to recover, so the weapon can be taken away, and kept away, for the duration of the combat.  

Yeah, there might be different ways depending on the special effect of how you're detecting the lie...mental power, or via hearing nuances/stressors that change, as the OP does it.

For the aural form, perhaps a major bonus to Acting and/or a penalty to Interrogation skill, as this is the skill intended to elucidate information.

EDIT:  there's no great match for this, which is something of an oversight IMO.  In D&D it'd be Bluff and Sense Motive;  in GURPS there's Fast-Talk and Detect Lie.  I think Acting and Interrogation are as close as we've got, and neither is that great a fit.

I decided to go with -1, because 6E allows a load of cheese with this anyway.  You only need to by 1"...older rules required more.  The cost was dropped to nothing.  MegaScale is now max range...you can teleport anywhere up to that limit at no more cost.  Even with how I built it...10m, at 1m == 1 km...that's only 20 points.  (Or I could go for 6m, and 1m == 100 km...for 5 points less.)  Given that there's already some rules 'abuse' going on...trying to wring every drop out is not something I like to do.  I think there's good arguments for considering it a larger LImitation, but that also, in this interpretation, it's not appropriate.  YMMV on that aspect, of course.

Well, with Thor's hammer, you could say it never slows down.    His range, even with Range Based on STR, is gonna be rather large.  (And the hammer's range may actually be LOS.)

You do point out that the teleport for Returning might need "must pass through intervening space" so in principle the weapon could be trapped.  That obviously wouldn't make sense for the primary purpose.

So you have some weapons.  You don't want to carry them around, or at least not on your person...you have to go thru detectors, for example.  But you want to be able to "call them" at need.  How about this, as a custom Adder to that weapon:

Teleport, 1 m

    Megascale, 1m = 1 km, +1

    Reduced END (0 END)   (because the weapon has no END)

    Trigger ("called by caster"), Zero Phase, a turn or more to reset.  Trigger can expire.  Net +1/4

    Can Only Teleport to Fixed Locations (-1)

Active:  3  Real:  1

Teleport, 1 Fixed Location (the person enabling the trigger)

Active: 1  Real:  1

Total:  2 points

I glanced through some of the earlier attempts to try to build a Summon Weapon, and I think this avoids the pitfalls.  The impetus is on the item itself, it's not from the character.  Thoughts?

Also, this approach works to define the Returning property for a ranged weapon such as a spear or dagger...you throw it to make an attack, and it returns to your hand immediately thereafter.  That's just a change to the Trigger. 

1 hour ago, PhilFleischmann said:

In this case, the "fixed" location is one that the other twin can already get to normally.  So it's really not especially useful.  If Castor can get to point X by "normal" means, then why can't Pollux get there the same way, and at the same time?  If they want to teleport into the bad guy's secret lair, one of them has to first get in the hard way.  And if one can get in the hard way, then presumably the other one could have gotten in the hard way, too.  Sure, it can save some time and END, and maybe avoid some danger for one of the duplicates, but it can't get you to any new place.

 

And it's essentially the same as recombining the duplicates at a distance, and then re-separating in the same place.

It's much cheaper than recombining at a distance.  Plus, it's not clear to me, but I think the recombine can only happen at the original's location, so it's only duplicate "teleporting" to original.  This power allows the original to go to the duplicate's location.  
 

There would be times when one can get in, but not both.  (Present ID at the door, have it checked off.)  But yes, it's not allowing access to any new area.

20 hours ago, dsatow said:

I was just thinking instead of 10d6 KA, the side effect would be all the effects that the armor prevented being put on the person.  So if worn for a day or two, it isn't too bad, they'd just be hungry and tired.  But if worn for an extended campaign, the armor being removed would make the target suddenly develop wounds all over their body and eventually dying of starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, and aging.

I like the style of how the victim dies...slowly.   Gives the demon time to enjoy it;  why kill fast when you can play?  Unable to Sleep, or Unable to Eat/Drink...the aging side would have to be awfully fast for it to matter.  But whatever.   The point is it's a vicious side effect no matter what.  And yes, I always prefer that these don't happen immediately.  Should be an "OH WOW THIS STUFF IS AWESOME".....then drop the hammer.

4 minutes ago, RDU Neil said:

 

Similar, but simpler. No vague Power Defense, no figuring/calculating active points, just a simple, flat effect for X rounds. Quickly applied, set effect defense one for one. Just looking for ease of use.

The simplicity is misleading.  Is this ONLY useful against OCV?  Is the cost the same on OCV vs. DCV?  What other similar things can be done with this?  And any time you start adding very narrow, specialized powers, that's both a form of complexity in its own right, and has to fit reasonable costing compared to other, existing approaches.  And in the work to remember them, or look them up.  

Hmm.  Actually you can build this in that way.  Use standard effect rules.  OCV is 5 points, so you need 1 1/2 dice to get 5.25.  Thus...-1 OCV is 15 points.  Swapping Flash Def for Power Def is a +0, IIRC, as they're at the same level.  Recovery is 1 OCV per turn.  Oh, well, hmm.  How would my 3 BODY per turn Regen come into play?

It's only simple on the surface.

8 minutes ago, dsatow said:

 

Yeah, scientifically, all sorts of things can happen to the body but this is FMS, so all that flies out the door.  Basically the start up time means the character is out of play for that much time which probably means the rest of the session or more.

It's doing it because you're letting it go by the wayside trying to get a huge Limitation, so, nothing personal, but that's a very self-serving position.  And being out for a session, sure, but so what?  You'll be back in with the same character soon enough.  I'm willing to say something like this is worth *something* but not this much.  

36 minutes ago, dsatow said:

 

You can do it either as a regen with a weekly time or probably better regen with a start up time of a week:

7 days from the grave: - 2 Body per turn regen with resurrection and can heal limbs, Resurrection Only -2, Start up Time 1 Week -2.5*

Act: 57, Real: 10

 

* normally not allowed in 6th ed. Regen but I would see it as the character being out for a week as a pretty severe limitation.

On one level, it's kind of a big deal, but on another?  No.  Fact is, you're coming back at all.  I'm willing to listen, but this is primarily a dramatic limitation, not a functional one, isn't it?  And you're already piling on a major limitation in Resurrection Only.  

Another issue...the body's dead for a week.  Lots of bad things happen...like, decomposition.  Like permanent tissue degradation.  (In cardiac arrest, apparently the rule of thumb is 4-6 minutes from arrest to the onset of bran damage.)  What OP is aiming for, I think, is a living body, showing vital signs...but in a deep coma.  

4 hours ago, RDU Neil said:

Roll attack, roll dice, based on roll, a certain effect is in place for X rounds. No basing it around human-o-centric "senses" or whatever, but just generic effects for temporary time.

 

-1 OCV for next X rounds... or -X OCV for one round, based on Body rolled... could simulate a lot of things. Same with - DCV, - Other Stat, etc. Price it like Flash... good to go (assuming you defined a defense like Flash Defense for it in the same way, or something similarly common that a character could have.

In other words...Drain.  Albeit the recovery time isn't that flexible, but Drain has this structure.  Why do we need another method?

12 hours ago, clnicholsusa said:

Sounds to me like a good place for a transformation attack:

Vertigo Dart: 8d6 Minor Transform, reduced balance and coordination to -2 CV (40 Active Points)

Rapid Healing (REC per 20 minutes; -1)

6 Charges (-3/4)

All Or Nothing (-1/2)

Limited Target (humans only; -1/2)

Beam (-1/4)

Can Be Deflected (-1/4)

Range Based On STR (-1/4)

Real Cost: 8 points

I'm seeing a bad end-run to turn this into a cheap, VERY long lasting Drain, and to bypass the rule that draining a defense, the drain's at half.  And Humans is not worth much, if anything, as a Limited Target.

It's a way to go, but it, like Flash, is structured as all or nothing...they can see or they can't...rather than some form of OCV/DCV or perception penalty.

Ohh...yeah, doing it to DCV gets halved.  Always forget that....  I don't mind that multiple darts would have more effect;  with a poison, that's common.

APG has Change Environment options to impose limitations, remove advantages,or impose complications.  There's EGO reductions for mentalist CEs.  There isn't anything specifically for OCV/DCV right there, but imposing a complication seems VERY close.  Mind:  should the notion that reducing a defense costs double, still apply here?  

Honestly, dude, this is a Drain.  Fine, it's 3d6 and 6d6....or, 9d6 Drain allocated 2/3 to DCV, 1/3 to OCV.  You can split any way you want, it doesn't have to be 50-50.  

What do you mean by -2 / -1?  -1 after the first round of fading...but -2 to both to start.  3d6, Expanded Effect (2 Characteristics).  Full value to both.

Yeah, why doesn't Drain work?  I'm much more in favor of a clean rules implementation that maybe doesn't *quite* match the SFX of source material from either fiction or a different gaming system.  That's just a translation.  Flash just isn't close.  Mental Illusions might work as a more appropriate baseline;  an illusion of being on an icy surface, or being tossed around by winds.  

Yeah, Fixed Point can be "a specific person."  I had to recheck that myself.  

Teleport Only to Fixed Locations is a listed -1.  Found that on further review.  If the intent was:

a)  NEVER have more than 1 duplicate (unless it got killed)  

then 

b)  this is the *only* allowed fixed location

that feels like it's worth more.  In fact, as I've described it, there's a Linked to Duplication for another -1/2.  And that would work even if there were multiple duplicates.

Yes, this is 10" @ 1 km megascale, with no other advantages (or probably limitations) planned.  

3d6 Drain to both OCV and DCV?  That'd give -2, typically.  Going the route of a Flash seems contorted.

Yeah, it is basically to a fixed location as written...so you're saying Only To Fixed Location is only -1 to you?

So here's the concept.  Character name:  Gemini.  Obvious power:  Duplication;  he splits into the twins.  The power in question here is a Teleport, with the limitation Only to the other Twin.  So Castor can teleport to Pollux, or Pollux to Castor.  But that's it.  Side point:  they also have a full Psychic Bond Mind Link, should you think that relevant.  

EDIT:  Yes, this also means that when NOT duplicated, the power can't be used.

I'm thinking it's a full -2.  Other opinions?