bjbrown

How would one purchase a power that does not work unless several characters using the same power are acting together? For example, characters of a certain race of people in a Fantasy Hero game can summon other-dimensional creatures. However, it takes at least four characters acting together to effecuate the summoning. Would the power be bought by each character with a Limited Power limitation (of say -2)? Or would each character pay a fourth of the points of the power (in the same way that points can be pooled for vehicles or bases)? Or is there another way of buying the power?

Re-reading the rules, you can't do the schtick of an NND attack with being solid as a defense. A Desolid character is immune to even NND attacks, unless also bought with the Affects Desolid advantage.

I don't think it would be cheesy to have an NND attack, with the defesnse being solid, depending on the special effect. If your villians become desolid by going to the ethereal plane, for example, then it would seem to make sense that your mage could develop an attack that would work against things on the ethereal plane only. You might also consider AP to lower defenses, or the power Find Weakness, if your GM will allow it. Of course, with all your character's knowledge skills, I would think that your GM would give you some sort of hint on how to deal with your villains. (In fact, it's possible that your GM is thinking that he gave you a situation in which those skills are useful, and he's waiting for you to tell him that you'll use them ...)

It doesn't matter what game system that you are using. More realism in combat means more time-consuming combat sessions. Of games I've played, Twilight 2000 (before it was revised) had the most realistic simulation of military combat for a roleplaying game. Minor firefights took hours to resolve. Keeping track of character equipment required a CPA. There are charts that determine what happens to each little component inside your ATV when hit by a shell, depending on the size of the shell and then angle at which it hits. It had realism, but the players spent a lot of time sitting around doing nothing that had to do with gaming while the GM rolled results on charts. So when deciding what system to use and what optional rules to use, remember that you are always making that trade-off of time for realism.

Back to the orginal rules question, I wouldn't allow a character to have a special attack for which he didn't pay. Attacking the jugular sounds like a special maneuver which the character should buy, just like any attack or martial maneuver. Certainly I wouldn't allow the character to make an NND attack which he didn't buy. Such an attack is available as the martial maneuver "Nerve Strike," for example.