Build this limitation

[Maccabe]

Person has trouble controlling their powers, like turning it off.  Activating a power is easy enough that's activation roll, but there are no rules for CONTROL.  In context this is for a teen champions game.

[Tom Cowan]

so some thing like

Blast 12d6 (60 Active Points); No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll: power skill; -1/2), Custom Modifier (can not control ending the use of power; -1/2)

[Doc Democracy]

This is one of those things that are easy to say but difficult to define.

 

What does it mean when you say "have trouble controlling"?  In the case of blast, which is an instant power, does it mean that every action will be an attack until they manage to switch it off?  Or does it only affect constant powers?

 

If it does include instant powers does it become easier or more difficult to switch off as time goes on?  If the blast goes off does it draw more and more END, possibly only stopping when they fall unconscious?

 

When it is uncontrolled blast, are they able to simply discharge into the sky or will they have to struggle to aim it too?

 

Will trouble controlling it mean that invisibility, or flight, might randomly switch off (which is activation)?

 

I think the biggest issue is likely to be managing when it goes wrong.  Lots of chances to make players feel hard done to.

 

The trick with this is raising tensions and getting close to losing control without actually doing so.

 

I think I would have a different pool, something like LTE based on use of END and when it is full, they possibly lose control.  If you get the numbers right, you get to the point where they need to decide to risk using a power which will trigger a control roll.

 

That could be a 10 or 15 point physical limitations with a bunch of bureaucracy.

 

Doc

[Haerandir]

You might be able to manage it with an Accidental Change rather than a Phys Lim. Every time they activate the power, they roll to see if they Accidentally change into 'uncontrolled' mode, then when they start trying to shut it down, they have to make a recovery roll. 

[Tom Cowan]

10 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

This is one of those things that are easy to say but difficult to define.

 

What does it mean when you say "have trouble controlling"?  In the case of blast, which is an instant power, does it mean that every action will be an attack until they manage to switch it off?  Or does it only affect constant powers?

 

If it does include instant powers does it become easier or more difficult to switch off as time goes on?  If the blast goes off does it draw more and more END, possibly only stopping when they fall unconscious?

 

When it is uncontrolled blast, are they able to simply discharge into the sky or will they have to struggle to aim it too?

 

Will trouble controlling it mean that invisibility, or flight, might randomly switch off (which is activation)?

 

I think the biggest issue is likely to be managing when it goes wrong.  Lots of chances to make players feel hard done to.

 

The trick with this is raising tensions and getting close to losing control without actually doing so.

 

I think I would have a different pool, something like LTE based on use of END and when it is full, they possibly lose control.  If you get the numbers right, you get to the point where they need to decide to risk using a power which will trigger a control roll.

 

That could be a 10 or 15 point physical limitations with a bunch of bureaucracy.

 

Doc

Yes, No Conscious Control limitation is a -2 limitation for a good reason.

[Tom Cowan]

could also be

Flight 30m (30 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Skill roll; Must be made each Phase/use; Power skill; -1), Side Effects (No Control of power this Phase; -1/2)

Skill rolls also mean the more points of the power used (10m flight -1 to skill roll, 30m flight -3 to skill roll) the harder it to control.

 

miss your roll and you may fly right, the other right...  oops... well, the wall stopped you.

[Stanley Teriaca]

No Consess Control is ment for powers which have a lasting effect. At a -2 level, the power can turn on without your input. It can also turn off without your input. At the -1 level, you can turn it on, but not turn it off without problems. Or vice versa.

 

For attack powers, at -2 it can turn on without your input AND the target is random. At -1, you can turn it on and off freely, but your not guaranteed not to hit someone friendly.

 

Or, at least that's my interptation of it. Not only is your mileage may vary, but I could be darn wrong about it.

 

By the way, remember "Never On"?

[LoneWolf]

To figure out something like this we need the full details of the power.  As Doc Democracy pointed out some of it will depend on how the power works.  Other details on the character might also prove useful.  For example does he have other powers that are related?  Is this power in a framework and if so what other powers are in the framework?  But most important is what the power is?  

[Doc Democracy]

One of the problems with randomness and lack of control is that it rarely plays out in a game the way you would see it in a comic book.  And the heavy hand of probability has it's thumb on the scale.

 

I will always remember the GM that made us do a driving roll every 10 miles of a trip that was almost 1000 miles long.  There was good reason for driving rolls, it was treacherous terrain. 

 

The problem is that an excellent skill in most games probably gives you 80-90% chance of success.  With 100 rolls you are going to fail 10-20 times.

 

In a drama you want the chance of failure to be there, it raised the tension but you don't want to be continuously rolling for a continuous power.

 

I think that means, if you had an 13 or less chance to maintain control of Flight for example, you only check that at properly dramatic moments.  Do you get it going to begin with? Does it fail in the middle of nowhere? Can you land?  You might also want rolls if you are attacked (but only at the start of the combat - or when you need fine control).  I might agree with the player that outside those dramatic moments, the character might get -1 OCV and +1 DCV if fighting while in flight due to erratic manners of his control.

 

Don't allow randomness to become a bureaucratic nightmare, use it at dramatic moments in the narrative to deliver more fraught moments, more dice rolls that matter.

 

Doc