FOUNDATION Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 This one deals with an entangle that only goes part way towards being the "Mental Paralysis" power described in page 110 of 5e... •2D6 Entangle “Taser Effect†No damage from attacks + .5 Works on Ego, not Str + .25 Can’t esc. w/teleport + .25 No barriers - .25 The idea behind this power is that it's an electrical shock that short circuits the brain - preventing the target from doing anything until they recover (which is abstracted by their using Ego to break out). As such, it does not have BOECV - since the attack is physical, but does have the "Works against Ego..." advantage as that seems appropriate for the power. For mental paralysis, the book indicated that mental attacks could also be used to break the entangle. Given the SFX of this power, would it be unbalancing to say that the target can use *only* Ego to break out seeing as how the "scrambling" of their brain prevents them from using any other ability? (obviously, this entangle could still be attacked by other people - assuming that they have the appropriate abilities e.g. appropriate mental powers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheiro Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... Actually, there is a physiological effect for tasers. Tasers fire hooks into the skin of the target and deliver 50k volts of electricity, which causes a "short circuit" in the brain, which is what you are describing. There are, however, also muscular contractions effecting the heart and diaghram. So, for a conventional taser those hooks might have a tough time penetrating armor or resistant defenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOUNDATION Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... I agree with your argument. The nature of this power, though, is more like an energy blast that produces effects that resemble that of a Taser (minus the physical effects that you describe). I used "Taser Effect" as the description simply because the power produced effects that were similar to a Taser. The power's delivery mechanism of said attack, though, is entirely different. What I wanted to know is if people thought this power was unbalanced. If the target does not have a particularly high EGO, and the power does indeed prevent the target from doing anything, this entangle could be mighty difficult to break out of without outside help. Without the expensive BOECV advantage, the "Works against EGO, not STR" seems a pretty potent advantage for +1/4. I was just wondering if others felt the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheiro Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... Gotcha. It's not a literal interpretation of a taser. A couple of ideas: 1) instead of ego to break out, target uses CON. 2) low body (or no def) so that it comes down to a matter of time before target breaks out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rene Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... What I wanted to know is if people thought this power was unbalanced. If the target does not have a particularly high EGO' date=' and the power does indeed prevent the target from doing anything, this entangle could be mighty difficult to break out of without outside help.[/quote'] I'd probably use: Mind Control, Set Effect: "Stand Still", NND (Tough Skin blocks it completely, but Mental DEF is useless), Visible, Normal Range, etc. This way, you can't use Mental Attacks to break out of it, just your plain old EGO Roll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... Would I allow it? I'm extremely iffy on ego based entangles. I usually find, after some interrogation, that ego based attack was selected "becuase its hard to get out of without help" (few characters really have a high ego score) as opposed to it being the most accurate way to model the power, and because it often provides a sneaky way to effectively neutralize opponents on the cheap with little endurance expenditure. Also, based on the description, I wouldn't accept the power modelled as an entangle unless it was based on CON. I would prefer to see it built as an NND attack, but if the player could really convince me I'd consider the entangle. It might be hard to convince me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchellS Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... I would allow the attack, especially considering that you can Push Ego, and so the attack listed above would not hold most victims, even normals, for more than 1 phase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... I'd allow it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... I typically don't allow "based on EGO" for powers that aren't actual mental powers, and I typically don't allow "works vs EGO instead of ______" unless the target would actually have to resist with his mind instead of his STR or whatever. I agree that such constructs are often proposed mainly for their effectiveness, as opposed to their appropriateness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zed-F Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... I might prefer that you work something up based on CON, not EGO. You don't use willpower to break out of the effects of an electrical shock, just your body's natural resistance (or lack thereof) to such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... I would allow it, but the caveat that most characters have a 10 to 20 EGO, but heroes usually have 15 STR or much higher and it is worth 2 points to buy up EGO. Therefore, I might make the EGO instead of STR be a +1/2 (if average EGO is 5 points lower than average STR) or maybe even a +1 (if EGO tends to be much lower, say 10 or more, than average STR) In heroic games where average EGO and average STR are about the same, then the +1/4 is about right. Above all else, you should have the house rule that it can't be above DEF shouldn't be more than (EGO/5 of the victim) or else the victim can't ever escape in any reasonable time without Pushing or getting some sixes on the roll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilFleischmann Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... It looks to me like it costs 32 points. It's pretty powerful for so that price. A normal person could get out eventually, and if they can push their EGO, they can get out fairly quickly. An average roll with 10 EGO won't make a dent. Two lucky rolls (or one very lucky roll) will get you out. And with pushing or 15 EGO, two average rolls will get you out, or one slightly lucky roll. So I guess it isn't too bad. It takes out normals, slows down supers a little, almost useless vs Mentalists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNakagawa Posted October 16, 2004 Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 Re: Another "would you allow this in your campaign" question... Based on EGO rather than STR is +1/4 advantage because it is in ADDITION to the +1 Based on EGO CV. On it's own, it's worth much more than +1/4. Perhaps as much as +3/4. Priced at +1/4, you could have a 60 point entangle that was transparent to attacks, blocked Tport and required ego to break out, 3d6. (or even worse, 2d6 with +2 DEF) That'll stymie damn near anything in CKC that isn't from PSI. Broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.