Disad Power question and power build question

[薔薇語]

Hello Everyone,

 

First is probably a quicky that someone will have the answer to easy enough. Using the Major Transform power to add a Disadvantage to someone and then trying to lower the cost of said Disad with a Disad on it, example fallows.

 

Through extensive research Mad Scientist A, has learned how to lower cognitive control over emotions so that we go into fits of rage real easy. 'Enrage: Uncommon event w/ 14- to go, 11- to recover.' But the brain surgery he has to conduct to do this leave obvious signs on the area of the brain affected that would show tampering, in other words add 'Distinctive features: Not concealable, notice and recognize, only detectable though use of sophisticateded tools.

 

Enrage is 20pts and the Distinctive features is 5pts. On joe everybody with a 10 body would I have to do 23pts of effect (body + (Enrage - Distictive features)/5), or 25pts of effect (body + (Enrage + Distictive Features)/5)?

 

Thanks in advance for that one.

 

Next is about disabling somones power.

 

Continueing the saga of Mad Scientist A, he has learned what parts of the brain are triggered when Mentalist A uses his Mind blast attack. One adventure the Mad Scientist gets his hands on Mentalist A long enough to preform brain surgery on him, where he introduces a virus that disrupts the signals to that part of the brain whenever it is excited. Now the Virus is effective but DOESN'T ALWAYS work. Originally I was batting around two differant ways of doing this. First was with a Suppress, but once it hits the level of being fully effective, then the power just can't be used. The other and the one I think makes the most sense is Dispel. Dispel w/ trigger, Charges (Ie the charges represent that after a while of blocking the signals the viruses die of and get flushed out of the system). Also with dispel it would allow for the power to sometime fail and someones succede so that it adds for the veriety. I have an idea on how to attach said power to an individual so that Mad Scientist A doesn't have to be watching the Mentalist and activating the power for it to work, but thought I would get feed back on it first.

 

Please help me on working out the power. Thanks a bunch in advance.

 

La Rose.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

first one: I'd just add it all up, divide it all out and go, or: you're adding 25pts worth of Disadvantages, however that's worked in the end it irrelevant.

 

second one: You know, I'd just call this a normal Transform (from Guy With Power to Guy With Flawed Power)

[Chris Goodwin]

A. You'd use the Enraged + Distinctive Features. Actually you could probably get by with merely changing around the target's Disadvantages rather than adding to them; in that case you'd just need to do 20 BODY worth of effect.

 

B. Once a Power is Dispelled, generally all the character has to do is restart it. If you're looking for a longer term removal, Drain is probably closer. Suppress bought with the appropriate Advantages would also work. (Alternately, you could handwave it; in my experience it's generally assumed that if someone can perform major surgery on you, they can do whatever they want to you, up to and including pulling out your entire brain, running it through a sausage grinder, and replacing it with whatever they please. Messing about with the Powers is small beer in comparison.)

[Alibear]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Oohh, Brain-suasage.

[Alibear]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

sausage

[Tonio]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Hello Everyone,

 

First is probably a quicky that someone will have the answer to easy enough. Using the Major Transform power to add a Disadvantage to someone and then trying to lower the cost of said Disad with a Disad on it, example fallows.

 

Through extensive research Mad Scientist A, has learned how to lower cognitive control over emotions so that we go into fits of rage real easy. 'Enrage: Uncommon event w/ 14- to go, 11- to recover.' But the brain surgery he has to conduct to do this leave obvious signs on the area of the brain affected that would show tampering, in other words add 'Distinctive features: Not concealable, notice and recognize, only detectable though use of sophisticateded tools.

 

Enrage is 20pts and the Distinctive features is 5pts. On joe everybody with a 10 body would I have to do 23pts of effect (body + (Enrage - Distictive features)/5), or 25pts of effect (body + (Enrage + Distictive Features)/5)?

 

Thanks in advance for that one.

 

Next is about disabling somones power.

 

Continueing the saga of Mad Scientist A, he has learned what parts of the brain are triggered when Mentalist A uses his Mind blast attack. One adventure the Mad Scientist gets his hands on Mentalist A long enough to preform brain surgery on him, where he introduces a virus that disrupts the signals to that part of the brain whenever it is excited. Now the Virus is effective but DOESN'T ALWAYS work. Originally I was batting around two differant ways of doing this. First was with a Suppress, but once it hits the level of being fully effective, then the power just can't be used. The other and the one I think makes the most sense is Dispel. Dispel w/ trigger, Charges (Ie the charges represent that after a while of blocking the signals the viruses die of and get flushed out of the system). Also with dispel it would allow for the power to sometime fail and someones succede so that it adds for the veriety. I have an idea on how to attach said power to an individual so that Mad Scientist A doesn't have to be watching the Mentalist and activating the power for it to work, but thought I would get feed back on it first.

 

Please help me on working out the power. Thanks a bunch in advance.

 

La Rose.

 

Regarding the first one, I'd say add 'em up. I understand your rationale in considering substracting the DF, since it works in the character's favor in the sense that it's easier to recognize he's been tampered with, so it's more likely he'll be "fixed"... but it's still a Disadvantage in general. The same, really, could be said of any DF: it helps identify the character.

 

Regarding the second one... I'd say a Transform to add Activation to the Mentalist's power(s). You don't need enough BODY effect to remove the power altogether, just enough to add Activation to it. I'd use the Partial Transform Advantage, too. That way if your roll isn't enough to add the Activation you're going for (say, 11-), you'll still add some Activation (say, 13-).

[薔薇語]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Regarding the first one, I'd say add 'em up. I understand your rationale in considering substracting the DF, since it works in the character's favor in the sense that it's easier to recognize he's been tampered with, so it's more likely he'll be "fixed"... but it's still a Disadvantage in general. The same, really, could be said of any DF: it helps identify the character.

 

Regarding the second one... I'd say a Transform to add Activation to the Mentalist's power(s). You don't need enough BODY effect to remove the power altogether, just enough to add Activation to it. I'd use the Partial Transform Advantage, too. That way if your roll isn't enough to add the Activation you're going for (say, 11-), you'll still add some Activation (say, 13-).

 

 

I like the idea of just transform to add an activation roll, since it fits my idea of a power that May or MayNot work set up. I was originally going to go with Dispel with the advantages: Trigger (and auto reset) for when Power X is used, Usable as an attack (to attach the power to them), Charges (say 10 times) so that the power will naturally fade as the virus sfx dies out from repeated use. That was the original idea since everytime the character would try to use his power it would be a contest to see if the dispel has enough effect to eliminate it. However I do like the idea of Transform to add a activation roll and, then just say the heal back manner is though repeated use of power.

 

Thanks for the suggestions,

Merry Christmass and Happy Holidays,

La Rose

[Tonio]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

I like the idea of just transform to add an activation roll, since it fits my idea of a power that May or MayNot work set up. I was originally going to go with Dispel with the advantages: Trigger (and auto reset) for when Power X is used, Usable as an attack (to attach the power to them), Charges (say 10 times) so that the power will naturally fade as the virus sfx dies out from repeated use. That was the original idea since everytime the character would try to use his power it would be a contest to see if the dispel has enough effect to eliminate it. However I do like the idea of Transform to add a activation roll and, then just say the heal back manner is though repeated use of power.

 

Thanks for the suggestions,

Merry Christmass and Happy Holidays,

La Rose

 

Or just let it heal back naturally (same way you heal BODY, the "default" for Transform), only do it gradually (the same way Partial Transform works), so their Activation Roll gets higher (easier to activate) as time goes by, and eventually goes away entirely. =)

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Perhaps my understanding of Transform is flawed, but because of the way it works, and because it stacks, he can purchase this as 1d6 Transform: You to You Kinda Screwed Up, Extra Time (10 minutes per d6 of Effect) and he just keeps "transforming" whomever is on the table until he's done and he's doubled their BODY in effect and FOOM, done. If I turn you to Stone (Major Transform, you to a rock) I just need to deal double your BODY. How is this functionally different? Am I missing some rules nuance?

[Tonio]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Transform (at least in 5ER, I'm pretty sure it wasn't so before, just not sure when it was introduced) has more detailed rules regarding adding/substracting "Character Points" to characters (like adding Disadvantages, Powers, etc.). Like how much BODY you need to do with Transform to add "Psychological Limitation: Afraid of Spiders" or "10d6 EB" to a character. Pretty cool, IMO, since it removes the "Transform can do anything so turning you to stone and turning you into Superman cost the same" thing. =)

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Transform (at least in 5ER' date=' I'm pretty sure it wasn't so before, just not sure when it was introduced) has more detailed rules regarding adding/substracting "Character Points" to characters (like adding Disadvantages, Powers, etc.). Like how much BODY you need to do with Transform to add "Psychological Limitation: Afraid of Spiders" or "10d6 EB" to a character. Pretty cool, IMO, since it removes the "Transform can do anything so turning you to stone and turning you into Superman cost the same" thing. =)[/quote']

 

Well, crap. Now i have to go read up on the Transform rules.

 

STEVE!!!!

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

Perhaps my understanding of Transform is flawed' date=' but because of the way it works, and because it stacks, he can purchase this as 1d6 Transform: You to You Kinda Screwed Up, Extra Time (10 minutes per d6 of Effect) and he just keeps "transforming" whomever is on the table until he's done and he's doubled their BODY in effect and FOOM, done. If I turn you to Stone (Major Transform, you to a rock) I just need to deal double your BODY. How is this functionally different? Am I missing some rules nuance?[/quote']

 

If you're not adding net power, you just have to do double the BODY. If you add points to the target, his effective BODY is increased by 1 per 5 Active Points of power you add. Under 5e, adding Disadvantages doesn't increase effective BODY at all, though it may under 5er, and it's reasonable for it to do so IMO (I don't have 5er so I can't say for certain).

[Tonio]

Re: Disad Power question and power build question

 

IIRC, it says something like treating adding Disadvantages like powers for the purposes of determining the extra BODY (so that adding a 10pt Disadvantage works the same as adding 10 STR).