Area Effect in 6e

[GAZZA]

One of the most drastic changes for 6e I've noted in my campaign is Area Effects. In 5e and previously, you might see the odd Explosion for a +1/2, but AE powers were your "agent killers" - at +1, you weren't going to hurt your average super with it.

 

Now that you can get a 4m radius for +1/4, though, I'm seeing a lot more little +1/4 area effect attacks. It's not an agent killer anymore - it's the equivalent of doing 10d6 instead of 12d6 damage, and not having to worry about missing. With the lowered defences that 5e brought in (and 6e has continued), a 10d6 attack is still definitely worthwhile against 25 DEF.

 

I don't know if this is a problem or not - my 6e campaign is only 3 weeks old so far (session 4 tomorrow night) - but it certainly seems like a very good deal for +1/4 to basically nuke your opponent's DCV. I've certainly started to consider "countermeasures" (such as innocent bystanders and so on) - it really does feel like buying DCV is kind of a waste.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Area Effect in 6e

 

There might be a point of order as to whether 6e actually bought in lower defences, but certainly the sample characters have them.

 

Anyhoo, I quite like it. Bear in mind that a 12d6 attack against 25 DEF gets 17 damage through on average and a 10d6 by 4m AOE for only 2 more character points will do 10 damage through the same defences on average. It has certainly made small AoE's a lot more viable as a combat option, which is good, but the 12d6 attack does almost twice as much effective damage to a single target, so I can't see it getting overshadowed. It will certainly be appearing in multipowers as a speeder/MA killer, and to take out bunched agents.

 

I don't feel that it necessarily nukes DCV, although it is interesting to note that, looking at the sample superhero characters, Eagle Eye, who is the martial artist, has a higher PD than Hardpoint, the Power Armour character and Taurus, the Brick, and that does seem odd to me. Also they have homogeneous base physical combat values. Personally I don't think they necessarily show the changes in the system off to best effect.

 

I'll still be building high DCV characters with low defences but I'll certainly be looking at options to protect them from AoEs, including levels in Dive For Cover, or maybe a triggered move to dodge out of the way of such attacks. DCV remains very useful. Bear in mind that strong characters in 5e could pick up big objects and use them as effective AoEs and still do top dollar damage.

[Ice9]

Re: Area Effect in 6e

 

I find it an improvement in general - at the +1 level, I found AoEs often had problems even dropping agents. It is pretty tempting as an attack staple now, however.

 

For instance, I was thinking about a psychokinetic brick - "The Egomaniac", and realized that putting AoE (16m Line) on Strength or HA, as a telekinetic shockwave, would be extremely effective. Negates DCV, gives you multi-target attacks, and effectively gives you a (short) ranged HA with no range penalties.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Area Effect in 6e

 

It's a just another new tool in the toolbox (among many other new additions). In a fashion similar to Damage Negation it jumbles up our preconceptions of 'baseline' from the previous editions. Not a bad thing necessarily.

 

I think it took the board a few years to really explore all the possibilities with the 5e and later 5er rule set and the board member character posts reflect this quite well. Most if not all board posted characters are far more 'complete' than any of the characters published in the early 5th ed Champions books. There is a learning curve to using the new tools and it even applies to Steve Long

[prestidigitator]

Re: Area Effect in 6e

 

Think of it this way: it is now possible to create a powerful attack (many dice of damage) that covers a small area, with fewer points than if the area were really big. In 5E- the area was based on Active Points and there was really no way to get a rebate for a smaller area (though you could do the reverse and create a really big area for a weak attack if you wanted).