Supers: New Boosts?

[Dragonfly]

Hey folks,

I was working on my Hawkeye build, and ran into a snag. Like Green Arrow and various other gadgeteer-type characters, Hawkeye has a rather versatile arsenal of arrows. Many of his attack arrows do roughly the same thing (Damage), but they come in all sorts of flavors (Fire, Acid, Electricity, Sonic, etc.). The problem is that purchasing each type of arrow as a separate Energy Control [Complication: Attack Only] inflates the cost of the character dramatically and far beyond the benefit such versitility offers. I am, therefore, offering the following new Boost as a solution to this problem.

Extra Energy Form or Element: This boost can be added to Elemental Control, Elemental Form, Energy Control, or Energy Form. Each 1D allows a character to control or manifest an additional element or energy form with the power it enhances. Although this boost increases the versitility of the power its attached to, said power still counts as a single power for purposes of how (or how often) it may be used in a combat round.

Example: Fire and Ice is a supervillain with temperature control powers. The GM considers building the character with the power Elemental Control 5d (Fire and Ice) for a total cost of 6d. This would allow Fire and Ice to hurl both ice bolts and fire bolts, or to create ice walls and fire walls. This gives him a bit of added flexiblity. When facing Ice Maiden, he can opt to exploit her obvious weakness to fire. In a fight against Kid Chameleon, however, he might opt for a cold attack in an attempt to slow down his cold-blooded foe. As a single power, however, Fire and Ice's Elemental Control can only be used once per combat round, either to attack or resist. In this case, the GM decides to build Fire and Ice with two separate powers: Elemental Control 5d (Fire) and Elemental Control 5d (Ice) for a total cost of 10d. This gives Fire and Ice all of the versatility of the other build, but it allows him to attack with one element while simultaneously resisting with the other. You get what you pay for!

This is how the new Boost affects Hawkeye's build cost. Without the Boost, Hawkeye's powers look like this:

Elemental Control 3d* (Darkness Arrows) [Boost: Area 2d, Complication: Obscure Only]
Elemental Control 5d* (Acid Arrows) [Complication: Attack Only]
Elemental Control 5d* (Electricity Arrows) [Complication: Attack Only]
Elemental Control 5d* (Fire Arrows) [Complication: Attack Only]
Elemental Control 5d* (Sonic Arrows) [Complication: Attack Only]
Paralysis 5d* (Taser Arrows)
Super Weaponry 4d* (Armor Piercing Arrows) [Boost: Armor Piercing 1d]
Super Weaponry 5d* (Explosive Arrows) [Boost: Area 2d]
Webs 5d* (Capture Arrows)

*Universal Complication: Device (Bow and Specialty Arrows)

[B]Total Cost: 33d

With the Boost, Hawkeye's powers look like this:

Elemental Control 3d* (Darkness Arrows) [Boost: Area 2d, Complication: Obscure Only]
Elemental Control 5d* (Elemental Arrows) [Boost: Extra Energy Form or Element 3d (Acid, Electricity, Fire, Sound), Complication: Attack Only]
Paralysis 5d* (Taser Arrows)
Super Weaponry 4d* (Armor Piercing Arrows) [Boost: Armor Piercing 1d]
Super Weaponry 5d* (Explosive Arrows) [Boost: Area 2d]
Webs 5d* (Capture Arrows)

Total Cost: 27d

This shaves 6d off the character and seems a more accurate reflection of his combat effectiveness.

What do you all think?

Best,

Dragonfly

[yukonhorror]

not familiar with supers! but in HERO there is a variable effect advantage (can change from ice to fire to electricity each time it is used). Is there something like that in supers!

[Dragonfly]

not familiar with supers! but in HERO there is a variable effect advantage (can change from ice to fire to electricity each time it is used). Is there something like that in supers!

Hi Yukonhorror,

I'm an old time Champions player. Played the game for over 20 years almost exclusively, so I'm familiar with the variable effect advantage. No, there isn't something as such in Supers!, which is why I'm designing the new Boost. Why not just use HERO? Because its become too cumbersome a system for me, and Supers! is fast, fun, furious and simple (as is BASH UE). Those are my goto games for superheroes these days.

Best,

Dragonfly

[Maltese Changeling]

It's an interesting question, though. Your suggestion, Dragonfly, would limit a 5D Energy Control hero to 5 different types of energy control (since you can't boost beyond a Power's rating). For nearly all heroes, that's more than enough. But then I wonder about how to handle someone like Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel. She definitely became more than 5-7 types of energy during her time as an Avenger. Would it make more sense to (a) create something akin to HERO's Variable Effect advantage, (b) not sweat it, or (c) just give her Energy Control over "The Electromagnetic Spectrum" and sidestep the cost issue entirely?

[Dragonfly]

Good point, MC. When brainstorming the "Hawkeye Problem" I considered several possibilites. One was a Boost called Variable. For 1D a player could essentially have any "Special Effect" his or her character. I decided that this would be too much of a freebie, but I could be convinced otherwise. If we wanted to make it more like HERO's Variable Special Effect advantage, we could do this:

Variable Effect: For 1d the character can switch the special effect of their power within a narrow group (temperatures, magic, etc.). For 2d the character's power manifests with any special effect they desire.

Hawkeye would be built exactly as-is, but he would pay 1D less for his Element Control and actually have more options open to him. Monica Rambeau would be built the same way (except she only pays 1D, since it's limited to the electromagnetic spectrum).

What do you think? I like the simplicity and flexibility it offers, but does this break the system in any way?

Best,

Dragonfly

[Maltese Changeling]

Well, the existing boosts are mostly incremental: 1D of Boost gets you 1D of extra in a Power. However, we do have the precedent of Split Attack: +1D for the ability to split your Power into 2 attacks, +1D more (for a total Boost cost of 2D) for the ability to split your Power into 3 attacks. So what you're proposing could work along those lines--although I'm having trouble imagining what a 2D Variable Boost would cover on Element/Energy Control that a 1D Variable Boost wouldn't effectively handle. So I think we'd want to pin that down before moving ahead.

[Dragonfly]

Hey MC,

I was thinking the same thing with regards to Split Attack as a precedent for building Variable Effect in this way, and your right - MOST of the Boosts are incremental, which is exactly why I built Extra Energy Type and Extra Element the way that I did. SO - we'll want to think about which version of the Boost best matches the spirit and design philosophy of Supers!.

That being said, here is how I see the difference between the 1D and 2D versions of the Boost currently under consideration.

Elemental Control 5D (Temperatures) would use Boost: Variable Effect 1D. Why? Because it's a narrow group. It includes Heat and Cold, but that's it, and only with regards to temperature. It wouldn't, for instance, allow a manifestation of the power that included lava (even though lava is hot), nor would it allow a Darkness effect. The same would go for Monica Rabeau. She would have Elemental Control 5D (Electromagnetic Spectrum) [Boost: Variable Effect 1D]. Sure, she can project Gamma Rays, X-Rays, Radio Waves, etc., but she can't project gas, lava, earth, ice, etc.

Hawkeye and Green Arrow, however, would have the 2D version. Why? Because they can project smoke, glue, ice, electricity, fire, and anything else that makes sense at the tip of a comic book arrow. In other words, this is a VERY broad range of trappings.

The more I consider this, the more I like it. Again, though, does it break the system? Does it run counter to the spirit and design philosophy of the game?

Best,

Dragonfly