Type: automaton power Duration: persistent Target: self only Range: self Costs END: no
Cost: 15 character points
An Automaton with this Power doesn’t “bleed” or lose additional BODY when under 0 BODY. Also it’s not subject to the Bleeding rules (6E2 113), if the campaign uses them. Common special effects for this Power include a lack of blood or a mechanical infrastructure that keeps damage from spreading.
HDRAIN
Type: adjustment power/attack power Duration: instant
Target: target’s Dcv Range: 10m x Base points Costs END: yes
Cost: 10 character points for every 1d6 of Drain
A character with Drain can temporarily lower the value of one of an opponent’s Characteristics or Powers. The character must specify which Power or Characteristic he can Drain when he purchases Drain. Examples of Drain include a spell that leeches mystic power, a poison that causes weakness, or a superhero’s power to suck all the electricity out of electronic devices. Every 1d6 of Drain costs 10 Character Points. Drain costs END to use.
uSING DRAIN
To use Drain, a character must make an Attack Roll. If he succeeds, he rolls and totals the Drain dice, then subtracts the target’s Power Defense (if any). The total remaining is the number of Active Points lost from the affected Power or Characteristic.
The points removed by Drain return to the victim at the rate of 5 Character Points per Turn. The character can extend the return period (i.e., move it down the Time Chart) with the Delayed
Return Rate Advantage (6E1 142). By moving the
return rate far down the Time Chart, a character can effectively “destroy” an opponent’s Character- istic or Power.
Example: Leech purchases a Drain Blast 3d6 (30 points). The points Drained return to the victim at the rate of 5 Active Points per Turn. Not satisfied with this, Leech moves the recovery rate down 6 levels on the Time Chart, for a +2¼ Advantage. The Drain still has 3d6 of effect, but now costs (30 x (1 + 2¼)) = 97 points and the Drained Blast returns at the rate of 5 Active Points per Day.
There’s no limit to the amount of Character Points a character can Drain from his victim; he may use the same Drain repeatedly on the same target, provided the target still has points left to Drain in the Power or Characteristic (see below regarding “negative” Characteristics). Of course, the rules for using Adjustment Powers on incremental Characteristics and Powers (6E1 138) apply to Drain. If a power is completely Drained (it has no Active Points left), then the power has been “turned off”; the victim has to restart it when enough points return for it to have at least 1 Char- acter Point worth of power.
CHARACTERISTICS
Except for BODY and STUN (which have specific combat effects; see 6E2 106-07), Char- acteristics cannot be reduced below 0; there’s no such thing as “-5 CON” or “-12 STR.” However, a Characteristic that’s being Drained can be “reduced into the negatives” solely for the purpose of determining how long it takes to regain the lost points. For example, a character could be attacked with a Drain STR until he’s at “-25 STR.” He func- tions as if he had STR 0, but it will take him longer to regain all the Drained STR because he starts regaining it from “-25,” not from 0. That means it will take six Turns for him to regain enough Drained points to return to positive STR (not just one).
Body: A Drain BODY kills a character if it Drains him to negative his starting BODY or less; the lost BODY doesn’t then return. If an object is Drained of all of its BODY, it crumbles to dust (in any event, the GM may rule that an object cannot regain Drained BODY normally — it needs repairs instead).
If a Drain BODY attack has the Attack Versus
Alternate Defense Advantage, it must also have the Does BODY (+1) Advantage.
PD, ED: A Drain PD or Drain ED still affects these Characteristics even if they’ve been made Resis- tant with the Resistant (+½) Advantage. (It will not, however, Drain Resistant Protection; that’s a distinct ability and requires its own Drain.)
Stun: A Drain STUN will Stun a character if the Drain removes more points of STUN than he has points of CON with any one attack.
POWERS
Defense Powers: A Drain of a Defense Power such as Resistant Protection must Drain the Power’s points of PD and ED in equal proportion. Thus, if they’re equal (6 PD/6 ED, for example), they each get Drained equally (half the effect of the Drain applies to each); if one is greater than the other (6 PD/4 ED, for example), the Drain divides its effect proportionately between them. The character cannot choose to, for example, Drain only the ED.
If a character defines his Drain as, say, Drain ED Resistant Protection, it applies solely to the type of defense it’s defined as affecting. Characters cannot buy a Drain against one of these Defense Powers and then restrict it to just PD or ED with a Limitation.
lImITATIONS
Focus: Unbreakable Foci are considered to have Power Defense equal to their (PD or ED x 4) solely for purposes of resisting Drain BODY or Drain PD or ED attacks.
Suppress
As an option for Drain, GMs can allow char- acters to buy a slightly different form of the Power known as Suppress. Suppress is Drain with the Limitation Costs Endurance (to maintain; -½); it’s considered a Constant Power. This means the character has to continue to pay END every Phase to keep the Suppressed Characteristic or Power at its Suppressed level (doing this is an Action that takes no time). Some examples of Suppress include a mystic spell that interferes with a char- acter’s ability to move, or a neuro-energy field that inhibits the use of all mutant powers.
Suppress remains in effect as long as the attacker pays END — it doesn’t fade at the usual rate of 5 Character Points per Turn. When the character stops paying END, all points that have been Suppressed immediately “return” to the affected character. If a power is completely Suppressed (it has no Active Points left), then the power has been “turned off”; the victim has to restart it when the Suppress is removed.
A character can use Suppress to Suppress any Characteristic or Power, even Suppress (though this can become confusing). There’s no limit to the amount of Character Points a character can Suppress from his victim. He may use the same Suppress repeatedly on the same target, provided there are still has points left to Suppress in the Power or Characteristic and he can afford the END cost. (Similarly, multiple characters using different Suppresses of the same Characteristic or Power has a cumulative effect.) The character must succeed with a separate Attack Roll for each use of Suppress, and pay END every Phase for each use. Maintaining a Suppress on a character doesn’t cause him to lose Character Points on each of his attacker’s Phases (but see Constant, below).
Example: Andarra has an Enervator Ray Helmet
(Suppress STR 2d6, costing 2 END). While on the planet Dennerax IV, she uses it on a STR 20 rampaging slime-beast. She succeeds with her Attack Roll, then rolls 8 on her Suppress dice. The slime-beast’s STR is reduced by 8 points, to 12. As long as Andarra keeps paying the 2 END for the Suppress on each of her Phases, the slime-beast’s STR remains at 8 points below normal.
In her next Phase, Andarra decides the slime- beast is still too strong for her liking. She hits it again with the Enervator Ray, and this time rolls 6 on her Suppress dice. The slime-beast has now lost a total of 14 points of STR, giving it a STR of 6. Its STR remains at 6 as long as Andarra pays the END cost to maintain the Suppress... and since she’s used it twice, she has to pay 4 END per Phase (2 END per use) to maintain it.
While maintaining the Enervator effect on the slime-beast, Andarra is attacked by its mate! She zaps the female slime-beast with the Ray and rolls a 12. The female slime-beast now has STR 8 as long as Andarra pays END to maintain the effect. Andarra’s now paying a total of 6 END per Phase to maintain all her uses of Suppress.
POWER EXAmPlES:
DRAIN
Energy Dampening Field: suppress Blast 6d6, area of effect (5m radius; +½) (90 active points); oaF (Dampening staff; -1), costs endur- ance (to maintain; -½), limited special effect (only Blasts based on types of energy; -¼). total cost: 33 points. Spell Of Diminished Enchantments: suppress Magic 4d6, expanded effect (all Magic powers simulta- neously; +4) (200 active points); oaF (Wizard’s staff; -1), costs endur- ance (to maintain; -½), gestures (-¼), incanta- tions (-¼), requires a Magic roll (-½), side effects (spellcaster suffers identical
effect; -1). total cost: 44 points. Spell Of Fear: Drain pre 5d6 (50 active points); oaF expendable (drop of blood; -1¼), gestures (-¼), incanta- tions (-¼), requires a Magic roll (-½). total cost: 15 points. Stun Gas Grenades: Drain stun 3d6, nnD (defense is life support [no need to Breathe]; +0), area of effect (9m radius; +¾) (52 active points); oaF (-1), 4 charges (-1). total cost: 17 points.
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SuPPRESSION FIElDS
When bought with the Area Of Effect Advan- tage, Suppress can, at the GM’s option, be used to create “suppression fields” where particular types of powers won’t work, or only work at diminished effectiveness. (The best example from literature would be areas in Fantasy worlds where magic doesn’t work.) Ordinarily, a Suppress (of, say, Blast) that covers an Area only affects the use of Blast by another character if he generates the Blast within the affected Area; a character outside the Area can use Blast to affect the character with Suppress without losing any of the Power. However, the GM can rule that a Suppress which covers an Area affects all of the defined Character- istics and/or Powers regardless of whether they’re generated within the Area or simply pass into or through it. In this case, the character doesn’t have to target any specific person with his Suppress; he need only successfully place the field where he wants it with an Attack Roll against the DCV 3 of the target Area.
Example: Arkelos wants to create an Enchant- ment Nullification Field. He buys the following: Suppress Magic 10d6 (Standard Effect Rule: 30 Active Points’ worth), Expanded Effect (all Magic powers simultaneously; +4), Area Of Effect (30m Radius; +1). When he activates the field, all magic within the affected 30m radius area is reduced in effectiveness by 30 Active Points. Magic that originates in or passes into/through the affected area (such as a Lightning Bolt Spell cast at Arkelos from 60m away) also suffers this reduction.
If a character is inside a Suppression Field and uses the Characteristic or Power the Field Suppresses, his Power Defense (if any) applies to reduce the Field’s effect. If he’s outside the Field and fires into or through it, his Power Defense doesn’t reduce the Field’s effect.
CHARACTERISTICS
Stun: If a character Suppresses more of a target’s STUN than the target has CON, the target is Stunned. The target gets to recover from being Stunned (not Recover the lost STUN) per the usual rules.
ADVANTAGES AND ADDERS
Constant: A character can apply this Advantage to Suppress it to make it continue to affect a target, Phase after Phase, without his having to make another Attack Roll. However, each subsequent “use” of Suppress is a new attack. That means he must pay END separately to make/maintain each Phase’s Suppress effect. While the overall END cost can be decreased using Reduced Endurance, there’s no way to stop the “accumulation” from occurring.
Example: Technique has a Suppress Machine Powers 2d6, Expanded Effect (all Machine powers simultaneously; +4), Constant (+½) (110 Active Points; costs 11 END per use) power that she uses to shut down devices. The first Phase she uses it, it costs her 11 END. The next Phase it costs her 11 END (to maintain the first Phase’s effect) + 11 END (for the second Phase’s “new” attack). The third Phase it increases to 33 END (11+11+11), and so on.
Area Of Effect (personal Surface — Damage Shield): A character who applies this Advantage to Suppress not only has to pay END each Phase he has the Damage Shield turned on, he has to pay END separately for each person affected to main- tain the Suppress effect. For example, suppose a Damage Shield Suppress costs 5 END, and four people have struck and been affected by the Shield. The character must pay a total of 20 END per Phase to maintain all those effects, plus 5 END per Phase to keep the Damage Shield active (for a total END expenditure of 25 per Phase).
Reduced Endurance: Characters can only buy this Advantage for Suppress with the GM’s permission. Since Suppress is a Drain that Costs Endurance to maintain, by definition it has to cost END. However, the GM could allow a character to buy Reduced Endurance (½ END; +¼) if desired. If he goes further and lets a character buy Suppress to cost 0 END, then the value of Costs Endurance (to maintain) goes down to -0, and the character must specify some reasonably common way for an affected character to regain his Suppressed Char- acteristic or Power (this recovery of power occurs at once when the victim meets the condition). For example, the victim of a Suppress defined as an Energy Dampening Field might reverse its effects if he plugs the affected item into a battery or other power source for “recharging.”
Characters cannot apply the Costs Endurance
Only To Activate (+¼) Advantage to Suppress.
lImITATIONS
Charges: If a character buys Suppress with Charges, the Suppress effect lasts for the one Phase the Charge is active, then it ends and the Suppressed points immediately return to the victim. If the Charges are Continuing Charges, the effect lasts until the duration of the Charge expires, then the points immediately return. If the Charges are Continuing Fuel Charges, the char- acter has to keep expending 1 second’s worth of fuel per Phase to maintain the Suppress; as soon as he stops doing this, the points immediately return.
If a character buys a Suppress that’s Constant, and has Continuing Charges, the power consumes one Continuing Charge per Phase (regardless of the Charge’s duration), or 1 second’s worth of a Fuel Charge, unless the GM rules otherwise. In particular, the GM may sometimes wish to charge a character more than 1 second’s worth of a Fuel Charge to maintain game balance.
POWER EXAmPlES:
DRAIN
STuN Transfer: Drain stun 3d6 (30 active points); unified power (-¼) (total cost: 24 points) plus aid stun 3d6, trigger (when char- acter uses Drain, acti- vating trigger takes no time, trigger immediately automatically resets; +1) (36 active points); linked (-½), unified power (-¼), only aid self (-1) (total cost: 13 points). total cost: 37 points. Weakness Darts: Drain str 4d6 (40 active points); oaF Fragile (drugged darts, drug is easily wiped off or spoiled; -1¼), range Based on str (-¼), Must target non-armored hit locations (-¼), 4 charges (-1). total cost: 11 points.
HDuPlICATION
Type: special power/Body-affecting power Duration: persistent
Target: self only Range: self Costs END: no
Cost: 1 character point per 5 character points in the base character, up to 2x the number of Duplicates for every +5 character points
A character with this Special Power can create duplicates of himself, which may have the same or different abilities than he does. Examples include a mutant superhero who can produce “carbon copies” of himself, a wizard with a spell that lets him separate his “astral form” from his body, or the ability to create a “double” of one’s self out of psychokinetic energy. Duplication doesn’t cost END to use.
For purposes of Duplication, the original character — the character who “produces” the Duplicates — is the “base character.” The base character creates all Duplicates; Duplicates do not come from other Duplicates. (At the GM’s option, “the Duplicates can Duplicate” could be the special effect of the Rapid Duplication Advantage described below, or the like; in this case, the GM may want to charge an additional +¼ Advantage because of the added utility, and he should restrict the ability as necessary to preserve game balance.)
BuyING AND BuIlDING DuPlICATES
The cost for Duplication, which only the base character pays, is 1 Character Point for every 5 Character Points the base character is built with (including points from Complications and the points spent on Duplication). The character may buy more Duplicates; this costs +5 Character Points for up to two times the number of Dupli- cates (i.e., 5 Character Points for x2 Duplicates, 10 Character Points for x4 Duplicates, and so on).
Example: Threepeat (a 250-point character) has the ability to create two Duplicates of himself. The first Duplicate costs 50 points (250/5). The additional Duplicate costs 5 points (one Duplicate for the base cost, x2 the number, or 2 Duplicates, for +5 points). Each of the Duplicates is built on 250 points. Therefore Threepeat and his Dupli- cates each have another 195 points to buy other abilities with.
Duplicates are built on the same Total Points as the base character, and should have the same amount of points’ worth of Matching Complica- tions as well. For example, if Threepeat is built on 250 Total Points (including 50 points’ worth of Matching Complications), his Duplicates are built on those same amounts of points. A Duplicate’s Complications are the same as the original form’s, unless the GM permits otherwise.
Duplicates do not have the Power Duplication themselves, nor any ability to create other Dupli- cates, unless they pay for it separately. However, unless the GM permits otherwise, for ease of use all Duplicates must “pay for” the cost of the base character’s Duplication ability. Otherwise, the Duplicates would end up with more points to spend on other abilities than the base character himself has.
Example: Threepeat’s Duplicates are all built on 250 Character Points, just like he is. However, each of them has to “spend” 55 of those points on Duplication, just like Threepeat does, so that each of them has another 195 points to spend (the same as Threepeat). But that doesn’t give them the ability to Duplicate themselves; it’s just part of the cost accounting for Threepeat’s overall Dupli- cation power. If they want to Duplicate, they have to buy Duplication separately out of their 195 remaining Character Points.
Duplicates Built on FeWer points than the Base character
A character may build Duplicates on less than the base character’s full points if he wants. If a Duplicate is built on less than the full Character Points the base character is built on, the cost instead is 1 Character Point for every 5 Char- acter Points the Duplicate is built on, +5 Char- acter Points for up to two times the number of Duplicates.
Assuming the Duplicate is the same as the base character, just with fewer abilities or less powerful abilities, the Duplication doesn’t require an Advantage, and the GM typically should not require the Duplicate to “pay for” the cost of Duplication as outlined above. However, if the GM believes the Duplicate is significantly different than the base character, he should require the Duplication power to have the Altered Duplicates Advantage. (In this case, calculate the percentage of points that can differ based on the Duplicate’s total points, not the base character’s total points.)
Building a Duplicate on less than the base char- acter’s full points may mean the Duplicate needs fewer points in Complications than the base char-