Aberrant RPG - Help for a new GM

[Justice]

So I've there's this character in my game (actually it's a round-robin GMing game, we all want to play, so we take turns, donchaknow), and it's sole ability is Warp 4. This makes for some quick movement normally, but the player has also developed a somewhat annoying habit of opening portals beneath villians, with the other end aimed at a volcano or sun or something. What, oh masters of Aberrant, can be done to safeguard my villains from certain melty doom aside from adaption+teleport or changing the way the character's power works?

-Justice!

[Bahamut810]

First off...he he suceeding in the Dex+Warp roll to catch them? If he is then just make the bad guy fly...and make an abberation: perminent power (flight). That way he never touches the ground and cant fall in the warp.

Another good way is to have a "Flash" type character with uber-dodge and a knife...he will find new way to do stuff quickly.

[Joseph]

Bahamut has it right. Warp isn't necessarily an instantaneous thing. Nor is it a sure thing. There are some drawbacks to it.

First off is the roll to actually hit someone with it in combat. Second, Warp isn't a quick pop like Teleport. It takes a second to get going.

Not being either (1) a big Aberrant ST, or (2) someone who leaves the rules as stated in the books, I've always played it that it takes one combat turn to get the darn thing juiced up enough to open. On the second turn, you can attempt the hit. Basically:

Round 1: Eyeball the target, and start opening the Warp.

Round 2: Make your roll to hit with the now functional Warp. Target may attempt a dodge.

-Joseph

[ProfPotts]

This is covered by the rules, except that a lot of the Warp rules are in the APG errata, so if you don't have it you may have problems.

Firstly, yes, he needs to roll to-hit (or 'envelop') the target: he rolls his Dex+Warp to do this & the target can dodge as normal (or gets an Athletics roll if he was stationary when the Warp opened up). This roll, however, is seperate & different from the Perception + Warp roll used to determine the maximum Warp distance. This brings us to the next point: since he needs two rolls (one to target & one for distance) he's using a multiple action, & that's going to hurt his dice pools. Thirdly, he can only use a 'combat' Warp as an attack, not a 'long-distance' Warp, so he's limited to a maximum distance of 100 meters per success on his Per+Warp roll (Quantum is not added in for a combat Warp). So, unless there's a handy volcano or star within a kilometer or so distance from the combat zone, his tactics won't work!

[harlequin]

welcome Justice, hope to hear from you again. we're always happy to see new people.

one thing you could also do is have the villan be just as much of a warper as your PC and have an all out battle of the warps. wouldn't your player be surprised when his own warp turns around and starts chasing him ::wink or there could be a warp sandwich, or random flying warps to hide from. ::devil just a thought.

[Joseph]

Harle's suggestions are great, until I remember that she's one of my ST's. ::crazy

::biggrin

[Justice]

Ah... excellent...

This solves my problem nicely!

-Justice!

[Ayre el KaBeer]

Welcome Justice! ::smiley5 As for Warp one of my Trinity players has figured out how to used it to deadly effect and when he told me made me dread the idea of running Aberrant... When in combat the Warper chooses to go last in combat, now that the oponent no longer has any actions he activates warp, no more actions means no dodge!

[ProfPotts]

(Quantum is not added in for a combat Warp)

Oops, sorry: I just re-read the text & Quantum is actually added in as auto-successes for both a combat & non-combat Warp (they just count as 100m successes for a combat Warp) - my bad! ::crazy

When in combat the Warper chooses to go last in combat, now that the oponent no longer has any actions he activates warp, no more actions means no dodge!

Well, it'd be a ST call, of course, but since even a stationary target gets an automatic (reflexive) Athletics roll to 'dodge' a Warp attack, I'd suggest that a character who had already acted would have the same benefit. Warp attacks can be very powerful (even Warping someone a few hundred meters could be potentially lethal - or, at least, remove them from the combat in an instant), but they're not meant to be the main thrust of the power (so are designed to be difficult to achieve).

[Ayre el KaBeer]

If I was going to give the target a dodge after they'd had their normal actions I'd severely penalise them on it, half dice pool or something similar.

[harlequin]

If I was going to give the target a dodge after they'd had their normal actions I'd severely penalise them on it, half dice pool or something similar.

::thumbsup ::thumbsup ::thumbsup

[Jenacis]

This brings us to the next point: since he needs two rolls (one to target & one for distance) he's using a multiple action, & that's going to hurt his dice pools.

Granted, I realize that yes, warp is two rolls in that sense, but I personally never saw it as a multiple action. It's like a normal attacking action - you make two rolls: One to target(Dex+Warp) and one for "damage"(I.E - range) (Perception + Warp). Calling it multiple actions for every combat warp opened just doesn't seem right - it's far too damaging to the dice pools.

[Alex Green]

Agreed. It's one power with one use and one effect... however it does raise the issue of botching with one roll but not the other.