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Aberrant RPG - Mega attribute questions


Asche

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I guess we can post our questions here on mega attributes and see how all the "experts" wink reply to them.

I'll start with my pondering.

Just HOW good is Mega Perception 5 at visually locating things? I mean, at mega per 5 are you better than the Hubble telescope? (assuming it is in good repair frown )

Also, with High-End Electromagnetic scan say a person is looking into a building through the walls. Its dark in the room theya re looking into. Can Mega Perception extras be stacked upon each other? ie, can a person use H-E scan AND seein the dark at the same time? I hope I typed this correct for all to understand.

Thanks

:rolleyes:

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In the specific stacking case you placed down, I'd have to say no, on scientific grounds. You're technically using X-Rays to look through, not IR or UV rays, and the latter don't tend to pass through walls. On the plus side, since you are using X-Rays, you can see who's in the room anyway, by looking for the walking skeletons. You can also determine if they're armed with metal objects...

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See, this is something I actually have a house rule for smile

When players buy Mega-Attributes, I dont allow their mega-rating to count as dicepool in resolving feats. Instead, the characters are given a number of free enhancements equal to their Mega-Attribute rating. In this manner, to answer your question, you wouldnt have the visual range of a (functional) hubble telescope unless you had the Electromagenetic Vision enhancement and a high Mega-Perception rating (if you wanted Hubble range, I would think you would need a higher rating than 5, by and by...).

I put this rule into effect because of a player of mine who made a character with Mega-Intelligence 1 and the Eidetic Memory enhancement. Despite this being his only enhancement he could, according to the book, "solve advanced calculus problems in his sleep". eek. Also taking into account that he only had Intelligence 1 to begin with, I slapped the bastard and declared the new rule.

I also wouldnt advise using EMG Vision and EMG Scan in tandem without the benefit of the wall you metioned: Your senses would end up blowing the world out the back of your head.

[ 02-27-2002: Message edited by: Quantum Promise ]

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Gonna have to agree with QP on one of his points. The descriptions of how effective MegaAtts are tend to outstrip how effective the actual dice systems allow them to be. I bitched and moaned about this when I first got into the system. I don't go as far as he does, as I like MegaDice, but I can understand his feeling the need for a house rule.

Now, with Telescopic Vision (I'm at work and don't have the rulebook with me, so forgive me if I get titles wrong.) I believe it multiplies the distance you can see by a factor of ten for each dot. So, at MegaPer 5 you can see 100,000 times as far as you can now. So, you can see things as effectively at 378.4 miles as you can now at 20 feet. However, remember that there are limits. Light disperses over distance and you lose clarity at extreme distances.

By the way, take Mega Per 5 with Telescopic Vision, Quantum Bolt with Extended Range, Flight and Mega Stamina with Adaptability and you are you're own little Satellite of Death.

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Thanks Prodigy and QP. Those thoughts will help. BTW Prodigy, I would appreciate the referenced page humbers and book if possible. I seem to recall reading it but cannot find it again. Slap me if its in an obvious place; My main rule book is on extended loan it seems. mad

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Asche,

No problem my man

Prodigy,

Hmmmm...

I think it would take Mastery 1 to get a Quantum Bolt to start raking up distance like that. I could be wrong.

I really dont have as much of a problem with Megadice in the cases of Strength and...well, I dont really have a problem with them in the case of physical Mega-dice. I really do have issues with a min-maxing Intelligence 1 asshole suddenly becoming able to solve problems of extreme complexity whilst unconscious. I mean, I can handle contests between M-Strength 5 Strength 1 Pete and M-Strength 5 Strength 5 Bruno easliy enough, but Ill be damned....never mind, enough ranting. I wont even touch the M-Socials today...

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QP, handle it this way. Start assigning difficulty levels to every Intelligence Ability attempt. You wanna solve equations? Fine, difficulty 3. He can do it, he can possibly get 4 or more depending on his Ability levels. But it's unlikely. So, you now have a pretty hefty difference between Mongo the Numbskull who is trying to min max and Jimmy Neutron with the Int 5 for a base. Jimmy averages 3 successes, Mongo averages 1. Mongo suddenly feels the pain of min max backfire.

As for the extra, extended range, it outright states that ranges is extended to line of sight. Yes, another example of poor editorial skills at WW, but, it's there. At no point does it give an exception for having your line of sight extended through some means.

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Wow, suddenly Mastery 1 for the sake of range sounds silly, espeacially when coupled with M-Perception 5. Hehe, easy point of weakness if you take off the scope enhancements for range and area.

By the way, how would you handle that area enhancement with Mastery 1 for a Q-Bolt?

I mean, Pax's Q-Bolt would end up having an area of something like 200 miles.

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There is a reason that World Wide Phase One states that Pax's powers can affect cities and that Mal's powers can affect continents.

Also, remember that if you are dealing with high enough dice pools AND have Mastery, you don't bother with any other extras. You simply use the ability to exchange five successes on any power role to replace them with whatever extra you want this particular time around. Explosion on one of Pax's or worse, Mal's Q-Bolts? I thought that might make your megapowered heart happy.

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Imagine, Dex 5 and Mega Dex 5 + Q Bolt 5 for Mal, just for giggles.

Well, you turn his 5 Mega into an automatic 5 successes and just roll the other 10 dice. Assuming you don't completely fail those, you burn the 5 Mega into the Explosion Extra. Oh, and he has Mastery 2.

So, (I can't remember the exact figures for lethal bolt, I think it's 4*Dots in Dice and 2*Quantum in lethal levels. All multiplied by 5) So, 80 lethal levels of damage + 100 dice. Averages out to 120 lethal levels of damage. Explodes out losing one level of damage every 10 kilometers. Hmmmm, 1100 kilometers later and it is still instantly killing any human being that it comes across. You know what? I think ol Divas was showing remarkable restraint when he torched the Secratary General of the UN.

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Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt.

(Espeacially if you were to use MY values for Mal's stat's. Mwahahaha.)

Yeah, Mals a badass. I couldnt see adding the explosive extra. For one thing, ITS NOT DEADLY ENOUGH FOR ME!! mad

Give that Son of a Bitch Area , add the bonuses from Mastery 2 on that god damned Q-Bolt (By the way, its Agg. damage), and you have a Continent killing cluster f*** of a Q-Bolt.

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Jesus Christ you two. Why don't you just get out the Quantum Inferno and add the Explosive Extra to that? That way, you don't have to worry about public outcry over the collateral damage (Well, how could they? Everyone there was included in the collateral damage...)[1]

[1]Well, not everyone. There is the guy who was smart enough to Stop Time himself...

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No, I'm Reading it here:

Optional Rule: Extra Successes

When you play a baseline character, you're unlikely to ever roll more than 5 successes on any given task. Nova Dice pools being what they are, you may often end up with more than five successes, particularly when Mega-Attributes come into play. Here are some guidlines and suggestions for making the extra successes count in clear ways.

When you roll five successes, you can choose one of the options for maxing out, as presented on Aberrant, p147 or below, or you can reduce the quantum cost of a power by 1. For every three successes thereafter, you can choose another maxing-out option. Since you've already succeeded on your roll, there's no risk of gaining temporary Taint this way

Aberrant Player's Guide, p99-100

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OK question.

Intuition and Spiderman-types. I recall an issue of Spiderman wherein some bad guy found a way to "scramble" spidermans spidey-sense, oe something along those lines. Doing this allowed the mentioned badguy to easier hit the webslinger since he was not forewarned of all the attacks like usual. First, am I crazy? Can anyone confirm this event or something similar?

Now the reason for my asking. In one of my games I'm running, we were discussing the Intuition/Premonition powers and trying to figure out which Spidey would have. I thought it might be intuition as it activates automatically. And I recall form playing marvel Superheroes that for Spidey to fail a dodge, he had to first fail a spider-sense roll or something similar. We discussed that a power like that would be too powerful in Aberrant.

Now, would you, assuming I am correct in the above ramblings, allow intuition to add successes to defense rolls?

If I am completely out of whack in the spiderman reference, How would you run a power like Combat Precog from the SpaceMaster suite of games? The power there did allow you to add your Combat Precog skill to your defense rolls.

Was that over the top? eek

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Asche, gotta be quick, so if I don't make sense...

I've always considered that Intuition would allow a nova to be able to dodge attacks that he otherwise wouldn't notice. That's what the roll does, it lets him know that he's about to be under attack, and needs to get out of the way.

Later

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There are some nifty ISRA psion abilities from Trinity that match the "combat precog" sense pretty closely; I´ll check out my GM:s books.

And you´re quite right about the Spiderman incident; I remember it as well. Salutations, fellow fan(boy?).

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