Quote:

Shouldn't that read +1 to hit and -1 to damage.

Well in Secret in the Swamp, Swamp rat uses an automatic rifle and gets a -1 to damage every extra bullet he fires. No accuracy modifier per bullet though.

In Mongoose Publishing's version of Traveller autofire weapons have a bonus to hit and a negative to damage per shot fired. This is supposed to model the possibility that, with more bullets in the air your more likely to hit something, and with the gun recoiling on you so much your less likely to hit exactly where your aiming. Guess I am kind of used to thinking of autofire weapons in this manner now. I will have to look at GURPS and see what sort of mechanic they use.

dsumner wrote on Jul 8^th, 2010 at 7:06pm:


One thing to consider is whether this would be usable with a device (say, if a character had a Power Blast device).  If so, then the increased PR doesn't really hurt them (though in theory it could burn through more charges).

Majestic wrote on Jul 9^th, 2010 at 12:18pm:


For devices they'd have them have fewer charges for each additional ability built into the device, or they'd use additional charges. So a blaster that would normally have 20 charges if used normally, would burn 2 charges every time it fired on auto fire (and I'm making this up on the fly, so if it's to "out there", let me know).

To help clarify things, here's a an example of how one of these would work, as well as a clarification. The additional PR cost, that a Power Modification would require, would be permanently added to the cost of a power. So if you have Power Blast, which normally has a PR of 1 per shot, and make it Explosive, it’d now have a PR cost of 2, and it’d have a 1” blast radius.

I really like the explosive modifier.   What would you do? Make the player drop another power to gain the ablity for his powerblasts to be explosive?  Or increase the power cost?

I assume all this would be at character creation.

Okay, here's a slight re-write, that will hopefully clear up any questions. Plus an addition I can't believe I didn't think of before. Also, this is for the GMs, does this stuff sound like it's workable? Would it unbalance your games, are the PR costs to low, or to high?

Power Modifiers

Auto-fire: The character’s power works like an automatic weapon, firing multiple “shots” each time it’s used. The character would pay normal PR +2, plus an additional 2 points of power, for each additional “shot”. Each additional “shot” would have a cumulative -1 to hit, and do -1 point of damage. The additional PR cost would be factored in during character creation, and would be a permanent change, to the power.  So a character who wants to have an Auto-fire Power Blast would have a base PR of 3 for his Power Blast (although I may think about dropping the cost of additional shots to +1)

Explosive: The power has a burst effect, that inflicts 1/2 damage to anyone caught in the power’s burst radius. The character doubles the normal PR for each 1” of burst radius. The PR cost is permanent. So if you have Power Blast, which normally has a PR of 1 per shot, and make it Explosive, it’d now have a PR cost of 2, and it’d have a 1” blast radius. If he wanted a 2” burst radius, the PR would be 4 per shot, 3” would cost 8”, etc..

Increased Range: By paying double the standard PR, the character can increase the range/radius of any power by 50%. So if the character's Power Blast normally has a range of 30", and a PR cost of 1, he could increase the range to 45", at a PR of 2. Like the other modifications, the change is permanent.

Majestic wrote on Jul 17^th, 2010 at 2:17pm:


All of the modifiers are for powers doing standard damage rates. I could also see them being used if a character rolled the same power twice. So instead doubling the powers effects, you could choose one of the modifiers.

Here's another one.

Indirect: The character can make a special attack allowing them to bounce/ricochet their powers off of walls, floors, etc. Or, a character with electrical powers could fire a bolt of electricity at a wall socket, and have it reappear from a a different light socket, wall socket, computer keyboard, etc., and hit their target from behind, allowing a +4 bonus to hit.

How's that sound?

Majestic wrote on Jul 17^th, 2010 at 4:39pm:


And I think it's pretty consistent with the way you see some powers work in comics.

Cyclops too is supposed to be an expert at computing angles and bouncing his eyebeam off of other things to be able to hit his target.

I like the idea of spending Inventing Points to gain new uses of powers.  But then there's part of me that worries that our game will soon escalate too much, if I start allowing characters to do that (the PCs are already pretty powerful).

Deleted.

Gigglestick wrote on Jul 21^st, 2010 at 11:15pm:


The "Explosive" option does less damage in the burst radius.

dsumner wrote on Jul 17^th, 2010 at 4:34pm:


I really like this power but wonder if a more appropriate name would be Redirect or Ricochet

When I think of a power being Indirect I think that the power does not originate from PC.

Examples:

Storm can create a tornado in the exact spot of the opponent.  She can have hail come down on them.  She can call down lightning from the opposite direction from where she is standing.  Non of her powers have to touch her first then go to the target.

The Invisible Woman can place a force field around a opponent or a field bubble around the opponents head.

Pyro can create a fire attack from anywhere.  He once used a lighter in the Blob's hand to shot out a fiery monster at the Blob

Terra could create earth columns anywhere which could ram an opponent.

So using these examples there would be two Power Modifiers.

Redirect: The character can make a special attack, allowing them to bounce/ricochet their powers off of walls, floors, etc. Or, a character with electrical powers could fire a bolt of electricity at a wall socket, and have it reappear from a a different light socket, wall socket, computer keyboard, etc., and hit their target from behind, allowing a +4 bonus to hit.

Indirect: The character can make a special attack, allowing them ignore the terrain between the character and their target.  The target gains no bonus from hiding, protecting powers which are not attached, or being prone. This modifier povides a +4 bonus to hit.

Bumping this up, as I'd like to know if anyone's made use of them.

The Cougar wrote on Jul 23^rd, 2010 at 8:30am:


Sorry, apparently I never responded to this. But I like idea of Indirect and Ricochet (I prefer the name) being split.

Bumping this up.

This thread is eleven years old next month.  Just sayin'.  This classic RPG game *still* has dedicated fans!  Yay!  I tried to start a V&V campaign several years ago but it fizzled out because the "armpit of Georgia" doesn't have many paper-and-pencil RPG fans (not Atlanta, like John of "Centerville" fame!)

Sigh...  I wish John would come back...  I wish V&V would come back!

Er...  I didn't quite read all of the posts, yet, but I have some questions about the "auto-fire."

1) Is it limited to character creation?  Can a person with, say, Power Blast as a Power and *not* a Device or Item "train" or "invent" a way to add auto-fire?  I would suggest "train" and require the character to spend an entire level for adding auto-fire to non-Device/Item Powers.  Maybe even make that to apply to Device/Item Powers, too for "balance?"  Invention can be rationalized by saying "when I wear these special gauntlets, I can auto-fire" or whatever.

2) Does PR=2 per additional shot apply to all powers or just Power Blast?  I mean, Magnetic Powers have a PR of 5.  Does this mean a reduced PR for additional shots?  I'm just clarifying.

3) Damage reduction sounds fair, but -1 seems a bit low.  I understand Power Blast could potentially cause zero damage with a lousy roll per additional shot but it doesn't cost a whole lot, either.  Vibratory Powers would become 2d8-1 per additional shot.  That's seems kind of overpowered...  Maybe half damage per additional shot instead?

4) Page 24 of the Revised Rules says +1 to hit per additional shot for automatic weapons.  I understand we're comparing apples and oranges when comparing automatic weapons to Powers, but does the same principal apply?

5) Which Powers are capable of auto-fire?  For instance: can Mind/Emotion Control have auto-fire?

I've added a bit more info as well as some clarifications to a few of these. I'd really like to hear anything you guys might have to say about them.