This was in the VIGIL fanzine that was recently unearthed, in an article written by Jeff Dee. I kind of like this idea.

It replaces the way that the Force Screen portion of the Force Field power functions with an "Invulnerability screen"; 2 points of protection for each power point spent, maximum protection of S + E. Size of the screen is as per the rules. Once generated you must spend one action per round to maintain it. The field ceases to exist if it is reduced to zero by damage in a single turn, and then must be reformed.

I'm going to house rule this in as an option for Force Field using characters as I find it generally less confusing than the current version

Allen

I suppose you could always modify it to use Charisma as that seems to be the "force of will" stat, even though that doesn't quite sound right to me either.

Might be good just to use E x 2

Allen

Avatar wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 1:09pm:


I've considered it several times, but I'm far to lazy to actually go back and rewrite all the power descriptions that I think it'd be incorporated into.  One day, I might get motivated and knock that "little" project out, along with a few other mods that I think would make the game smother.

I use a will stat.  Willpower is the power, will is the attribute.

@IP: I love this approach to Force Field!

I looked this over last night at our game session (with our player who has been running a PC with Force Field for 18+ years) and - though I at first thought this would be fantastic - I am now having second thoughts.

I like the idea of it just fine, don't get me wrong.  But when we started to crunch the numbers and see what this could do for him, it got a little crazy.

He's got a Strength of 33 and an Endurance of 27.  So that means, for 30 Power, he could put up an Invisible 60 point Invulnerability field around the whole team!     Of course none of them could probably fire out of it, but then this guy is so creative I can imagine him making little gun ports for the heroes to fire out of as well!   

Subbing in Charisma for one of the other stats doesn't do much, by the way, he's somewhere around 25 in that, too.

hmm I sort of like this... str is the best way to go as carrying capacity is used to pummel people.

the old force field wasnt much good for a pc as a protective device.  if you had 50 power points you could take a 100 points of damage more or less and then literally die when you ran out of hits.
But I agree the abuse could be there, with this. Invunerability is super tough.

I once came up with a system that was like this.  a character infuses his force field with a set strength. each point of power hes uses added 4 points that work as armor with a hundred percent protection rate.  It cost two points of power to maintain and a player could spend up to his endurance in power each turn.   

though that did not work as well either at points.

when you think force field you think sue storm, green lantern, magneto, cannonball. Not one of which, I would think would give much of a thought to six goons with hand guns.  Sue storm probably has 50 or 60 points of power and could not allow the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, and Annihilus to once survived passage through a black hole by using these fields

I always found that the stats any power is based on should be determined by the characters origin and background in conjunction with GM input to assure balance and never pre-determined in the power description. A psionic based character who has force fields should be based on a combo of any 2 of Int,Cha or Will (if your using the optional stat). A character like the invisible girl could have it based on end x2 or maybe end +cha or int. 

Imaginos wrote on Sep 2^nd, 2010 at 5:43am:


Good point.

Allen Shock wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 1:07pm:


I missed this when you posted it, and I like it, as it makes sense. I'd also suggest it costing a PR of 1 or 2 per turn to maintain the field.

Ranger wrote on Sep 5^th, 2010 at 3:26pm:


There's no 'exact' way to do things when you double a power, Ranger.  It's totally for a player and the GM to work out what seems fair and balanced.

Your suggestion sounds solid, or you might do something similar to what's been suggested on this thread (more of an Invulnerability Field).

Force Field, even if you're only taking 1/4 damage, can still bite you (really hard) when the attack 'pierces' and collapses the field (effectively doing double damage!).

I am surprised this wasn't incorporated into V&V 2.1.

Majestic wrote on Aug 10^th, 2010 at 12:33am:

So this begs me to ask two questions
A) Just curious if those amazing stats are from his powers or years of training or both (I assume)?
B) Assuming you use the standard rules how has he handled the power drain when used as a defense?

Okay, how about this for a new version.

Force Field: Replace the Force Screen portion of the Force Field power with an Invulnerability Screen; 2 points of protection for each power point spent, maximum protection = Ex2. Size of the screen is as per the standard Force Field rules. Once generated the character must spend 1 point of Power per turn to maintain it. The field ceases to exist if it is reduced to zero by damage in a single turn, and must then be reformed.

If anyone uses this or a variation in actual play, let us know how it goes. I'm always wary of changing anything as I have experienced many power-monger players whose changes seem reasonable at first but then in practice turn into atrocities and monstrosities.

If any of you guys try this, please let me know how it works for you.

Question about this: It's an invulnerability screen that blocks the damage.  But do you still get the '0' on the combat matrix?

How does it work if the forcefield is pierced? 

Since Invulnerabilty is going to be whittled down through the round, won't the forcefield constantly be collapsing?

Has anyone play tested this?

How's this more powerful that Invulnerability with a 0 power cost... always on?

I get it can be used at range/protect others/pummel attacks, but this sounds balanced.  I'll have to try it, but sounds reasonable.

Matt wrote on Oct 29^th, 2013 at 6:32pm:


I'm with you brother.