Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) Modifying Force Fields (Read 4593 times)
dsumner
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Modifying Force Fields
Jul 27th, 2014 at 4:24pm
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As with my Armor and Invulnerability mods, I'm tinkering with Force Field as well. This is a draft so it may change, and I've yet to figure out how much Power I think the character would have to expend to keep the force bubble up and running.

Force Field: There are two types of Force Fields. Type A allows the character for create a protective screen/barrier of protective energy around themselves, or at a distance. The second type, Type B, allows the character to project a beam, (a "Force Beam") from their body. Which version of the power the character has must be chosen at character creation.

A) The character can generate a protective energy field around themselves, with a Invulnerability Rating (IR) =1/5 their current Power score. So, a character with a Power score of 50 would be able to generate a Force Field with an IR of 10 within 1" of their person. When the character's Power score drops to 40, he would only be able to generate a field with an Invulnerability Rating of 8. Attacks inflicting damage equal to, or less than, the Force Field's IR are ignored by the character. If the damage sustained from an attack is greater than the the Force Field's IR, then the field collapses and must be reformed. Forming or reforming a Force Field is an action, but maintaining it only costs Power. PR=1/2 of the Force Field's IR, rounded up, to form the field, and 1/10th the field's IR, per turn, to maintain it. So a character with a who generates a Force Field with an 11 point IR would have to expend 6 points of Power to form the Force Field, and 2 points each turn to maintain it.

If the character expends the field the strength of the field they're able to generate decreases. The character may double the area protected by expending an additional 2 Power per turn. So if the character is expending 2 Power per turn to maintain a standard sized field, he could expand it to cover a 2" radius by paying 4 Power per turn. If he expanded the area to 4", he'd have to expend 6 power, and so on. For each doubling in size, the field's IR drops by 1 point.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
« Last Edit: Jan 4th, 2024 at 2:29am by dsumner »  

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dsumner
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #1 - Jul 28th, 2014 at 2:51am
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No comments?
  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #2 - Jul 28th, 2014 at 11:26am
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Just a couple...

1.  Does it still modify the chance to hit?

2.  If the attack penetrates and collapses the field, does it still get reduced?
  
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dsumner
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #3 - Jul 28th, 2014 at 12:01pm
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1. It would still work the same way on combat tables.

2. If the field collapses, the character only takes the damage that gets through the field. So if Aegis has a Force Field with a rating of 10, and and attack inflicts 12 points of damage, the field would take 10 points of damage, collapse, and Aegis would take the last two points of damage. He'd then have to expend an action, and Power, to reform the field.
« Last Edit: Dec 5th, 2015 at 11:11pm by dsumner »  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #4 - Jul 28th, 2014 at 12:38pm
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I don't have my book handy but does Force Field as written currently require the user to spend 1 action to maintain the field? I ask because someone with 1 or at best 2 actions would effectively be doing nothing other than keeping up the force field. I do have a concern that it does alter force field quite a bit where it has damage that needs to be penetrated if you successfully hit it (although that does seem to be how it is done in the comics). Maybe some kind of mechanic where hitting the force field might be easier if it is a big globe than if it is conforming to the skin like armor because it never seems difficult to actually HIT a big force field in the comics, just to penetrate it.
  
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #5 - Jul 28th, 2014 at 2:31pm
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I think going with PR=1/5th the amount of damage repulsed, as it matches the formula you've got anyway.

1/5th is easy to do without a calculator, too.  You just move the decimal over (to get 1/10th) and then double it.

FF in the rules does require an action to maintain, but IMHO that significantly weakens/worsens this ability.  I could see spending an action to bring it back up once it's been collapsed, but spending an action every turn just to keep it in place is to much.  I'd be okay with it costing an action if a character was protecting more than themselves (say when they have it around their whole team).  But as a regular defense (of self), it really handicaps characters.
  
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dsumner
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #6 - Jul 28th, 2014 at 3:19pm
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I'll give the one action to maintain some thought, as I'm still tinkering with this, and if guys think it's too much of a handicap, I'll drop it, and make them expend movement instead.

On the PR front, I'm thinking 1/2 of whatever the FF's Invulnerability Rating is. So if you can create a FF with a rating of 10, it's PR would be 5 to create it. I'm debating it the character would have to expended power every turn to maintain it, but I'm leaning that way, as they wouldn't be able to keep the field up forever. I'd just have to figure out how much.

I'm also playing with the idea of the character being able to expand the size of the force bubble (something you see in comics), by paying out additional PR, but it would get weaker the larger the field grew. I'll post the initial draft for that later on.
« Last Edit: Jul 28th, 2014 at 3:20pm by dsumner »  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #7 - Jul 29th, 2014 at 12:01am
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I would allow the character to expand it, but make it cost more power.

Alternately, I would consider using the guidelines for Illusions B on what you can do with the field.
  
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #8 - Jun 30th, 2015 at 5:30pm
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Hi,

I've play tested something similar to this with my husband's character. 

He had few powers, and forcefield was the main one, so we beefed it up a bit.

He can make fields with a strength of 3 invuln per 1 PR.  He can increase/decrease the field as movement. 
It does not cost an action per turn to maintain, as that is lame.

Attacks that do not get a '0' on the combat chart bypass the field completely.  They do not reduce the invulnerability and easily hit the target.

So far it's worked well.  He is not a power gamer or someone who looks for every possible edge. 

The biggest threat he poses is enveloping the targets and effectively locking them out of combat.

To mitigate this somewhat, I have instituted a houserule bonus to hit the forcewall.  +5 to hit per 5' plane.  So a 10' square is +10 to be hit.  I figure that blows might still slide off the field and inflict no harm. 

He is difficult to harm, with a 0 to hit and 30 invuln, unless you have disintegration or light, in which case he's easy peasy. 

Thanks for suggesting this house rule, it's very helpful to our enjoyment.
  
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #9 - Jul 4th, 2015 at 7:58am
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I do force fields similar to dsumner's original post, one exception being the rating of the field can be up to half the current power score.  I use movement to maintain one, the idea being the concentration required impedes free movement but not that much concentration.This helps players with only one action stay in the fight. Movement cost is the rating of the field plus the PR in inches per turn.

Here are the rest of the details:

PR is 1 per square inch of coverage so the bigger the bubble,  the more expensive it is to set up. Maintaining a field takes half the set up power and changing the field requires an action plus the extra power if it is made bigger. You don't get a rebate if you make the field smaller. I never considered a FF conforming to the player like armor but always like Sue Richards' type of field. Power and movement are assessed between turns and paid up front so there is a cost even if the field collapses for any reason.

Damage to the field goes against power. Any overage is taken by the player as damage when the field collapses. If the incoming damage is double the rating of the FF, the players must save against endurance to maintain it or it collapses automatically.

This allows a FF to be fairly powerful upfront but does not provide immunity forever.
  
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dsumner
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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #10 - Jul 4th, 2015 at 1:20pm
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If anyone else has tried this, I'd like to hear how it worked in your games.
  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #11 - Jul 8th, 2015 at 8:15pm
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I dropped the force field as a defense.   If you roll to hit a person and its under the 16 listed, then you hit the force field. 

Force fields are EASY to hit.  That is their entire point.  You want things to hit your force field.

So when the field is hit,  I divide the damage by 10, rounding up, and take the amount off of the power score of the force field's owner.    And  force field works FIRST.    You can not use invulnerability, adapation, armor, etc as your field gets hit first.   

Then  I roll knock out.  If the KO rolls is the same or under the amount that came off of the power score then the attack burst the FF and does full damage as well as the 1/10 of the power score.
  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #12 - Dec 5th, 2015 at 11:42pm
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Another thing I'm doing is breaking FF into an A and B version. The A version is the defensive screen, the B version is the attack. I'll work the B version up later.
« Last Edit: Aug 31st, 2020 at 9:45am by dsumner »  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #13 - Dec 4th, 2016 at 10:16am
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I'm curious to know if any of you guys would be willing to playtest this for me, as some outside feedback would be much appreciated.
  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #14 - Apr 30th, 2020 at 7:06pm
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Bump, bump, bump. And if any of you guys have tried this out, I'd like to hear a bit of feed back on how it worked for you. I'm also tinkering with the PR on this one as well. Another question, does Damage Rating (DR), sound better than Invulnerability Rating (IR)?
« Last Edit: Apr 30th, 2020 at 10:56pm by dsumner »  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #15 - Aug 31st, 2020 at 9:49am
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I made a slight clarification to the write up.
  

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Re: Modifying Force Fields
Reply #16 - Jul 21st, 2022 at 7:20pm
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Bumping this up, as I've had (3) people ask me about my version of Force Field in the past two days. I still might tinker with this a bit more, but I want people other than me give this playtest. If it's "broken", then I'll make modifications.
  

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