[Plane]

One other thing I forgot OP, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements pg 14 has "Vampiric Weapon" which might interest you, but that links the HP you receive to how much injury you can inflict, which you might not want.

Originally Posted by Arith Winterfell

Interesting! But drat, while I actually have both Powers and Powers: The Weird, I lack Power-up 8 . . . so I have no idea how to do things with the "Weaponized" version.

It's also on page 21 of GURPS Psionic Powers if you have that.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

The ranged penalty in the description of Malediction is only relevant if you have a ranged attack to start with. The assumption the text usually seems to have is that an "attack" is an Innate Attack, so ranged.

(Not a rule, just one of those unconscious biases authors and editors have.)

I wouldn't say an UNconscious bias, given that Malediction (B106) has the gun icon which B102 says is intended for "Attack Enhancements and Limitations" so legally these modifiers are...

intended only for Affliction, Binding, and Innate Attack, and for advantages modified with the Ranged enhancement

That's why it seems justified to have already touch-based abilities like Leech or Possession pay the +10% toll (+40% ranged -30% Melee Attack) to shift into a touch + Quick Contest rather than some other default thing (like requiring ongoing grapple, or 1-sided Resistance Roll)

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

I suppose you could argue that Leech already has the DR-ignoring ability built in. Grappling doesn't penetrate DR, but the base form of Leech works that way -- so why the need for Malediction? (RAW is pretty clear about requiring Malediction+Ranged for a ranged form.)

I remember reading explanation somewhere it's all about finding a substitute for the grapple...

The -10% for "requires grapple" on Innate Attack, that inverted relationship is sometimes seen (like P108 Long-Range 50/lvl vs P112 Short-Range 10/level)

Originally Posted by Anthony

The other option is to just drop a Cosmic modifier on it. The typical +50% seems balanced enough.

Nov 2006 Kromm quote supporting exactly that here: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=313188

It perfectly replicates the pricing dichotomy between Long/Short range so it just seems perfect.

If you wanted to reduce Leech to "Half Damage Without Grapple" from Powers: The Weird, then I would speculate +25%

Originally Posted by Anthony

Normally Reduced Time on a single action makes it an instant "free action". Leech is the only place I can think of that has the notion of "entire turn" versus "brief touch", both taking up the one action in a one-second turn, yet being somehow distinguishable intervals of time.)

We can't use RT on attacks to make them less than 1 second anyway (0-second abilities are only for non-attacks) but I agree it makes sense in the case of Leech since we're just talking about approaching 1 second from multiple seconds.

The +50% removes the need for a grapple (maintained contact during waiting time) but Kromm didn't mention it removing the 1 second delay you have to wait after attacking for them to lose the HP and for you to gain the HP...

So +70% could be for the HP exchange happening at the exact moment of attack, rather than after the 1-second delay.

Also since you need to use an attack to actually activate leech (it's not just some passive thing you can activate as a free action whenever someone hugs you) that's actually in addition to a grapple, so you'd need to use AOA:Double to Punch+Leech in a single turn...

I could see taking a 2nd level of reduced time (+90%) or you could think of it as Link +20% (same price) to be able to combine punch+leech-initiation into a single attack so you don't need to take AOA:Double.