Control and Create Kinetic Energy

[Christopher R. Rice]

A player of mine is contemplating taking Kinetic Energy as his characters power talent, when asked about Control Kinetic Energy and Create Kinetic Energy I was at a bit of a loss...any ideas how such abilities might function and what they might allow a super to do?

Thanks to all who answer!

Ghostdancer

[ericthered]

hmmm... it might feel like telekinesis, at least for creation. If you want Control, it will probably consist of changing trajectories of objects-- which can be really nasty, considering it allows you to reverse bullets, trains, deflect flame throwers...

Is your player trying to break the system? Its a pretty broken power, as you can throw just about anything around.

[Flyndaran]

Kinetic energy is 1/2 mass times velocity squared.
That means it should have more noticeable effect on slower moving but more massive objects. A deadly punch has far less kinetic energy than even a .22 bullet.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

A player of mine is contemplating taking Kinetic Energy as his characters power talent, when asked about Control Kinetic Energy and Create Kinetic Energy I was at a bit of a loss...any ideas how such abilities might function and what they might allow a super to do?

Control energy and Create energy are for people who want to do gentle or at least subtle effects that do no damage on their own.

"Control does nothing without your
element, and doesn’t let you call your
element into existence."

"Energy appears in a quantity sufficient
to do 1,000 * (level squared) kJ
of useful work, released too gradually
to inflict damage. The GM should
limit power output to 15 kW or so. To
store this energy, you need a battery or
equivalent technology."

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Control energy and Create energy are for people who want to do gentle or at least subtle effects that do no damage on their own.

There may be cases in which a created substance / force can inflict damage, and IIRC Powers suggests a single point per level of Create. Likewise with DR, if you can use Control to protect yourself or others from harm. If you really want to hurt or shield with this power, Innate Attack and DR (Force Field, maybe Area Effect w/ Affects Others) make good Alternative Abilities.

[Emerald Vagrant]

You might be better off identifying what effects the player is looking for and just changing the descriptions of other advantages?

TK, Snare, reflective DR, etc.

EV

[LemmingLord]

One great idea for this, rather than telekinesis which is so limited, afflict: flight and super flight is very fun.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

A player of mine is contemplating taking Kinetic Energy as his characters power talent, when asked about Control Kinetic Energy and Create Kinetic Energy I was at a bit of a loss...any ideas how such abilities might function and what they might allow a super to do?

Thanks to all who answer!

Ghostdancer

Create Kinetic Energy, used offensively, will generate 1 damage per level of Create as its' a "hazardous energy". (Powers, pg 93). Create Kinetic Energy, used for other purposes, will generate 1000 x (level squared) kJ of useful work.

1 kJ is:
0.24 x the energy released by exploding one gram of TNT
0.74 x the energy received from the sun at earth's orbit by one square meter in one second
1.00 x the energy stored in a typical photography studio strobe light

... so Create Kinetic Energy 1 can exert the same amount of explosive force as 240 grams of TNT (roughly 0.5 Lb), Create Kinetic Energy 2 can exert the same amount of explosive force as 960 grams of TNT (roughly 2.1 Lb) and so on and so forth. NOTE: Not damage. It if wants to do damage, it does 1 per Create level.

Control Kinetic Energy would let it do exactly (and only) what is described under Effects of Control and Control in Combat on (Powers, pg 91).

[Refplace]

Control could give bonus to defenses or deflect.
I would use the deflect rules proposed by Kromm for Space.
I would also allow it to weaken physical attacks by absorbing 1 pt per level of Control, though a DR with Forcefield would be cheaper.