Cheap Useful Abilities

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

A difficulty I am having in responding to this thread is the implied point value judgement. I am not convinced that an uncontrollable ability to send someone flying 13 yards on an otherwise harmless melee hit is more useful than [15].

No, the ability is great. It lets you brush off attackers quickly. If three guys jump you, they'll get scattered. And if you want to hurt them, aim them at trouble, say a cliff or a busy street.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Okay, try this one:

Insubstantiality (Reflexive +40%, Max Duration (1 minute) -65%, Emergencies only -30%, Temporary Disads: Numb -20%, Anosmia -5%. Net -80% [15]

Very clever. You could have a young kid just starting to discover their superpowers at some school in Upstate New York with a few powers like this.

[Donny Brook]

Whoops. It was 75 in 3e.

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Whoops. It was 75 in 3e.

It is fine, it only a point off, so it is an understandable mistake. Another possibility would be Insubstantial (Backlash, Euphoria, -30%; Emergencies Only, -30%; Maximum Duration, 1 minute, -65%; Reflexive, +40%) [16]. The euphoric sensations experienced while Insubstantial would encourage risk taking.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Attacks without No Signature are obvious, so any attack that uses stealth requires No Signature.

Originally Posted by ravenfish

I feel like an attack that throws someone back 10 meters will generally compromise stealth whatever enhancements you put on it.

You still have to make a Melee Attack, right? If you have to punch or slap someone for the attack to go off, they're going to make a logical connection to them flying through the air whether there's any glowing lights and sound effects or not. Therefore No Sig is a cute addition, but doesn't seem central to the ability's construction.

[acrosome]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

You still have to make a Melee Attack, right? If you have to punch or slap someone for the attack to go off, they're going to make a logical connection to them flying through the air whether there's any glowing lights and sound effects or not. Therefore No Sig is a cute addition, but doesn't seem central to the ability's construction.

Doesn't a signature mean a sound or flash of light, or something similarly obvious?

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

You still have to make a Melee Attack, right? If you have to punch or slap someone for the attack to go off, they're going to make a logical connection to them flying through the air whether there's any glowing lights and sound effects or not. Therefore No Sig is a cute addition, but doesn't seem central to the ability's construction.

Not at all, with an Innate Attack with Melee, you usually only have to touch or tap someone because it is effectively a power weapon (a touch or a tap is as effective as a punch or a kick). Without No Signature though, the power weapon is visible and audible, similar to a light sabre from Star Wars. With No Signature, it is invisible and inaudible, meaning that the only evidence of its existence is the fact that it tosses people left and right and that it can parry attacks with no chance of harm to its user on a success defense (the power weapon could parry a light sabre without suffering harm).

In the case of the envisioned ability, it would only require a successful unarmed combat roll to touch or tap the target. Even a butt bump or headbutt would be sufficient, though the technique used would depend on the associated close combat skill. Brawling would probably be best, as it is cheap, though Karate or Judo would allow you to parry weapons without penalty (alternatively, you could make it is an invisible dress smallsword or something similar and use Smallsword).

[Astromancer]

Slow flight with no hover could get close to 15 points. Add some minor problem or other and it easy to get down to 15 points. Flight at 20 mph is pretty useful even if you can't hover. The other minor nuisances would be important here.

Perhaps you glow like a pixie. Maybe you're dizzy while flying. Whatever, getting down to 15 points or less is that hard with flight.

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Doesn't a signature mean a sound or flash of light, or something similarly obvious?

A signature is something either immediately or latently obvious. It’s usually not attention grabbing (that’s what noisy et al are for), but it should be something that make it obvious you’re using an ability. And for advantages that are already hidden by nature (telecommunications), “no signature” removes any radio/magic/psychic residue they might leave.

[Astromancer]

WARP is a fairly low cost ability. Simply requiring a period of concentration and some ritual actions before using the ability would nearly halve the cost.