"Not always on" advantage limitation

[fmultimedia]

Newbie question here:

what is a limitation that causes an Advantage that should be always on to need an activation roll and then last only a brief period of time?

Specifically, I'm looking to make an "Altered Time Rate" advantage that has the following modifiers:
1) Emergencies Only (-30%)
2) Requires a successful Meditation roll (-??%)
3) Can only be used once every five seconds (-10%)
4) Lasts only one second (-??%)


Thanks a lot!!!

[Not another shrubbery]

Unreliable adds an Activation roll. You have a few choices to limit the time it can be used, but Maximum Duration is the most straight-forward.

[fmultimedia]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Unreliable adds an Activation roll. You have a few choices to limit the time it can be used, but Maximum Duration is the most straight-forward.

But Unreliable gives a straight activation number roll - I wanted to rely on a skill instead... any suggestion? Also, I can't find Maximum Duration on Basic Set - does it belong to Supers or Powers?

[McAllister]

Required Roll is -10%, I think: it's in Powers. Requiring a roll against an attribute is equivalent to a roll against an Average skill*, so a roll against a Hard skill could be worth -15%.

Maximum Duration is also in Powers, but it might not be what you want: it gives you a list of max durations, but it puts the advantage into a "cooldown" state for 5 minutes after you end it.

Honestly, I don't think the limitation you're looking for exists. Powers has a nice table that gives you the value of an Accessibility limitation based on an estimate of how often the power's available. One second out of every five is 20%, so maybe you could look that up on the table and see what discount it gives you.

You may also need Reduced Time (+20%) in order to not spend an action activating it. I think RAW you do, but your GM might recognize that spending an action to get an action is basically worthless.

*This is because you have to put points into raising the skill up +0 level, and the default is considerably below that, but this skill is also useful in its own right: these balance out for an Average skill.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by fmultimedia

2) Requires a successful Meditation roll (-??%)

Requires Will Roll is -5% (Powers, p112), and Skills for Everyone (Powers, p162) says you can substitute a Hard skill for an attribute roll. So, you're looking at -5%.

Originally Posted by fmultimedia

3) Can only be used once every five seconds (-10%)
4) Lasts only one second (-??%)

This is a bit more difficult. Maximum Duration (Less than 30 Seconds) is -75%, but that shuts it down for five minutes, not five seconds. Over time, a one second activation followed by a 5 second cooldown works out to about the same as Maximum Duration (1 minute), so go with that, at -65%. So, overall you're looking at Emergencies Only (-30%), Requires Meditation Roll (-5%), and Maximum Duration: 1 second with 5 second cooldown (-65%). That's a total of -100%, which gets capped to -80%, so you might want to see if you can find +20% worth of Enhancements. Low Signature 4 (+20%), if allowed, will mean people are at -8 to notice you're actually acting super-humanly fast, while Reliable 4 (+20%) would give you a +4 on your Meditation roll to activate it.

[fmultimedia]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Requires Will Roll is -5% (Powers, p112), and Skills for Everyone (Powers, p162) says you can substitute a Hard skill for an attribute roll. So, you're looking at -5%.

Great! Thanks!

This is a bit more difficult. Maximum Duration (Less than 30 Seconds) is -75%, but that shuts it down for five minutes, not five seconds. Over time, a one second activation followed by a 5 second cooldown works out to about the same as Maximum Duration (1 minute), so go with that, at -65%. So, overall you're looking at Emergencies Only (-30%), Requires Meditation Roll (-5%), and Maximum Duration: 1 second with 5 second cooldown (-65%). That's a total of -100%, which gets capped to -80%, so you might want to see if you can find +20% worth of Enhancements. Low Signature 4 (+20%), if allowed, will mean people are at -8 to notice you're actually acting super-humanly fast, while Reliable 4 (+20%) would give you a +4 on your Meditation roll to activate it.

Hmmmm.... I see... what about being able to use it instantly, as a free action, not needing to use a maneuvre or even be in your turn? Maybe that could work as the positive modifier?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by fmultimedia

Hmmmm.... I see... what about being able to use it instantly, as a free action, not needing to use a maneuvre or even be in your turn? Maybe that could work as the positive modifier?

Being able to use it outside of your turn is Reflexive +40% (Powers p109). For Altered Time Rate, using it outside of your turn is useless, so you'll want to go with Reduced Time, +20% (B108), if your GM rules that it normally takes a second to activate - note that the other Limitations you've got don't do this by RAW.

[fmultimedia]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Being able to use it outside of your turn is Reflexive +40% (Powers p109). For Altered Time Rate, using it outside of your turn is useless, so you'll want to go with Reduced Time, +20% (B108), if your GM rules that it normally takes a second to activate - note that the other Limitations you've got don't do this by RAW.

OK thanks a lot! =)

[Gnome]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Requires Will Roll is -5% (Powers, p112), and Skills for Everyone (Powers, p162) says you can substitute a Hard skill for an attribute roll. So, you're looking at -5%.



This is a bit more difficult. Maximum Duration (Less than 30 Seconds) is -75%, but that shuts it down for five minutes, not five seconds. Over time, a one second activation followed by a 5 second cooldown works out to about the same as Maximum Duration (1 minute), so go with that, at -65%. So, overall you're looking at Emergencies Only (-30%), Requires Meditation Roll (-5%), and Maximum Duration: 1 second with 5 second cooldown (-65%). That's a total of -100%, which gets capped to -80%, so you might want to see if you can find +20% worth of Enhancements. Low Signature 4 (+20%), if allowed, will mean people are at -8 to notice you're actually acting super-humanly fast, while Reliable 4 (+20%) would give you a +4 on your Meditation roll to activate it.

It seems wrong to charge +20% for Reliable +4 when the advantage wouldn't require a roll at all if it didn't have Requires Meditation Roll, -5% in the first place. I would apply a version of Limited Enhancements, (B111), but using an enhanced limitation instead. Something like Requires Meditation (Reliable 4, +20%), -4%.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Gnome

It seems wrong to charge +20% for Reliable +4 when the advantage wouldn't require a roll at all if it didn't have Requires Meditation Roll, -5% in the first place. I would apply a version of Limited Enhancements, (B111), but using an enhanced limitation instead. Something like Requires Meditation (Reliable 4, +20%), -4%.

I think that's the proper way to go. You shouldn't pay a premium for an overall limitation, so modifying that gives a fairer result.