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Old 11-29-2015, 06:49 AM   #1
Vernon King Avaritt III
 
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Default Superluck vs Regular Luck

Which is greater Regular Luck or Super Luck. There was a Superhero with Affliction Heart Attack and Super Luck. The villain had luck and scored a critical save and two normal saves. Superkiller said he had Super Luck and it trumped Ridiculous luck and the purse thief should be dead of a heart attack. What do you think?
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Old 11-29-2015, 06:59 AM   #2
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

Super Luck = You dictate the die roll. That means you can dictate that it is a critical success on the attack which bypasses active defenses. Not sure if that means it can bypass resistances though; I want to say it does not.

Luck (including Extraordinary Luck and Ridiculous Luck) = You can roll thrice for any of your needed rolls and take the best of the three. It can also be used "on outside events that affect you or your whole party, or when you are being attacked (in which case you may make the attacker roll three times and take the worst roll!)." (Basic Set: Characters, p. 66)

In this case, it boils down to whether a critical success on the attack bypasses resistance. I want to say that it does not, but I can't point to a page ref either way. However, the purse snatcher with Luck could also force Superkiller to roll twice more and take the worst of the three, his dictated roll being one of the three, which may end up him missing completely.

Also, if this guy is slinging around "save or die" attacks on purse snatchers... that's 90s Anti-Hero material, not superhero material, IMO. It's overkill. In that case, if the purse thief dies, arrest the "hero" for second degree murder.
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Last edited by Phantasm; 11-29-2015 at 07:14 AM.
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Old 11-29-2015, 07:15 AM   #3
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

Dictating a die roll outranks rolling 3 times and taking the best result. That said, Affliction can NEVER bypass the resistance check.
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Old 11-29-2015, 07:57 AM   #4
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

As has been said, Super Luck trumps Regular Luck.

For it's price it really should.

However... if you buy instead Ridiculous Luck, which is still cheaper than Super Luck, you get the re-rolls every ten minutes (which in most games means almost every time your turn comes up in combat). And if you're allowed to buy Ridiculous Luck twice... it's basically better than Super Luck.



Having played a supers character that had both Super and Ridiculous Luck, I felt the effect of Ridiculous Luck far more often and really only used Super Luck to dictate crit die rolls.
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Old 11-29-2015, 12:43 PM   #5
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

The only time a Critical Success bypasses a defense of any kind is when it is a Critical Hit. Resistance Rolls are a subset of Quick Contests, which are determined purely by the Margin of Victory—based on the fact that this section in Campaigns p.348 makes no mention of either Critical Success or Failure.

The Super Luck allows the Superkiller to succeed by the largest Margin of Success possible, but this does not give him automatic victory. Similarly, the thief’s Critical resistance roll does not allow automatic resistance. You still compare the Margin of Victory and determine the outcome accordingly.

Don’t forget about the Rule of 16, either (B.349).
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Old 11-29-2015, 03:00 PM   #6
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

I'm pretty sure Kromm once mentioned people using Luck on a successful hit of their own in order to prevent enemies from using luck-manipulation of their own. I.e. probably the first invocation should win.
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Old 11-29-2015, 04:01 PM   #7
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
I'm pretty sure Kromm once mentioned people using Luck on a successful hit of their own in order to prevent enemies from using luck-manipulation of their own. I.e. probably the first invocation should win.
Kromm has also said that _nothing_ bypasses Resistance Rolls. Not even +300% Cosmic: Irresistable. I think it was even chosen as a Murphy because you can resist an Irresistable attack.

There is also no particular hierarchy of Powers unless one has been established by multiple levels of Cosmic.

Anyway, Super Luck affects rolls made by the possessor or made by the GM on his behalf. The HT roll to resist the Affliction is made by the GM for his npc and not the PC.

So like many abusive super-powers this particular one depends on abad reading of the rules.
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Old 11-29-2015, 05:40 PM   #8
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Kromm has also said that _nothing_ bypasses Resistance Rolls. Not even +300% Cosmic: Irresistable. I think it was even chosen as a Murphy because you can resist an Irresistable attack.

There is also no particular hierarchy of Powers unless one has been established by multiple levels of Cosmic.

Anyway, Super Luck affects rolls made by the possessor or made by the GM on his behalf. The HT roll to resist the Affliction is made by the GM for his npc and not the PC.

So like many abusive super-powers this particular one depends on abad reading of the rules.
On the other hand- Assuming heat attack power was a contest of skill; turning your attack into a 3 means that nothing but a 3 will resist assuming equal skill v resistance (even with the rule of 16 in effect).

Though further note- on a contest of skill there is no such thing as a critical success, its all about MoS
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Old 11-29-2015, 10:57 PM   #9
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

I also note that Afflictions are normally not opposed checks.

Superkiller rolls to hit with the Affliction, which the target normally has a chance to Dodge. In this case, he chose to use his Super Luck to dictate that it automatically hits; a 3 on the Innate Attack skill.

The Affliction is then resisted by HT-(1-Affliction level); Affliction 1 gives a straight HT roll to resist (p. B35). The player with Affliction does not roll to determine the power of the Affliction; that's set by the levels of the Affliction bought at chargen. The target, assuming he failed his Dodge or had defenses denied to him, then is able to attempt his resistance and can apply Luck to it. The two Lucks are both in play, but modifying different aspects; one the to-hit, the other the resistance. By my reading of the advantages, Super Luck does not automatically cancel out regular Luck, though I am reversing my stance to say that the target's Luck should not force a reroll on the guy who has dictated it with Super Luck.

Margin of Success only comes into play if the Affliction is a Malediction (p. B106), which was not specified by the OP, where it becomes a Quick Contest between Superkiller's Will vs the purse snatcher's HT, with the Will replacing the to-hit, modified by range modifiers; HT is modified as normal by the levels of Affliction.
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Ranoc, a Muskets-and-Magery Renaissance Fantasy Setting

Last edited by Phantasm; 11-29-2015 at 11:01 PM.
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Old 11-30-2015, 01:34 PM   #10
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Default Re: Superluck vs Regular Luck

Quote:
Originally Posted by starslayer View Post
On the other hand- Assuming heat attack power was a contest of skill;
Why? That's not how Afflictions work. Many Magic Spells but not Afflictions.
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