Figuring Damage for various abilities.

[Decadence]

So I often utilize the Innate attack advantage along with, Afflicition to pull off a variety of effects if a power is built to cause direct damage. So I got to thinking about more natural phenomena, or various other abilities simulated with, for example, Create and Control. These are pretty open ended with enhancements and limitations applied. Perhaps I missed something, or if not, what are your opinions on calculating damage for say... a lightning bolt hurled from a literal storm?? Or some other source that isn't built into a character; Control (Storms) with the natural phenomena enhancement.

[AlexanderHowl]

Lightning kills the majority of people it hits, but it effects are highly variable, so I generally roll 4d to determine the number of the damage dice (I use similar methods for many natural phenomena). Individuals will take anywhere from 4d burning surge damage to 24d burning surge damage, meaning that their damage ranges from 4 points of burning surge damage to 144 points of burning surge damage. The average person ends up suffering from 14d burning surge damage, meaning that they will suffer an average of 49 points of burning surge damage, which is survivable by a minority of people.

[whswhs]

There are existing rules for lightning bolts on p. B432, which recommend 6d burning damage with secondary effects. In my current High-Tech supplement I suggest applying a small multiplier for massive lightning strikes. That's going to cost you a lot of levels of Create! I don't know if I would allow Control; it takes a second to exert Control, and lightning bolts are proverbially over in a flash. And to use Control you have to put yourself in contact with the thing you're controlling, which would be really risky!

In general, your starting point for this kind of thing is to look at pp. 428-437 of the Basic Set. There are a lot of types of damage written up there.