Limitation: Cumulative Penalty Per Use?

[JCurwen3]

Is there such a limitation? I'd like to build a power (an Affliction, but really this could be applied to any ability that becomes progressively more difficult but never impossible to use) that has the same kind of built in limitation as Healing does (each successful use of Healing gives an additional -3 penalty to use, until it's been a full day since the most recent healing).

Can it be built with existing limitations? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Based on the pricing of Reliable (+5% per +1), it seems like an limitation like "Not Reliable" or "Anti-Reliable" (Unreliable is already taken and means something other than a -1 penalty per level) should be -5%. So that was my starting point, but I'm having difficulty working out how to modify that - I'm assuming it'd be some complex abomination involving applying some combination of enhancements and limitations to that limitation.

[munin]

The reverse of Reliable is Hard to Use (Powers, p. 107) at -5% per -3 penalty (max -20% for -12). In general, limitations are much cheaper than the reverse enhancement, because players (and GMs running NPCs) find ways to get around limitations and maximize the usefulness of enhancements. For example, compare Costs Fatigue, -5% to Reduced Fatigue Cost, +20%.

For a cumulative penalty, I'd look at Increased Immunity (Psionic Powers, p. 21). A cumulative -2 penalty that lasts one day is -20%, but that only applies to those who successfully resist the ability. If it applies to every single use of your ability, it would be worth more as a limitation -- I'd multiply it by 1.5 (or 2 at the most).

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by munin

The reverse of Reliable is Hard to Use (Powers, p. 107) at -5% per -3 penalty (max -20% for -12).

Thanks, I had missed Hard To Use.

Originally Posted by munin

For a cumulative penalty, I'd look at Increased Immunity (Psionic Powers, p. 21). A cumulative -2 penalty that lasts one day is -20%, but that only applies to those who successfully resist the ability. If it applies to every single use of your ability, it would be worth more as a limitation -- I'd multiply it by 1.5 (or 2 at the most).

This seems like a healthy place to start. I might apply it to every use, or else to every successful use (like Healing), in which case it probably should cost about the same as Increased Immunity for a cumulative -2 penalty.

Increased Immunity doesn't say when the "day" period starts. From first attempted use, or from last (the way the cumulative penalty works for Healing). Thoughts?

I had actually started to build something to do this, sort of a hodge-podge kludge build. It went like this...

I based it on Aftermath (Bio-Tech, p. 215). I reasoned that applying a limitation (like Hard to Use) to your advantage is kind of like getting a disadvantage, so I found a base Aftermath limitation value via:

(([AdvantageVal] * (-5% / (penalty / 3))) - [AdvantageVal]) * 1%) / 2

The "(-5% / (penalty / 3))" thing is the Hard to Use levels (allowing for steps of -1). The whole thing is multiplied by 1%, which is what a Temporary Disadvantage limitation is worth (-1% per point), and then divided by 2 (as per Aftermath).

Then, I took that base limitation, and took the liberty of enhancing it via Affliction's Cumulative enhancement (+400%), and then, to extend the duration of the Aftermath from 10 minutes to roughly 24 hours, I gave it Extended Duration, 144x (which I peg at very roughly +85%).

Of course, for a cumulative -3 penalty per use each day, the limitation built this way is about -15% for a [100] advantage, and only -1% to -2% for a [10] advantage.

So, your reasoning looks...better (and easier)!