[Powers] Neutralize & Energy Reserves

[Azulan47]

What would happen if you used Neutralize on a person's Energy Reserves, assuming it was of a power source you could Neutralize. Would the person simply lose access to their Energy Reserves for the duration of Neutralize? Would it be reduced to zero until they can regenerate it?

[Kelly Pedersen]

Well, to start, I'm not sure you can Neutralize an Energy Reserve. Energy Reserves are linked to a particular source, it's true, but they don't generally take that source's power modifier - Energy Reserve (Magical), for example, doesn't have Magical, -10% on it. It's the power modifier that suggests whether or not something is vulnerable to Neutralize, so if the Reserve doesn't have that, it shouldn't be Neutralizable.

That said, if you do decide to allow it (basically implying that the link to a source is an inherent power modifier), I would go with Neutralize making the Reserve unavailable while Neutralized (and I would also say it doesn't regenerate, if it's Neutralized long enough for that to matter), but it should be drained. Draining an Energy Reserve is more the department of an Innate Fatigue Attack specialized to work on Energy Reserves.

[Azulan47]

The Energy Reserves in question would be akin to something granted by a magic potion or gained from DR (Absorption), so a Special Recharge version. The character doesn't have the Energy Reserves until the Special Recharge is met and it is not an inherent ability of the character, but rather a granted power of the other ability.

The Innate Fatigue Attack would work. I was just seeing if Neutralize would be a comparable alternative.

[Nereidalbel]

Energy Reserve generally can't be targeted in any way. I'd definitely allow a limitation on Fatigue Attack to only target ER, or, an enhancement to drain ER first, then hit FP. As far as Neutralize goes, yeah, I'd say hitting the ER means they can't use it to power their abilities, and it doesn't recharge for the duration of the Neutralize.

[Azulan47]

I don't see why it couldn't be targeted by Neutralize. Can you target advantages such as Blessed or True Faith with Neutralize? If Energy Reserves has the same inherent source limitation as them, then I don't see why Energy Reserves would be an exception.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Azulan47

I don't see why it couldn't be targeted by Neutralize. Can you target advantages such as Blessed or True Faith with Neutralize?

Not automatically, no. Neutralize can affect abilities from a particular source that "the GM deems susceptible to neutralization" (Powers, p. 97). If a power source is susceptible to neutralization, it should include the -5% for anti-powers being available in it. If a power modifier doesn't include that, it's not susceptible to neutralization, by definition. And Blessed and True Faith don't, by default, include that limitation.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

This sounds like a cheap way to *"Neutralize All" without paying for it.

* Yes, you still have FP, but "Neutralize All (limited)" would've been confusing, so I left this footnote.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

This sounds like a cheap way to *"Neutralize All" without paying for it.

I'm not sure how that follows? I assume the original poster is still talking about default Neutralize, which is source-specific, but not ability-specific. By default, you have Neutralize (Psi), or Neutralize (Magic) or whatever, not Neutralize (Telesend) or Neutralize (Fireball). So Neutralize is already covering all of a power. If you're suggesting that Neutralize (Magic) wouldn't cover an Energy Reserve (Psi), well, I agree with that, but I don't think it was what was originally suggested in any case.

And even if you did neutralize someone's energy reserve, note that that doesn't exactly stop people using most abilities. Many don't cost FP at all, and of those that do, it would only stop them using it if they had also taken a limitation on the ability to the effect of "can only be powered by Energy Reserve".

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

I'm not sure how that follows? I assume the original poster is still talking about default Neutralize, which is source-specific, but not ability-specific. By default, you have Neutralize (Psi), or Neutralize (Magic) or whatever, not Neutralize (Telesend) or Neutralize (Fireball). So Neutralize is already covering all of a power. If you're suggesting that Neutralize (Magic) wouldn't cover an Energy Reserve (Psi), well, I agree with that, but I don't think it was what was originally suggested in any case.

And even if you did neutralize someone's energy reserve, note that that doesn't exactly stop people using most abilities. Many don't cost FP at all, and of those that do, it would only stop them using it if they had also taken a limitation on the ability to the effect of "can only be powered by Energy Reserve".

...Mmm, foot.

I...haven't actually read up on Neutralize, and assumed that it affected one ability, not the entire set.

[Otaku]

So I'm trying to follow along. Quickly re-reading just the main blurbs for Energy Reserve (Powers p. 119) and Neutralize (Powers p. 97-98), I get that if an Advantage doesn't share the correct source or Neutralize lacks Cosmic (+300%) so that it can affect powers regardless of source, it doesn't work.

So...

1) Does the Cosmic Enhancement, in this case, still leave "Wild" powers unaffected?

2) Why don't Energy Reserves have a source?

Before this thread, I would have assumed "yes" as the answer to the first question, and didn't even think the second question was a thing; I assumed an unnatural thing like an Energy Reserve would have a source (and thus probably a power modifier), probably the same as the trait(s) it powers. So, if any of you have time, let me know what I missed if you would. ^^'