Create advantage as a weapon area/affliction

[cupbearer]

hi

I am building an ability where you can create fire and light (using gurps powers create) Looking for RAW answers please.

Questions 1: area
It states that when you create energy it fills volume equal to 1 yard per level, and that it can either appear surrounding you, or where you are touching.

how does this work for creating fire? For instance i have create fire 3, and therefore can create fire around me up to 3 yards, or i can create fire up to three yards where i am touching? Does that mean in front of me, so i am at the edge at the area effect?

Question 2: Affliction
It states if you create light at a level where it is dangerous, that it can blind people as per an affliction. I looked at that and it says an affliction blinds people for 1 minute per margin of failure.
Two questions, is this not way too powerful? I see the spell flash might inflict blindness for 3 seconds. minutes of time will literally win every battle if the enemies fail.
secondly, how does this actually work ? I assume anyone looking at the area of light is affected, but distance must factor in then, since the light will disperse, or is it only in the field. Its a bit murky here becusae light waves travel, but the energy itself is pointed out to fill an area (see above). to further complicate this, it gives you the option of blinding one or many, but again, i don't see how creating an area of light would only ever affect a single person.

thank you.

Oliver.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by cupbearer

hi

I am building an ability where you can create fire and light (using gurps powers create) Looking for RAW answers please.

Questions 1: area
It states that when you create energy it fills volume equal to 1 yard per level, and that it can either appear surrounding you, or where you are touching.

how does this work for creating fire? For instance i have create fire 3, and therefore can create fire around me up to 3 yards, or i can create fire up to three yards where i am touching? Does that mean in front of me, so i am at the edge at the area effect?

.

Actually, it gives an area per level for gasses, but energy per level is defined in joules (see Powers p.93).

For gasses, it means you can fill three hexes at least one of which must be adjacent to yours.

[Mr_Sandman]

My take on the affliction-like use of create light is that the power creates a flash that is strong enough to blind the single person whose eyes it appears before, or people in the area of effect. It's visible outside the area of effect, but not strong enough to have an impact on anyone beyond the area. Being able to precisely contain the effect of a flash of light is no less realistic than being able to create energy out of nothing in the first place.

If you want a pseudo-scientific explanation, it creates a dispersed source of light from every point in the area of effect, including enough inside people's eyeballs to blind them. The light that shines from the area as a result is too diffuse and too short-lived to blind anyone outside the field.

As to whether it's too powerful, it's balanced against other afflictions. Magic spells balance somewhat differently and are used differently. Mages can usually be much more versatile at similar point levels. I wouldn't worry too much about balancing powers against spells. Flash spell specifically can impact people at distances that would take a lot of points in Create light, and can be cast at a distance from the Mage.