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Old 08-22-2010, 03:12 AM   #11
Kuroshima
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

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Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
I will admit that I am not getting the 'quality of life' bit. The enhancement is also showing that the Reduced Duration limiter is not affecting the Aura possessor as much as it would be otherwise, is it not? I am just saying that the net discount seems like it might be a bit too much.

My miscommunication problem must be getting worse :/
Remember, without reduced duration, anyone could dip into the aura, and have it active for MINUTES equal to the user's margin of success. That's what Reduced Duration is for.

As for the net discount, consider you're paying 80% (Aura) -30% (Melee Attack) -35% (Reduced Duration, x1/60) and +5% (Does not need to roll if the target remains inside the aura) for a total of +20%. It's not really the +5% that makes everyone in the area constantly affected, it's Aura.
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Old 08-22-2010, 10:50 AM   #12
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

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Originally Posted by Kuroshima
Remember, without reduced duration, anyone could dip into the aura, and have it active for MINUTES equal to the user's margin of success. That's what Reduced Duration is for.

As for the net discount, consider you're paying 80% (Aura) -30% (Melee Attack) -35% (Reduced Duration, x1/60) and +5% (Does not need to roll if the target remains inside the aura) for a total of +20%. It's not really the +5% that makes everyone in the area constantly affected, it's Aura.
If someone bought the power w/o Aura, IOW, just as a standard Affliction with a normal duration, they would pay some net modifier %age, which we can call X. For X-35%, they can get a RedDur version that will last as many seconds as the standard version would have lasted minutes. With your Aura build, but w/o RedDur, they would pay X+100% [+50AE,+80Aura,-30Mel]. For this they are getting a power that loses the range ability of the base (X) version, but has the potential to affect multiple targets, and continues to do so while they are within the aoe. If they leave the aoe, they will still be affected for a number of minutes, as for the base version. By adding the RedDur to this, you are reducing the duration IFF they leave the aoe. If the targets stay in the area, the duration is not affected at all by the RedDur. The +5% rider you built into it does not cover, IMO, the greater utility enjoyed by the modified RedDur compared to the base RedDur.
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Old 08-22-2010, 11:09 AM   #13
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

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Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
The +5% rider you built into it does not cover, IMO, the greater utility enjoyed by the modified RedDur compared to the base RedDur.
The greater utility enjoyed (regardless of RedDur or not) is covered by the +100% - never having the buff fall off your allies is simply a matter of keeping them within your Area. Which with only one level of Area, is in one of the six hexes adjacent to you, so it's really kind of cluttered. That's why it's a net and expensive enhancement in the first place, really. Aura is so dang expensive because of that.

Or to put it another way - without the RedDur, your allies can go on short scouting missions, hold the other end of the room/hallway etc. With RedDur, they still HAVE to stick right to your character.

The +5% isn't paying for the fact that if they stick right to your character they keep getting the duration refreshed, the huge upfront enhancement of Aura and Area Effect is.

EDIT: Without RedDur, you could buff a LARGE unit with your Area 1 Aura by moving through the formation every couple of minutes (assuming you've got a decent bonus). Without it, you're really limited to a small party.
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Old 08-22-2010, 12:31 PM   #14
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

Hmm... there are issues that I am trying to point out that seem to be overlooked, but continuing here may not be a good idea, since the OQ has been answered. If I can come up with a different way to express my concerns, I will post them in a new thread.
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Old 08-22-2010, 01:11 PM   #15
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

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Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
Hmm... there are issues that I am trying to point out that seem to be overlooked, but continuing here may not be a good idea, since the OQ has been answered. If I can come up with a different way to express my concerns, I will post them in a new thread.
Look, the thing is, WITHOUT the +5%, targets in the area would still get near 100% uptime on the buff. Aura would reapply the buff every turn, via an unmodified skill roll, and in the rare chance that that roll is failed (there are no penalties for crit failures either), chances are that the buff was not going to fall this second, so next second, it would be again reapplied. Since rolling every turn is fine and dandy for computers to do, but not for human beings, I added a +5 for basically the same effect as the power without that modifier.

I'm open to suggestions on why this is cheaper than it should, but personally, I don't see it.
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Old 08-22-2010, 04:22 PM   #16
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

Honestly, even the +5% is probably excessive (for a very generous definition of excess, anyway :P ) if it results in the cost increasing by more than a point - this trick is roughly worth a perk, no more, akin to No Nuisance Rolls (same philosophy, really).

The true munchkin player will go 'can I drop the 5% and just roll all the time?' because power-wise it works out basically the same, and then he can spend the few points he's saved on something else to make his character more powerful.
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Old 08-22-2010, 05:45 PM   #17
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Default Re: Auras of Power question

Before everyone nitpicks Toni to death, I'd like to point out that this value was determined in a long, three-way discussion between him, Kromm, and myself.

The short version: Aura + Area Effect means that the ability keeps firing off every second. That means that every person in the area has to make a HT roll every second until affected. Assuming HT 10, the math works out to an average of "a second or two on, then a second off" in the long run. So what Toni wanted to do was to effectively remove that "then a second off", approximately doubling the amount of net time that the subjects were affected. As that was similar to doubling the duration, it was ruled that the net value should be equal to that of Reduced Duration 1/30 (instead of 1/60), a +5% difference.

Just so y'all know what the thought process was. (And that it was actually a pretty darned involved one!)
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