Temporary Camp or shelter using Powers

[Refplace]

It seems pretty expensive to build a temporary shelter using powers.
Any ideas here?
DR with a flexible wall and forcefield enhancement could keep the rain out but heating or cooling it seems pricey and wonky to build.
Temperature Control needs a couple of levels to handle extreme weather, probably a level or two of Increased Area, and Increased Duration with Persistent to maintain temperature wjile asleep. Though maybe DR with Forcefield and especially Sealed would count as well insulated. Of course Sealed may create breathing problems.

[the_matrix_walker]

I feel like a broken record a bit with this one, but Supers has rules for Headquarters.

Start with Signature Gear 1 (Status -2 HQ) [1], and add +100% for Magical/Superscience traits for the astonishing ability to manifest it in different places and tap into the local power grid what have you. I would probably require Cosmic, +100% to then add Switchable, +20% and you can have a comfortable room with the expected amenities for your TL for 4 points.

Alternatively, you could use an Affliction to give the advantage, but you would need quite a bit of extended duration to make it last the night.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I feel like a broken record a bit with this one, but Supers has rules for Headquarters.

Yeah, that's god for creating a specific space, I'd say you need a power to access it though. Seems cheap alone if can access it anywhere.
Regardless though, what I had in mind was more like weather Dome but broader. Creating a magical shelter wherever you are, not going to one.
Also making an existing home look better and feel more comfortable.
I think Appearance with Universal as an Affliction is the best fir for that last part. Not too expensive and a bonus to reaction rolls is a decent way to represent you feeling more comfortable if it doesn't give any bonuses.

[Aldric]

You could also try to compare it to an ally, if you make an ally IQ 0, and give it the correct size, payload and add the correct advantages, it can function as a shelter as much as they can already function as vehicles.

Give it summonable, and you can have your shelter whenever and wherever you want with a simple concentrate action (if you can make the roll)

[Rolando]

A big tent (even the fancy ones with weather control) is just equipment, so some summonable signature gear may work too.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Rolando

A big tent (even the fancy ones with weather control) is just equipment, so some summonable signature gear may work too.

Yeah, I did think about signature gear and it might work for the campaign. Just was hoping to have a decent powers build that wasn't very expensive and that could be used at any TL.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Yeah, that's god for creating a specific space, I'd say you need a power to access it though. Seems cheap alone if can access it anywhere.
Regardless though, what I had in mind was more like weather Dome but broader. Creating a magical shelter wherever you are, not going to one.
Also making an existing home look better and feel more comfortable.
I think Appearance with Universal as an Affliction is the best fir for that last part. Not too expensive and a bonus to reaction rolls is a decent way to represent you feeling more comfortable if it doesn't give any bonuses.

I like the notion of adding Summonable, but you are going to need extended duration as that puts a duration of a minute in place.

Signature Gear 1 (Status -2 HQ: Special Abilities, Magical/Superscience traits, +100%; Cosmic, Cheating, Portable Enhancements, +100%; Summonable, +100%; Extended Duration, Perminent, +150%; Cancellable, +10% [6]

I think 6 points is fine for a summonable shack.

Alternatively, You could buy a modular ability specifically for an on-demand point in headquarters, and the structure appears where and when the points are allocated in the pool.

[Kallatari]

The cost should really depend on what type of shelter you want.

Having a shelter you can access from anywhere it no different that, for example, having a Warp that can only be used to bring you home and then back to where you last were, or having Jumper to bring you to a pocket dimension. With these versions, the shelter is untouchable by others (won't be destroyed by really bad weather) and you can even leave lots of equipment behind in the shelter that you can access as easily as your shelter (effectively a really large bag of holding). Warp and Jumper in GURPS cost 100 points, and therefore your portable shelter will likely be in the same ballpark (depending on the modifiers you want to add to it). And I personally think it is balanced because of all the side benefits.

A second approach is not about a shelter as such, but weather dome approach. You don't have a physical shelter, and people can see you, etc., but you are protected from the climate. GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery Protection and Warning Spells defined it as a Control Weather. They went for level 10 to completely negate weather in the area, and that came out to 130 points. So falls in the range of the first type of interdimensional shelter. This one has benefits of that it can be scaled... maybe my shelter stops a light rain, but not a downpour. So I only need 5 levels instead of 10, so half the cost. It can be played with anyway. But to get a perfect shelter from weather, it will cost a lot.

A third approach is the "create tent" type of approach, in which case your shelter occupies the physical space where you are at (and must fit the terrain), can be damaged, etc. This is much more limited. A tent protects you from average bad weather, but won't help in a hurricane. And likewise, you can leave gear in it, as presumably when the tent disappears the gear just falls to the ground. For this type of approach, I'd call it a Perk. This is no different that a light power, where you can either take a complicated Create ability worth lots of points, or a 1 point Perk that imitate the modern portable light (whether a torch in TL3 settings, or a flashlight in more modern settings). By default you have to be there for it to be in effect; you step out, it disappears, so others can only benefit from it if you are there (a nice way to get out of night watch duty... "can't go out, the tent will disappear"). If damaged, I would treat it as equipment that has to be fixed/repaired, with a minor handwave that it can always be repaired no matter how destroyed it is so long as you are still alive. I would not allow spending another point on a new Perk to get a new one: if damaged, fix it, not spend points on it. This build is basically a variant of signature gear, but you don't actually have to carry the tent with you and doesn't have any encumbrance.. or add both the Perk for the tent and another Perk for signature gear so that it doesn't get destroyed unfairly.

As a variant to the create tent, what if instead of a tent you create a house, or a tower, or a full castle? Unlike a tent, that's not normal equipment, so a simple Perk doesn't cover that. Although I'm personally less comfortable with it, I'd probably go the route The_Matrix_Walker suggested (from GURPS Supers) and make it a leveled perk that determines the "status" of the shelter. It seems fair... you can have a full castle appear anywhere, but it has to fit the location, will fall down the cliff if you put it on the cliff edge, etc. As before, if damaged, you have to fix it. And definitely cannot spend a point to replace it (otherwise, for a couple of CP, I make my castle appear on top of your, destroying both, then I but the power again). Even then, it can still be a powerful one-shot weapon if they're willing to sacrifice their base, so you might want to have limitations that it can only appear in (relatively) empty space where nothing else of significance can be damaged.

Side stepping the whole design a power approach, if you make it an item, you don't have to worry about point costs. "There's an outerdimensional fortress that I can access with my magic ring", and then they get the ring as Signature Gear. Benefit is it's extremely cheap. Drawback, although signature gear means you'll never lose it long term, it can still be temporarily taken away by others. And you can have GM plot hooks of others having a ring to the same location and accessing the same base.

I have a final option which is a bit outside the box and not fully fletched out, but something you might want to consider: an Aura Affliction that grants Immunity to Environmental Hazards. It would cover a lot but not all of the same grounds as Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, but also cover a few things it doesn't (e.g., knockback from wind). Add a Cosmic (Affects Equipment as well) +50% so that all the player's gear are also protected. Here, the wind blows through everything but nothing is knocked around because they automatically resist the knockback, the rain falls on people but no one is bothered by it as they are automatically resisting all rolls related to cold, being uncomfortable, etc. At that point, I'd personally handwave it to be a special effect that you're not actually affected; e.g., the wind doesn't actually hit you. The game effects are the same (you resisted), so this is just changing the cosmetics behind it, not the game effect, so not worth any points in my mind. And if that's uncertain, I doubt it would be more than a Cosmic +50% (Are actually untouched by effect) for that type of approach. Again, early thoughts on this from my part, and may need a bit more fletching out, but thought I'd throw it out there for others to consider.

[Varyon]

Consider a single point of Innate Attack (Crushing) with Area Effect (2 yards) +50%, Extended Duration (Permanent Until Destroyed) +150%, Persistent +40%, and Wall (Rigid) +60%, for a cost of [5].

This gives you 6 hexes worth of DR1* Walls per use, and there's no limit on how many times you can use it (although the GM would be justified in charging FP every so often if you use it continuously). So, use it however many times you need to build a perimeter around your camp (note each hex is 1 yard wide and 4 yards tall), then use it again to give that perimeter a roof, and you've got a temporary building (temporary because each Wall is a bit fragile - a single point of damage will destroy it). This doesn't raise the ambient temperature on its own, but then neither do most dwellings - being an enclosed space will prevent heat from various heat sources (including the characters themselves) from escaping readily, which will allow things to warm up.

Additionally, this ability can be useful for adventuring. While a DR 1 Wall probably can't serve as a bridge (at least not for anything with more than ~5.7 HP**), you can erect them to give temporary cover/concealment (particularly if given a bit of time, as you can layer the Walls), cause impact explosives to detonate prematurely, cause a charging horse (or other creature/character) to balk at the sudden appearance of a wall (and those who keep charging have to deal 1 damage in a collision, meaning they also take 1 damage, although armor will protect them fairly readily), etc.


*A Wall normally has DR 3 and HP 0.5 (round up) per full die of damage, meaning it provides Cover DR of 3.5 (round up) per die... which nicely corresponds to the average damage of each die. So, a 1 point Wall would grant Cover DR 1; treating this as DR 1 and HP 0 (so it is destroyed by any penetrating damage) should work fine, and avoids fractions (otherwise it's something like DR 0.857 and HP 0.143).

**Of course, RPK purposefully overestimated the amount of damage walking over something would do, making it equivalent to that same thing being dropped from 1 yard onto the Wall. If we assume someone running full-out would do that much damage, it might not be bad to say someone walking normally would do half that much, someone walking carefully perhaps 1/3rd as much, and someone crawling on hands and feet might do 1/4th as much. So, characters up to HP 11.4 could walk (but not run) on such a bridge, characters up to HP 17.1 could walk very carefully (probably at something like a foot per second), and characters up to HP 22.8 could crawl on all fours (at similar speed).

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Consider a single point of Innate Attack (Crushing) with Area Effect (2 yards) +50%, Extended Duration (Permanent Until Destroyed) +150%, Persistent +40%, and Wall (Rigid) +60%, for a cost of [5].

Yeah, as I wrote above the Wall part is easy. I suppose a reasonable GM would allow such a wall to block the wind and rain out, but not everyone would. Hence I usually opt for adding other things and making it a Force Field and not worrying about duration, just buy enough area and Affects Others.
Than things like Sealed to make it fully waterproof.
Its the temperature that seems to really be accessible. But you do bring up a great point about body heat, humans generally put out 356 BTU/hour and with a really well insulated wall that would be enough. But I am pretty sure Sealed does not insulate against temperature.
But what about adding Perk: Fur (insulation) and maybe Temperature Tolerance? Still need to add modifiers but yeah, that is a lot cheaper than the Temperature Control route.
hmm I think a perk level of sealed: Waterproof is reasonable as an option instead of Sealed, lowers the cost considerably!