Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

This should hopefully be an easy one.

If I hit someone with Affliction (Advantage, Damage Resistance 1, +50%; Cumulative, +400%; Fixed Duration, +0%) [55], does the cumulative effect work only for the initial three minutes (of the fixed duration) of does each use reset those three minutes?

I can't seem to find a clarification. If it's the former, how fair would it be to apply Cumulative to the duration itself? Of course, this would assume that base duration is worth +5% to make it Fixed Duration, Cumulative, +25%. (Or maybe building it as Extended Duration, Permanent, +150% with some kind of Accessibility, Must re-afflict every X minutes, -XX% limitation on the enhancement itself.)

Thanks!

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

I'd say you keep track of each time you used affliction and each use lasts 3 minutes. So you get a gradual build up, and a gradual wearing off.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

If someone wanted to apply +400% to allow layering durations INSTEAD of effect (ie for any advantage, not just leveled ones) that wouldn't seem too broken, though it's not official.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

Given that Permanent is +300%, +400% is overpriced for layering durations.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

What if we applied it to Extended Duration +20%? Quintuple the value is +100% so "it lasts 3x the duration PLUS I can add unused duration to my new duration" would cost as much as 300x duration, meaning you'd need to hit the guy 100x to actually get a longer duration for the same price.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

If the players were comfortable with the additional book keeping, I would use this as it makes a much more interesting and dynamic ability.

From a general perspective, for +400% I think it should increase duration. That's a pretty huge enhancement.

So, as a simplification for playability, I would say "Yes. Due to the cost of the enhancement, you have reset the duration of the ability when you layer the effect on."

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

+400% is a huge enhancement, which should give you a huge benefit. "a" as in one huge benefit, not as many huge benefit as you like. It already gives you the huge benefit of allowing you to cumulatively stack as many uses as you like on top of each other.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

I agree that this is probably the "right" way, but it definitely would be too much to handle for my games, I think.

Also, +400% is a lot. But I also think it'd be nice to have a separate enhancement for cumulative duration if it isn't included in the price of Cumulative. Of, if it is, how much of Cumulative is for cumulative duration?

I was kind of stuck between +50% and +100% myself. Based on GURPS Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, I could go either way. It almost feels between Adding Utility (+50%) and Cheating (100%). If it is worth +75%, that would make it a nice half of Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

Again, this is a simplification for playability. Also, that emphasis is yours, not RAW. You are welcome to interpret it how you like.

I think that down that path madness lies.

Well, cumulative duration would be a bit much. But, resetting the duration was the original ask, and I think that it would be fine to reset the duration on each use. I strongly doubt it would break the game. The best way to find out is to play with the option and see which you like better.

Re: Does the Cumulative enhancement on Affliction reset the duration?
 

I'm pretty sure RAW is that traits have the effects they are stated as having, not the effects you wish they had.