Quote:
Originally Posted by Plane
Power Block is for "normally passive defensive abilities".
P169 does say "Power Block counts as an active use of the defending ability, even if that ability is normally passive." implying via IF that it might be usable with "normally active" abilities too though...
Psionic Powers distinctions, Psychic Armor (PP25) and Astral Armor (PP26) both seem "normally passive" since neither have Requires IQ roll. Their skills are "optional, used for power
defense, psi techniques, etc."
EK Shield (PP33) and PK Shield (PP56) on the other hand, by merit of having Require IQ roll, both seem like "normally active" abilities. These two Shields do confusingly contain the sentence "This is a passive ability" just like the two Armors.
All I can figure is that's either a remnant of when they were written w/o requires IQ, or is intended to describe how it is a "passive use" of an "active ability" to actually have the DR operate, especially for a continuous minute in between the rolls once per 60s.
You could probably do a Power Block in all 4 cases but the shield skills are going to need at least 1 IQ success per minute to stay up (and failures cost 1 FP to try to restore) whereas the Armors will ALWAYS stay up, except on optional failed power blocks where they only fade intermittently.
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I'm not totally sure I'm understanding this and I feel the wording on Power Block leaves something unclear:
If I have an ability built with DR (let's assume it's a front only forcefield) that costs fatigue (1 to activate, lasts 1 minute, maintain at 1 per 2 minutes) and requires an activation check, and I activate that for a power defense, would that be a power block and get the doubling of the DR? Or would it be a power dodge?