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Old 06-24-2021, 03:34 PM   #1
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Neutralize

Neutralize [50] is an exotic mental ability that allows you to turn off other people’s powers. By default, it applies to all abilities with a single power source, but this can be modified. This advantage appeared at GURPS 4e, based on the GURPS Psionics ability of the same name, but was generalised in Powers.

Using Neutralize requires a touch (a successful Attack, if the target is resisting), and winning a Quick Contest of Will with the target. The target adds their best Talent applicable to the trait you’re Neutralizing; you get to add any Talent applicable to your Neutralize ability to the contest of Will, but not to the attack roll. If you win, the target’s trait is shut down for minutes equal to your margin of victory. This does not affect their Talents, traits from different power sources, or “wild” advantages without a power source. If you critically fail your Will roll in this contest, your Neutralize is crippled for 1d hours. You can’t affect the target again with Neutralize of that trait until the duration has expired. If several Neutralizers attack the same target, only the longest duration applies, they don’t add together.

The Neutralize in the Basic Set is Neutralize (Psionics), but you can take this ability for any available power source in the setting. Taking Cosmic, +300%, lets you affect all power sources, although your targets still get to resist in the Quick Contest. Other special enhancements include Power Theft, +200% or +300% (a bit complicated) and Precise, +20% to affect just powers of your choice within a source. Adding Ranged and Extended Duration is obviously useful. Special limitations include One Power, ‑50%, which only lets you affect a single power within a power source, One Ability, ‑80%, which only lets you affect a single ability, and Derange, ‑20%, which gives all the targeted traits Uncontrollable, rather than turning them off.

Psionic Powers adds more modifiers, and pre-built abilities, plus a note that while you can’t steal Talents with Power Theft, you do get +6 to default skills. Derangable, +10% gives you the choice between negation and making powers uncontrollable; Power Theft, Weak, +100% only lets you steal part of someone’s powers, and Interruption, ‑50% lets you negate a usage of a power without turning off the power-user’s ability. There are also important clarifications on the Ranged enhancement for psionic campaigns, and the new Weaponized enhancement for psi-tech devices.

Neutralize (and Static) can affect abilities that don’t have a power source: magical spells are not always bought as powers, but should be affected by Neutralize (Magic), and a box on p. 97 of Powers explains how this works.

Neutralize does not have to use the same power source as the traits it targets. There could be magical, high-tech or biological ways to negate psionic abilities, for example, and some of them suggest modifiers, such as Gadget limitations for high-tech, or Based on HT for drugs. Powers has guidance on anti-powers, and deciding which powers can Neutralize other powers. It also has Neutralize attacks for crippling, on p. 156.

Assorted additions to Neutralize in GURPS supplements include a Neutralizer weapon in Monster Hunters 1, and a comprehensive ability, costing [250], in Powers: The Weird. Thaumatology: Sorcery has several Neutralize (Magic) effects for various purposes.

I don’t believe I’ve ever used this advantage, as GM or player. It’s quite expensive unless you’re building a character around it, can fit it into an Alternative Ability set, or know that a very specific usage will be common. What have you done with it?
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