Critique - Battle Aura advantage

Bicorn · 12-19-2023, 11:16 PM

I've been fiddling an advantage meant to simulate battle auras: those visible manifestations of risen power that are a mainstay of old-school battle anime and things inspired by them. Think Dragon Ball, Hunter×Hunter, RWBY, etc.

The rules I came up with are rather convoluted right now, so I'd appreciate any suggestions how to streamline them. Keep in mind though that this is meant for a setting where most characters who qualify as "heroic" have a battle aura, so making them kind of a big deal mechanically is only appropriate.

I considered various ways to represent the effect of the aura, but eventually settled on using it essentially as a "fuel source" since I feel that best represents how they tend to behave in such works - as long as the aura lasts you're in the fight, once it depletes you're out unless you can get the aura to "flare" again, usually by drawing strength from something important to you. Note that the rule for how this energy can be used assumes the campaign uses the Extra Effort in Combat optional rule from p. B357.

Important note - I use the term "aura" because it's the usual anime fandom term for these things. It should not be confused with the usual GURPS usage (the Aura enhancement) or the Aura of Power advantages from Pyramid.

Battle Aura
5 points/level

When sufficiently excited, your ki manifests itself as a perceptible aura of power around you. You may roll Will at the start of a fight or other crisis situation to summon the aura, and again every time you deliver or receive a hit. On a success the aura turns on immediately. You will also involuntarily project the aura if you have Bad Temper, Berserk, Overconfidence etc. and fail the self-control roll, or if a Dependent is threatened; for involuntary activations, a Will roll at a penalty equal to the level of your Battle Aura advantage is allowed to suppress the aura should you want to not activate it.

You can also take a Concentrate maneuver and make an Autohypnosis or Meditation roll to attempt to activate the aura; this is the only way to activate the aura without a crisis situation or failing a self-control roll.

Levels of active aura can be spent in place of fatigue points for Extra Effort and any abilities that involve projecting one's ki (e.g. Power Blow, ki-based Imbuements, etc.) Other energy expenditures (fatigue from fighting or running, magic, psychic powers, etc.) cannot use aura, except with appropriate enhancements (see below).
If left idle, each minute the user spends not engaged in strenuous activity reduces the aura by one. A weakened aura can be brought back to full effect by reactivating it (see below).

The aura turns off once its active level drops to 0; it also turns off prematurely if you fall unconscious or fail a fright check. If you are stunned you must succeed in a Will-3 roll to keep the aura active. You can also attempt a Will roll at a penalty equal to the aura's current active level to intentionally turn it off as a free action, up to once per turn.
Any new rolls to reactivate the aura without an hour of rest in between are at cumulative -1 per time it has already been successfully activated; if the roll fails because of the penalty (i.e. you failed by an amount equal to the penalty or less), you may choose to have the aura activate to a level equal to your normal maximum level minus the amount the roll failed by. Failed self-control rolls can only summon the aura once (per disadvantage, if multiple ones apply) without the rest period, but always activate the aura to its full level; however, involuntary activations still count for the penalty on voluntary activation.

While the aura is active you have +2 to using and resisting Intimidation, with an additional +1 per five levels of active aura. However, you also have a penalty to Stealth equal to the aura's active level, as your agitated ki draws attention to your presence. Against observers who can sense aura energy, this penalty is doubled.
You suffer a point of fatigue after any encounter in which you invoked the aura, in addition to fatigue suffered from engaging in combat and the like; number of activations during the same encounter does not matter for this.

Enhancement: Armoured. While active, the aura acts as flexible semi-ablative DR equal to its current level. For every 5 damage the aura absorbs, its active level drops by one. +20%.
Enhancement: Versatile Use (purpose). You can spend levels of aura as energy for another purpose besides Extra Effort or ki-powers. +20% for a broad category (e.g. Magic, Psi); +10% for a narrow category. This enhancement can be taken multiple times for different categories.

12-19-2023, 11:16 PM	#1
Bicorn Join Date: Aug 2015	Critique - Battle Aura advantage I've been fiddling an advantage meant to simulate battle auras: those visible manifestations of risen power that are a mainstay of old-school battle anime and things inspired by them. Think Dragon Ball, Hunter×Hunter, RWBY, etc. The rules I came up with are rather convoluted right now, so I'd appreciate any suggestions how to streamline them. Keep in mind though that this is meant for a setting where most characters who qualify as "heroic" have a battle aura, so making them kind of a big deal mechanically is only appropriate. I considered various ways to represent the effect of the aura, but eventually settled on using it essentially as a "fuel source" since I feel that best represents how they tend to behave in such works - as long as the aura lasts you're in the fight, once it depletes you're out unless you can get the aura to "flare" again, usually by drawing strength from something important to you. Note that the rule for how this energy can be used assumes the campaign uses the Extra Effort in Combat optional rule from p. B357. Important note - I use the term "aura" because it's the usual anime fandom term for these things. It should not be confused with the usual GURPS usage (the Aura enhancement) or the Aura of Power advantages from Pyramid. Battle Aura 5 points/level When sufficiently excited, your ki manifests itself as a perceptible aura of power around you. You may roll Will at the start of a fight or other crisis situation to summon the aura, and again every time you deliver or receive a hit. On a success the aura turns on immediately. You will also involuntarily project the aura if you have Bad Temper, Berserk, Overconfidence etc. and fail the self-control roll, or if a Dependent is threatened; for involuntary activations, a Will roll at a penalty equal to the level of your Battle Aura advantage is allowed to suppress the aura should you want to not activate it. You can also take a Concentrate maneuver and make an Autohypnosis or Meditation roll to attempt to activate the aura; this is the only way to activate the aura without a crisis situation or failing a self-control roll. Levels of active aura can be spent in place of fatigue points for Extra Effort and any abilities that involve projecting one's ki (e.g. Power Blow, ki-based Imbuements, etc.) Other energy expenditures (fatigue from fighting or running, magic, psychic powers, etc.) cannot use aura, except with appropriate enhancements (see below). If left idle, each minute the user spends not engaged in strenuous activity reduces the aura by one. A weakened aura can be brought back to full effect by reactivating it (see below). The aura turns off once its active level drops to 0; it also turns off prematurely if you fall unconscious or fail a fright check. If you are stunned you must succeed in a Will-3 roll to keep the aura active. You can also attempt a Will roll at a penalty equal to the aura's current active level to intentionally turn it off as a free action, up to once per turn. Any new rolls to reactivate the aura without an hour of rest in between are at cumulative -1 per time it has already been successfully activated; if the roll fails because of the penalty (i.e. you failed by an amount equal to the penalty or less), you may choose to have the aura activate to a level equal to your normal maximum level minus the amount the roll failed by. Failed self-control rolls can only summon the aura once (per disadvantage, if multiple ones apply) without the rest period, but always activate the aura to its full level; however, involuntary activations still count for the penalty on voluntary activation. While the aura is active you have +2 to using and resisting Intimidation, with an additional +1 per five levels of active aura. However, you also have a penalty to Stealth equal to the aura's active level, as your agitated ki draws attention to your presence. Against observers who can sense aura energy, this penalty is doubled. You suffer a point of fatigue after any encounter in which you invoked the aura, in addition to fatigue suffered from engaging in combat and the like; number of activations during the same encounter does not matter for this. Enhancement: Armoured. While active, the aura acts as flexible semi-ablative DR equal to its current level. For every 5 damage the aura absorbs, its active level drops by one. +20%. Enhancement: Versatile Use (purpose). You can spend levels of aura as energy for another purpose besides Extra Effort or ki-powers. +20% for a broad category (e.g. Magic, Psi); +10% for a narrow category. This enhancement can be taken multiple times for different categories.