Bullet Time as an Advantage

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by Varyon

I'm unaware of any rules that require a player to spend all (or indeed any set fraction) of his character's CP at character creation. So, a character with ETS could easily have [400] left over from character creation that the player intends to only use for Bullet Time, getting 133 uses out of it (which is likely to be enough, unless it's a particularly long-running campaign). A character with the ATR (Bullet Time +300%) does have the advantage of being able to use it each round with impunity, rather than only using it when necessary, which isn't too dissimilar to Emergencies Only. Perhaps we could assume the calculated [400] is when this Limitation is already applied? That is, assume [400] is a fair price for Bullet Time (Emergencies Only -30%), getting us a final cost for the unmodified Advantage as [572].
Of course, pretty much all serious combat could qualify as activating Emergencies Only, and our theoretical CP-hoarder is only going to use his Bullet Time when it's fairly important, not just every round of combat, which would be a further limitation. I'd eyeball [800] (making Serious Emergencies Only a -50% Limitation) as perhaps being fair, although you could make a case for a lower base cost (personally, I'm more inclined to go with [600]).

I get something roughly similar if I try to build its key features using Super Luck, so that sounds about right.

Originally Posted by Varyon

I'd allow one combatant to interrupt another's use of the ability, using something akin to Cascading Waits to determine who gets to go first. Regardless of the winner, each character reacts to the other normally (so each can still defend, for example).

The idea is mentioned in Gun Fu, that of a "ballet" of bullet times. There the idea was that players could take consecutive bullet time turns to "beat out" the one that had the lesser number of character points, I think (don't have it with me now).

[gjc8]

So, there seem to be three big parts to this:
1) Getting an extra turn. This is just Altered Time Rate.
2) Getting to take an extra turn whenever you want in the sequence, in response to anything you might choose.
3) Acting so fast other people don't have time to respond, even in the way they'd normally be able to respond to out-of-sequence actions (like active defense).

Really, (2) and (3) are separate things, and I think keeping them separate will be clarifying. It would be entirely possible to have a power that let you insert an extra action anywhere in the sequence without having the ability to ignore active defenses, etc. Call it Altered Time Rate (Reflexive), maybe.

[JCurwen3]

Word of Kromm:

Originally Posted by Kromm

I would not attempt to build it per se, as the ability to interrupt literally anything is godlike. If someone were to insist, I'd point out that each use of Buying Success (p. B347) costs from 1 to 5 character points, while Super Luck [100] can produce much the same effect once per hour of game play. Going with the least-favorable multiplier (i.e., 1 × 100 = 100 rather than 5 × 20 = 100) to cover all contingencies, and then applying that to Bullet Time, which costs 3 points per use, gives 300 points. I'd say 300 points to interrupt anything at any time once per hour of game play feels about right. I would greatly prefer this fiat pricing to any half-baked cocktail of Altered Time Rate, Enhanced Time Sense, etc.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

Word of Kromm:

That pricing seems slightly high to me, but I'm not quite sure how to describe why. Would I put Reduced Time on this, or buy higher levels, as per Super Luck?

[sir_pudding]

Cheapo Alternative [13]:
Extra Option: Bullet Time [1]
Destiny 3 (Only for Bullet Time -20%) [12]
:)

Of course it only works once for every three game sessions.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Cheapo Alternative [13]:
Extra Option: Bullet Time [1]
Destiny 3 (Only for Bullet Time -20%) [12]
:)

Of course it only works once for every three game sessions.

For [33], you can include regen and it works once per session.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

For [33], you can include regen and it works once per session.

You can Regenerate Destiny Points?

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

You can Regenerate Destiny Points?

You can buy a faster recovery rate for them, yes. [10] for every +1 regenerated per session. So if its' regenerating 3 points every session, you'd add [20] to your package's cost.

[The Benj]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Cheapo Alternative [13]:
Extra Option: Bullet Time [1]
Destiny 3 (Only for Bullet Time -20%) [12]
:)

Of course it only works once for every three game sessions.

I'd probably call it -40%, as there are so many other good things to do with Destiny Points.
Plus, that makes it a nice round 10 points.