Hero System ability design

[whswhs]

I've started talking with the players for Science Heroes! about character concepts. One of them wants to play a young woman with bioelectric powers. A plausible application of such powers seems to be a paralyzing effect. But I'm not seeing anything like that in The Hero System Basic Rulebook, sixth edition.

What would be a plausible representation of this? I've thought of three starting points:

Being paralyzed makes you unable to move, and that seems like an Entangle; however, the paralysis could be argued to last only which contact is maintained, and the electrical effect that creates it isn't a physical thing that can be attacked.

Being paralyzed is roughly as limited as being blinded, so I might treat it as having the same cost as Flash against a targeting sense, disabling the targeted character for some number of seconds.

Being paralyzed could be interpreted as being changed into an unmoving character, removing abilities the target has (the ability to move voluntarily), and thus could be a Transform at 10 points/1d6 BODY—but I'm not sure what would be the method of regaining the "normal form" (that is, shaking off the paralysis)? "Just wait a few seconds" seems too easy here.

Any thoughts on how well these would work? Or any other ideas?

[fwcain]

Bill,

This may not directly help you, but I thought you should know that Hero Games has their own Forums:
https://herogames.com/forums/

One of the newsgroups within that Forum deals specifically with "how to build [result]" issues and other questions dealing with the 6th edition.

Good luck! ;-)
Franklin

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I've started talking with the players for Science Heroes! about character concepts. One of them wants to play a young woman with bioelectric powers. A plausible application of such powers seems to be a paralyzing effect. But I'm not seeing anything like that in The Hero System Basic Rulebook, sixth edition.

There's options for making entangles that are transparent and so on, but no particularly good affliction equivalent in Hero. Typically the way you stun someone is by doing enough damage to stun them.

[Infornific]

Have you considered Mind Control, single effect (Don't Move), Based on Con? Just a thought.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

There's options for making entangles that are transparent and so on, but no particularly good affliction equivalent in Hero. Typically the way you stun someone is by doing enough damage to stun them.

Granted, but I'm looking for "paralyze" rather than "stun." Something like the effect where you can't let go of the wire . . .

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Infornific

Have you considered Mind Control, single effect (Don't Move), Based on Con? Just a thought.

Oh, I'd forgotten about mind control based on Con, but it's not going to be very good unless the GM suspends active point limits -- "Do nothing" is around a +20 mind control effect, and Based on Con means it would go against PD or ED (probably ED), so against a fairly typical super target (say, Con 18, ED 22) you'd need a roll of 60 -- around a 50% chance with a 19d6 attack. A 19d6 EB (same 95 active points) probably oneshots that same target.

I've generally shifted 'based on Con' to be vs Power defense, at which point it's a credible but not great option.

Suppress Stun does work... but is not something you should allow anyone to bring into a game ever.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Oh, I'd forgotten about mind control based on Con, but it's not going to be very good unless the GM suspends active point limits -- "Do nothing" is around a +20 mind control effect, and Based on Con means it would go against PD or ED (probably ED), so against a fairly typical super target (say, Con 18, ED 22) you'd need a roll of 60 -- around a 50% chance with a 19d6 attack. A 19d6 EB (same 95 active points) probably oneshots that same target.

To work against a normal human being it would need to overcome ED 2 and CON 10+20. Rolling 9d would give an expected 31.5 points of effect, reduced to 29.5; the paralysis would get through 50% of the time.

Mind Control is an instant effect that can be broken out of in subsequent turns. That's probably reasonable, though I suppose the character could go on zapping the same foe turn after turn.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

To work against a normal human being it would need to overcome ED 2 and CON 10+20. Rolling 9d would give an expected 31.5 points of effect, reduced to 29.5; the paralysis would get through 50% of the time.

Yes, but a 9d6 energy blast will render a normal human being unconscious in one hit. There's really no conditions I can think of where the mind control vs con will do better than raw damage (it can work for normal mind control because a lot of targets have low ego and ego defense).

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Yes, but a 9d6 energy blast will render a normal human being unconscious in one hit. There's really no conditions I can think of where the mind control vs con will do better than raw damage (it can work for normal mind control because a lot of targets have low ego and ego defense).

Yes, well, that's true.

On the other hand, an NND Blast is 4 1/2d6, which averages 16 points. That will also render a normal human unconscious in one hit, but it's a more even tradeoff.

Suppose we model the paralysis attack on Flash. We won't treat it as a modifier to Flash, but as something scaled like Flash, as Transform is scaled like Killing Attack. I'm going to say that "reduces OCV and DCV to 0" (rather than 1/2) is a fair tradeoff for "does not shut down sight at all" and price this like a targeting sense. That gets us 9d6, which scores an average of 9 BODY, which paralyzes the target for 9 segments.

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Oh, I'd forgotten about mind control based on Con, but it's not going to be very good unless the GM suspends active point limits -- "Do nothing" is around a +20 mind control effect, and Based on Con means it would go against PD or ED (probably ED), so against a fairly typical super target (say, Con 18, ED 22) you'd need a roll of 60 -- around a 50% chance with a 19d6 attack. A 19d6 EB (same 95 active points) probably oneshots that same target.

I've generally shifted 'based on Con' to be vs Power defense, at which point it's a credible but not great option.

Suppress Stun does work... but is not something you should allow anyone to bring into a game ever.

Does the game still have the STUN-Only modifier for attacks? I haven't read them since 3rd Edition. If it does, you could try a 0-Range (Touch), STUN-Only EB to simulate the effect. Might not quite fit the bill (or the Bill), though...