04-01-2020, 03:31 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Warp without needing to prepare +25%
So awhile back I made a porter that has Compartmentalized Mind with No Mental Separation and One Power Only, coming out to 25pts. I then later got a SOP perk for "always concentrating on Warp". It was a lot of fun.
Later on a player wanted something similar. Instead of taking the above build exactly as is, I just made it a +25% enhancement (close enough in price) that instead of needing to prepare Warp, instead the amount of time between using Warp was used. This trades off the ability to concentrate in tandem (letting you hit higher bonuses in double time) with the ability to do this even while sleeping, unconscious, etc. If I were to use this as an Affliction attack, I'd have it be between uses of the attack, and for AAs either use. I thought I'd post it here for others to use since I thought it was so neat, but I'm not actually certain it's fair (It's largely has Reliable 5 only for no preparation), but it hasn't felt unfair (if anything, Reliable seems a bit expensive on Warp). Any thoughts on this? |
04-02-2020, 10:13 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
This sounds a LOT like P89's Blink (same enhancement price, same avoidance of -10 penalty) but that requires going in a random direction and seems to require being attacked since it works in the adrenaline of combat.
B98 Reliable +10 is +50%, I assume Blink's half-pricing is based on something along the lines of Limited Enhancements (B111) such as adding Emergencies Only -30% (B112) and Aspected: Combat Only -20% (P110) to the enhancement. That actually seems like a better option since it wouldn't require going in a random direction... but then Blink does have the option of using it outside combat situations which are still dangerous, like say if you were trapped in a burning building and choking to death on the smoke? That's not technically combat I guess, so the Limited Enhancement version I came up with shouldn't be usable, whereas Blink WOULD, so that offsets the requirement to go in a random direction. The other benefit to the random direction is it's a SAFE direction (even if you don't know it's safe) so there's some kind of clairvoyance/prescience going in there, whereas without Blink, since you have to CHOOSE the direction, you might choose a place you THINK is safe but it turns out not to be safe. |
04-02-2020, 03:28 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
There are some definite differences, but it does sound comparable, definitely. As a combat power, Blink is much better, but as a travel power this comes ahead (and nothing stopping someone from getting both).
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04-02-2020, 05:08 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
As built, the ability doesn't eliminate the time to prepare. It just lets you do so in conjunction with other actions.
In practice, this means you have to pre-declare where you intend to Warp by at least the prep time. You can't, for example, just decide in the middle of combat to Warp behind some enemy "because my CM was concentrating on that this whole time". The enemy probably wasn't even standing in that exact hex, or might have still been still hidden in ambush ten seconds earlier. Similarly, if you used it while sleeping, the conscious mind would have had to select a destination before going to sleep. Good for fleeing in an emergency, but if you want to wake up, assess the situation, and then choose a destination based on what you now know (hey, those assassins are wearing the Duke's colors; I probably shouldn't warp back to his castle for safety), you need to start the prep timer over again. At least you can still run or fight while the CM works on it. But it still takes a few moments to get the coordinates from the navicomputer. |
04-02-2020, 06:05 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
Wait, really? I thought it was like Takes Extra Time and (Immediate) Preparation Required where you decide when you actually roll.
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04-02-2020, 07:01 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
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Prep Required does have the bit about not having to specify "how you plan to use the ability", so it's a pretty big loophole with fuzzy edges. I'd be okay with, say, not having to pick a target ahead of time for an Innate Attack. (The "prep" might represent loading your musket, but not the aim-and-fire bit.) But as a counterexample, I'd find "prepping" a Modular Ability without specifying what that ability is, because you haven't decided "how you plan to use" that ModAb, to be pretty abusive. Same with "casting a spell" without declaring which spell the mage is concentrating on. I wouldn't think it unreasonable to think a Warp destination is more like choosing a weapon target, a negligible factor tossed in after doing the work. But that doesn't really fit my mental image of what the ability typically does or how it's usually described in fiction. Last edited by Anaraxes; 04-02-2020 at 07:55 PM. |
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04-02-2020, 08:14 PM | #7 | |
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
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Like Anaraxes, I've always seen it as "doing the math to figure out how to get from A to B with having to traverse the distance between". Also, Warp already has a "do it instantly" Enhancement inherently, Reliable. So I don't allow Players to custom enhance their way into cheaper Enhancements. Further, GURPS is about "getting what you pay for". In this case you clearly want "Instantaneous Warp", not "I spend 10 seconds doing other things and then warping Warp", so I'd have you pay for the 'Instant' variety. Now, don't get me wrong, your build is interesting and I like it, but not for "Instant Warp as long as I've been conscious for 10 seconds or more". Though, now I'm intrigued by what others think Instant No Concentration Warp without requiring Reliable should cost, as it allows for the purchase of reliable to better ensure proper Warps and overcoming Warp penalties (from distance, or third hand view, interference, etc). I have a quick BoN build that puts it at 350 points (10 levels of kirbwarrior's build)... |
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04-02-2020, 11:59 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
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04-03-2020, 12:48 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
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This isn't meant for non-attack advantages like Warp but I'm wondering what thoughts would be for something like that where you do your warp (roll, spend FP, choose destination) but then -10% if there's a 1-minute delay until the teleport happens. |
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04-03-2020, 02:35 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Warp without needing to prepare +25%
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Tags |
blink, warp |
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