Hero System ability design

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I think that's somewhat debatable. Flash reduces your CV by, typically, one-half, where Paralysis reduces it to 0; but on the other hand, Flash shuts down your perception, but Paralysis doesn't shut it down at all. That seems like a rough tradeoff.

The important thing isn't the effect on CV, the important thing is that paralysis is action denial and flash isn't (flash also has a wide variety of effects that make it totally useless, such as targeting senses that aren't in the sense group of the flash).

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The important thing isn't the effect on CV, the important thing is that paralysis is action denial and flash isn't (flash also has a wide variety of effects that make it totally useless, such as targeting senses that aren't in the sense group of the flash).

Paralysis does nothing to stop the use of mental powers; it simply immobilizes the muscles. It's not a SPD drain effect

Electrical paralysis can be stopped by insulation, or a Faraday cage, or not being grounded.

Flash against vision deprives a human foe of their one and only targeting sense, which is pretty incapacitating.

I agree that this isn't exact. But there seem to be tradeoffs.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Paralysis does nothing to stop the use of mental powers; it simply immobilizes the muscles. It's not a SPD drain effect

On most characters that's still action denial. Also, frankly, a taser should interfere with mental actions as well. Offhand, I would call it twice the value of flash.

Originally Posted by whswhs

Electrical paralysis can be stopped by insulation, or a Faraday cage, or not being grounded.

All of which are represented by energy defense in Hero.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

On most characters that's still action denial. Also, frankly, a taser should interfere with mental actions as well. Offhand, I would call it twice the value of flash.

I would mechanic a taser as STUN only NND, or perhaps as a normal attack, depending on whether I wanted to represent the chance of death from being tased. I'm not talking about that level of energy discharge; I'm talking about the immobilizing effect of having your body be part of an electrical circuit, which can happen at much lower voltages.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

All of which are represented by energy defense in Hero.

I don't think they should be.

The primary manifestation of energy attack is usually being burned, or otherwise suffering tissue destruction—for example, by a flame, or a laser, or perhaps extreme cold. Some electrical attacks fit this paradigm by inflicting burns, either surface or internal. But not being grounded will do nothing to protect against burns as such; and electrical insulation has limited benefits at best.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't think they should be.

Energy Defense in Hero works against being hit by a lightning bolt.

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Energy Defense in Hero works against being hit by a lightning bolt.

Any statement like that ought to be followed by the caveat, "...unless it doesn't." 😅

There are a lot of things "divided into two types" in Hero. For whatever reason, ordinary damage was divided into Physical and Energy, and it's pretty well accepted that some damage special effects (I'm particularly thinking of acid) get tagged as energy just because they don't readily seem like physical. There is an acknowledgement that that's a bit of a stretch.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Energy Defense in Hero works against being hit by a lightning bolt.

I think you have to adopt the game mechanics that represents the actual effects you want to represent.

A lightning bolt is very high voltage, likely physically destroys tissue (you can find photographs online), and may well kill the person it hits. I would expect it to get through things like tough skin. That looks like Killing Attack to me, and I would expect it to be stopped by resistant ED.

Something like household or industrial current might cause surface burns from heating effects; I might treat it as being stopped by normal ED.

A high-voltage static discharge is typically going to stun but not kill, and I'd represent it as NND. It could be stopped by a Faraday cage or by not being grounded (though a Taser, with two wires, wouldn't be stopped by the latter effect). But a Faraday cage, a mesh of conducted material, wouldn't do anything against boiling water, or a hot fire, or a blowtorch; I wouldn't call it ED as the term is generally used.

And the paralytic "can't let go" effect of electrically induced muscle spasms can happen without either burning or stunning. So I hesitate to represent it as any sort of attack with rolled damage. I thought about making it a Transform, but if I did that, the target would stay paralyzed for a long time, which isn't how that effect of electric shock usually works.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

And the paralytic "can't let go" effect of electrically induced muscle spasms can happen without either burning or stunning.

Not really. To the degree 'stun' even exists, the effects of a stun gun qualify.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Not really. To the degree 'stun' even exists, the effects of a stun gun qualify.

What I said was that A (paralytic effects) can occur without B (stun, i.e., interruption of consciousness). You seem to be saying that a device that causes B (a stun gun) also causes A. Your statement does not logically contradict mine: B => A is perfectly consistent with A & ~B.