Magical Phosphex

[beautyandnotthebeast]

After I discovered Phosphex from Warhammer 40k (basically a hyper corrosive, radioactive on steroids, toxic, liquid mist incendiary weapon that expands rapidly, can set fire to almost anything, is attracted to movement, burns underwater, can set water alight, has a sub zero burning temperature and the only sure way to stop is was exposure to a vacuum) and decided to create a magical version if it. But I'm not sure of how to pull all of it off.

How would you handle the super radioactive element? (It would need to be much more potent than the normal radiation enhancement and the radiation would need to last much longer).
How would you handle an moving area attack that grows larger instead of just moving?
How exactly would you handle the attracted to movement? (Vibration Sense seems like the closest to it, but it can detect things that aren't moving).
How would you handle the setting water alight part, and making sure that being underwater doesn't reduce range like the Underwater enhancement does?
How would you ensure that a vacuum is able to stop it?
And does the sub zero flames affect the Innate Attack, or is icy fire still treated like normal fire?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

How would you handle the super radioactive element? (It would need to be much more potent than the normal radiation enhancement and the radiation would need to last much longer).

So it's Burning damage with Radiation +100%. If you want the radiation to be particularly potent, add on some Toxic damage with Radiation +25% (which does radiation only). If you want the radiation to take longer to heal, there's a Cosmic, Unhealing Damage Enhancement in Power-Ups 4: Enhancements that may be of use. If instead you just mean the radiation lingers in the area of effect for a long time, that's Persistent and Extended Duration, with the latter only applying to the Radiation +100% modifier to the Burning damage and to the Toxic damage as a whole.

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

How would you handle an moving area attack that grows larger instead of just moving?

That's Area Effect with Delay +0%. You may be able to justify a Limitation akin to Delay if it takes a long time to reach full size, however.

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

How exactly would you handle the attracted to movement? (Vibration Sense seems like the closest to it, but it can detect things that aren't moving).

This I'm not sure on; I'd have to review how something with Mobile and Independent is normally controlled; I think it would be a Limitation on those, as normally Mobile is under the character's control and I believe Mobile+Independent is under the player's control (the character doesn't have to dedicate any action to commanding it).

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

How would you handle the setting water alight part, and making sure that being underwater doesn't reduce range like the Underwater enhancement does?

For the latter, put Increased Range x10 on the Underwater Enhancement - Underwater (Increased Range x10 +30%) +26%. For the former, the Incendiary Enhancement on a Burning attack makes things be treated as one flammability class higher - Resistant to Flammable, for example. Allowing this to affect things that are completely inflammable should probably call for Cosmic, I could see either +50% or +100% being justified. Making it treat water as though it were Flammable (3 burn will ignite it) would call for Cosmic, can make nonflammable targets burn +50% (or +100%) + Incendiary 3 +30%.

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

How would you ensure that a vacuum is able to stop it?

That would be a fairly minor Limitation, -5% or -10% perhaps.

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

And does the sub zero flames affect the Innate Attack, or is icy fire still treated like normal fire?

The flames shouldn't be subzero - if they were it wouldn't burn anything, it would freeze things instead (burning damage with No Incendiary Effect, plus possibly Hazard). I suspect that's meant to be a sub-zero autoignition temperature, meaning the stuff will ignite on its own even in sub-zero conditions.

[beautyandnotthebeast]

Originally Posted by Varyon

So it's Burning damage with Radiation +100%. If you want the radiation to be particularly potent, add on some Toxic damage with Radiation +25% (which does radiation only). If you want the radiation to take longer to heal, there's a Cosmic, Unhealing Damage Enhancement in Power-Ups 4: Enhancements that may be of use. If instead you just mean the radiation lingers in the area of effect for a long time, that's Persistent and Extended Duration, with the latter only applying to the Radiation +100% modifier to the Burning damage and to the Toxic damage as a whole.

Okay.
How would you make the radiation effect cause more than 1 rad per point of damage?

The flames shouldn't be subzero - if they were it wouldn't burn anything, it would freeze things instead (burning damage with No Incendiary Effect, plus possibly Hazard). I suspect that's meant to be a sub-zero autoignition temperature, meaning the stuff will ignite on its own even in sub-zero conditions.

Warhammer 40k simply ignores the laws of physics if they get in the way of something cool. Plus this is a magical version of it. Would that make a difference?

Since it's a magical variant, I have more questions.
Can the Variable enhancement apply to certain enhancements? (Such as reducing Area Effect, Extended Duration and/or Rapid Fire (to a level higher than the 1-3 that Selective Fire allows) if needed).
Can Variable apply just to damage? (So the attack could do less or even no damage to somebody, but still corrode their equipment and irradiate them).
How would you get Selective Area to work on targets that the attacker can't see (since the attack spreads, the attacker can't see all possible targets, but might want some people not to be affected (basically allow the attack to be able to decide if targets should be affected or not).
Also, since the attack spreads, how would you allow it to phase through objects? (To make it even more terrifying to deal with).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

Okay.
How would you make the radiation effect cause more than 1 rad per point of damage?

That's where the Toxic (Radiation +20%) comes in. If you want it to do 2 rad per point of damage, it needs as much tox (rad) damage as it has burn damage. For 3, it needs twice as much. And so forth. The fact you use the same roll for both is a Feature worth +0%.

So, if you want something that does 5d burn and does 3 rad per point of damage, that's 5d burn (Radiation +100%) + 10d tox (Radiation +20%). Alternatively, you could just leave Radiation off of the burning damage and toss on extra tox (rad) - in the above case, that's 5d burn + 15d tox (rad +20%).

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

Warhammer 40k simply ignores the laws of physics if they get in the way of something cool. Plus this is a magical version of it. Would that make a difference?

Not really, GURPS Advantages are mostly effects-based rather than physics-based (although they do interact with physics better than in most systems). If the flames are literally sub-zero, and they somehow set other things aflame with subzero flames that consume them like normal fire would, it would probably still just be burning damage in GURPS, but with the special effect that, while they function exactly like normal flames in all other regards, they're actually cold. If desired, you could make it so that the damage they cause cannot be healed without getting somewhere warm first, just like the Cold Hazard on FP loss; Christopher Rice recently posted a build that did this, giving the attack Cosmic, Hazard on non-Fatigue Attack, +50% + Counts as cold, +20% + Freezing +20% (that version also had No Incendiary Effect, but this one does have an incendiary effect - it's even extra-incendiary - so it won't take that Limitation).

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

Can the Variable enhancement apply to certain enhancements? (Such as reducing Area Effect, Extended Duration and/or Rapid Fire (to a level higher than the 1-3 that Selective Fire allows) if needed).

Use Selectivity +10% for that, it's what it was made for (technically it says it lets you turn Enhancements off, but just turning off some levels should be fine as well).

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

Can Variable apply just to damage?

I'd allow it, particularly if the ability also has Selectivity.

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

How would you get Selective Area to work on targets that the attacker can't see (since the attack spreads, the attacker can't see all possible targets, but might want some people not to be affected (basically allow the attack to be able to decide if targets should be affected or not).

The attacker needs some way to perceive where the people they don't want to hurt are and exclude them. If they cannot perceive them but want the attack to be unable to harm them anyway, I'd eyeball a No Friendly Fire Enhancement (which makes it so that the attack cannot harm anyone the player doesn't want it to) at the Cosmic +100% level. I could maybe see this being as low as +50% as a sort of "level up" of Selective Area. In either case, it would include the benefits of Selective Area, no need to take that as well.

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

Also, since the attack spreads, how would you allow it to phase through objects? (To make it even more terrifying to deal with).

If you want it to do that, give it Cosmic, Irresistible Attack +300% (which means it ignores DR, including Cover DR).

[beautyandnotthebeast]

Originally Posted by Varyon

The attacker needs some way to perceive where the people they don't want to hurt are and exclude them. If they cannot perceive them but want the attack to be unable to harm them anyway, I'd eyeball a No Friendly Fire Enhancement (which makes it so that the attack cannot harm anyone the player doesn't want it to) at the Cosmic +100% level. I could maybe see this being as low as +50% as a sort of "level up" of Selective Area. In either case, it would include the benefits of Selective Area, no need to take that as well.



If you want it to do that, give it Cosmic, Irresistible Attack +300% (which means it ignores DR, including Cover DR).

And this would allow a user to fire and forget attacks which then seek out anything that moves, but only effects targets that the attacker would choose if they could see everywhere the attack spread and anybody would go caught, leaving everybody else, and any objects that the attacker doesn't want destroyed intact, as well as deciding if a location should be set alight?

Also, does an Innate Attack have to come from one part of the body? It makes sense for eyes beams, breath attacks, etc, but magical attacks (or psionics and the like) could require simple thought to attack, and where it comes from doesn't matter so much. I know the Innate Attack skill improves chances of hitting, but that needs to specialize in an area of the body. What about the Innate Attack advantage itself, does that require a certain body part to fire, or can it come from anywhere?

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by beautyandnotthebeast

Also, does an Innate Attack have to come from one part of the body?

Yes and no.

For the most part, a ranged attack Power (essentially an Advantage with various modifiers, as defined in Powers) requires some Functional Special Effects. One is the point of origination and the other is the actual form the attack takes. Neither is worth points. However, these things are defined by the GM and player in cooperation when a Power is created.

There are various ways to make a Power not originating from the character using it be what makes sense, like a rain of fire, rock spikes emerging from the ground or a bolt of lightning from the sky. This will often involve an Enhancement to the Power such as Overhead.

I know the Innate Attack skill improves chances of hitting, but that needs to specialize in an area of the body.

The Innate Attack skill is specialized in the type of attack, with projectile, beam, breath and gaze being the most common (leaning towards the attack types found in Magic).

Which specialization is used would depend on the description of the ability. It is quite possible for an Innate Attack with a specific set of modifiers to fit into multiple different specializations of the Innate Attack skill just based on how the ability is described.

As an example "3d Burning" could be:
A ball of fire thrown at enemies - Innate Attack (Projectile)
An energy beam fired from a built-in blaster - Innate Attack (Beam)
The baleful gaze of a fire demon - Innate Attack (Gaze)

[RyanW]

So they looked at dioxygen diflouride, and thought "Okay, but how can we make this worse?"