Basic Action Super Heroes!

On pg 40 in the PDF of BASH! UE (bought from DrivethruRPG.com), the enhancement Ricochet confuses me as to cost because of words missing from one particular sentence. As printed, it states:

"Each consecutive target you go for beyond the 1st point. Thus, if you went for 3 targets, that would be 2 points."

It seems to indicate that this particular enhancement does NOT require the initial "one point with no result" cost like Range or Area does. Is this correct? If I bought a one point power and added the Ricochet enhancement, I could ricochet it off of one target and impact on the second for only one extra point?

Sorry... but the wording is confusing.

Ricochet is considered a type of Area (along with Burst, Line, and Arc), so it is included in the Area enhancement. So to put ricochet on your Special Attack doesn't cost anything extra (other than the amount of ricochet) because Special Attack already allows areas.

If you wanted to add Ricochet to something that doesn't normally allow areas, then you'd have to buy the Area enhancement first, then buy the amount of Ricochet.

I'm not sure what you mean by "one point with no result", unless you are talking about powers that don't already have the Area keyword (like Suggestion, for example). And in that case, you would still need to buy the Area enhancement before buying points of Burst/Line/Arc/Ricochet.

So just to make sure we're talking the same things, here are some examples with numbers:

For 5 points, you can buy any of these:

Special Attack 1: +1 DM, plus 4 pts of Range
Special Attack 1: +1 DM, plus 4 pts of Burst Area
Special Attack 1: +1 DM, plus 4 pts of Line Area
Special Attack 1: +1 DM, plus 4 pts of Arc Area
Special Attack 1: +1 DM, plus 4 pts of Ricochet Area
Suggestion 1, plus the Area enhancement (since it doesn't get it for free), plus 3 points of Area (whether Burst/Line/Arc/Ricochet)

Make sense?

I didn't realize that Ricochet was part of the Area enhancement. It's listed (at least in the PDF) as a separate enhancement, thus my original question. By "one point with no result", I mean you have to buy, for example, Range with one point, but you get no range at all unless you then buy the range you want. Same with Area; one point gets the enhancement with no Area until you then buy the area.

BTW, special attack allows areas, but you do still have to spend a point to add it; it isn't free.

Am I way off on this?

Hi,

Take a look at this thread.

When a power lists enhancements or limitations on the first line under the power name, those are free and mandatory enhancements/limitations.

So when you look at Special Attack and it has "Range, Area" on the first line, that means it automatically (for free) has the Area and Range enhancements. Because of that, you can pay just for the amount of Range/Area you want.

To see an example from the book, take a look at the Light Master archetype on page 115. He has a Mind of 3, plus 3 points of Special Attack. He uses 1 rank of Special Attack to increase damage from x3 to x4. He uses the other 2 points to buy Mid Range. Buying Mid Range costs 2 points, not 3, because Special Attack already has the Range enhancement.

The Blaster archetype has a lot more examples. He has Agility 2, Mind 4 (with his powers only), and Special Attack 5 plus variable. The listed uses for the 5 pts of Special Attack include:

Standard Blast: +2 attack, +1 damage, and 2 pts go to mid range.
Short Blast: +2 attack, +2 damage, and 1 pt goes to close range.
Wide Angle: +3 damage, plus 1 pt goes to close range and 1 pt goes to small burst.

In all those cases, he pays for the amount of range or area he wants, but he isn't paying an "extra" point for the privilege of range/area because Special Attack already includes that.

In contrast, take a look at Force Field. It has "Range, Area, Concentration" on the first line, so it has the Range and Area enhancements for free, and the Concentration disadvantage is mandatory and included in the base cost, so it doesn't provide a point back.

Suggestion, however, lists "Concentration" but not Range or Area. So it includes Concentration as a mandatory disadvantage, and if you wanted to add an area to it you would need to buy the Area enhancement first, then buy the amount of area you want. So in this case you would pay one point for "no result", basically just for the privilege of being able to buy an area.

Does that help?

-HF-Aardvark892 wrote:I didn't realize that Ricochet was part of the Area enhancement. It's listed (at least in the PDF) as a separate enhancement, thus my original question.

It's easy to confuse those, but at least in my PDF of Bash UE, the enhancements are in alphabetical order ending with Variable, on page 39. The next section is "Reading Power Descriptions", which starts with the definitions of Area (a header that is in all caps, medium font size). Under the Area heading, the first option is Burst which is in bold but not a header. It is followed on the next page by the remaining Area options for Line, Arc, and Ricochet.

EDIT: Part of the confusion might be the first sentence of Ricochet, which starts by referring to it as an "enhancement" instead of "effect" which is used in the other options.

Once again, Lindharin astounds me with his command of the rules! Bravo sir!

All,

I couldn't have asked for a more concise description than you've all provided to me here. It was soon after I had read Lindharin's first reply (and had replied back) that I took another look at the rules, and it was only then that I noticed that Ricochet was indeed another part of Area.

I'm going to review the thread that is hyperlinked above, and take another very close look at the rules; I'm actually very glad about the part that says that listed enhancements are free with the power... but unfortunately I'm going to probably have to rebuild every character I've made!

Now you know why I ran an online squad called the Hopeless Few...

Thanks again to everyone!