Basic Action Super Heroes!

These are a few ideas I have for optional rules regarding Enhancements and Limitations.

Cumulative Limitations: I've never understood why the value of Limitations doesn't add up together above 1 point when the cost for Enhancements does. After all, they help balance each other no?

Enhancements and Limitations for Power Suites: This is more a shorthand way to describe powers than an actual rule, in order to save room in the Character Sheet. If you buy all your powers in a Suite with the same Enhancement (or Limitation) you can just write it next to its title once (rather than over and over again in each power) along with its point value.

Example: Quasar has the Hard Light Power Suite with a Gadget limitation. You would write it "Power Suite: Hard Light <Gadget> Remember to take off the -1 from the cost of each Power in the suite!

Linking Enhancements and Limitations: You can choose to link an Enhancement for a power to a Limitation; this costs no points but the Limitation always come into effect when the enhancement is used. Conversely, if the limitation is negated the enhancement is lost.

Example: Cyclops has Special Attack (Optic Blast) with the Enhancement Variable linked to the Gadget (Visor) Limitation. As long as he has his visor, he can focus his blast to do things like arcs and ricochets. However should he lose the visor, he will only be able to do a straight blast.

Opinions?

I think the rule where multiple limitations don't reduce the cost any further was to discourage the kind of "system mastery" character creation that GURPS and Hero System are infamous for.

Linking enhancements and limitations is an interesting bookeeping adjustment. It's already technically possible. Cyclops could have a base optic blast, plus a variable enhancement, plus a limitation that he can only use the variable enhancement with his visor. But it might be more elegant to write it as an enhancement linked to his visor.

Yeah, I suspect that the Limitation rule is to discourage 'munchkinism.' But in my opinion, it's the Narrator's job to see that a build is not Over Powered. As long as he does not allow players to buy high levels of powers by tacking on near-meaningless limitations there should be no problem. (One in-universe example was Green Lantern- remember that originally he could not affect anything yellow? This led to all sort of stories were he met yellow enemies, yellow traps, etc. It was so silly that they eventually got rid of it and gave him more logical limits based on energy reserves and will power.)

In fact I think this system saves CP and encourages imaginative creation of powers- like, if I want a 2-point Enhancement but don't have enough CP left, it might make me reconsider how the power might be limited.

Sijo, I do have optional rules for "Secondary Limitations" that if you put multiple limitations on a power, you don't get a "discount" for extra Limitations, but when they affect you adversely, you gain a Hero Point.

This also applies to Limitations that are really specific to the point where they are unlikely to come up in play. Like "Frailty to Root Beer" would be an odd and specific thing unlikely to come up, so the Narrator might decide it counts as a regular Limitation but as a Secondary Limitation.

I did consider the idea of having Limitations be Bought-Off with Enhancements; instead we came up with a different alternative in Awesome Powers 6 (I think it is 6) called "Alterations" which work just as you say: it is a Cost Neutral Limitation / Enhancment combo. You could then add additional Enhancements (or Limitations) beyond that.

Alterations work especially well in the situation of "Affects X + Only Affects X" which always seemed awkward to me.

Where can I find the rules for Secondary Limitations?

And I guess I must get Awesome Powers #6! In fact I aim to get all BASH books eventually.

Thanks for the explanations!

I think Secondary Limitations is in Awesome Powers 5.

Alterations are in Awesome Powers 6.

BASHMAN wrote:I think Secondary Limitations is in Awesome Powers 5.

Alterations are in Awesome Powers 6.

Correct: AP 5, Pg 11 for Secondary Limitations; and, AP6, Pg 9 for Alterations.

Thanks Mr Jupiter!

You know, I was thinking: since so much material has been made since Ultimate Powers, are you people ever going to publish an Ultimate Powers 2? Or at least an index so people can know the content of the AP books? It would be useful and might help choose which ones they need to buy.

Edit: O-kay! I've now obtained Awesome Powers #6, and I see it has the compilations I needed. Thanks anyway!

Sijo wrote:Thanks Mr Jupiter!

You know, I was thinking: since so much material has been made since Ultimate Powers, are you people ever going to publish an Ultimate Powers 2? Or at least an index so people can know the content of the AP books? It would be useful and might help choose which ones they need to buy.

Edit: O-kay! I've now obtained Awesome Powers #6, and I see it has the compilations I needed. Thanks anyway!

You're welcome. The rear appendix of AWESOME POWERS #6 also has a complete listing of all updated powers, advantages, disadvantages, enhancements, limitations, and rules updates/clarifications. I have printed this list our to help me find these things quickly. Eventually, the whole AWESOME POWERS series will be compiled into one book (though I think that with the huge bulk of information they have so far, it probably should be broken into 2-4 books using RPGNow's print on demand).

Yes, the compilations are quite useful (though I'm going to have to rearrange them in my own way, to more quickly find what I need. Say, list all Advantages in one list with the book they are described in next to each, for example. Should be fun though. )

Each volume comes with an Index. But up until Volume 6, this was a seperate file. Of course, Volume 6 is the current Index anyway, so that is the best one to use right now.