Clarification on Omnipotence

[Lindharin]

Hi,

Omnipotence can be used to add enhancements to an existing power, and there isn't an explicit restriction on what type of enhancements. Multipower is an enhancement. So if you have a character with:

Omnipotence 10 (add two levels or enhancements)
Special Attack 5

Could that character use Omnipotence to add a multipower to Special Attack, gaining a new temporary power of up to 5 levels, with the normal multipower restriction that he can't use his Special Attack at the same time? For example, could he gain an alternate combat power like Immobilize 5 (requiring one level from Omnipotence) or Mind Control 5 (requiring two levels from Omnipotence since it's in a different category)?

Thanks!

[BASHMAN]

Remember, Omnipotence works in 5 Level increments, so 2 levels of it does no good.

But, I wouldn't let someone use it to make a multi-power. That would essentially be allowing someone with only Omnipotence 5 to make a level 5 power out of it- which would normally require Omnipotence 25. So I'd say that is broken.

Also remember:

Forbidden Limitations & Enhancements: Cosmic
powers may not have any of the following Limitations or
Enhancements: Multi-Power, Linked, Burn-Out, Energy Cost,
or Finite. or Recharge.

I wouldn't let Omnipotence be used to mimic any of these things.

[gryfn]

could Omnipotence 5 be used to make
3 armor 3 into armor 4 exceeding the level cap on armor which is 3

[Lindharin]

Remember, Omnipotence works in 5 Level increments, so 2 levels of it does no good.

Yep, I was meaning 1 or 2 levels of enhancements, gained from 5 or 10 levels of Omnipotence.

And that fits my expectation, it seemed too good. Thanks for the confirmation.

Forbidden Limitations & Enhancements: Cosmic powers may not have any of the following Limitations or Enhancements: Multi-Power, Linked, Burn-Out, Energy Cost, or Finite. or Recharge.

I wouldn't let Omnipotence be used to mimic any of these things.

Actually, that touches on another question I've had. When temporarily mimicking a new power with Omnipotence, can you apply limitations to that power to help make a higher level power "affordable" for your Omnipotence?

For example, say someone has Omnipotence 10 so they can temporarily mimic 2 levels of a new power, but they wanted to mimic Telepathy 3. Could they apply a suitable limitation to bring the price of Telepathy 3 down to 2 points, and therefore make it "affordable" with Omnipotence 10?

Note that I realize with Omnipotence many limitations probably aren't really suitable for a point cost deduction. You presumably couldn't do something like Limit: Only with Men when you want to use telepathy with a guy, then change it the next time to Limit: Only with Women for a lady. But if you worked out a consistent and real limitation that always applies whenever the character uses Omnipotence to mimic Telepathy, would you allow Omnipotence 10 to mimic something like Telepathy 3 (Limit: Only by Touch)?

[Lindharin]

could Omnipotence 5 be used to make
3 armor 3 into armor 4 exceeding the level cap on armor which is 3

Good question. My guess is no, but I'm interested in Bashman's answer.

My reasoning is that in the rules for scaling powers in the cosmic section, it indicates that even cosmic characters can't scale up Armor past 3 ranks. However, cosmic abilities can raise powers that scale to 5 above that cap, so presumably if you had Special Attack 5 and Omnipotence, you could still use the bonus power levels from Omnipotence to buy Special Attack 6+.

On the other hand, it seems odd that someone with access to cosmic powers can buy Special Attack +20 DM if they want (and it only costs 20 pts I think), but their maximum soak is still x8 (unless they buy lots of Cosmic Might, but that would take 100 pts to get an equivalent +20x to soak). Seems like offense scales much faster than defense in the cosmic scale. From that perspective, I don't see why Armor (or some other method of cosmic soak) couldn't scale up too.

Either way, I've also wondered if you could use Omnipotence 5 to buy the Extra Effect enhancement for Armor, maybe varying what the Extra Effect is based on the circumstances. Facing a fire elemental? Apply Extra Effect vs. Fire to your Armor 3 to give you an extra x2 soak against fire. Then tomorrow when you face the Nuclear Man, make it Extra Effect vs. Radiation, etc.

It seems a little cheesy, but...

[BASHMAN]

Remember, Omnipotence works in 5 Level increments, so 2 levels of it does no good.

Yep, I was meaning 1 or 2 levels of enhancements, gained from 5 or 10 levels of Omnipotence.

And that fits my expectation, it seemed too good. Thanks for the confirmation.

Forbidden Limitations & Enhancements: Cosmic powers may not have any of the following Limitations or Enhancements: Multi-Power, Linked, Burn-Out, Energy Cost, or Finite. or Recharge.

I wouldn't let Omnipotence be used to mimic any of these things.

Actually, that touches on another question I've had. When temporarily mimicking a new power with Omnipotence, can you apply limitations to that power to help make a higher level power "affordable" for your Omnipotence?

For example, say someone has Omnipotence 10 so they can temporarily mimic 2 levels of a new power, but they wanted to mimic Telepathy 3. Could they apply a suitable limitation to bring the price of Telepathy 3 down to 2 points, and therefore make it "affordable" with Omnipotence 10?

Note that I realize with Omnipotence many limitations probably aren't really suitable for a point cost deduction. You presumably couldn't do something like Limit: Only with Men when you want to use telepathy with a guy, then change it the next time to Limit: Only with Women for a lady. But if you worked out a consistent and real limitation that always applies whenever the character uses Omnipotence to mimic Telepathy, would you allow Omnipotence 10 to mimic something like Telepathy 3 (Limit: Only by Touch)?

No- you can't put limitations on the powers- instead you can put a limitation on Omnipotence that always applies- like [won't work on wood] or something like that.

[BASHMAN]

could Omnipotence 5 be used to make
3 armor 3 into armor 4 exceeding the level cap on armor which is 3

Good question. My guess is no, but I'm interested in Bashman's answer.

My reasoning is that in the rules for scaling powers in the cosmic section, it indicates that even cosmic characters can't scale up Armor past 3 ranks. However, cosmic abilities can raise powers that scale to 5 above that cap, so presumably if you had Special Attack 5 and Omnipotence, you could still use the bonus power levels from Omnipotence to buy Special Attack 6+.

On the other hand, it seems odd that someone with access to cosmic powers can buy Special Attack +20 DM if they want (and it only costs 20 pts I think), but their maximum soak is still x8 (unless they buy lots of Cosmic Might, but that would take 100 pts to get an equivalent +20x to soak). Seems like offense scales much faster than defense in the cosmic scale. From that perspective, I don't see why Armor (or some other method of cosmic soak) couldn't scale up too.

Either way, I've also wondered if you could use Omnipotence 5 to buy the Extra Effect enhancement for Armor, maybe varying what the Extra Effect is based on the circumstances. Facing a fire elemental? Apply Extra Effect vs. Fire to your Armor 3 to give you an extra x2 soak against fire. Then tomorrow when you face the Nuclear Man, make it Extra Effect vs. Radiation, etc.

It seems a little cheesy, but...

you can't raise Armor to 4- but whether to allow Omnipotence to do it, I'd say is up to the Narrator. Use Cosmic Might if you want a really high soak (and damage) without having to worry about it.

Yes- you can use Omnipotence to add "Extra effect vs. Fire".

[Lindharin]

Thanks, Bashman!