Defensive Immunity Powers Unlimited 3

[BurningChaos]

This topic is in regards to defensive immunity (found in powers unlimited 3) and a few questions regarding it's use. So essentially you can "adapt" to virtually any particular type of attack and become immune to it, as long as you are exposed to it before hand. So the first immunity is automatic as in you automatically adapt to the first type of attack dealt to you. So if you are knocked out by gas would you become immune to poisons and toxins and then immediately wake up? What about a psionic attack. If someone was trying to use bio manipulation and succeeded would you become immune to psionics and immediately resiststhe affects. What about magic attacks such as charm? It also states that you auto dodge any of that type of attack, but later it states that if you adapt to fire you become immune to it. So are you both immune and get an auto dodge or just auto dodge physicals and become immune to energies (depending on which one you are adapting to of course). With that in mind and say that you auto dodge phsyicals, what if there isn't enough room to dodge. It also states that in order for defensive immunity to work you have to see the attack coming, does that mean you the fire has to be coming at you rom the front in order for you to be immune to it? Sorry if this seems like slot of questions and I'm even more sorry if they seem pretty stupid. Thank you in advance, I look forward to your perspectives and opinions.

[AlanGunhouse]

Well, it is a tough question. It specifies that the immunity to physical attacks is a Dodge/Parry that automatically succeeds (rather than an invulnerability) as long as the attack is not a surprise. the attacker becomes impervious to a specific energy.

It specifies the character has to consciously adapt to an immunity, EXCEPT if he has no active immunity then he can automatically adapt to the first attack against him. (If I am reading the description right)

[Genhuman]

The power seems pretty straight forward to me. You automatically become immune to the first attack leveled at you in a combat situation. If you would like to change what you are immune to, it takes a concious decision to become immune to it. For instance, say someone blasts you with a shotgun. You become immune to gunfire. If you see someone readying a flamethrower, you might chose to become immune to fire. When you do, you would lose your immunity to gunfire.

You still must be aware its coming in. A surprise attack can still damage you. At least, this is how I see the power.

This power is also dependant on how lenient the GM is. For instance, your example of a Bio-Manipulation attack. You may want to be immune to all psionic attacks, but the GM may rule that you are only immune to bio-manip attacks. Best to discuss this sort of thing ahead of time, if you can, or if you think about it.

And on a personal note, if the GM rules against your interpretation, don't whine about it, just accept it and move on. Above all, HAVE FUN.

[BurningChaos]

The ability states that "if adapting to physical blows/strikes/attacks, the character can automatically parry or dodge them and takes no damage unless it is an attack from behind, above or surprise that he doesn't see coming." does this mean that if a parry or dodge is not possible the character simply takes no damage. If so does this mean if a character is tied to a pole and a car is thrown at him from the front (granted the character is already immune to physical attacks) that they will take no damage, but do the same thing from behind and all of the sudden their seemingly invulnerable skin shatters on impact when the car hits them? In addition if someone is immune to fire and runs into a burning building are they immune to the fire behind them as well? Also granted the character has no previous immunity if they ingest a drug that induces paralyses, they would automatically become immune to it. Would this mean that the character feels slightly less mobile but then all the sudden becomes completely fine (because the character became immune to it)? There is also a previous defensive immunity thread that had a general agreement on the fact that defensive immunity could grant you immunity to psionics and magics as well. Can the character gain the immunity to psionics if a psionic attempts a mind attack but the victim (the character with defensive immunity) save the roll, or do they actually have to be affected by the attack first? The very first sentence in this power also states "a unique powerr in which the cahracter can adapt to any one type of attack and counter it. Does this mean that when the character dodges or parry's the attack they are impervious to they can perform a counter? I'm sorry if it seems I have too many questions about this power, and I'm even more sorry if it seems that I am all over the place when I am posting, I hope I wrote well enough that you all can understand. Can't wait for future posts.

[AlanGunhouse]

It is only physical attacks he has to be aware of to block.

On the drug question, if he was not currently immune to anything, and was hit with a poison or drug, he would not be effected. If he were immune to something, he would be effected, if he switched his immunity, he would not break the current effect, but the duration of the drug might be reduced (this does not remove existing effects, only makes you immune to new ones of the same sort).

That is how I would rule it anyway.

[BurningChaos]

It is only physical attacks he has to be aware of to block.

On the drug question, if he was not currently immune to anything, and was hit with a poison or drug, he would not be effected. If he were immune to something, he would be effected, if he switched his immunity, he would not break the current effect, but the duration of the drug might be reduced (this does not remove existing effects, only makes you immune to new ones of the same sort).

That is how I would rule it anyway.

So what would happen if the character with this power was ties up, had the immunity to physical attacks and then was punched. Seeing as he would be unable to parry or dodge would the attack still hit and do damage?

[Genhuman]

It is only physical attacks he has to be aware of to block.

On the drug question, if he was not currently immune to anything, and was hit with a poison or drug, he would not be effected. If he were immune to something, he would be effected, if he switched his immunity, he would not break the current effect, but the duration of the drug might be reduced (this does not remove existing effects, only makes you immune to new ones of the same sort).

That is how I would rule it anyway.

So what would happen if the character with this power was ties up, had the immunity to physical attacks and then was punched. Seeing as he would be unable to parry or dodge would the attack still hit and do damage?

No, he would not take damage if that was his immunity. The dodge, parry, etc, I always considered as fluff on what the power does. If you are immune, you are immune, as long as you know its coming. (If you need some fluff, say, oh, he tenses his muscles just right as he is hit, so it does no damage, counts as a parry, etc.)

[BurningChaos]

It is only physical attacks he has to be aware of to block.

On the drug question, if he was not currently immune to anything, and was hit with a poison or drug, he would not be effected. If he were immune to something, he would be effected, if he switched his immunity, he would not break the current effect, but the duration of the drug might be reduced (this does not remove existing effects, only makes you immune to new ones of the same sort).

That is how I would rule it anyway.

So what would happen if the character with this power was ties up, had the immunity to physical attacks and then was punched. Seeing as he would be unable to parry or dodge would the attack still hit and do damage?

No, he would not take damage if that was his immunity. The dodge, parry, etc, I always considered as fluff on what the power does. If you are immune, you are immune, as long as you know its coming. (If you need some fluff, say, oh, he tenses his muscles just right as he is hit, so it does no damage, counts as a parry, etc.)

So if the character was tied up and someone came up to them (once again assuming the chracter is already imune to physical attacks) and hits him he would take no damage, because he's immune. But the guy could just walk around him, hit him from behind, and the characters seemingly unbreakable skin and bones would just shatters under the impact (if the attack was strong enough of course)?

[Genhuman]

It is only physical attacks he has to be aware of to block.

On the drug question, if he was not currently immune to anything, and was hit with a poison or drug, he would not be effected. If he were immune to something, he would be effected, if he switched his immunity, he would not break the current effect, but the duration of the drug might be reduced (this does not remove existing effects, only makes you immune to new ones of the same sort).

That is how I would rule it anyway.

So what would happen if the character with this power was ties up, had the immunity to physical attacks and then was punched. Seeing as he would be unable to parry or dodge would the attack still hit and do damage?

No, he would not take damage if that was his immunity. The dodge, parry, etc, I always considered as fluff on what the power does. If you are immune, you are immune, as long as you know its coming. (If you need some fluff, say, oh, he tenses his muscles just right as he is hit, so it does no damage, counts as a parry, etc.)

So if the character was tied up and someone came up to them (once again assuming the chracter is already imune to physical attacks) and hits him he would take no damage, because he's immune. But the guy could just walk around him, hit him from behind, and the characters seemingly unbreakable skin and bones would just shatters under the impact (if the attack was strong enough of course)?

He would still be immune, because he knows its coming. The whole, attack from behind, etc, is the equivalent of surprize. If someone sneaks up behind him, and he doesn't know the attack is coming, he is not immune. If he is tied up, and the bag guy walks behind him and whacks him with a metal pips, still immune, because he knows the bad guy is there and means to attack him.

On the other hand, if he is in the middle of combat, and the villain Cpt Sneaky sneaks up behind him, and your hero is busy slugging it out with Henchman #4, and doesn't notice Cpt. Sneaky behind him, Cpt Sneaky could damage the hero.

Just keep it simple, if he is aware of an attack, and that attack is covered by his current immunity, then he is immune. If he isn't aware of the attack coming, he gets hurt.

[BurningChaos]

It is only physical attacks he has to be aware of to block.

On the drug question, if he was not currently immune to anything, and was hit with a poison or drug, he would not be effected. If he were immune to something, he would be effected, if he switched his immunity, he would not break the current effect, but the duration of the drug might be reduced (this does not remove existing effects, only makes you immune to new ones of the same sort).

That is how I would rule it anyway.

So what would happen if the character with this power was ties up, had the immunity to physical attacks and then was punched. Seeing as he would be unable to parry or dodge would the attack still hit and do damage?

No, he would not take damage if that was his immunity. The dodge, parry, etc, I always considered as fluff on what the power does. If you are immune, you are immune, as long as you know its coming. (If you need some fluff, say, oh, he tenses his muscles just right as he is hit, so it does no damage, counts as a parry, etc.)

So if the character was tied up and someone came up to them (once again assuming the chracter is already imune to physical attacks) and hits him he would take no damage, because he's immune. But the guy could just walk around him, hit him from behind, and the characters seemingly unbreakable skin and bones would just shatters under the impact (if the attack was strong enough of course)?

He would still be immune, because he knows its coming. The whole, attack from behind, etc, is the equivalent of surprize. If someone sneaks up behind him, and he doesn't know the attack is coming, he is not immune. If he is tied up, and the bag guy walks behind him and whacks him with a metal pips, still immune, because he knows the bad guy is there and means to attack him.

On the other hand, if he is in the middle of combat, and the villain Cpt Sneaky sneaks up behind him, and your hero is busy slugging it out with Henchman #4, and doesn't notice Cpt. Sneaky behind him, Cpt Sneaky could damage the hero.

Just keep it simple, if he is aware of an attack, and that attack is covered by his current immunity, then he is immune. If he isn't aware of the attack coming, he gets hurt.

If the bad guy sneaks around him while he was tied up, pulls out a gun and shoots him, does he take damage. He wasn't expecting to be shot, he was expecting to be hit with the metal pipe, but he is still immune to all physical attacks be it a bullet or a bat. So what would happen there?

[AlanGunhouse]

Is he immune to all physical attacks, or only melee attacks, that is the question.

[BurningChaos]

Is he immune to all physical attacks, or only melee attacks, that is the question.

ooooooh, and the plot thickens.

[BurningChaos]

I treat the immunity as totally useless against any attack he can not sense coming. As per the power description. If he chooses to be immune to bullets, he'll be immune, but if the last shot comes from someone behind him that he did not see. POW. There goes his immunity.

When you think about the power it seems like it would be very confusing for everyone around the character using it. You see this guy who takes one hit from a bullet and is then able to immediately dodge every other bullet that comes at him and the ones he is unable to dodge bounce off of his skin but then one comes from behind and all of the sudden it seems like this seemingly unbeatable guy goes down (a bit of exaggeration but you get the point).

Sorry back on topic here, so do you believe it is an immunity, an auto parry/dodge, or both? If you believe it is an immunity why would the attack from behind pierce his skin when nothing else could, if its an auto parry/dodge what is your feel on if the character is unable to dodge/parry (tied up or something), and most recently is the immunity as you have stated an immunity specifically to bullets, or all physical attacks?

[AlanGunhouse]

Perhaps you could consider it more as a psychic deflection than an actual immunity, one that takes some awareness to use.

[BurningChaos]

Perhaps you could consider it more as a psychic deflection than an actual immunity, one that takes some awareness to use.

Okay I see what your getting at. Would the same go for fire and other types of energy, would you have to be aware of it? Here's another question, for the power to work you have to have initial contact with the attack first. By that I mean you have to be affected by the type of attack before you can become immune to it. Can the damage be self inflicted? Say the character jumps down off a building so that when he hits the ground he takes damage and becomes immune to physical attacks. Or say he simply has a rubber band on his wrist at all times and whenever he wishes to be immune to physicals he simply snaps it on himself.

Quite Simply, it is a Force of Will Effect stopping the attack. And Quite Frankly, because the Power itself States that the Hero MUST be aware of the attack, and the weakness i mention is Indeed Mentioned in the First paragraph of the power. If he wants to be immune to bullets, he can Get Bullet proof!.

Okay so pretty much as long as he wills to deflect specified attack, he will. Is this a correct interpretation? And because the attack must be specified the character will be able to deflect the bullets being shot at him but if someone sneaks behind him and shoots him, he can't specify the attack because he wasn't aware of it. Is that right? If so and the character was immune to bullets would they be immune to punches as well. By that I mean would he be immune to all types of physical attacks or would he just gain Bullet Proof as you suggested?

[AlanGunhouse]

If this power had come out before they created two separate minor powers for immunity to high speed and melee attacks, having immunity to all kinetic attacks might have been reasonable. However, since they did separate the powers, it becomes part of the basic assumptions that you need to work under that bullets and punches are considered different.

[BurningChaos]

If this power had come out before they created two separate minor powers for immunity to high speed and melee attacks, having immunity to all kinetic attacks might have been reasonable. However, since they did separate the powers, it becomes part of the basic assumptions that you need to work under that bullets and punches are considered different.

Yeah that's true, but this is a minor, not a major. I just thing that it should be a little better, I mean you already have to take the first blow, you only get an immunity to one thing, and you are still vulnerable to surprise attacks. I just think that it wouldn't be much of a minor if you become immune to some physical attacks temporarily, after you take one of the hits all ready, and only if you are aware of the attack.