that tiny clones power in PU3

If Super Heroes/Heroines & Super Villains are your game, discuss them here.

Moderators: Immortals, Supreme Beings, Old Ones

User avatar
Axelmania
Knight
Posts: 5523
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:13 pm

that tiny clones power in PU3

Unread post by Axelmania »

I forget the name, don't have book on me ATM, but it seemed like something that could really be exploited in combination with a lot of other powers since you could limit risk to yourself by throwing your mini-clones out there without any permanent penalties if they died, unlike Multiple Selves.

What are ideas for this?
User avatar
zerombr
Adventurer
Posts: 563
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:46 pm
Comment: Rifter Contributer 79, 81,82,83,84
Location: "The Guides to the Megaverse(tm)" Podcast
Contact:

Re: that tiny clones power in PU3

Unread post by zerombr »

Swarm Selves. Its goddamn ridiculous is what it is. at least when I came across a demon with that and supernatural strength.

Killed a player in barely five seconds
"The Guides to the Megaverse(tm)" Podcast at https://guidesmegaverse.podbean.com/
Author of "Setting the Stage" - Rifter 79, "Hitting the Streets" - Rifter 81, "Hitting the Gym" - Rifter 82
"Saving the World", and "On the Hunt" - Rifter 83
and lastly, my baby, my long term project... The Dark City of Cascade - Rifter 84.
User avatar
Sir_Spirit
Invisible Pink Unicorn
Posts: 3549
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2004 7:12 am
Location: Eden Time:Precisely
Contact:

Re: that tiny clones power in PU3

Unread post by Sir_Spirit »

Axelmania wrote:I forget the name, don't have book on me ATM, but it seemed like something that could really be exploited in combination with a lot of other powers since you could limit risk to yourself by throwing your mini-clones out there without any permanent penalties if they died, unlike Multiple Selves.

What are ideas for this?


They have to stay within 20 feet of each other, ANd have 5 hp. Explosion minor power kills them all.
Damn ICE/BCP/BorderPatrol! Damn everyone who won’t damn ICE/BCP/Border Patrol!! Damn everyone that won’t put lights in his windows and sit up all night damning CE/BCP/BorderPatrol!!!
If you support ICE/BCP/BorderPatrol at this point, you would have called the Gestapo on the people surreptitiously moving into your neighbor's attic and huffed that you were only following the law.
User avatar
Axelmania
Knight
Posts: 5523
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:13 pm

Re: that tiny clones power in PU3

Unread post by Axelmania »

Ah, I never noticed that until now, just reread 101, that's what I get for skimming. Going comatose when you venture outside the range is certainly a significant deterrent. It also has a "that self can be created again" similar to Multiple Selves. I think this is the only context (coma>death from separation) in which a killed Swam-Self is permanently gone?

How might that interact with the power of Multiple Lives (death is not truly death)? Perhaps your clone would reincarnate, and then immediately fall into another coma and die all over again? That wouldn't seem horribly unbalanced, since it would give you more time to locate them and reunify them with the swarm, but not totally remove them from the threat of death.

"die within 1D6+10 minutes" could also be extended via the Bletherad spell 'Shades of Death" since it "can prolong the amount of time it takes a comatose or mortally wounded character to die by one day per experience level of the spell caster". It would be a good precaution to cast this on your clones as soon as you split into a swarm in case they got separated.

Makes me wonder if you could permanence-ward it on them...

A lot of specifics of this power are confusing. For example under Bonuses it mentions to prowl and automatic dodge (presumably meant for the Swarm) but then there is a randomized HP bonus, which sounds like it would be for the base character, not the clones, who are assigned a fixed HP amount above, so if it was intended for them you'd figure it would've been consolidated...

Also how does the 20 feet work exactly? From what point? From EVERY single swarm-self? In that case, you'd basically function like a sphere with a radius of 10 feet, guaranteeing that anything on the perimeter was at most 20 feet away from the exact opposite point, a 20ft diameter moving through the center...

The thing about this is, if it was from EVERY self, then taking 1 out wouldn't just knock him into a coma, it would knock ALL of them into a coma, because the ones left behind are more than 20ft away from the one who was removed...

So it sounds like there might be some other criteria that the 20ft operates on, as that's not the impression I got from reading it, which sounds like it's possible to single out one of them, instead of mass comas for all of them.

It can't be something like "within range of 1 clone" though because then groups of 2 could just venture off an unlimited distance...

The way I figure, you'd have to do something like an "averaged location" that shifted over time based on their changes... I remember something like that you could do with graphs but I can't remember how. Seems complicated.
dreicunan
Hero
Posts: 1344
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:49 am

Re: that tiny clones power in PU3

Unread post by dreicunan »

Don't forget if reducing the strength by a third also means reducing the category of strength by a step (as the example reduces superhuman 47 to extraordinary 16). And then wonder why they can all carry only 20 lbs regardless of PS (but apparently lifting is not limited?). There is a lot that a player and a GM have to work out to be able to use this power regularly.

Also, your SPD attribute is kept intact (but not your speed from super-powers, which is reduced by 75%), so those little legs are capable of moving at an impressive speed. Actually, this is mind-boggling. A super-hero with the Shrink power has his attribute kept intact, but at 6 inches the calculation is changed from feet to inches, so SPD x20 = INCHES run per minutes. No such note for swarm selves.
Axelmania wrote:You of course, being the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not.
Declared the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not by Axelmania on 5.11.19.
Post Reply

Return to “Heroes Unlimited™”