HU2nd ed Magnestism power

[mattlowe]

Ok so I may have missed previous explanations of this power or simply be dense but here goes with a number of questions

1) a hero with magnetism can repel metal objects (i.e. the example given is thrown objects or even automobiles) allowing them to dodge attacks - does this apply to bullets fired at the character? can the hero simple stop them instead? or even just deflect them as a parry? what about when they put up an area effect magnetic field - would this allow them to deflect all bullets with at least 20% iron)
2) any suggestions on bonuses for disarming people with guns with the power? any bonuses? does the victim get to save and would their pp or ps influence their success in holding on to their weapon
3) any suggestions on how to handle a hero with magnetism using metal items to block attacks in combat (similar to how telekinesis can be used to parry attacks)?
4) when repel iron is used as an attack I understand that a scattergun approach uses all attacks for the round - what about repelling items individually? one attack per item?
5) an empowered hero with magnetism using magnetism to fake walking (e.g if they have lost the use of their legs) - how many attacks per round would be used up by moving (so I know how this will affect their combat abilities while not in a wheel chair etc)
6) how do people handle using magnetism power with more finesse - do heroes with this power have the control necessary to warp/bend metal items in a controlled fashion or is it more of a brute force attract/repel power? This question also applies in combat when repelling/attracting metal items on an opponent - is it mainly a strong pull/push effect or can a hero stop an attack by a metal weapon without flinging it far away? the example im thinking of was a pc who wanted to use magnetism to hold an opponent with matter expulsion-steel motionless?

Sorry if the answer to these questions should be obvious - and thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Sadly it looks like you're Eyeing Magneto or Polaris and going 'I wonder if'.

HU powers are likely going to come up a touch lacking.

1) The power I think you're looking at would be #3: Magnetic field, which says you can stop or deflect thrown items or even cars. Thing is, It doesn't really say 'how' to do this. It does say you can slow down cars and get a +2 to dodge. (Halfing it's speed) it does stipulate missiles, rockets, and super fast characters but doesn't say anything about bullets.

So this is going to be an admin call. A) You could 'parry' the bullet with your magnetic field. Same as a normal parry, or 2) Rule that bullets are too small and fast to 'catch/deflect' or 3) Just rule them to stop dead and fall, but that's going to be very OP (Compaired to the rest of the power)

Frankly I'd go with A) The magnetic field lets you parry bullets. Now this could be "PING" and it flys off in a direction or just "The bullet is fired, hits your magnetic field, you roll to parry, on a successful parry you 'catch' it and stop it mid air. But this would limit the stopped bullets to 4 to 6 per round. Not 100s.

2) Disarming people would fall under the 'attract metal' power, Which is said to have a superhuman PS of 30. So there's a few factors here.
A) Someone with superhuman Or supernatrual strength might simply be 'stronger' than your pull In this case it's a bit of a tug of war. You roll as a normal disarm. If you win you yank it out of their hands. If they win they retain it.
B) Someone with Normal or Extraordinary strength gets a bit more complicated. Your Superhuman PS of 30 would mean you could either YANK it from their hand with ease. or...... they MIGHT hold onto it and when you yank the gun, you get the person too. So you could roll to disarm. If you win, you yank it out of their hands, if you don't disarm them, your gm might roll you can still pull the gun, but the gun's owner has such a tight grip he comes flying along with it. (Maybe shooting you as he comes.) That's going to be a GM call depending on character and cinimatic nature of your game.
As it's a pretty fine use of a super power I wouldn't give the Magnetism char any bonuses. The defender may have bonuses to disarm etc but they're pretty few and far between.

3) The power as written doesn't really account for such things. In the HU power you're either pulling straight towards you in a line, or away from you in a line. No side to side action. So if someone throws a bolder at you, you can't use a car parked to the left to suddenly fly right and parry the boulder. As that's neither towards you or away from you. Also remember the 'repel' power works with in 10 feet.

While I concede that using metal to parry things, is a very common visual used by characters in comics with these powers. the HU power doesn't allow for it. If it's between you and the person shooting you, in a straight line, your attacker would have to be shooting 'through' it to hit you.

So... sadly, with this power in HU, you can't do it.

4) This one's in the book. One HTH action per one repelled object.

5) to mimic walking you have to be 'propelling' yourself away from an iron object equal to or greater than your own body weight. So to mimic walking (You could wear a metal harness. With bands on the knees and ankles to 'move' the legs I suppose) You'd still have to be on some heavy metal. Train tracks or something. This is going to be limited use, unless on a battle ship or something
As a GM I'd say "Half your melee attacks" to do it, but again you have to be on something metal equal to your own weight.

6) As written this is a simple "Push/Pull" Brute force power. No wrapping or bending, no fine manipulation. Not only that it's push/pull in a straight line, can't curve it, can't arc it, they work like bullets. Once you 'push' you've fired it, it flys in that line it's fired at. As for stopping what you've flung/yanked, I suppose you could but it would take your next action. Which gets complicated. As written the stuff is flung at such a speed it's effecitvly 'bullets'. I.E. you fling it, it hits, then your next action happens. Hard to stop something if you've already hit it.

This would be like shooting a bullet but then catching it before it hits it's target.

There's no finesse written into this power.

You can do it, but it's going to be homebrew. Just like using metal to parry would have to be home brew.

With __THIS__ power as written YOU are the Magnet. You either pull thing straight towards the magnet. Or push them away. You're not contorlling "Magnetism" itself. You cant pick up a metal pen over to your left, and float it through the air to someone infront and a bit to the right of you. You could grab it and yank it STRAIGHT to yourself, then turn and launch it straight at the other person.

But not from over there, to the other person directly.

So..... you'd need a rewrite with a lot of home brew to get what you're looking for.

Alter physical structure Magnet is no better in this.
Metal Manipulation won't get you there either.

For the manipulation power you want you'll need to write it yourself.

I highly encourage it. As stated the power is.... very 'strong' but in a very very simplistic way. It's 100% brute force in a straight line to you, or away from you.

[Stone Gargoyle]

Sadly it looks like you're Eyeing Magneto or Polaris and going 'I wonder if'.

HU powers are likely going to come up a touch lacking.

1) The power I think you're looking at would be #3: Magnetic field, which says you can stop or deflect thrown items or even cars. Thing is, It doesn't really say 'how' to do this. It does say you can slow down cars and get a +2 to dodge. (Halfing it's speed) it does stipulate missiles, rockets, and super fast characters but doesn't say anything about bullets.

So this is going to be an admin call. A) You could 'parry' the bullet with your magnetic field. Same as a normal parry, or 2) Rule that bullets are too small and fast to 'catch/deflect' or 3) Just rule them to stop dead and fall, but that's going to be very OP (Compaired to the rest of the power)

Frankly I'd go with A) The magnetic field lets you parry bullets. Now this could be "PING" and it flys off in a direction or just "The bullet is fired, hits your magnetic field, you roll to parry, on a successful parry you 'catch' it and stop it mid air. But this would limit the stopped bullets to 4 to 6 per round. Not 100s.

2) Disarming people would fall under the 'attract metal' power, Which is said to have a superhuman PS of 30. So there's a few factors here.
A) Someone with superhuman Or supernatrual strength might simply be 'stronger' than your pull In this case it's a bit of a tug of war. You roll as a normal disarm. If you win you yank it out of their hands. If they win they retain it.
B) Someone with Normal or Extraordinary strength gets a bit more complicated. Your Superhuman PS of 30 would mean you could either YANK it from their hand with ease. or...... they MIGHT hold onto it and when you yank the gun, you get the person too. So you could roll to disarm. If you win, you yank it out of their hands, if you don't disarm them, your gm might roll you can still pull the gun, but the gun's owner has such a tight grip he comes flying along with it. (Maybe shooting you as he comes.) That's going to be a GM call depending on character and cinimatic nature of your game.
As it's a pretty fine use of a super power I wouldn't give the Magnetism char any bonuses. The defender may have bonuses to disarm etc but they're pretty few and far between.

3) The power as written doesn't really account for such things. In the HU power you're either pulling straight towards you in a line, or away from you in a line. No side to side action. So if someone throws a bolder at you, you can't use a car parked to the left to suddenly fly right and parry the boulder. As that's neither towards you or away from you. Also remember the 'repel' power works with in 10 feet.

While I concede that using metal to parry things, is a very common visual used by characters in comics with these powers. the HU power doesn't allow for it. If it's between you and the person shooting you, in a straight line, your attacker would have to be shooting 'through' it to hit you.

So... sadly, with this power in HU, you can't do it.

4) This one's in the book. One HTH action per one repelled object.

5) to mimic walking you have to be 'propelling' yourself away from an iron object equal to or greater than your own body weight. So to mimic walking (You could wear a metal harness. With bands on the knees and ankles to 'move' the legs I suppose) You'd still have to be on some heavy metal. Train tracks or something. This is going to be limited use, unless on a battle ship or something
As a GM I'd say "Half your melee attacks" to do it, but again you have to be on something metal equal to your own weight.

6) As written this is a simple "Push/Pull" Brute force power. No wrapping or bending, no fine manipulation. Not only that it's push/pull in a straight line, can't curve it, can't arc it, they work like bullets. Once you 'push' you've fired it, it flys in that line it's fired at. As for stopping what you've flung/yanked, I suppose you could but it would take your next action. Which gets complicated. As written the stuff is flung at such a speed it's effecitvly 'bullets'. I.E. you fling it, it hits, then your next action happens. Hard to stop something if you've already hit it.

This would be like shooting a bullet but then catching it before it hits it's target.

There's no finesse written into this power.

You can do it, but it's going to be homebrew. Just like using metal to parry would have to be home brew.

With __THIS__ power as written YOU are the Magnet. You either pull thing straight towards the magnet. Or push them away. You're not contorlling "Magnetism" itself. You cant pick up a metal pen over to your left, and float it through the air to someone infront and a bit to the right of you. You could grab it and yank it STRAIGHT to yourself, then turn and launch it straight at the other person.

But not from over there, to the other person directly.

So..... you'd need a rewrite with a lot of home brew to get what you're looking for.

Alter physical structure Magnet is no better in this.
Metal Manipulation won't get you there either.

For the manipulation power you want you'll need to write it yourself.

I highly encourage it. As stated the power is.... very 'strong' but in a very very simplistic way. It's 100% brute force in a straight line to you, or away from you.

Yeah, the power as written in the book is rather badly written. It should have stated things in area of effect. I agree that it is sorely in need of a rewrite.