Skills for powers

[Marcantony]

I was just thinking about some new skills which could be added which would help with the use of particular powers.

One is WP Expulsion which would give similar strike bonuses to a gun skill and allow fine control over the amount of damage done, etc.

What would be other skills would you want to see?
eg. a form of aquatic HTH to reduce penalties for underwater combat.

Note Im not asking for details, just for ideas on what youd like to see.

[Uncle Servo]

One is WP Expulsion which would give similar strike bonuses to a gun skill and allow fine control over the amount of damage done, etc.

You have part of that already under the EE powers where at 3rd level someone can regulate the intensity of his/her blasts in increments of 1D6. Granted some might say this could be made even better

However, I do agree with you that someone with an EE power should be able to increase his/her accuracy with it.

[ZEN]

OK as we all know, there are skill programs, and there are secondary skills.. as far as I know, there is no University of Super Powers.. not so much as a trade school.. however, there could be on the job training..
First of all, lets think about what skill category can select power related skills as a professional skill (with full bonuses, if any).. all the rest would have to take these skills as Secondary options.. the character practices on his or her own time, like a hobby or an obsession (hmm.. define the difference there? ).

Power Skills can easily be treated with a system similar to the Feats found in D&D (sorry to mention it, but there ya go). Characters gain mastery of their powers in certain ways at 3rd and 5th level mainly.. that seems to be the rule of thumb in the Palladium system.. so how about characters gaining Power Mastery Skills at third, fifth, ninth and fifteenth level?
Why the big gap from 5-9 and 9-15? Well, the Power Mastery Skills could be level restricted.. and thus they can confer much higher bonuses for higher level characters.. I would also set them up as a Skill Tree.. you can't select skill C without skill A and B.
As to how many Power Mastery Skills you get at these levels, that can depend on the characters power category, level of education and mental attributes.

So there we have a relatively simple core rule mechanic for including specialist skills for professional super beings.. developing individual skills is the easy part, you just go through the power listings and put some thought into the skills required to use each one very well (creatively and/or precisely). Some Power Mastery Skills might enable the character to attempt trick shots, or perform feats of strength or control, they may provide a few handy bonuses in specific, focused (and somewhat limited) ways.. the result of long hours of practice at ONE specific task to do with the character's super ability.. this might include the option of combining two or more powers for a unique effect.

There are a whole heap of possible directions you could take, but I suggest looking at the Physical Training category.. see how the skills and combat focus are themed around a specific philosophy? Well the same would go for super beings who master their powers in specific ways.. are they oriented around finer, subtler control, or are they more inclined to maximise the power (more damage, range, etc)?
Hence the Skill Tree.. you may go for fine control, or more power, or have a blend of both but slower progression in either.

[Tinker Dragoon]

apparantly its not in the book..lol

but i picked up the idea somewhere!? (and not just from this board)

The energy Expulsion powers already include bonuses similar to a Modern W.P., perhaps it was simply an expansion of that idea?

[guardsys_prime]

I not only let my players come up with power-related skills, power combos, even multi-character manuvers and attacks, I encourage them to do so.

For example, I treat projected poweres like modern WPs, starting at +3/+1 at the level gained and advancing as normal.

Only restrictions are the skill must be a secondary skill, cannot be taken during charatcer creation (only after the cu has actually begun gaining experience), and the cu must activally inform me that he takes time out to practice these skills on a regular basis for at least a full level before gaining the slot fot the skill.

[ZEN]

I think some fine control skills would be good additions...

Partial Transformation
For all powers that alter the character's physical structure, this skill allows characters to transform single limbs or other portions of the body.

Morphic Form Mastery
Allows characters who can transform into fluid, plastic or gaseous states to have a finer control over the cohesion, movement and extensibility of the body while transformed.

Fine Control Energy Expulsion
The character has put long hours of practice into limited and maintained emission of generated energy, with a greater degree of fine control. This would allow a character with the power to create and release blasts of fire to form and maintain a blowtorch effect released from one finger (useful for welding and cutting).

Dimensional Control Mastery
Characters able to teleport, distort space, create dimensional rooms, etc. The skill concentrates on extending the range, speed or duration of the power, and increases the accuracy of targeted effects (or navigational rolls).

Matter Creation Mastery
Increases the skill and capacity of the matter creation power, allowing the character to create greater weights of matter, and to create it in artistic or more usefull ways, such as creating sculptured rock in a short amount of time, shaped to look like a specific individual.

Mind over Body
The character has practiced many hours at pushing the maximum limits of the super power, gradually seeing gains in the range and force of the power's effects, though not the powers duration or fine control. (this skill would apply to only one power at a time, but could be selected for multiple powers)

[Marcantony]

I like the mastery concept

[ZEN]

Now the tricky part.. what advantages do the skills provide statistically?
Skill percentile progression ranges from about 2-5% per level of experience, and can start as low as around 10% or as high as 70% or so.
As super heroes have selected skills for powers that they use often (presumably) and those powers are basically an extension of their personal ability, I would opt to start the power skill level off fairly high, just over 50%.. maybe 55-65%?
Progression would be around 3-4% per level, but the GM may opt to give bonuses for frequent use of the skill/power during gameplay...possibly +5% for regular/practiced use and +1% for each incidence of exceptional or very skilled use of the power.

As for increased weights, ranges, damage dealing or recieving, speed and such, I would work it out as a percentage increase of the normal maximum for the power, which gets better as the character gains experience.. +5% to maximum range/weight/capacity at first level, each other level of experience (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 15th) the bonus is increased by 2%, so at 15th level the character would have a maximum capacity of a normal 15th level character plus a 19% increase.
That is not overly unbalancing in the long run, and it does give a nice edge to those characters who take the time to practice and improve themselves.

[MrTwist]

In my game we use the concept of tricks. Originally, we got the idea from Marvel Super Heroes(btw-anyone try converting powers from the Ultimate Powers Book yet?). We're using the rules of every other level you have the option of gaining a power stunt for one of your powers. The only drawback is you have to sacrifice your secondary skill for that level. Instead of doing the two new skills every three levels, we just say you get one secondary a level.
Some that already exist in our campaign;

Split Second Dodge(intangibility)-While still taking up a melee action, this allows the hero to dodge by phasing out for one brief moment, allowing the attack to pass through them. Think Matrix Reloaded.

Precision(EE or related powers)-An energy explusion, or similar subpower, gains +2 to strike due to the time spent by the hero to improve aim.

Everything I Have(EE or related)-By spending all actions in a melee round, the hero does double maximum damage for their power. Unfortunately, all other powers(including this one) cease working for 1d6 melee rounds, and all combat bonuses reduced by half due to exertion.

Extended Cloak(Cloaking)-This may be too powerful, but it could cost two stunts to get. The cloaking ability now extends to psychic or magical detection abilities. If the mage/psychic can see the char, all bets are off.

Thos are the only ones we use right now.

[Marcantony]

All good ideas here

Ill have something done soon. My schedule at the moment is as follows;

next week - Timeline era 1
week after - Illusionist for HU and fantasy + revised Arcanist
week after that - Timeline era 2
week after that – revised Sorcerer
week after that - Timeline era 3
week after that - skills for powers
week after that - Timeline era 4
week after that – blood avenger class
week after that - Timeline era 5
week after that - Timeline era 6
week after that - Timeline era 7
week after that - Timeline era 8
week after that - Timeline era 9
week after that - Timeline era 10
I may insert other things in between the timelines

[MrTwist]

I was curious if anyone else had ideas for power stunts for different powers. I'm especially looking for ones for Sup. Strength and Invulnerability. Can't really think of any stunts to go along with those.

[Yukon]

I was curious if anyone else had ideas for power stunts for different powers. I'm especially looking for ones for Sup. Strength and Invulnerability. Can't really think of any stunts to go along with those.

maybe by concentrating and grunting a bit Mr. Invulnerable could turn off his man of steelness for something.. or he could maybe spread it to one other person he's touching for every 5 levels. or as a stunt, he spreads it over his clothes/costume or weapons.

[ZEN]

Looking over Rikonian's stunts page, I'm impressed.
The power stunt listed for Invulnerability..
"Invulnerable to Scans: The character's structure is not only highly resistant to damage, but it also blocks scanning waves such as x-rays and electromagnetic waves."

Man, that is a good idea, it makes a lot of sense!

Another sweet little stunt is for Shrink...
"Regrowth Attack: The character can get into position while small and then rapidly grow to his full size to deliver an attack. He is minus 2 to strike, but his opponent will be minus 4 to dodge. Also, the momentum of the growth adds 20% to the total damage."

Sweeeeet.. can you imagine how that attack would look? It would seem like the hero teleported and immediately attacked.. nice.


Oh, there were no super strength stunts listed on Rikonian's web page, the stomp and slap ideas seem ok though.. and lets not forget all the power attacks in the HUGMG!

[MrTwist]

For the Shockwave and thunderclap, here's an idea how they might work.

Thunderclap-Works exactly like the Minor power of EE:Force Blast(see PU1)

Shockwave- Works like part 2 of the Minor power of Seismic Power(see PU1)

[MrTwist]

Maybe a power stunt for Shrink, or Item Reduction.

Unattended Object:
When reduced in size, the personal equipment the char carries is shrunk also. They increase in size when the char does. When this stunt is taken, the objects the char had may be left someplace(leave it to your imagination). When the char returns to normal size, so do the items. Damage should be left to the GM, depending on the item and it's shape.

Item Reduction Duration:
Just gives the objects the char personally shrank a duration decided by the char. Can be placed in interesting places just the above stunt.

May be a bit powerful, unbalancing, etc... But it can b funny when used on invulnerable chars. ("Ok, you feel rather unhappy as a basketball suddenly grows to normal size in your nose")
The powerful part is a tiny person leaving a knife in someone's ear. Maybe give the affected person a save using PE bonuses?

[ZEN]

I think the basketball would just explode, leaving a line of snot and rubber hanging from the Invulnerable character's nostrils.. harmless, disgusting, but very funny and probably quite distracting.