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Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:22 pm
by Incriptus
There are a few other books with stray super powers abound from sources like Armageddon Unlimited, likely a few Rifters or Heroes of the Megaverse. Wondering which ones you really like. (And for the purposes of this post lets stick with published powers, while the black vault is beautiful we're going to skip that for a moment)

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 7:35 pm
by eliakon
Incriptus wrote:There are a few other books with stray super powers abound from sources like Armageddon Unlimited, likely a few Rifters or Heroes of the Megaverse. Wondering which ones you really like. (And for the purposes of this post lets stick with published powers, while the black vault is beautiful we're going to skip that for a moment)

Sticky Globs from Gramercy Island. Its quite possibly the most efficient crowd control super power out there.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:59 pm
by Severus Snape
Animate Drawing. Can't remember which book it's in; I believe it's in one of the Rifters. But it's a beautifully described power. You draw something and bring it to life; it seems like the perfect power for a comic-book world.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:24 am
by Daniel Stoker
I'm pretty sure there's a version of that in Transdimensional TMNT.


Daniel Stoker

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:32 am
by Glistam
Severus Snape wrote:Animate Drawing. Can't remember which book it's in; I believe it's in one of the Rifters. But it's a beautifully described power. You draw something and bring it to life; it seems like the perfect power for a comic-book world.

It's from Rifter #1, inspired by the write up for Kirby in Transdimensional TMNT. It is a great power. The only Rifters with super powers that I can think of/remember are Rifter #1, Rifter #9½, Rifter #11, and Rifter #37 (mega-hero powers). Out of those, my favorite power would also be from Rifter #1 - "Control Elemental Force: Time." A runner-up would be the power "Regeneration" from Rifter #11.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:22 am
by Matt
Do martial arts and chi tricks from Ninjas & Superspies count as powers? I treat them as powers for my purposes in super hero games.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:32 am
by Pepsi Jedi
eliakon wrote:
Incriptus wrote:There are a few other books with stray super powers abound from sources like Armageddon Unlimited, likely a few Rifters or Heroes of the Megaverse. Wondering which ones you really like. (And for the purposes of this post lets stick with published powers, while the black vault is beautiful we're going to skip that for a moment)

Sticky Globs from Gramercy Island. Its quite possibly the most efficient crowd control super power out there.


It appears on page 21 of PU 3.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 3:43 am
by Galroth
Alter Physical Structure: Silver

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:43 pm
by Reagren Wright
Incriptus wrote:There are a few other books with stray super powers abound from sources like Armageddon Unlimited, likely a few Rifters or Heroes of the Megaverse. Wondering which ones you really like. (And for the purposes of this post lets stick with published powers, while the black vault is beautiful we're going to skip that for a moment)


Well then I can't saw which ones are my favorite then :wink: .

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:47 am
by Sir_Spirit
Glistam wrote:
Severus Snape wrote:Animate Drawing. Can't remember which book it's in; I believe it's in one of the Rifters. But it's a beautifully described power. You draw something and bring it to life; it seems like the perfect power for a comic-book world.

It's from Rifter #1, inspired by the write up for Kirby in Transdimensional TMNT. It is a great power. The only Rifters with super powers that I can think of/remember are Rifter #1, Rifter #9½, Rifter #11, and Rifter #37 (mega-hero powers). Out of those, my favorite power would also be from Rifter #1 - "Control Elemental Force: Time." A runner-up would be the power "Regeneration" from Rifter #11.

RIfter #12 has a bunch of things for supers.
Including some powers.
An ME based version of Create force Field.
Hellfire.
Projectile Hex(es/ing?) and another one.
Plus a couple of othe powercatagories.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:48 am
by Sir_Spirit
ANd swallowing limbo is one of my favorites.
And Force Manipulation.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:44 am
by Glistam
Sir_Spirit wrote:
Glistam wrote:
Severus Snape wrote:Animate Drawing. Can't remember which book it's in; I believe it's in one of the Rifters. But it's a beautifully described power. You draw something and bring it to life; it seems like the perfect power for a comic-book world.

It's from Rifter #1, inspired by the write up for Kirby in Transdimensional TMNT. It is a great power. The only Rifters with super powers that I can think of/remember are Rifter #1, Rifter #9½, Rifter #11, and Rifter #37 (mega-hero powers). Out of those, my favorite power would also be from Rifter #1 - "Control Elemental Force: Time." A runner-up would be the power "Regeneration" from Rifter #11.

RIfter #12 has a bunch of things for supers.
Including some powers.
An ME based version of Create force Field.
Hellfire.
Projectile Hex(es/ing?) and another one.
Plus a couple of othe powercatagories.

Oh yeah, look at that! It's unfortunate none of them got an acual write-up and instead got a quick summary in the N.P.C's. Those summaries leave some questions about the powers (such as stat bonuses) unanswered.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:40 am
by Glistam
So I went back through the article in Rifter #12 and pulled out all the powers mentioned, and what few details are there for them:

Natural Genius
Major Power
  1. No description provided

Weapon Structuring
Major Power
  1. Increase/decrease weapon damage by 1D6 per level.
  2. Increase/decrease armor S.D.C. by 1D6×10, +5 per level.
  3. +2 to strike and parry with ancient weapons, +4 with modern weapons.
  4. Rifts note: S.D.C. armor can be converted to one-half the S.D.C. number in M.D.C., or M.D.C. armor can be converted to twice the M.D.C. number in S.D.C..

Multiple Projection
Major Power?
  1. This power allows the character to shoot the following one at a time at a target: ice, fire, water, stone, sonic booms, kinetic force, lightning, light, acid. Regardless of type, damage is always 10D6.
  2. Various effects can be found in the Heroes Unlimited rule book.
  3. +3 to strike.

Projectile Hexing
Major Power?
  1. This power allows the user to put a "hex" on a target, altering reality to cause something bad to happen to the victim. Examples include failing in an attack, tripping and falling, having a weapon jam, etc. Never anything horribly damaging in and of itself' the G.M. should use discretion with this power. First, the character must strike the target. The target must roll a natural 18 without bonuses to defeat the Projectile Hex. If the target cannot save, the hex thrower can choose the outcome 33% of the time; roll percentiles. Any roll over 33%, and the outcome is still bad for the target. It's just not what the character wanted.

Spirit Force Control
Major Power
  1. Create Force Field power based on mental endurance.
  2. 50 m.p.h. flight.
  3. Force bolt does 1D6 damage per every 2 M.E. points above 16 - i.e., an M.E. of 32 would allow the character's Force Bolts to do 8D6 damage.

Indestructibility
Major Power
  1. Impervious to all harm except by certain abilities, psionics, and magic such as Bio-Manipulation or Mind Control.
  2. Cannot be transformed or metamorphed in any way.
  3. Does not age, eat or need to breathe.
  4. Can still be restrained or sidetracked like a normal human.

There are also some new O.C.C.'s that have specific powers as well in this article, but those powers seemed to be specific to the O.C.C. so I didn't include them.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:55 pm
by Pepsi Jedi
That multiple projection power from the mask is pretty wicked. I'd definitely rate it as a major. Thing is it's tied to the super magical artifact. (Which is kinda good considering how all around powerful that could be)

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:18 am
by Sir_Spirit
Pepsi Jedi wrote:That multiple projection power from the mask is pretty wicked. I'd definitely rate it as a major. Thing is it's tied to the super magical artifact. (Which is kinda good considering how all around powerful that could be)

Meh, it's clear it's meant to be a Major Super Ability to me. So You could have it without the mask, you just wouldn't get all the other powers of the mask.
Which is relatively High Powered.
The whole section is mostly fairly high powered stuff. A rifts Style Godling, an ENTITY AS A PC, the UNDEAD dude, etc.... The whole Touched By Vorlons Psychics(they make psyscape psychics seem underpowered).

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:15 am
by Razorwing
One of my favorite powers from outside the main books would be Weather Control from Rifter #39 (Pg 49; after the write-up for Stormwitch). To be honest, I'm a little surprised that this power (or one like it) was never written up in any of the main books. I know of quite a few heroes and villains in comics that have some degree of influence on the weather, so one would think such a power would have made an appearance before Rifter #39.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:57 am
by Sir_Spirit
Razorwing wrote:One of my favorite powers from outside the main books would be Weather Control from Rifter #39 (Pg 49; after the write-up for Stormwitch). To be honest, I'm a little surprised that this power (or one like it) was never written up in any of the main books. I know of quite a few heroes and villains in comics that have some degree of influence on the weather, so one would think such a power would have made an appearance before Rifter #39.


That's because it's was covered by CEF:AIR in the main book. Combined with the Rainmaker PU3(or is it PU1?) and you have a more powerful version of weather control basically.
I mean, for obvious reasons, I won't say "this is how you make storm" but if I was gonna make her or an expy of her I wouldn't use weather control.

A "french" mercenary "Norde"(who is actually the greek "God" of the North wind Borealis) has CEF:AIR, APS:AIR, EE:Icy Mist, Conduct Lightning, EE:Divine
But he's an Immortal and if I want to go over the top then he become a golding and gets the bonus power of rainmaker.
My mortal supervilian duo the Poles, Artic and Antartica, have Rainmaker and CEF:AIR respectively(as well as a cold power).

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:37 pm
by Razorwing
I agree that Weather Control is a little weaker in its area of effect than it should be when compared to other powers that can manipulate the weather (what other power has a chance of failure to impose their effects?), but the versatility of the power is still greater than what is currently available to even the powers you mentioned. Creating storms is only a fraction of what a character with Weather Control can do (and in my opinion, it should be able to trump the effects others who can manipulate the weather... they influence it, this power CONTROLS it).

To increase the power of it a bit, in my games I've gotten rid of the percentage to create the weather desired and use the higher percentage as the ability to maintain control (and take control over other weather manipulations, such as those from the powers you mentioned) of the desired weather (creating weather is easy... controlling it is a little more difficult). I've increased the amount of wind speed that can be altered to 20mph per level, though it can only be changed by -+5 mph per action/attack (faster than CEF: Air can accomplish; affecting weather is a mere aspect of that power, not the focus like it is with this power). Maintaining control of weather does require concentration... which costs the character 1 action/attack per melee. Directing Lightning strikes during a Thunderstorm requires a control roll with each action/attack to strike the intended target (hits like the Call lighting spell if the roll is successful; Natural 20 or modified 24 to dodge being hit).

Like I said however, creating storms is merely the flashier side of this power. One could also cause droughts... dispel storms (though the character would need to take control of the storm first before they could start dissipating it)... even create areas that seem to be stuck in a perpetual season (winter, summer, etc.) Such a character could help an area prosper (creating favorable weather conditions) or devastate it utterly (by creating any number of weather disasters). The scope of the power is limited only by one's imagination.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 7:19 pm
by Pepsi Jedi
It seems a bit weak, and the radius is pretty small. Well exceedingly small when we're talking about 'weather'. 300ft per lvl means even at 10th lvl you're only talking about a 3000 foot circle. That's not even a mile. While it's far enough to affect those you're in a battle with, it's not like you could affectivly use it against a city or town or anything.

Not bad for flavor but for effectiveness and usage you're going to want CEF Air and Rainmaker

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 1:03 am
by Razorwing
Actually PJ... I always took that range to be the affected radius of effect... anything within 300 feet from such a character (per level) is affected as the character would be at the center of such a phenomena. Thus, at level 10, they would affect a circle 6000 feet in diameter, which is just over a mile across. And this is just the center of the affected area.

While such a character can't control the weather beyond their range, the weather they created doesn't stop at the edge of that range either. Yes, it will begin to dissipate and return to what is normal for the area, but that will take time and distance to take effect. Winds, rain/snow and lightning are still likely to happen beyond this range, but the character has no control over such effects... and even then they are not likely to be as severe as where the character is in control (unless the character is trying to dissipate such effects from a larger storm). How far such effects reach beyond the character's control is something the GM will decide, depending on how big of an area is initially being affected and how much it differs from what is "normal" for the area at the time.

This means that even though a character with Weather Control can only control the weather in a relatively small area, the effect of that power could be felt a lot further... even covering a small city if the conditions are right (creating a massive blizzard in the middle of winter would affect a much larger area than trying to do the same in the middle of summer or in a tropical place like Hawaii). Regardless, the area such a character can actually control is the same... just the collateral area can be much larger. In the example above, a blizzard in the middle of winter could double or triple the affected area (though only the central area is actually controlled), but during the middle of summer or in a tropical area, the effect would dissipate much more quickly beyond the controlled area... maybe within half a mile or less depending on how such weather differs from the norm at the time (creating a storm during hurricane season would have a larger effect than during the dry season).

This makes Weather Control both more powerful and more dangerous to use... because the weather beyond the area they can actually control is also affected (though not usually to the same degree). Just as characters with high levels of strength can cause excessive collateral damage to an area if they are not careful (as can many APS powers... most notably Fire and Plasma), so too can Weather Control cause a lot of collateral damage to an area beyond what the character actually controls. This also means that those fighting such a character have to deal with such conditions before they even reach the area such a character actually influences... especially when going to the more extreme end of the weather (high winds, blinding rain and random lightning strikes).

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 1:05 am
by say652
Its blackvault but.
BrickTricks.
That is a great great awesomely fun to play power.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 7:07 am
by Razorwing
The one thing I don't understand about that power is the name... seems to have more to do with creating shockwaves and such. By the name I thought it would be more like that Ben 10 Omniverse alien Bloxx.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 1:03 pm
by say652
Brick is a classic comic term for a strong character. This power gives you the jumps, claps, stomps and heroic lifts.
Awesomeness.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:04 am
by AlanGunhouse
Glistam wrote: Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:32 am
Severus Snape wrote:Animate Drawing. Can't remember which book it's in; I believe it's in one of the Rifters. But it's a beautifully described power. You draw something and bring it to life; it seems like the perfect power for a comic-book world.
It's from Rifter #1, inspired by the write up for Kirby in Transdimensional TMNT. It is a great power. The only Rifters with super powers that I can think of/remember are Rifter #1, Rifter #9½, Rifter #11, and Rifter #37 (mega-hero powers). Out of those, my favorite power would also be from Rifter #1 - "Control Elemental Force: Time." A runner-up would be the power "Regeneration" from Rifter #11.
I was thinking about Animate Drawing and why it never made it into any of the PU books, I think I have an idea how to fix it so it might be allowed...

The basic problem seems to be there is no statement of how long it takes to draw an object or creature, and no limit on how many DP the character can have stored up or put into one drawing. That, and there are two different statements about using art skills to create DP.

Re: Favorite Power outside of the Main Book and PU books?

Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:08 pm
by taalismn
AlanGunhouse wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:04 am I was thinking about Animate Drawing and why it never made it into any of the PU books, I think I have an idea how to fix it so it might be allowed...

The basic problem seems to be there is no statement of how long it takes to draw an object or creature, and no limit on how many DP the character can have stored up or put into one drawing. That, and there are two different statements about using art skills to create DP.
I'd spin this off into its own discussion thread to focus on possible fixes/opinions regarding its discrepancies.