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What would the effects of the "increase gravity" be on a being with supernatural strength? I'm assuming the penalties would be less than for a regular person. But how much? Half, quarter?
I notice there also isn't a size limit listed on the power. It just states that weight is increased by 50 times. Without the limitation, the power could increase the gravity of the moon by 50 times and likely destroy the earth.

The area affected is a limited to a 20ft radius, so you can't affect the whole moon. Which is a shame because if a villain can get to within 200ft of the moon it would be cool to let him try this evil scheme! Our brave heroes must stop him before he can blast off/land/implement his plan!

I would have the effects be the same on a being with supernatural or other enhanced strength - it doesn't say otherwise. You could make an adjustment perhaps based on the factor used to determine a supernatural strength character's carrying weight compared with the factor used for a normal human's carrying weight (and therefore, for fairness, all the other factors used for other types of strength), but I wouldn't bother. Moving your own body is not the same as the strength you use to lift and carry other things. And it is simpler to leave it as written.

The range is listed as "self, object or 20' radius".
It's the object part that gets me, as there is no limit. You should be able to pick a skyscraper, increase it's gravity 50 times, and collapse it. It is a single object. Same goes for a moon. I don't think the writer thought about the godlike power this ability grants.

Or maybe the writer expected whoever was running the game to have a brain and not interpret things in a way that would break the entire universe. And if someone wants to run a game that way, they can go for it.

Thank you Kraynic for adding absolutely nothing of value to this thread.

Whiskeyjack wrote:The range is listed as "self, object or 20' radius".
It's the object part that gets me, as there is no limit. You should be able to pick a skyscraper, increase it's gravity 50 times, and collapse it. It is a single object. Same goes for a moon. I don't think the writer thought about the godlike power this ability grants.

I read the "area effect" paragraph providing the limit. I read that as you can increase a 20' radius within a skyscraper or on a moon's surface, and it seems to only affect people.

lather wrote:

Whiskeyjack wrote:The range is listed as "self, object or 20' radius".
It's the object part that gets me, as there is no limit. You should be able to pick a skyscraper, increase it's gravity 50 times, and collapse it. It is a single object. Same goes for a moon. I don't think the writer thought about the godlike power this ability grants.

I read the "area effect" paragraph providing the limit. I read that as you can increase a 20' radius within a skyscraper or on a moon's surface, and it seems to only affect people.

That's how I read it too - but effecting everything within that area. Perhaps it could have been made clearer. I think that trying to call an entire planet or similar an "object" in this context is pushing it. But I don't really want to get into an argument about word definitions, not least because I don't think it is necessary in this case. However you want to define the term "object", if we do assume that the 20' radius is the limit that the power can effect then that answers your concerns and solves the problem you have with the idea of affecting an entire moon.

Whiskeyjack wrote:Thank you Kraynic for adding absolutely nothing of value to this thread.

It may not have been diplomatic, but it still provided basically the same answer you got from the others who responded. That going with that interpretation of that ability is obviously well beyond the power level of what was intended.

There are a lot of things in the Palladium game system(s) that are open to interpretation. Unlike a system like Pathfinder where everything you might want to do has 5 pages of rules (probably spread over several chapters and/or books), a lot in Palladium is left up to the person running the game to determine just how much "freedom of interpretation" is going to be allowed. I know people that run Fantasy games where the psionic telekinetic powers can be used to rip out people's eyes. And since there is no visual clue of who performed the act, the victim could be in the middle of the crowd on the street, with the psion peering through shutters at a second story window leaving no clue to who performed the act. I have no interest in running or playing a game with that interpretation of those abilities. Stuff like that leaped to mind when you mentioned using the ability under discussion on the moon. If it is being interpreted that way, why stop there? Use it on the sun and disrupt the entire solar system in one go.

And that can only happen if the person running the game has decided that going way beyond anything intended for that ability is going to be how things work in that particular game. And sometimes people do, and if they can make a game work that way, good for them.

Thanks lather and Soldier. It definitely makes sense to interpret it that. In true Palladium fashion it was written poorly and edited even worse.