Senses as a Free Action

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Kevin MacTaggert
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Senses as a Free Action

Post by Kevin MacTaggert »

The default action for Senses is None (on all the time). If it's shifted to a Free action (Sustained) does that lower the cost (-1 rank)?
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squirrelly-sama
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Re: Senses as a Free Action

Post by squirrelly-sama »

No, senses are permanent. Going from permanent to sustained does not reduce cost. There is little functional downside.
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Senses as a Free Action

Post by FuzzyBoots »

You could add the Activation Quirk to get a point or two back for it to take a Move or Standard to "turn on" those extra senses.
Kevin MacTaggert
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Re: Senses as a Free Action

Post by Kevin MacTaggert »

squirrelly-sama wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 1:40 am No, senses are permanent. Going from permanent to sustained does not reduce cost. There is little functional downside.
Yeah. I looked at Immunity and making it Sustained is a net zero mod.
FuzzyBoots wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:19 am You could add the Activation Quirk to get a point or two back for it to take a Move or Standard to "turn on" those extra senses.
Hm. Maybe. I'm thinking of a character like Daredevil who activates his radar sense. Your suggestion is probably the answer.

Thanks folks!
RainOnTheSun
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Re: Senses as a Free Action

Post by RainOnTheSun »

Does he do that? I assumed his radar sense was always on. I've never seen him get ambushed because he hadn't activated it.
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Senses as a Free Action

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I remember Daredevil occasionally igniting or screening out one of his Enhanced senses because he was overwhelmed. I could see that leading to him being ambushed. That would be a decent Complication. And Sustained senses would allow you to turn them on and off as a Free action, maybe to avoid just such a situation.
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JDRook
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Re: Senses as a Free Action

Post by JDRook »

A weird side-effect of making any Permanent effect into a Sustained effect is that it also becomes noticeable:
Deluxe M&M HB, p144 wrote:If an instant, concentration, or sustained effect’s base duration is changed using modifiers, the effect remains noticeable. A continuous or permanent effect made instant, concentration, or sustained also becomes noticeable.
So making Senses Sustained would make them apparent somehow unless you also added at least 1 rank of Subtle. OTOH, you now have the option of power-stunting and/or putting the sense in an array.
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