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Above Power Level

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:20 pm
by Miracle
Say Strong Man and Sword Lass are fighting Eviltron 9000. Sword Lass takes a fall and Strong Man picks up Sword Lass's sword. Strong Man is already capped out on unarmed damage and to hit. So, what happens when he wields his fallen partner's weapon? No extra damage, maybe just the effects of the sword (let's say the sword does fire or ice or electricity damage). Or is Strong Man too strong to wield the sword at all with nothing happening at all?

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:32 pm
by badpenny
You could give him the benefit of other non-PL breaking effects that are in the sword, e.g. Extended Reach, but PL caps are what they are. I've let a player do pretty much what you describe by instituting additional (and meaningful) penalties, e.g. trade off extra damage with Defense penalties when the scene demanded it, i.e. a key plot scene. The sword-wielder had been taken out and the brick wanted to grab the sword and bash the alien tech gizmo while dozens of minions swarmed. The Defense hit he took made it meaningful because of so many minion attacks he opened himself up to. The sword was Restricted (Personal) so he paid an HP to ignore that and it "fought" him (hence the Distracting hit to his Defense).

For someone to regularly pick up weapons, they'd need to factor the extra damage into the PL trade-offs.

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 3:45 am
by Bladewind
I agree with Penny and your own reasoning. At best, your giving him a new descriptor.

Assuming, however, that his raw Fighting skills isn't bought up, there could be an extra benefit for the trade off in a lower to hit for a higher damage...

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:08 pm
by L-Space
badpenny wrote:You could give him the benefit of other non-PL breaking effects that are in the sword, e.g. Extended Reach, but PL caps are what they are. I've let a player do pretty much what you describe by instituting additional (and meaningful) penalties, e.g. trade off extra damage with Defense penalties when the scene demanded it, i.e. a key plot scene. The sword-wielder had been taken out and the brick wanted to grab the sword and bash the alien tech gizmo while dozens of minions swarmed. The Defense hit he took made it meaningful because of so many minion attacks he opened himself up to. The sword was Restricted (Personal) so he paid an HP to ignore that and it "fought" him (hence the Distracting hit to his Defense).

For someone to regularly pick up weapons, they'd need to factor the extra damage into the PL trade-offs.
This. I'd also say that you could let him "but effects" worth the PP cost of the sword. So instead of giving him the PL breaking damage, let the sword give him appropriate ranks of Improved Critical, Penetrating, or Takedown, whatever works for the weapons description and adds a bit of heroic flare to the scene.

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:12 pm
by badpenny
L-Space wrote:I'd also say that you could let him "but effects" worth the PP cost of the sword. So instead of giving him the PL breaking damage, let the sword give him appropriate ranks of Improved Critical, Penetrating, or Takedown, whatever works for the weapons description and adds a bit of heroic flare to the scene.
The only problem I see with that is it turns the improvised weapon into a mini-Variable. In the hands of the right player, it'd be fine, but I'd not open that up to rando players in a PbP campaign. To even good players, it invites meta-gaming due to "possibilities."

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:20 pm
by L-Space
badpenny wrote:The only problem I see with that is it turns the improvised weapon into a mini-Variable. In the hands of the right player, it'd be fine, but I'd not open that up to rando players in a PbP campaign. To even good players, it invites meta-gaming due to "possibilities."
Oh absolutely. It completely depends on the trust the GM has for the player and should be collaborative effort between. The effects should be thematically appropriate and give the player a useful, but not PL/game breaking effect.

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 1:15 pm
by StarGuard
Character uses HP for Advantage: Power Attack. If they already have Power Attack then the Advantage: All-out Attack. If they have both of those .... continue until something logical (Improved Critical) makes sense. Other than that, the Sword is obviously too (enter adjective) to be fully utilized be a bovid swordsman. :)
Though I would allow a appropriate descriptor if the sword had one. With a Complication popping up if the players started getting shady, creating similar situations in a future scenario later on.

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:13 pm
by Flynnarrel
Circumstance bonuses are always available to the GM. Maybe one or two shots with a +2 circumstance bonus (to hit) before the sword breaks.

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:51 pm
by Miracle
"Nuh UH! the sword is made of Unbendunbreakum!"

But yeah, I can see how it would get out of control if Sword Lass was just there to get knocked out so Strong Man could ge a free weapon. Luckily that never happens in comics... I mean games :eek:

Re: Above Power Level

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:57 pm
by Psistrike
There is also Extra Effort, those aren't limited by PL limits, even Power Stunts. If you have a Hero Point or Luck Point [Recover] to negate the fatigue from Extra Effort, so much the better. You can get some truly insane ranks of stuff with the right power stunt.