M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

A place to discuss game rules, homebrew systems and the like.
Chris Brady
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by Chris Brady »

Ares, I love you.

I like this one: Chained Lightning: Ranged Shapeable Area Damage, Selective, Resistible: Dodge, Limited: first successful Dodge resistance check stops power.

Was thinking to make it a Line based AoE. If you can't make a line to the next target (and no, I'm not talking about using miniatures, I have a Future Paragon, there's no table big enough for the fights) the effect stops.
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Ares
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by Ares »

:D *takes a bow*
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EpicEclipse
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by EpicEclipse »

Shapable is a funny beast. Some gms are fine with letting it be stretched out incredibly thin to affect an enormous number of spaces. I personally would not allow that because it feels too much like twisting the rules (affecting a tiny portion of a space is not the same as affecting the space for the purposes of an area attack. Why would you EVER take a line area when you could say, stretch a shapable area to half the area of each space and have a 60ft line that can bend? Or quarter spaces that can go up to 120ft? It gets silly, right?), but milage may vary depending on the GM. So it's worth it to ask.

I still think multiattack was the most straightforward solution, but ultimately, it's up to what you and your GM decide works with your table.

To be honest though, targeted area effects from 2e were really nice, and probably would have worked the best for you without finnaggling things. (For context, targeted areas worked similarly to regular areas, but you rolled an attack roll against the whole area and it was hit or miss. No dodge rolls unless you also added resistance, which you probably would here and a successful save of dodge or toughness would negate the effect for any other targets thay hadn't attempted the saves yet. You could also see if your GM would be willing to allow the 2e targeted area effect extra.)
Chris Brady
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by Chris Brady »

I am the GM, actually. And I'm making the character for a player. (She's a bit slow with the character building rules. Sadly, like a lot of super hero games, M&M 3e front loads a lot of information.) I was thinking of limiting the shape to a single Line from target to target. It's not so much shapeable persay, but rather can 'bounce' from single target to target.
EpicEclipse
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by EpicEclipse »

Then question..... if you ARE the GM, why not just allow a custom extra that does exactly what you want it to? Make it a +1 extra, say it can bounce to a new target when it successfully deals damages so long as they within line of effect and range and no target can be hit more than once and call it a day.

Benefit of being the GM: You can allow things like that, so long as they make your group and yourself happy. Game balance isn't even relevant if EVERYONE is enjoying themselves.
Jabroniville
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by Jabroniville »

Here's how I statted the equivalent for an M&M character: Dynamic AE: "Chain Lightning" Damage 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Shapeable +3, Selective) (Flaws: Distracting) (Quirks: Must Spread From One Target to Others) (40)


But I was aiming for it being a high-end Power Spell (the Distracting), and ignored the "to-hit" aspect (Shapeable), leaving just a Quirk that would allow some within the area of effect to be spared.
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Ken
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Re: M&M 3e Chain Lighitning!

Post by Ken »

Chris Brady wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 12:54 am I like this one: Chained Lightning: Ranged Shapeable Area Damage, Selective, Resistible: Dodge, Limited: first successful Dodge resistance check stops power.

Was thinking to make it a Line based AoE. If you can't make a line to the next target (and no, I'm not talking about using miniatures, I have a Future Paragon, there's no table big enough for the fights) the effect stops.
Glad to help.
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