Fix for Boost

[hero4hire]

There are some concepts when Total Fade (Hourman, Minute Man), and to a lesser extent Area (Chance) are perfectly legit concepts. Especially if it is the characters only "schtick". But basically many Extras and Feats when combined with Boost can create something out of hand. I am against heavy handedly banning anything that could be used to make a legit character and feel such a ban would alienate future members of LS.

BUT I whole-heartedly am against abuse of such combos. As many new members can tell you I have a fine eye during character approval, and sometimes it is no easy task to get certain characters approved due to what I see as potential rules abuse and power combos.

I havent gotten to many Boosters though. It may be a good idea to redo Body and Spirit but I havent seen the player anxious to play the character, so the need has not been pressing.

 

[Rystil Arden]

There are some concepts when Total Fade (Hourman, Minute Man), and to a lesser extent Area (Chance) are perfectly legit concepts. Especially if it is the characters only "schtick". But basically many Extras and Feats when combined with Boost can create something out of hand. I am against heavy handedly banning anything that could be used to make a legit character and feel such a ban would alienate future members of LS.

BUT I whole-heartedly am against abuse of such combos. As many new members can tell you I have a fine eye during character approval, and sometimes it is no easy task to get certain characters approved due to what I see as potential rules abuse and power combos.

I havent gotten to many Boosters though. It may be a good idea to redo Body and Spirit but I havent seen the player anxious to play the character, so the need has not been pressing.

I agree with h4h--Here's a rule of thumb:

Area, Mass Targets, and Total Fade are problems if the character has something else as an alternate power with Boost--if they switch to an alt power, they should lose these effects, to prevent a character who spends one round in ten boosting everybody and then switches to alts for the rest of the time, essentially gaining a massive party or self buff for 1 PP. If the character actually pays the full price for the Boost and doesn't switch out for an alt, a long-lasting Boost is perfectly fair for its price.

 

[Ben Robbins]

[sorry to butt in, but I figure since I got quoted earlier it's fair game ]

Boost is broken in several ways, either as an exploit or just as a pain for bookkeeping (who wants to recalculate the number of power points every round and figure out current rank?), many of which you've already hit on. Combined with arrays in any form it goes from mostly broken to extremely broken.

The best solution is to not use Boost at all. The problem is easier if you start with the idea that are two entirely different cases: boosting self and boosting others.

Boosting self can usually be easily replaced by just buying a power with a flaw or drawback. Instead of buying Boost Strength, just buy Enhanced Strength with the Drawback "only lasts a few minutes after eating the power pill" (Hero4Hire's Minute or Hour Man examples) or the Flaw "only while raging" (a la the Hulk). Since Boost doesn't let you exceed PL anyway, this is a more direct way of buying what you are going to get in the end, and it is much easier in play.

Boosting others is much messier can of worms, because there are no rules covering whether you can enhance others over their PL limits during play. But here's the interesting part: can you think of any examples in comics of anyone using Boost Others? Ever? It's extremely common in D&D of course, and common in video games, but it is just not something you see in the comic books.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Boosting others is much messier can of worms, because there are no rules covering whether you can enhance others over their PL limits during play. But here's the interesting part: can you think of any examples in comics of anyone using Boost Others? Ever? It's extremely common in D&D of course, and common in video games, but it is just not something you see in the comic books.

Fabian Cortez (X-Men baddie). Had the Mutant power to amp up the powers of other Mutants, even overpowering them so it strained the subject's body.

And I'm almost certain that some Big Bad Mystic Types (Dormammu, Loki, Odin, the Vishanti, etc.) have boosted their minions/servants... though I'm not sure if that'd really count, or be more a case of the character using Extra Effort and it being explained 'in-game' as a boost from Entity X.

 

[Ben Robbins]

Fabian Cortez (X-Men baddie). Had the Mutant power to amp up the powers of other Mutants, even overpowering them so it strained the subject's body.

Hey, you found one! I'm actually impressed, though I think you'd agree that's more a plot device/villain thing than a character you would actually build. He's an adventure premise really.

And I'm almost certain that some Big Bad Mystic Types (Dormammu, Loki, Odin, the Vishanti, etc.) have boosted their minions/servants... though I'm not sure if that'd really count, or be more a case of the character using Extra Effort and it being explained 'in-game' as a boost from Entity X.

Yep. Folks like Loki often just create whole supervillains with a wave of their hand, but that's definitely more of a plot device thing than a literal power.

 

[D.Shaffer]

Something to keep in mind is that boost can also GRANT a power to other characters that they normally wouldnt have, and not just boost preexisting abilities. That's something else you cant really replicate to well with limits. Combined with 'Drain', and you have Transfer. giving you 'Rogue' like abilities, stealing another character's powers. In any case, I'd rather not limit people's options en total, just because of potential problems. I'd rather it be taken on a case by case basis.

 

[Ben Robbins]

You should be able to easily duplicate anything that you can do with Boost by just Flawing powers. Electricity Absorption that lets you Blast is just Immunity (electricity) and Blast (flaw: only after being hit by electricity). You can even flaw the Blast so that it can only be used at the same rank as the power that hit you.

Same concept with Transfer. Instead of Drain + Boost just use Drain + Mimic.

Boost Others to give them Flight? Flight Affects Others, and so on.

Of course that's all just rule mechanics -- whether you actually want to use Boost or not is entirely up to you guys. If you do want to keep Boost, you can fix a lot by making the duration Sustained instead of Instant (eliminating the array problem).

 

[Rystil Arden]

You should be able to easily duplicate anything that you can do with Boost by just Flawing powers. Electricity Absorption that lets you Blast is just Immunity (electricity) and Blast (flaw: only after being hit by electricity). You can even flaw the Blast so that it can only be used at the same rank as the power that hit you.

Same concept with Transfer. Instead of Drain + Boost just use Drain + Mimic.

Boost Others to give them Flight? Flight Affects Others, and so on.

Of course that's all just rule mechanics -- whether you actually want to use Boost or not is entirely up to you guys. If you do want to keep Boost, you can fix a lot by making the duration Sustained instead of Instant (eliminating the array problem).

For the record, I agree with Ben Robbins. He's mostly saying the same stuff I said, but he has the voice of experience whereas I'm just some guy.

 

[hero4hire]

Fabian Cortez (X-Men baddie). Had the Mutant power to amp up the powers of other Mutants, even overpowering them so it strained the subject's body.
.

Also Chance from the Fallen Angels and that dude the Alliance of Evil kidnapped..Michael Nowlan?

All Muties of course.

The only non-mutant I can think of is Chemical King from the Legion of Superheroes. I *think* he occasionaly amped up a targets biological process making them stronger.

 

[hero4hire]

I take it back. A brief investigation on Chemical King turned up he was a mutant too.

Rare in DC..Yeeesh!