Fix for Boost

[Erekose13]

Wow almost year later and B&S is still controversial. I've definitely retired him. Should I pull my book out and make a new character up, I may take Bront up on gaining the few pp bonus from Help Wanted we gained. But other than that you have nothing to fear about seeing him again.

 

[Salix]

Wow almost year later and B&S is still controversial. I've definitely retired him. Should I pull my book out and make a new character up, I may take Bront up on gaining the few pp bonus from Help Wanted we gained. But other than that you have nothing to fear about seeing him again.

I definitely think Erekose13 should be able to apply points from Help Wanted to a replacement character. He handled the B&S thing great, and was one of the main players in the game itself.

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.

But you're OUR guy

Personally, I don't like boost. We limited alien origins (not to mention characters), I don't seem where limiting a potentially abusive power is a big deal.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Personally, I don't like boost. We limited alien origins (not to mention characters), I don't seem where limiting a potentially abusive power is a big deal.

Especially when other powers -- Duplication & Summon -- are also limited.

I vote for going with my suggestion -- you can have Boost, but you can't take more than 2 "Slow Fade" power feats, and you cannot have the Total Fade extra. Any bookkeeping wonkiness is the Player's responsibility, and if the player doesn't want to deal with it, then just don't take the power.

Though, if Boost is limited, Drain might should be, too, since it's basically Boost but in reverse.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Especially when other powers -- Duplication & Summon -- are also limited.

I vote for going with my suggestion -- you can have Boost, but you can't take more than 2 "Slow Fade" power feats, and you cannot have the Total Fade extra. Any bookkeeping wonkiness is the Player's responsibility, and if the player doesn't want to deal with it, then just don't take the power.

Though, if Boost is limited, Drain might should be, too, since it's basically Boost but in reverse.

Drain is fine, though. It's the same reason that an ability that 1 Strength damage stackably forever as an attack is fine in D&D, but an ability that gives +1 Strength stackably forever is not.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Drain is fine, though. It's the same reason that an ability that 1 Strength damage stackably forever as an attack is fine in D&D, but an ability that gives +1 Strength stackably forever is not.

Yeah, but would "Drain Constitution 10 (Ranged, Total Fade; Slow Fade 5)" be fine?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Yeah, but would "Drain Perception 10 (Ranged, Total Fade; Slow Fade 5)" be fine?

Why not? If they're unlucky enough to fail that save, you could have also been stunning them, disintegrating them, dominating their mind, or something else more permanent than a drain slow fade 5--what's a huge stat drain among friends?

 

[hero4hire]

I vote for going with my suggestion -- you can have Boost, but you can't take more than 2 "Slow Fade" power feats, and you cannot have the Total Fade extra.
.

If a player submitted a character with Boost 10 (all physical ability scores) [Str, Dex, Con]; Extras: Total Fade; Flaws: Personal I would be happy to allow it. More so then then the Same power with Slow Fade attached. <<shrugs>>

Combine Total Fade WITH Slow Fade and now that can be a nightmare. But Total Fade by itself is hardly abusive.

This has been talked about on and off for a year. Can Boost be abused? Certainly.
But abuse issues should be handled during character approval. Not handled with blanket rules that may strangle creative concepts or with representing the same power in "Long-Hand."

For the most part, since the beginning of this thread I have heard the same objections and opinions concerning Boost. They are noted, but my opinion has yet to change. My vote is still No on a blanket ruling and.or change to Boost.

I would like to call for a final tally of votes on this for when that inevitable Boosting character does come to my mailbox.

 

[Salix]

Boost needs to be fixed. Right now, it's way too abusable, and as much as a player I'm enjoying it, a good example is what is going on in Help Wanted, where every character has +10 to their physical atributes, normaly a 72 point power, that only was purchased for 2 points and is not prohibiting the use of any other power. (Not trying to pick on you Erekose13)

So, what is a good way to fix this? My thought, after talking with someone else, is to change the effect so that boost only works as long as you have the power as your active power. If you change over to another power in the array, the effects cease immediately, just like it was a force field or mind control.

However, I'd like to open this up for discussion.

Personally, I still like this rule. It it was up to me we'd dump boost altogether and implement some of Ben Robbins suggestions. I know I've flip flopped about eight times, but this discussion has been all over the place.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

How about ruling that Boost not be allowed as an Alternate Power, period?

(Dominus's Boost Skills thing has me a bit leery, too, especially with Total Fade and Slow Fade 5/5 hours... but I tend to put more value into Skills than it seems most folks do).