Environmental Powers

[ImperialParadox]

I was reading some of the threads dealing with players relying on the repetition of at-will powers once their encounter and daily resources are spent. Some posters were pointing out that it is still up to the player to be creative and think outside of the box - that a player should not limit himself to what's on his sheet and to feel free to try things like kicking over tables, etc, etc.

That gave me a thought: Environmental Powers

Ok, so maybe not the best of names but let me explain what I mean. Suppose every encounter area had a section detailing special 'powers' which could be used depending on what is at hand. For example maybe if their is a table in the room there is a note that it can be kicked over as a move action to provide a cover AC bonus to players adjacent to it. Or maybe The stew cooking over the fireplace can be 'activated' with a move action to tump over and spill, sending scalding water out as a line attack for 1d6 damage to anyone it hits with a +2 attack versus Reflex attack. Or perhaps there are hoist ropes in a corner of the room which can be cut as an attack (standard?) action to send a chandelier crashing down, inflicting damage to those in the area of effect.

Now of course most of these ideas can be handled by simple DM adjucation, but it might be worth noting more complicated or less obvious Environmental Powers in the encounter description.

I have a feeling some of this will be covered by traps, and wouldn't be surprised if the designers are already ahead of me on this, but it's a thought.

 

[med stud]

Someone from WotC said that a framework for that kind of rulings is in the DMG. The boiling stew, for example, could be a Dex-attack versus the opponents Reflex defense. Same thing with the chandelier.

 

[Rechan]

Environmental powers... like Captain Planet?

What you're describing is basically the notion of Zones (or something of that type) from Iron Heroes, an environment-based Stunt in Exalted, or tapping a Scene aspect in Spirit of the Century. Or basically using things like the poisonous mushroom thing we saw a while ago in some article.

I.e. They're not POWERS, but just set pieces intentionally designed to give a bonus or change the situation a little.

 

[ImperialParadox]

Environmental powers... like Captain Planet?

What you're describing is basically the notion of Zones (or something of that type) from Iron Heroes, an environment-based Stunt in Exalted, or tapping a Scene aspect in Spirit of the Century. Or basically using things like the poisonous mushroom thing we saw a while ago in some article.

I.e. They're not POWERS, but just set pieces intentionally designed to give a bonus or change the situation a little.

Lol I do have to admit to having a guilty pleasure thing going with watching Captain Planet, does that make me a masochist?

anyways....

Yeah, I figured they wouldn't quite be powers, but I was just thinking they could be noted in a similar format style in the encounter description. Nice to know they already have something similar cooked up.

 

[LostSoul]

That's a really cool idea. Hopefully they will put that into the game.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I was reading some of the threads dealing with players relying on the repetition of at-will powers once their encounter and daily resources are spent. Some posters were pointing out that it is still up to the player to be creative and think outside of the box - that a player should not limit himself to what's on his sheet and to feel free to try things like kicking over tables, etc, etc.

That gave me a thought: Environmental Powers

Ok, so maybe not the best of names but let me explain what I mean. Suppose every encounter area had a section detailing special 'powers' which could be used depending on what is at hand. For example maybe if their is a table in the room there is a note that it can be kicked over as a move action to provide a cover AC bonus to players adjacent to it. Or maybe The stew cooking over the fireplace can be 'activated' with a move action to tump over and spill, sending scalding water out as a line attack for 1d6 damage to anyone it hits with a +2 attack versus Reflex attack. Or perhaps there are hoist ropes in a corner of the room which can be cut as an attack (standard?) action to send a chandelier crashing down, inflicting damage to those in the area of effect.

Now of course most of these ideas can be handled by simple DM adjucation, but it might be worth noting more complicated or less obvious Environmental Powers in the encounter description.

I have a feeling some of this will be covered by traps, and wouldn't be surprised if the designers are already ahead of me on this, but it's a thought.

This is a really good point - it'll be something that is now easy to implement and will provide a really good backdrop to the game. After all, all the best fight scenes make use of their environment to spice things up a little.

The real trick is to make sure that these environmental concerns remain important at higher levels (maybe at Epic level someone is using Magma soup?)

 

[Stalker0]

Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero

He's our powers magnified
And he's fighting on the planet's side

Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero

Gonna help him put asunder
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder

"You'll pay for this Captain Planet!"

We're the Planeteers
You can be one too
'Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!

Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!

"The Power is Yours!"