More Limitations to go over tonight. There are six on this page, and it turns out that there aren't any on the next page, so there are a total of seven Limitations in this edition.
We begin with Always On. This Limitation means that the power cannot be turned off; it's always operating. To buy this, you have to buy the END cost of the power down to 0 using the Reduced Endurance Advantage. Cyclops' eye blasts would have this limitation, requiring him to wear special ruby quartz glasses to keep his blasts in. The multiplier on this Limitation is +1/4.
Incidentally, for those who are familiar with Champions in its later editions, you'll note that the Limitations are listed as positive, not negative, multipliers. I'm not sure when they switched it, but the switch certainly made it easier to understand.
Moving along, we have the Endurance Battery. This Limitation is much different in later editions, so it will require a bit of explaining. Basically, you're setting up a reserve of END points to use for the limited power. Think of it like...well, like a battery. You can use a certain amount of END that is separate from your normal END score. The multiplier for the limitation depends on how big the battery is. Calculate the maximum END necessary to use the power at full capacity. Then decide the multiple for the battery (double the END, quadruple, and so on). If the battery is only good enough to use the power once at full capacity (no additional END), the multiplier for the limitation is +1 1/2. Double the END is +1; four times is +1/2, 8 times is +1/4, and 12 times means there's no benefit to taking this limitation (although you can still take it).
For example, a 10D6 Energy Blast (costing 50 points to buy) costs 10 END to use. If Iron Man is using his Repulsor Beam off a dedicated power supply that would be an END Battery. If the battery is good for 8 shots, then the multiplier for the Battery limitation is +1/4, which means the Battery would hold 80 END for using the Energy Blast (but not the Jet-Boots), and the cost of the power would be reduced to 50 / 1+1/4, or 40 points. If it was a smaller battery good for only four full-power shots, the limitation would be +1/2, making the final cost 33 points. Note that you do not have to use full-power shots; if Iron Man fires a half-strength Repulsor (5D6), he uses 5 END and the Battery still has 75 END available for more shots.
I know, there's a lot. And it's not done yet. Normally, the Battery recharges in about a day. However, you can make it regenerate faster (1 END per full turn, or instantly recharged by a specific special power source) by reducing the Battery Multiple by one step. For example, Iron Man's Repulsor battery can be recharged by connecting it to a powerful electrical generator. If the Battery has 40 END (so a x4 Battery), normally the multiplier would be +1/2, but because it can recharge faster the multiplier is reduced to +1/4.
Phew! As I said, this does change in later editions to become a bit less unwieldy. But that's how it started, so we'll go with it.
Next, we have one of the most common Power Limitations in Champions history: Focus. This Limitation means that the power is operated through some sort of device. Almost any power can be given a Focus. There are four different types of Focus: Obvious and Inobvious, Accessible and Inaccessible. Every focus has one item from each of these pairs, so the possible Foci are Obvious Accessible (+1 multiplier), Obvious Inaccessible (+1/2), Inobvious Accessible (+1/2), and Inobvious Inaccessible (+1/4). An Obvious focus is...well, isn't it obvious? The power gauntlets that shoot Iron Man's Repulsor, Captain America's shield (but there's a caveat I'll mention in a moment), Batman's Utility Belt, Punisher's body armor...all of these are Obvious Foci. If you can tell what item the power is coming from, it's Obvious. If you can't (such as Spider-Man's web-shooters, which are concealed beneath his costume), it's Inobvious. Accessible Foci are items you can remove or render useless in combat. It's not necessarily easy (you have to make a Grab maneuver to take it from them, or attack the item to damage it), but it can be done if you try hard enough. For example, Hawkeye's bow can be taken away from him or broken by an attack (thus, it is an Obvious Accessible Focus). If it takes a lot more effort to take the item away (try taking Iron Man's gloves off when he doesn't want you to), that makes it Inaccessible; it can be done, but it takes time and work outside of combat. The Repulsor Gauntlets are an Obvious Inaccessible Focus).
You must also define the Focus as replaceable or unreplaceable (the word really should be irreplaceable, but I didn't write the book). This doesn't change the cost of the power either way; if it is replaceable, that means it's breakable and has 1 BODY for every 5 active points of the power(s) in the device. If it's irreplaceable, it's unbreakable.
Now, that caveat I mentioned. There are a couple of skills that are defined as Foci, but you don't get a limitation on either one. They are Missile Deflection and Swinging. So Spider-Man's web-shooters don't give him a Focus Limitation on his Swinging skill, but it does apply to other uses, such as Entangles. Likewise, Captain America's shield gives him Missile Deflection, but the skill doesn't get a cost reduction since that's built into the original cost in the first place.
Man, there's a lot to talk about here, isn't there? Alright, we've got three left. Next up is Increased Endurance Cost, which is, of course, the reverse of the Reduced Endurance Advantage. No, you can't buy both on the same power. Importantly, here we finally get the official confirmation and explicit rule that powers cost 1 END per 5 points of power used. If you take this Limitation, the END cost is increased. This would be good for powers that can be overloaded, such as the Human Torch's Nova Blast. It takes a lot out of the hero, but the benefit means you can get a much higher level of power for a low cost in points. The Endurance multiples (and their cost multiples) are: x 1 1/2 (+1/2), x2 (+1), x3 (+2), x4 (+3), and x5 (+4). So, the hero Supernova can buy a 12D6 Energy Blast with Area Effect (Radius) on it, which would normally cost (gulp!) 120 points, but with a x4 END multiplier, it would reduce the cost to 30 points. Just don't ask what the END cost of using it would be...alright, at full power, it would be 96 END. No, I'm not exaggerating. The END cost is 1 for every 5 Active Points, not just the Base Points. At a power cost of 120 points, that means a base cost of 24 END to use it. With a x4 Increased Endurance Limitation, that bumps it to 96 END. Supernova is going to be napping after he uses this even once.
Next...no, I'll save this one for last. The last one on the page is Limited Uses (Charges in later editions). Basically, you can only use the power a certain number of times a day. Unlike the Endurance Battery, which lets you use low-powered shots to save power, this Limitation doesn't give you the savings option. If you've got five uses, then that's all you get. Here's the chart, so I don't have to retype it.
1 +2
2 +l 1/2
3 +l
4-6 +1/2
7-10 +1/4
11-15 No Bonus
If you want the power to still cost END, you add +1/2 to the multiplier.
Alright, let's go back to the previous Limitation, which is called 'Limited Power'. But this one is cheating, because this might as well be called 'Miscellaneous Limitation'. It's literally a catch-all for limiting the power in a way that isn't covered by any of the standard Limitations. So really, there are effectively an infinite number of limitations on this page, all covered by this 'Limited Power' umbrella. Some of the examples given include: Power has no Range (+1/2 multiplier), which obviously can't be taken unless the power is ranged in the first place (such as Energy Blast or Flash), Power only works in Hero Identity (+1/4), Power only works (or doesn't work) in a given situation (variable limitation depending on how common or uncommon the situation is), and Power is linked to another (higher-cost) power, so the smaller power only works when the higher one is active (+1/2).
These are just a tiny sample of the possibilities for this Limitation. The player and the referee have carte blanche to come up with others; just make sure that it's actually a limitation before giving out any multipliers.
And...that's it! We've almost got everything we need to create a balanced character. There's just one more thing: Disadvantages. We'll go over those next time.
Incidentally, I'm still running a parallel review of 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons on my 25 Years Ago... blog, if that would be of interest to you. I'm about to dive into the 3rd edition Monster Manual, so come and check it out.
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