Re: [ORE] Question on how Duration interacts with certain Extras

In response, there's the Direct Feed versus Wilpower Cost Flaws in that regard. Pay Willpower upon use versus upon activation. I've seen on this forum the difference between the two explained, specifically in relation to the Duration Extras. Your explanation of how Depleted and Duration work would go against that. This is why I'm seeking clarification. The two terms are somewhat used interchangeably, on top of that, what Interference states in it's description in how it works with Duration goes somewhat against Duration's description in how it interacts with Interference. At the very least Interference is vague enough to be confusing. Hence why I'm trying to figure this out.

On Friday, 12 June 2015 06:33:44 UTC+1, Allan Goodall wrote:

Duration (and the other time-extending extras) allows you to make a single roll and have that roll stay in effect for a length of time without having to reroll. On a power where your roll turns it on, like alternate form and changing into the Hulk or something, Duration is simple to understand. You roll the dice, the power turns on with a success, and you stay in your alternate form until the end of the scene.

For defensive powers with Duration, such as a force field, you roll the dice and whatever you roll is what you have to defend yourself with for the rest of the scene. If you rolled 4x9, you get to defend with a width of 4 and a height of 9 against all attacks targeted against you for the duration of the scene.

If you don't like your roll, at any time you can choose to reroll. This can be risky, though, as you have to take whatever you rolled. This is why a lot of defensive powers use hard dice.

Duration with Interference is a bit different. Interference is a reaction extra. It allows you to react to your opponent without necessarily being conscious of it. On a defensive power, Interference is reacting to your opponent for you.

The rules are confusing because the rule book is vague as to what's happening. The way I interpreted it, from reading and re-reading the Duration and Interference entries, is that you roll the dice for your power every time someone attacks you, but you only have to spend an action once for the duration of your power in order to turn it on. 

An enemy attacks. In the Declare phase, you state that you're going to defend with your power that has Duration and Interference. That's an action. If you want to do something else, too, you'll have to do it as multiple actions. You roll the dice. If the roll succeeds, the power has been activated and you can use the result set as gobble dice. The power stays on for the duration of the scene, without you having to declare it's turned on. Suddenly, another attacker goes after you. You don't have to declare your power, but you do have to roll the dice for the second attack. If you fail to get a matching set, then the enemy's attack went through. If he attacks next round, you get to roll the dice without declaring an action again. 

As you can see, if you want to cut down on the variables you buy your Defends power with Duration and Interference with hard dice. 

To your question about Depleted, you deplete a charge every time you attempt to use a power. That would mean that you use up a charge when you first activate the power. If you have Duration, the charge lasts you until the end of the scene. If you turn off the power before the end of the scene and then turn it on later in the same scene, that takes a second charge.

The rules don't cover what happens when you have a Defends power with Duration, Interference and Depletion. The way I would handle it is to use up a charge when you first declare you're using the power to defend yourself. The power stays on for the length of the scene without costing another charge. You roll for each attack against you, but they don't eat up a charge.

In case someone thought that attaching Depleted to an Endless or Permanent power is an easy way to make a power cheap with no actual negative effect, I'll say two things. 1. As a GM, if you thought you'd min/max your way around the rules, you should be prepared for a villain with Nullify. 2. The rules already state that a flaw that has no actual effect is not a flaw. If you set it up so that your character will never run through its charges, then as a GM I wouldn't let you take Depleted (or you wouldn't get any points for it).

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 1:01 AM, William Seaton <wsol...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm trying to understand how Duration, or it's sibling Extras, interact with with a couple of other Extras, specifically Interference  and Depleted. This is also all in relation to a Defends power. 

Just reading the bit on Duration, do you have to roll each round when using Interference, each time when defending against an Attack or when? The description is a bit confusing there. 

The next is simpler. Depleted states each attempt to use the power uses a charge. So using a Defends power with Duration and Depleted, does that use a charge each time it tries to defend against an attack, or just when the power is activated?

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Allan Goodall            http://www.hyperbear.com
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