Damage Redirection

circumstance in which a target's resistance is ouchy to the wielder

adapted from page 57 of "BoH":
Blood of Heroes: Special Edition by Pulsar Games

This Limitation applies to "restrictive" Powers only: superpowered methods of imposing limitations on a target's Movement. It might apply to Ice Production in the "freeze a target in a block of ice" sense, but not in the "make an ice slide to make the target skid at high speed into the Bouncy Castle" sense.

Well. Thanks for small favors, I guess?

— Silverwing

Silverwing Profile by CB Ash

What?

You don't give a Factor Cost discount for the ice slide thing, but it's all one Superpower. Do you know how many rental companies now have "superspeeder collision insurance" options on their bouncy castle leases? Just in the greater Metropolis area?

— the Hero of Metropolis was tired of getting skidded into temporary inflatable structures back in September 1998

Fenrir by Jarissa Venters

Count your blessings, darlin'! Over here in Michigan there're places that'll rent you a whole inflatable obstacle course!

— Fenrir

Listen, both of you, take it to Discord, okay? I'm trying to describe this Power Restriction and I do not need the distraction.

Symptoms

When a target takes some action to get free from a Restrictive Power, they make an Action Check against the RAPs holding them. ⁵⁷ This is usually the target's Str/Str, but might be the APs of their Movement Power or anything else that makes for a good story. Restrictive Powers without the Damage Redirection Limit apply the target's cumulative RAPs from the attempt(s) to get free onto the original Restrictive Power's RAPs until the attempt to get free meets or exceeds that number, and then the target can move and that is all the cumulative RAPs do.

With this Limitation, however, the RAPs of the attempt to break free are also applied to the Current Condition of the attacker's appropriate Resistance Attribute as damage.

Sequela

Fenrir by Jarissa Venters

Yeahhhhh, I don't get it?

— Fenrir

Thanks for volunteering, John!

Aww!

— Fenrir

Let's say M.A.T.R.I.X. pays a visit to Detroit and has an unfriendly encounter with Fenrir. John is more than a handful for any mercenary plan to face, so Dawn and Dusk are going to try to keep the local hero contained while Octopi hurries up on the primary task. We will pick up where Dawn and Dusk each already have used their bio-reactive "hair" to halt Fenrir in place. Ordinarily, they do this as a Team Attack and both use the Snare Power.

Make a wish!

— Dawn of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dawn by Jarissa

Make a wish!

— Dusk of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dusk by Jarissa

BARBERSHOP TIME!

— Fenrir

Stop it, the lot of you!

No, we're demonstrating two scenarios of resisting a Restrictive Power. Without bloodshed. This is a demonstration, not a real fight, okay? Okay.

In the first example, Dawn might have Snare (Damage Redirection) around 7 APs which she used to gain 4 RAPs in her attempt to hold Fenrir in place. Snare is a Physical Power, so the relevant Resistance Attribute is Body. If Fenrir uses his Str/Str to muscle his way out of the bonds, he is rolling 8/8 versus 4/4

Easy! So long as I roll a 7 on the dice, I get enough RAPs to beat that!

— Fenrir

Yes, thank you; stop interrupting me.

As John skipped over demonstrating, we check the target's roll on The Action Chart and, if they got a high enough number, the GM switches to The Result Chart to check how many RAPs were accumulated in this attempt to get free. Those RAPs apply toward Fenrir's attempt to gain his freedom, but because of the Damage Redirection Limitation, they also do physical damage to Dawn -- or, at least, to her Gadget, since in this case that is the actual source of the Power. Fenrir is not only freeing himself, he is also damaging the source of his restriction.

I like this!

— Fenrir

Now that we have demonstrated a Physical-based Restrictive Power, let's try out something Mental-based: Mental Freeze.

That's not what I really have, but I'm game!

— Dusk of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dusk by Jarissa

Hey, WHOA! I didn't sign up for this!

— Fenrir

You'll understand the rules better this way, John.

Rule Seven is "Don't talk over the Narrator."

— Dusk of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dusk by Jarissa

Thank you for noticing.

Let's posit a M.A.T.R.I.X bio-adaptive tranquilizer that's a Mental Freeze of, oh, 9 APs, with the No Range Limitation to keep it to a 0 AP usage distance and the Damage Redirection Limitation because it's an energy field instead of a chemical compound.

... You're a jerk.

And I'm warning David about this "demonstrate a Limitation" gig.

— Fenrir

Just what I need: Cranky Catboy stomping into my next Limitation writeup. Fine, be that way.

Glancing quickly at The Action Chart and The Result Chart on the 9/9 row, I'm going to arbitrarily suppose that Dusk rolled high enough to have 8 RAPs on her initial Restrictive Power attack. Fenrir has a Will of 5 APs. He has the Iron Nerves Advantage but that only helps against fear-related and intimidation-related stuff. So we can roll Fenrir's Will/Will versus {Dusk's 8 RAPs on the Restrictive Power attack} as OV/RV.

Even if Fenrir rolls a total of 21 on his 2d10, he only gets 3 RAPs of his own this first time around. He will need to keep trying, and adding up a cumulative total, until he meets or exceeds 8 cumulative RAPs to break free.

However!

Those RAPs Fenrir got are also applied as damage to Dusk. If Dusk is sufficiently linked to her Gadget that the GM thinks her mind is directly controlling it, then those 3 RAPs apply to her Current Mind Condition as damage. Dusk is a competent professional with plenty of experience at handling mental stress; her Mind has to be at least a 7, but I doubt it is too many points higher. If Dusk has also taken Mind damage from other events in this combat, or if she does take some after Fenrir gets free, she may get knocked unconscious.

Hey, wait. I have to pay Villain Points to temporarily raise my OV/RV if I want to keep hold of him and not get hurt? What about having him roll his Will/Will against my APs of Power Used?

— Dusk of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dusk by Jarissa

Ahh, I see what you're thinking!

And the answer there is "no".

Firstly: If you want to hang on to your target without bidding your VP against his HP on his roll, you need to spend your one Dice Action per Initiative Phase in re-applying the Restrictive Power. Make sure you roll high enough to get more RAPs than he was already facing.

Awww.

— Dusk of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dusk by Jarissa

Secondly: Using an Effect Attribute (one of the middle column, Strength, Will, or Aura depending on Physical/Mental/Spiritual) is not the only way to fight a Restrictive Power. Remember when I mentioned Movement Powers up at the Symptoms section?

Blackjack says "bonjour"!

—

Blackjack by C.B. Ash

Oh, no--

— Dusk of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Dusk by Jarissa

Backup! We need backup! Scythe, we hear the Frenchman!

— Dawn of M.A.T.R.I.X.

Yes indeedy.

• Blackjack has 10 APs of Teleportation.
• Teleportation is a Mental ability, capable of being linked to Will.

Hold your breath, mon ami.

— Blackjack to Fenrir



Blackjack by C.B. Ash
• Rolling a 10/10 versus your 8 RAPs is going to do you that same 3 RAPs of Current Mind damage if Blackjack barely rolls high enough to have the GM glance at the Result Chart. If he had been the person to roll that 21 on the dice? Fenrir would be free, you would be unconscious from damage, but hey! Once you make a Recovery Check for your Current Mind Attribute, you'll still have full use of the Mental Freeze Power!

And all your fingers!

— Fenrir

John Lafayette DeSalle!

Sorry, darlin'.

— a moderately contrite Fenrir

Type: Power Limitation

Mod: -2 Factor Cost

Only: "Restrictive" Powers

---

Type

Mental

Affected Species

• thanagarian
• metahuman
• shogamorph
• kryptonian
• mutant
• atlantean
• mutate

---

⁵⁷

If you compare this version of this Limitation to what's actually on page 57 of Blood of Heroes, you're going to spot a discrepancy: In the book, the Action Check to break free plus do damage is in fact the RAPs/RAPs of the original Restrictive Power check versus an OV/RV equal to either the APs of the Movement Power (or whatever else the target is trying to use to get free) or else the relevant Resistance Attribute of the target.

So in the Physical Attribute example of Fenris escaping Dawn's Snare, that roll to get away and damage the Gadget would have been Dawn's 5 RAPs as AV/EV versus Fenrir's 6 APs of Jumping or else his 8 APs of Strength as OV/RV.

We do not like that.

We don't like that the party trying to Do Something -- to break free of restriction -- is on the more passive side of this die roll. We like for whoever's rolling the dice to supply the AV and EV whenever that is possible.

Does it make a functional difference on the charts?

• A 5/5 versus a 6/6 requires a minimum roll of 11 to get onto the Result Chart, 1 RAP with no Column Shifts.
• A 5/5 versus an 8/8 requires a minimum roll of 13 to get onto the Result Chart, No RAPs without at least 1 Column Shift, so in effect a minimum roll of 15 is necessary on the dice.
• A 6/6 versus a 5/5 works the same way as a 5/5 versus a 6/6. Roll at least an 11 to accumulate 1 RAP.
• An 8/8 versus a 5/5 requires a minimum roll of 9 to get onto the Result Chart, where the attempt to break free of the Snare via Strength starts off at 3 RAPs!

Yes, it matters whether the target trying to break free is the active part of the roll versus the existing RAPs of the Restrictive Power.

If your Genre is a harsher one than ours, though, you might want to use something more closely aligned with the book.