New Weapon Advantage: Can be Summoned

[wayne]

This is an advantage for weapons allowing them to be summoned directly into one's hand. The cost is low in large part because I'm taking a look at Claws as a comparison; you can, for all intents and purposes, 'summon' and 'dismiss' your claws to a nice safe location for a measly +1 to cost level. Of course, Claws still let you use weapons, so this advantage won't have the exact same pricing. Still, hopefully someone else will also find it useful.

CAN BE SUMMONED
Increase = See Below

Description
Your weapon can be 'summoned' instantly into your hand, ready for immediate use the next Panel (or the next Action of the same Panel, if your first Action was summoning it.) Nothing else comes along with the weapon, and the weapon can only appear in your hand. The effective range limit of the 'summons' determines the cost:

• +1 red stone to be able to summon it from a pre-determined 'safe' location (which can be anywhere, even another dimension)
  
• +1 white stone to be able to summon it from anywhere on the planet
  
• +2 white stones to be able to summon it from anywhere in the universe
  
• +3 white stones to be able to summon it from across dimensions if necessary
  
  
• +1 red stone if, while in-hand, it can also be 'dismissed' to a pre-determined 'safe' location
  
• -1 red stone if the summon requires a full Panel to succeed
  
• -2 red stones if the summon requires a full Panel, and no other Actions can be performed during that Panel

*NOTE: No matter what combination of options is purchased, the purchase price is always a minimum of 1 red stone.

Comments
For characters whose main schtick is their weapon, the ability to call it when separated is very useful and often very much in-character. It'll usually take great effort for villains to remove the weapon from the equation, and makes a strong weapon a safe place to invest stones. (No one wants to buy a +7 indestructible sword, only to have it knocked overboard into the depths of the Pacific during their first mission, forever lost. Now it's no longer a concern.)

If desired, the GM should allow a simple, unintrusive, pre-determined flourish whenever the weapon is summoned, such as a brief flash of (non-blinding) light, etc.

[i3ullseye]

In the X-Guide they have Magick. She has a +5 soulsword. The cost for this is 6 white stones.

Now it only effectscertain things. This includes mystical beings, but it leaves normal humans unharmed. this also directly damages magical effect. So this can be considered a straight tradeoff. It can summon +4 armor also.

So the real point may be that the disadvantages of limited effectiveness drop the price on this considerably, but it seems no stones are being spent for the summoning ability. I would say this need not be paid for at all... just explain it well.

[wayne]

i3ullseye said:

In the X-Guide they have Magick. She has a +5 soulsword. The cost for this is 6 white stones.

Now it only effectscertain things. This includes mystical beings, but it leaves normal humans unharmed. this also directly damages magical effect. So this can be considered a straight tradeoff. It can summon +4 armor also.

So the real point may be that the disadvantages of limited effectiveness drop the price on this considerably, but it seems no stones are being spent for the summoning ability. I would say this need not be paid for at all... just explain it well.

That's a possibility, but the effect is terribly useful for a character--if it's free, there's no reason to NOT get it for all your weapons. I'd prefer to have an explicit costing system for it myself, rather than relying on GM intervention to say why one can or cannot have it. I have no problem with paying a stone or so for the benefits.

As far as Magik goes, if you consider the possibility (we'll never really know now) that they priced her sword's armor at +2 instead of +3 because it has to be summoned, then paying 1 or 2 red stones for her sword's summoning abilities could actually fit into the cost. (Otherwise, they were just flat cheap with her. The fact that the sword damages *something* at +5 is worth at least 1 red stone.)

-Wayne

[i3ullseye]

Mjolnir always returns and has no cost.

Inherent abilities can never be taken so their cost is not modified. really it comes down to this... if an object can be taken away it is a limitation. If it can not (or it automatically returns) it is no longer as much of a limitation. I woudl say cutting object form -2 limit down to a -1 limit for summonable object (so it can never be lost, but can be entangled/etc...) would be more appropriate.

But then again, claws are an object that can be 'summoned' and can be entangled to be foiled, and there is no cost mod there. So I think just describing it as such woudl cover more than enough. I don't see the huge benefit to summing. What it DOES do is limit the inconvenience of an item.

[xavier]

Why limiting this mod to weapons ? It could also work for armors.

I suggest also a new modifier of the cost
- must make strange gestures and/or maintain a silly stance while summoning the armor/weapon : -2r

Now, you can create a team of power rangers ;D

[wayne]

i3ullseye said:

But then again, claws are an object that can be 'summoned' and can be entangled to be foiled, and there is no cost mod there. So I think just describing it as such woudl cover more than enough. I don't see the huge benefit to summing. What it DOES do is limit the inconvenience of an item.

You seem to be looking at this from the viewpoint of a single, omnipotent GM.

In our group, we take turns GMing, and so try to collaborate somewhat on clarifications and specifying abilities. What may make sense to be free to one person rarely makes such sense to several. It's usually just cleaner to explicitily state in black-and-white that traits X and Y can definitely be had for a purchase price of Z stones. Avoids arguments and the whole "you may be able to use that in his campaign, but not mine" deal.

Not to mention the utility of the trait depends entirely on how likely the GM-of-the-day is to attempt to grab and get rid of your weapons (a rather obvious tactic for smarter villains.) Again, I'll glady pay an extra stone just to be able to prove beyond argument that yes, I am able to summon back that +7 sword which your villain just threw into a volcano.

-Wayne

[wayne]

Xavier said:

Why limiting this mod to weapons ? It could also work for armors.

I suggest also a new modifier of the cost
- must make strange gestures and/or maintain a silly stance while summoning the armor/weapon : -2r

Now, you can create a team of power rangers ;D

Good point. The application to armor, I mean.

I suppose one could just as easily do that, but I see less of a point to being able to summon armor. It's much harder to remove from a person, and while many places may restrict you from entering if you have weapons, I would think any place demanding you remove ARMOR before entering wouldn't be realistic.

Still, if someone insisted, I'd probably suggest a cost break if they wanted to apply the advantage to armor. Possibly +1 red, +2 red, +1 white, and +2 white, depending on range.

-Wayne

[realmwalker]

As Far a summonable weapons are concerned my play group buys Psi-Weapon with a Special Affect (Summoned Sword) it does not have to be Psionic in nature. Same With Armor , Force Field bought with protects only self Disadvantage can have the Special affect of Armor Appearing around the Hero. The Look of a power that is in use is generally up to the Players when they build thier characters.