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Immunity to Tech


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Making yourself vulnerable to only “low-tech†type attacks would be an expensive proposition. That’s a very broad descriptor. In the comic world it’s not much more limiting than Immunity (Women).

Assuming that any superpower that does not have a technological origin is considered “low-tech,†then I’d guess that you would be immune to about half the non-power-based attacks against you (heroes and villains are far more likely to carry bows and swords than you might normally expect), and you would be immune to about ¼ of all the power-based attacks against you (about 20%-25% of all the powers in our character bankâ€â€by very rough estimateâ€â€have a “tech†descriptor of some kind). All totaled, you will essentially be immune to about 20% (again, rough estimate) of all the “bad†things that someone in this game could do to you, including damage (lethal and non-lethal) and Fort, Ref, and Will saves. That’s a pretty hefty Immunity.

Off the cuff, I’d say that is much closer to a 40 point immunity (maybe more).

You would also have to be very specific about how and when this immunity works. What constitutes technology? Is it the age of the technology (e.g. you said “industrial revolutionâ€Â)? What about ancient super-technology (comics are full of them)? What about alien technology? What about organically-based biological technology? You’d have to spell that out pretty clearly.

And no, you can’t buy “Immunity (Being Noticed).†It’s not really an effect. You could buy a concealment effect, limited to technology.

Immunity: Women? Sometime I wish I had that one in RL.

40 points seems pretty severe. But I see the point about how much it applies to. For my information, would Immunity: Mutants be the same? That seems as broad.

Let me think of how to work this, as it is core to the character I am envisioning. Maybe limit protection and such to tech effects.

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Making yourself vulnerable to only “low-tech†type attacks would be an expensive proposition. That’s a very broad descriptor. In the comic world it’s not much more limiting than Immunity (Women).

Assuming that any superpower that does not have a technological origin is considered “low-tech,†then I’d guess that you would be immune to about half the non-power-based attacks against you (heroes and villains are far more likely to carry bows and swords than you might normally expect), and you would be immune to about ¼ of all the power-based attacks against you (about 20%-25% of all the powers in our character bankâ€â€by very rough estimateâ€â€have a “tech†descriptor of some kind). All totaled, you will essentially be immune to about 20% (again, rough estimate) of all the “bad†things that someone in this game could do to you, including damage (lethal and non-lethal) and Fort, Ref, and Will saves. That’s a pretty hefty Immunity.

Off the cuff, I’d say that is much closer to a 40 point immunity (maybe more).

You would also have to be very specific about how and when this immunity works. What constitutes technology? Is it the age of the technology (e.g. you said “industrial revolutionâ€Â)? What about ancient super-technology (comics are full of them)? What about alien technology? What about organically-based biological technology? You’d have to spell that out pretty clearly.

And no, you can’t buy “Immunity (Being Noticed).†It’s not really an effect. You could buy a concealment effect, limited to technology.

Immunity: Women? Sometime I wish I had that one in RL.

40 points seems pretty severe. But I see the point about how much it applies to. For my information, would Immunity: Mutants be the same? That seems as broad.

Let me think of how to work this, as it is core to the character I am envisioning. Maybe limit protection and such to tech effects.

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Immunity (women) isn't exactly by the rules, but if you assumed that it meant you were immune to any effect directly caused by a woman, then that would probably be about 40 pp. If you were interested in stopping all powers caused by mutants, then you could buy Immunity 20 (mutant effects), since mutant is a very common power descriptor. It wouldn't protect you against non-powered attacks made by mutants, or powered attacks made by mutants with a different descriptor (like a mutant who had learned magic, or built a battlesuit).

I'd call "technological" a very common power descriptor, which means it'd cost 20 pp for that part of the immunity. That would mean that most people with non-magical Devices and some types of equipment wouldn't be able to use those sorts of power effects against you. The big question there is what delineates "technological" from "non-technological". I'd say that anything that could not function without 20th century technology is technological. So, for example, a gun wouldn't necessarily be technological, because there are guns from before the 20th century (even if a particular gun was made using 20th century technology to function better). However, a taser would be technological, since there are (to my knowledge) no examples of tasers before the 20th century.

Ha - I'm wrong. There's one that was used to hunt whales in the 19th century. That's great... but I think that's a bit of a different device.

"Super-science" is an easier descriptor to figure out.

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Immunity (women) isn't exactly by the rules, but if you assumed that it meant you were immune to any effect directly caused by a woman, then that would probably be about 40 pp. If you were interested in stopping all powers caused by mutants, then you could buy Immunity 20 (mutant effects), since mutant is a very common power descriptor. It wouldn't protect you against non-powered attacks made by mutants, or powered attacks made by mutants with a different descriptor (like a mutant who had learned magic, or built a battlesuit).

I'd call "technological" a very common power descriptor, which means it'd cost 20 pp for that part of the immunity. That would mean that most people with non-magical Devices and some types of equipment wouldn't be able to use those sorts of power effects against you. The big question there is what delineates "technological" from "non-technological". I'd say that anything that could not function without 20th century technology is technological. So, for example, a gun wouldn't necessarily be technological, because there are guns from before the 20th century (even if a particular gun was made using 20th century technology to function better). However, a taser would be technological, since there are (to my knowledge) no examples of tasers before the 20th century.

Ha - I'm wrong. There's one that was used to hunt whales in the 19th century. That's great... but I think that's a bit of a different device.

"Super-science" is an easier descriptor to figure out.

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Immunity (women) isn't exactly by the rules, but if you assumed that it meant you were immune to any effect directly caused by a woman, then that would probably be about 40 pp. If you were interested in stopping all powers caused by mutants, then you could buy Immunity 20 (mutant effects), since mutant is a very common power descriptor. It wouldn't protect you against non-powered attacks made by mutants, or powered attacks made by mutants with a different descriptor (like a mutant who had learned magic, or built a battlesuit).

I'd call "technological" a very common power descriptor, which means it'd cost 20 pp for that part of the immunity. That would mean that most people with non-magical Devices and some types of equipment wouldn't be able to use those sorts of power effects against you. The big question there is what delineates "technological" from "non-technological". I'd say that anything that could not function without 20th century technology is technological. So, for example, a gun wouldn't necessarily be technological, because there are guns from before the 20th century (even if a particular gun was made using 20th century technology to function better). However, a taser would be technological, since there are (to my knowledge) no examples of tasers before the 20th century.

Ha - I'm wrong. There's one that was used to hunt whales in the 19th century. That's great... but I think that's a bit of a different device.

"Super-science" is an easier descriptor to figure out.

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I am working on a villain who is around to return the world to the stone age, or a bit earlier if possible. 8-)

I would imagine you would get close to maximum allowed Drawback points from Enemies alone. Not to mention your immunity messing up your own use of things if you aren't careful. Most antibiotics, for example. Or vending machines.

What defines technology? Where is the line between the machine and the product produced by it? Since the elements promethium, technetium, and plutonium don't occur naturally on Earth, are you immune to their radiation but not to that of potassium or radium which are natural?

Might I point out that bullets are quite a bit older than the Industrial Revolution, as well? Musket and blunderbuss, anyone?

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I am working on a villain who is around to return the world to the stone age, or a bit earlier if possible. 8-)

I would imagine you would get close to maximum allowed Drawback points from Enemies alone. Not to mention your immunity messing up your own use of things if you aren't careful. Most antibiotics, for example. Or vending machines.

What defines technology? Where is the line between the machine and the product produced by it? Since the elements promethium, technetium, and plutonium don't occur naturally on Earth, are you immune to their radiation but not to that of potassium or radium which are natural?

Might I point out that bullets are quite a bit older than the Industrial Revolution, as well? Musket and blunderbuss, anyone?

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I am working on a villain who is around to return the world to the stone age, or a bit earlier if possible. 8-)

I would imagine you would get close to maximum allowed Drawback points from Enemies alone. Not to mention your immunity messing up your own use of things if you aren't careful. Most antibiotics, for example. Or vending machines.

What defines technology? Where is the line between the machine and the product produced by it? Since the elements promethium, technetium, and plutonium don't occur naturally on Earth, are you immune to their radiation but not to that of potassium or radium which are natural?

Might I point out that bullets are quite a bit older than the Industrial Revolution, as well? Musket and blunderbuss, anyone?

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Might I point out that bullets are quite a bit older than the Industrial Revolution, as well? Musket and blunderbuss, anyone?

That is really splitting a hair, and not very useful. Leonardo DeVinchi devised FLying devices 500 years ago, but I don't think we will see anyone using htem

Plus a musket is probably blast 1 or maybe 2, I can deal with not being immune to that.

Thus far the consensus seems to be Immunity is only effects hat would harm or (potentially) hurt him from tech sources. Tech still being not too well defined.

So what would [High-Tech] and [super-Tech] be defined as in this game?

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Might I point out that bullets are quite a bit older than the Industrial Revolution, as well? Musket and blunderbuss, anyone?

That is really splitting a hair, and not very useful. Leonardo DeVinchi devised FLying devices 500 years ago, but I don't think we will see anyone using htem

Plus a musket is probably blast 1 or maybe 2, I can deal with not being immune to that.

Thus far the consensus seems to be Immunity is only effects hat would harm or (potentially) hurt him from tech sources. Tech still being not too well defined.

So what would [High-Tech] and [super-Tech] be defined as in this game?

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Might I point out that bullets are quite a bit older than the Industrial Revolution, as well? Musket and blunderbuss, anyone?

That is really splitting a hair, and not very useful. Leonardo DeVinchi devised FLying devices 500 years ago, but I don't think we will see anyone using htem

Plus a musket is probably blast 1 or maybe 2, I can deal with not being immune to that.

Thus far the consensus seems to be Immunity is only effects hat would harm or (potentially) hurt him from tech sources. Tech still being not too well defined.

So what would [High-Tech] and [super-Tech] be defined as in this game?

Link to comment

I'd call "technological" a very common power descriptor, which means it'd cost 20 pp for that part of the immunity. That would mean that most people with non-magical Devices and some types of equipment wouldn't be able to use those sorts of power effects against you. The big question there is what delineates "technological" from "non-technological". I'd say that anything that could not function without 20th century technology is technological. So, for example, a gun wouldn't necessarily be technological, because there are guns from before the 20th century (even if a particular gun was made using 20th century technology to function better). However, a taser would be technological, since there are (to my knowledge) no examples of tasers before the 20th century.

"Super-science" is an easier descriptor to figure out.

I could live with a 20 point immunity if that would include passive effects ( like being able to walk through force field walls. Would that be covered?

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I'd call "technological" a very common power descriptor, which means it'd cost 20 pp for that part of the immunity. That would mean that most people with non-magical Devices and some types of equipment wouldn't be able to use those sorts of power effects against you. The big question there is what delineates "technological" from "non-technological". I'd say that anything that could not function without 20th century technology is technological. So, for example, a gun wouldn't necessarily be technological, because there are guns from before the 20th century (even if a particular gun was made using 20th century technology to function better). However, a taser would be technological, since there are (to my knowledge) no examples of tasers before the 20th century.

"Super-science" is an easier descriptor to figure out.

I could live with a 20 point immunity if that would include passive effects ( like being able to walk through force field walls. Would that be covered?

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I'd call "technological" a very common power descriptor, which means it'd cost 20 pp for that part of the immunity. That would mean that most people with non-magical Devices and some types of equipment wouldn't be able to use those sorts of power effects against you. The big question there is what delineates "technological" from "non-technological". I'd say that anything that could not function without 20th century technology is technological. So, for example, a gun wouldn't necessarily be technological, because there are guns from before the 20th century (even if a particular gun was made using 20th century technology to function better). However, a taser would be technological, since there are (to my knowledge) no examples of tasers before the 20th century.

"Super-science" is an easier descriptor to figure out.

I could live with a 20 point immunity if that would include passive effects ( like being able to walk through force field walls. Would that be covered?

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It's still kind of a complex question. Do you ignore Protection from kevlar vests, or power armor? My character gets his combat feats from a system that bypasses his damaged nerves by hooking wires directly to his muscles and controlling them that way- does he lose their benefits when facing yours?

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It's still kind of a complex question. Do you ignore Protection from kevlar vests, or power armor? My character gets his combat feats from a system that bypasses his damaged nerves by hooking wires directly to his muscles and controlling them that way- does he lose their benefits when facing yours?

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It's still kind of a complex question. Do you ignore Protection from kevlar vests, or power armor? My character gets his combat feats from a system that bypasses his damaged nerves by hooking wires directly to his muscles and controlling them that way- does he lose their benefits when facing yours?

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