The final wrinkle (was: RE: FW: [Torg] Another explosives question (full inquiry))

[Benjamin Grant]

Now let's take this whole discussion in one final step.  In my TORG game,
there are supers. One of them (named Pulsar) has a power called Force
Mastery, which he uses to perform a variety of Force based power uses, such
as Force Fields, Flight, and Force Attacks.  He has two particular attacks -
a single target aimed attack (a Force Blast) and a player based AoE (Force
Nuke) that explodes all around the player.

Depending on how many Force Points he allocates toward its use, he can
generate either a Force Blast or a Force Nuke with starting DV anywhere from
1 to 40 (he has 40 power points).  

We have been employing JJ's Glass Jaw Ninja (GJN) fix, so when Force
Blasting, Pulsar has been adding his base DV for the attack (which are the
power points allocated, 0-40) plus skill adds (due to GJN) minus his
opponent's defensive skill adds (GJN) plus or minus the rolled Bonus Number.

DV(power points in attack) + attack skill adds - defense skill adds + BN =
total damage value

Now we have two areas of questions that interact with each other, but can
possibly be answered separately:

A) How does GJN change with AoE use of skills, or does it?
-and-
B) Who can generate a BN either offensively or defensively when the method
of attack is an AoE? When and why?

Here's how *I* would answer these questions:

A) GJN is in play whenever hitting the target is in doubt.  If hitting the
target is not in doubt, neither the attacker nor defender can use GJN.
-and-
B) One of the purposes of generating a BN is not just finding out how well
the attacker targeted or the defender dodged, but also to check for lucky or
unlucky circumstances.  Therefore, even with AoE's, a BN should always be
generated (perhaps with a penalty).  Therefor, if a defender is attacked
with an AoE, but manages to roll a high enough BN to cause a miss, perhaps
that means that he just dodges into the open drainage pipe nearby.  In other
words, a good roll is not just about doing well, but favorable circumstance
happening when needed - the essence of the cinematic.

On the other hand, having a high stat and a high skill shouldn't mean that
you are able to find handy drainage pipes easier than someone who has lower
skill values.  Which makes me want to join the opposite camp - that AoE's
auto hit, and you just roll BN for effect.

Defensively the question is a bit easier - I think that in any case where
the attacker gets to spend an action (and possibly other resources), the
defender also gets to spend an action rolling a BN for their defensive
action.

So I guess I am asking:
1) Should GJN not be employed with AoE attacks, unless there is a matter of
aiming involved?
2) Are BN's always rolled for determining effect, even if the attack is an
autohit and the BN would only apply to the final DV? Or do only P-rated
characters allowed to generate BN's in those circumstances?
3) Do AoE's autohit if pointblank? (Like Pulsar fires off his player based
AoE nuke and the bad guy is standing right next to him.)  Or is a roll still
necessary, but penalties are applied? If so, what penalties?
4) Can a character try to dodge an AoE, generating a BN to assist?  Does it
matter whether the character is a PC or an NPC, or P-rated or an Ord?

Thanks for sticking with me Smooge and KJ.

Again, looking for answers as official as possible - I can home rule this as
easily as the next guy, but before I do I want to know what the official
answers actually are.

Also, if Pulsar generates an explosive blast in the 0-40 point range, we
have been using a fixed range (that of the grenade) no matter the DV of the
explosion.  I assume there's no reason why we can't do that, although it
might be more realistic to have the blast radius grow with the DV, correct?

-Benn Grant
eFix Computer Consulting
benn at 4efix.com
603.283.6601