IMMUNITY (DEFENSE)

IMMUNITY (DEFENSE)

IMMUNITY (DEFENSE)

Action: None • Range: Personal • Duration: Permanent • Cost: 1 point per rank
Under the Hood: Immunity
There are characters in comic books flatly immune to certain things. Immunity is intended to provide this option in the game. It’s simpler at some point to say a character is immune to something than it is to bother rolling dice. Immunity also encourages creativity: if you can’t overcome a foe just by hitting him, what then? Encourage players to use tactics, cleverness, power stunts, and victory points to deal with foes immune to their more conventional attacks.
If you find Immunity—especially broad immunities at higher ranks—a problem in your game, feel free to restrict it (perhaps to no more than 10 ranks) or eliminate it altogether, replacing it with Protection and defense bonuses with appropriate power modifiers.
For a degree of immunity to Damage, see the Impervious extra in Modifiers.
You are immune to certain effects, automatically succeeding on any resistance check against them. You assign ranks of Immunity to various effects to gain immunity to them (with more extensive effects requiring more ranks). These assignments are permanent. Examples include the following:
1 rank: aging, disease, poison, one environmental condition (cold, heat, high pressure, radiation, or vacuum), one type of suffocation (breathe normally underwater or in an alien atmosphere, for example), starvation and thirst, need for sleep, or a rare power descriptor (such as your own powers, a close sibling’s powers, etc.).
2 ranks: critical hits, suffocation effects (no need to breathe at all), or an uncommon power descriptor (such as chemical, gravitic, necromantic, etc.).
5 ranks: alteration effects, sensory Affliction effects, emotion effects, entrapment (grabbing, snares, or bonds), fatigue effects, interaction skills, or a particular Damage effect, descriptor (such as bullets, cold, electricity, falling, fire, magic, radiation, sonic, etc.)
10 ranks: a common power descriptor (such as all effects with cold, electricity, fire, radiation, or weather descriptors, for example), life support (includes immunity to disease, poison, all environmental conditions, suffocation, and starvation and thirst).
20 ranks: a very common power descriptor (bludgeoning or energy, for example).
30 ranks: All effects resisted by Fortitude, All effects resisted by Will.
80 ranks: All effects resisted by Toughness (the equivalent of 40 ranks of Impervious Toughness).

DEGREES OF IMMUNITY

Some Immunity effects are a matter of degree. For example, “immunity to cold” can range from the environmental effects of cold (described under The Environment) to cold damage, to complete immunity to all effects with the “cold” descriptor. The first requires only 1 rank, and provides no resistance to other sorts of cold effects. The second requires 5 ranks and only provides immunity to cold Damage effects. The third requires 10 ranks and provides complete immunity to all effects with the “cold” descriptor whatever they may be.

EXTRAS

Affects Others: This extra allows you to grant the benefits of your Immunity to others by touch. It’s most commonly used with life support, such as the power to maintain a life support “bubble” around you. +1 cost per rank.
Sustained: Sustained duration Immunity may be suitable for certain types of powers, particularly force fields or similar protective abilities requiring a modicum of concentration. It is a net +0 modifier from Immunity’s base permanent duration. +0 cost per rank.
Ranged: Affects Others Immunity may have this extra, allowing it to grant its benefits at range. +1 cost per rank.
Reflect: You can reflect attacks to which you are immune back at the attacker as a free action. Make a normal attack check using your own attack modifier to hit with the reflected attack. It has its normal effect if it hits. +1 cost per rank.
Redirect: You can redirect attacks to which are you are immune at any other target within the attack’s normal range, as Reflect, above. You must have the Reflect extra to take this one. +1 cost per rank.

FLAWS

Limited to Half Effect: You suffer half the normal effect rather than being entirely immune to it. For environmental effects, you only make checks half as often. For other effects, halve the effect’s rank (round down) before determining its resistance check DC, including for things like Impervious. -1 cost per rank.
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