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Multiple effects in an alternate power

R

roguescribner

Active member
Page 109 of Ultimate Power reads:

An Alternate Power can contain more than one effect and you can
use all the effects of that Alternate Power normally, requiring their
usual actions. Effects in the same Alternate Power need not be
Linked, although they can be. For example, a rank 10 Array with
20 power points can have an Alternate Power that has Flight 5
(10 points) and Force Field 10 (10 points), both usable at the same
time. Indeed, effects in the same Alternate Power must have points
allocated to them at the same time and in the same proportion in
order to use them at all, although they don’t have to be activated
at the same time unless they are Linked.
Click to expand...

These are not linked powers. These are not separate powers in usable simultaneously in a dynamic array. These are two separate powers sharing a single AP slot evenly splitting the available power points between them. They can be used at the same time or one or the other can be used. The distribution of points is locked so the powers cannot be altered without increasing the array rank.

Is there a way to represent this in Hero Lab? I know you can link powers, even link powers under the same array, but in this case two powers would be sharing a single alternate power slot with no increased cost. I honestly wasn't even aware this was possible until someone pointed it out to me, but it makes sense if you have two lesser effects you want to pair together so as not to waste points.

This is essentially a linked power within an array that does not require both powers to activate together, though they can be.
 
Yes, when you add an alternate power, choose "- Multiple alternate powers -" from the start of the list - that will then let you add multiple powers within the same alternate power "slot".
 
Well whatta ya know? :p

That's one of those things I've seen but never really "saw" if you know what I mean.

Why did I even doubt you fine people? Excellent product, excellent staff! :)
 
Question:

The special alternate power feat for Super-Speed/Time Control allows one alternate power limited to 2pp/rank of the main power to be linked with the main power. So Super-Speed could be Quickness linked with Speed linked with this Special Alternate Power.

So there's nothing preventing a Multiple Power to have that slot, is there? As long as the powers are evenly split pp-wise and fit within the 2pp/rank allotted by the SAP caps? If that's the case, then I'm encountering some errors.

Hero Lab places a check box next to some powers to indicate whether or not they are active. When I check the powers in the Multiple Power SAP slot, I get messages about too many powers being active. But they all should be active (or at least at my disposal) since it's considered linked to the main power now.
 
If you want to tag an alternate power as the free alternate power that can cost up to 2pp/rank, you need to add the "Special Alternate Power" power feat and choose the relevant alternate power from the menu.

I just tried adding Multiple Alternate Powers, then adding Absorption and Density to that, and it worked fine - I could activate both Absorption and Density at once, or I can activate the Super-Speed parent power. Do you get an error when you try that?
 
Sorry, I don't entirely understand the situation. Can you describe exactly which combination of powers you have (including linked powers and alternate powers), and what you expect the results to be?
 
Okay, according to the description for the Special Alternate Power, the SAP is essentially a third linked power to Speed and Quickness. Which means all three powers should be usable at the same time, not either or.

This build produces no errors:

Super-Speed 5
(Quickness 5 + Speed 5)
SAP: Super-Strength 5

I can have a check mark on Super-Speed and Super-Strength and use them both simultaneously.

Now, this build says I have too many powers active:

Super-Speed 10
(Quickness 10 + Speed 10)
SAP: Multiple Powers (Super-Movement 5 + Super-Strength 5)

As you said, I can activate both of the multiple powers OR Super-Speed, but not everything all at once. But since the SAP is essentially a linked power, I should be able to, shouldn't I? Or is there a rule I'm not aware of that prevents Multiple Powers from being used in that way?
 
Ah, thanks for the example - that makes it clear. You're right, I'm not handling the special alternate power properly, if it's a "multiple alternate powers" power. I should be able to fix this for the next version.

Thanks!
 
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