Help with a devices

[Moira Morley]

Device 11 (giant syringe; easy to lose; Power Feat: Restricted/Knowledge [life sciences] +X, Indestructible): Strike 15 (Extra: Linked Drain Con 15), Shapeshift 4 (Extras: Duration/Continuous, Affects Others; Flaws: Action/Full Round, Limited/Only after a successful Drain Con)

First off, how much life sciences? The builder/wielder has 18 ranks, but that's pretty much impossible for anyone here.

Secondly, is Shapeshift what i'm looking for? Shaen mentioned Mimic, which seems right, but let me get the idea out there. When she pokes people with the giant syringe she draws out their genetic makeup. when she injects the genetic makeup into others they get something of the person who was last poked. If it is Mimic, what would it look like?

[Dr Archeville]

This is for your Dr. Moreau-esque NPC, yes?

My first question is: is this going to be used on other PCs to grant them powers? If not, if it's something only used on kidnapped Bystanders and the like, then it's effectively a Plot Device, and it doesn't need stats.

Second, with that big Strike/Drain Con combo, it's going to kill most anyone it's used on.

[Moira Morley]

Yeah, it's gonna be used by my genetic scientist. She's going to have minions and thise device wil help her minions. As for the killing part, I've been told that no one dies in this game unless it's mandated.

[Dr Archeville]

That only applies to PCs (and even then, it's not a sure thing). Minions are cannon fodder, they're there to be either KO'd or killed. And Drain Con can only kill someone, since once you're drained to Con 0, you're dead.

There's also the issue of how big a syringe would have to be to have a Drain Con 15 effect. If the "Drain Con" is supposed to represent drawing out blood/genetic material... then Drain Con 15 means it's big enough to completely exsanguinate most humans!

[Moira Morley]

I got the idea from that picture. What would be a safer Drain rank?

[Dr Archeville]

:shock:

That seems impractically large.

[Moira Morley]

Such is SCIENCE! Since the drain is too nasty, I'll knock it down to: Strike 10 (Extra: Penetrating 4). Now, what about the Mimic?

[Dr Archeville]

It actually sounds more like the Empowerment power (from UP).

[Moira Morley]

So, how many ranks of Empowerment would be logically sane?for an NPC to have without it devolving into a plot device?

[Dr Archeville]

Well, how many minions does she have to use this one? Remember that Empowerment just gives one pool of points, so if you had, say, Empowerment 2 (10pp to give out), that's 10pp total, not 10pp per person it's used on.

Is this something she'd be doing in the middle of a combat? Or is it something that would be done off-panel?

[Moira Morley]

She has 5 minions. It is someting she has to do in combat. Sticking her enemies and drawing out the genetic material then going to one of her minions and injecting the material into it.

[Avalon]

does the effect let the injected persons gain new powers or just shift stuff around? If it's the latter option you can use mutation instead.

[Moira Morley]

Gains new powers if the person last poked.