Just how dangerous is Distracting?

[Heritage]

So I've wanted to give Miracle Girl a decent ranged attack for some time now, and drawing upon one of her primary inspirations (aka Supergirl), I'm giving a lot of thought to heatvision, your basic Ranged Damage effect. I'd like it to have some decent damage, either 8 or 10 ranks, but that's not cheap, and she doesn't really have a good way to AP that.

 

I'm looking at the Distracting flaw as a possible way to save points; Superman and Supergirl usually seem to stop everything and concentrate intensely when they use it, so it feels right. My question is, just how dangerous is this in combat? Anyone ever take Distracting and lived to regret it? MG is a flying brick, so she's pretty darn tough. 

[Thevshi]

Ask Vahn, he uses the flaw quiet a bit.

But really, at some point it is going to be a problem for you.  Even toughness shifted, you are just making it easier for someone to use a full Power Attack on you, so at some point you are bound to get tagged because of the flaw. 

[Heritage]

She could have a bit of a learning curve, and eventually buys off the flaw.

[angrydurf]

I recommend arraying it off your enhanced strength, it's pretty rare you're wanting to punch and shoot in the same round.  at 16 PP you can get 6 ranks of ranged damage and 4 accurate on the attack for a DC 6, +14 Attack accuracy shifted PL 10 power.  Accuracy over power makes sense given that it goes where she looks and all.  It also fairly naturally grows with you as you raise strength to hit higher PL caps.

[Heritage]

Hmm, so is a lower damage, higher accuracy ranged attack more effective than a 10/10 one?

[The Sailor]

It can be, as the low D, high A attack will hit more often, and with how rolls work, eventually you will chip your target's toughness into the danger zone soon enough.

Also most of the combats here, you're not alone. Someone can drop someone's toughness save for you to walk in and finish the job.

[Heritage]

It occurs to me i should probably add two APs: the heatvision as described and a 10/10 ice breath cone!

 

I think i avoided APs off of her strength due to 'logic', thinking they'd have to be seperate powers. But all her powers come from her mysterious 'bioenergy field', so she's basically just expressing that energy differently.

[Vahnyu]

Distracting is boss

 

While getting denied your dodge defense may be a problem, as long as you have non-distracting options at hand, you won't be really hosing Miracle Girl's PL effectiveness.

 

As an alternative, Action[Full-Round] is also relatively painless, especially for ranged and/or Area effects, again, so long as you have standard action options at hand. Perhaps the Ice Cone breath could be Full-Round, representing Miracle Girl huffing and puffing, before blowing her foes away. Personally speaking, I'd link some Touch Cone Trip Knockback in there, if I could. Or the power could just be a Touch Cone Trip Knockback Ice breath, simply blowing foes away, rather than outright damaging them (you know, outside of knockback damage)

Edited April 4, 2016 by Vahnyu