You have a natural or built-in attack with which you can inflict physical damage. Examples include a dragon’s fiery breath, a robot’s built-in blaster, and a god’s ability to hurl lightning bolts.
By default, this is a ranged attack with 1/2D 10, Max 100, Acc 3, RoF 1, Shots N/A, and Recoil 1, although you can apply modifiers to change these statistics per below.
Damage Type:
An Innate Attack inflicts 1d damage per level. Its cost per level depends on the type of damage it inflicts:
Burning (burn): Your attack inflicts damage using flame, an energy beam, or localized electrical burns. It may ignite fires! 5 points/level.
Corrosion (cor): Your attack involves acid, disintegration, or something similar. For every 5 points of basic damage you inflict, reduce the target’s DR by 1, in
addition to regular damage. (Living beings heal natural DR at the same rate as HP.) 10 points/level.
Crushing (cr): Your attack inflicts damage through blunt impact, like a bludgeoning weapon or an explosive blast. It is likely to cause knockback (p. 378), and is more effective at inflicting blunt trauma (p. 379) than other types of
damage. 5 points/level.
Cutting (cut) Your attack inflicts lacerations, like those caused by an axe or broken glass. Multiply penetrating damage by 1.5. Cutting attacks can inflict blunt trauma and cause knockback. 7 points/level.
Impaling (imp): Your attack inflicts stab wounds, like a spear or an arrow. Double penetrating damage in flesh! Impaling attacks can target the eyes and vital organs, can inflict blunt trauma, and may slip through high-tech flexible armor. 8 points/level.
Description
After applying all relevant modifiers, name and describe the attack. You can be as general as “dragon fire” or as specific as “9mm machine pistol cybernetically implanted in right arm.” At the GM’s discretion, the description can imply additional noncombat abilities; for instance, a jet of high-pressure water could put out fires. The GM has the final say as to whether your description fits the campaign setting, and may modify the attack if necessary.
Enhancements and Limitations
- Accurate (+5%/level) Your attack is unusually accurate. Each +1 to Accuracy is a +5% enhancement
- Area Affect (+50%) Your ability works as an area power with a radius of 2 yards. instead of affecting a single target. Everything in the area suffers the attack’s damage or other effects. On a miss, use the scatter rules (p. 414) to see where the area is centered. Active defenses don’t protect against an area attack, but victims may attempt to dive for cover or dodge and retreat to leave the area. For more information, see Area and Spreading Attacks (p. 413)
- Based On Different Attribute (+20%) This enhancement is only available for abilities that allow a resistance roll against ST, DX, IQ, HT, Perception, or Will. It moves the resistance roll from the usual attribute or characteristic to a different one, specified when you buy the ability. This is considered an enhancement because it lets you finetune your ability to be more effective against targets with known weaknesses
- Costs Fatigue: Your ability costs FP to use. This is worth -5% per FP per use.
- Emergencies Only: (-30%) Your ability is triggered by your fear or excitement; you cannot use it under “routine” conditions. The GM is the final arbiter. He may rule that multiple successive failures of your power make you angry enough that it begins to work, but this is entirely up to him.
- Melee Attack: (-30%) Your attack functions as a melee weapon. It has no range, but allows you to parry, use Rapid Strike, Feint, etc. It lacks Malf., 1/2D, Max, Acc, RoF, Shots, and Recoil statistics, and may not have any enhancement or limitation that modifies these statistics. Instead, it has a Reach of C. If your attack cannot parry, it is worth an extra -5%.
Advanced players: The above options are an abridged set. If you would like to open up one of the sourcebooks and look at even more options there, you are welcome to.