jmucchiello
Hero
Unless there's a flaw saying "always full power", you can always use fewer than the maximum number of ranks of a power.
Ugh, I just looked it up. And that is so wrong. To cause blindness in M&M3 requires an affliction. And this power is just so wrongly constructed. As I said above Concealment makes you invisible. I suppose one interpretation of it is that if the area is invisible people can't see. But they can still see. They would see the outside area normally. Environment is the power to inflict conditions on an area and it doesn't allow for blindness because blindness is an affliction.
I'm sorry. I just have issues with that book. Some people swear by it. I find some of its constructions sketchy. Not my game, so not my call. But to me, you want:
5 PP Affliction 5, (Impaired, Disabled), Area (cloud) 3, Limited Degree, Instant Recovery**, Limited (Sight Only)
I would probably link this to the Environment 2 -5 visibility so that people who aren't affected by the blindness are at least still subjected to some negatives for standing in darkness. (Oh, and my first impression was wrong. You don't need concealment at all because you aren't going invisible. It's just dark around you.)
**Instant Recovery isn't the exact thing here but it's close enough.
OPTION: OBSCURE EFFECT said:Although the ability to block out one or more senses in an area is normally handled as a Concealment Attack in Mutants & Masterminds, Third Edition, earlier editions of the game dealt with it as a separate effect. For Gamemasters who prefer this option, consider the following:
Obscure is a sensory effect requiring a standard action, ranged, and sustained. Cost is based on the senses affected, similar to Illusion: A single sense for 1 point per rank, two senses for 2 points per rank, and so forth, with visual senses costing double (2 points per rank) and 5 points per rank affecting all sense types.
Obscure affects a default area with a 30 foot radius (distance rank 0). Each additional rank increases the distance rank of the area by 1. So Obscure 10 has a radius of 2 miles, while Obscure 20 has a radius of 2,000 miles!
Obscure said:OBSCURE
Type: Sensory
Action: Standard
Range: Ranged
Duration: Sustained
Cost: 2 to 10 points per rank
You can create total concealment in an area . Obscure costs 2 point per rank for each affected sense type or 10 points for all sense types. Visual senses count as two types, so a 6-points per rank Obscure effect could affect visual and one other sense type, for example. The GM may allow exotic forms of Obscure, such as a mental Obscure for a psychic blockade or a radio obscure as some sort of interference.
An Obscure effect can be centered on you or created at a distance as a standard action. It does not move once created, although you can reposition an existing Obscure effect as a move action. Characters suffer the effects of total concealment when unable to perceive an opponent and may suffer other hindrances as the GM sees fit.
Select one area type for your Obscure effect from the area extra. Each additional rank of Obscure adds one rank to the extension of this area. You can acquire Obscure with different areas as alternate effects
EXTRAS
• Affects Insubstantial: As a sensory effect, Obscure already affects insubstantial subjects with no need for this extra.
• Subtle: Obscure by definition cannot be Subtle for those subject to its effects; they’re automatically aware of the obscuring of their affected sense(s). However, Obscure may be Subtle for those outside its effect, such as a Visual Obscure effect that leaves everyone in the area blind, but makes it appear to anyone outside the area that there’s simply “nothing there,” obscuring the true area and its contents, but not obviously so. The GM should adjudicate any applications of Subtle to Obscure effects. 1 or 2 point flat extra
• Duration: Continuous Obscure effects remain in place until they are countered in some fashion. +1 point/rank
• Independent: The Obscure effect requires no maintenance from you, but fades by 1 rank of effectiveness per round until it is gone. You cannot turn off an Independent Obscure effect yourself unless you have the reversible extra. +0 point/rank
• Selective: You can choose who is and is not affected by your Obscure effect. Those unaffected perceive normally, as if the Obscure were not in effect. +1 point/rank
FLAWS
• Concentration: maintaining your Obscure costs you an standard action each round instead of a move action. You can still use a move action to relocate you Obscure effect
• Limited to One Sense: Obscure normally works against an entire sense type, Obscure with this flaw works only against a particular sense of that type, leaving the others unaffected. This is most common for Obscure that only affects normal vision but not other visual senses. -1 point/rank
• Partial: Your Obscure effect provides only partial rather than total concealment. -1 point/rank
• Phantasm: Your Obscure effect is mental in nature; only creatures with Intelligence 1 or greater are affected. Machines and other non-intelligent entities or devices are immune. -1 point/rank
• Resistible: Subjects in the area of your Obscure effect can overcome it (usually with Will), at DC 10 +
Obscure rank. This check is made at the end of each round. -1 point/rank
• Sense-Dependent: Obscure is already Sense-Dependent by nature and cannot have this flaw.