Weaken

You can temporarily lower one of a target's traits, chosen when this effect is acquired. You must touch the target, making a normal close attack check.

Weaken Check

Success: No effect.

Failure: The target loses character points from the affected trait equal to the difference, up to a maximum of the Weaken rank.

Multiple failed defense checks against a Weaken effect are cumulative, up to a maximum of the Weaken rank, at which point the effect cannot weaken the trait further. Lost points return at a rate of 1 per round at the end of each of the target's turns. Inanimate objects do not recover weakened Toughness; they must be repaired. Objects may or may not recover other weakened traits, at the GM's discretion and depending on the effect's descriptors.

Weakened Traits

Abilities weakened to a rank of -5 (which is the minimum) become debilitated. See Debilitated Abilities for details of specific abilities at this point. Since -5 is the minimum any further uses of Weaken on the subject have no effect until the ability recovers to a rank of at least -5. Note that when an Ability is changed Skills and Defenses are affected.

Defenses have no lower limit and can be lowered below -5 (up to a maximum reduction equal to your Weaken rank as normal). If an object's toughness is lower than its weight rank then it will break under its own weight but will never be destroyed by it. Characters on the other hand are immune to this side effect regardless of toughness and weight rank.

Weakening Devices

Weaken with Affects Objects and the right descriptor(s) can lower the traits provided by a device (see the Removable flaw in Gadgets & Gear). For example, Weaken Magic could potentially drain the powers of a magical device as well as a target's own magical powers. Likewise Weaken Electricity could affect an electrical device, and so on. This also applies to equipment, although it tends to have fewer traits to weaken, and the GM should feel free to disallow any Weaken effects that don't make reasonable sense. For example, just because a Weaken Damage effect is possible doesn't mean a character should be able to cause guns to do less damage; this sort of thing is better handled by an all-or-nothing effect like Nullify.

Extras

Affects Objects: Weaken with this modifier works on inanimate objects, although the effect can still only affect traits the objects possess. You can only affect a mass rank of rank 0 for more see Increased Mass. This is most often applied to Weaken Toughness for an effect that can weaken both creatures and objects. Objects Only: +0 points. Any Target: +1 cost per rank.

Concentration: Once you have hit with a Concentration Weaken, so long as you continue to take a standard action each turn to maintain the effect, the target must make a new defense check against it, with no attack check required. +1 cost per rank.

Increased Mass: This can only be applied if you also have Affects Objects. You can affect an additional mass equal to the number of applications of this extra. For example Increased Mass 3 allows you to affect up a mass rank of 3.+1 flat point per application.

Incurable: Weaken with this modifier cannot have its effects countered by another power (such as Restorative Healing) without the Persistent modifier; the target must recover from the Weaken normally. Flat +1 point.

Precise: A Weaken effect capable of reducing more than one trait at once can have this modifier, allowing you to choose which traits are affected, while not affecting others. Note this differs from the Selective extra (following). Flat +1 point.

Progressive: A Progressive Weaken effect reduces the affected traits each round until the target successfully resists. The target makes a new defense check at the end of each of his turns; failure weakens the affected trait(s) further, while success stops the Progressive Weaken, but the target must still recover ranks already lost (at the rate of 1 point per round). +2 cost per rank.

Selective: This extra is applied to an Area Weaken so it only affects some targets and not others. Combined with Precise (previously), you can use an Area Weaken to selectively affect only certain traits of certain targets. +1 cost per rank.