Can I make an Instant duration effect Sustained?

Question

I originally thought that the Increased Duration Extra would allow me to get any effect up to Continuous duration, but looking over the Increased Duration Extra in both the book and the SRD, it only appears to present two options; from instant to concentration, and from sustained to continuous. I would normally think this is an explicit prohibition on making instant effects sustained duration, except that there are several arguments on the internet arguing to the contrary, and the rules for the flaw Instant Recovery under Affliction talk about a Sustained duration Affliction, which is normally an Instant duration effect. My question is this: Can I, or can I not, make an Instant duration effect Sustained duration, and if so, what are the rules governing this?

I'll require either a citation from a relevant rules source or from one of the game authors for this.

Answer 1

Part of the problem is that Increased Duration has been defined in different ways in different editions.

Straight from the DC Adventures handbook, which was the first release of the 3rd Edition rules:

INCREASED DURATION +1 COST PER RANK

Effects have a standard duration: instant, sustained, continuous, or permanent. See Duration at the start of this chapter for details. This modifier increases an effect’s duration. Choose one of the following options:

• Concentration: When applied to an instant duration effect, this modifier makes it maintainable with concentration, taking a standard action each turn to do so. If the effect requires an initial attack check, no additional attack check is needed to maintain it on a target, but subsequent rounds of effect also do not benefit from critical hits. The target is affected on each of the effect user’s turns, making a normal resistance check (if any). Once the user stops concentrating for any reason, the effect ends and the target recovers normally, including resistance checks to remove ongoing effects.
• Sustained: When applied to a concentration duration effect, this modifier makes it sustained.
• Continuous: When applied to a sustained duration effect, this modifier makes it continuous.

From the Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition Deluxe Hero's Handbook (and identical text found in the online SRD):

INCREASED DURATION +1 COST PER RANK

Effects have a standard duration: instant, sustained, continuous, or permanent. See Duration at the start of this chapter for details. This modifier increases an effect’s duration. Choose one of the following options:

• Concentration: When applied to an instant duration effect, this modifier makes it maintainable with concentration, taking a standard action each turn to do so. If the effect requires an initial attack check, no additional attack check is needed to maintain it on a target, but subsequent rounds of effect also do not benefit from critical hits. The target is affected on each of the effect user’s turns, making a normal resistance check (if any). Once the user stops concentrating for any reason, the effect ends and the target recovers normally, including resistance checks to remove ongoing effects.

• Continuous: When applied to a sustained duration effect, this modifier makes it continuous.

One might think that this was a matter of errata, but the official errata for DCA makes no mention. So, short answer, by the book, Mutants and Masterminds 3E does not allow one to go from Concentration to Sustained. DC Adventures does.