Endurance Use Questions

[Ninja-Bear]

2 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

A higher SPD also allows a character to move a lot faster.  A character with a 12” movement and a 2 SPD moves at about 8.5 MPH at noncombat speeds.  This is actually very close to what an average human can run.  A character with a 4 SPD and a 20” movement moves at about 28 MPH which is about what Usain bolt’s speed was clocked at.  A character with a 5 SPD and a 12” running would be moving at about 21 MPH.  Above a 5 SPD a character is starting to get to the point that they can chase down cars.  This is one reason I will often by down the running of a character with a high SPD.  Just because a character reacts quicker in combat does not mean he should be able to run as fast as a car.  

 

A well-built character will take these types of things into account.

Well I agree with you last statement with caveat that your group bothers with such things. (The people who taught me didn’t worry about it.) And I don’t mean it it a negative way either. I’ve notice that many games have rules that when you think about it, it doesn’t make much sense but if the game is rolling and people are having fun, we’ll those things are minimized. 

[unclevlad]

5 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

A higher SPD also allows a character to move a lot faster.  A character with a 12” movement and a 2 SPD moves at about 8.5 MPH at noncombat speeds.  This is actually very close to what an average human can run.  

 

For shorter distances?  No.  "Average" is a trap here, for one thing.  SO many people are couch potatoes.  And consider the other simple measurable:  STR.  A 10 STR can lift 100 kg.  Think that's average????  Not a chance...if you're considering the overall population.  5 would be questionable.  But it's not "population average."  It's the baseline for reasonably active, in shape people.

 

As such...back in HS, I *might* have been able to pull off a 75 second 440.  Many of my classmates certainly could have.  Halfway decent athletes could probably do 60 second.  That's 15 mph.

 

A problem here is that heroes are *highly* responsive.  Alarm goes off, heroes are on the scene in a flash!!!  What does that really translate to, in terms of actual speed?  A mile in 30 seconds is 120 mph.  If you have to respond to an event 20 miles away from you, then 120 mph still means 10 full minutes.  That's a LONG time.  There's a discontinuity there.  In the story?  It's writer's fiat. 

[LoneWolf]

I quick search on the internet gave the 8.5 as the average speed a human can run.  I make no claims that number is anything but a baseline number.   The Idea of what is average is going to vary depending on the time period and culture you are looking at.  For example the physical condition of the average person during the world war two is probably a lot better than it is today. 

 

It also does not take much to boost those numbers.  A character with a 3 SPD and 16”  of movement will be going around 17MPH before pushing and going up to 20” at 3 SPD puts you at about 19 MPH.  I can easily see a trained athlete having a 3 SP and buying up their running to 20”.  The Idea is to the normal movement within the realm of normal human achievement.  Most characters also have some form of powered movement with Flight being very common, or at least a teammate that has some form of movement that is cable of moving quickly to where they need to be. 

[unclevlad]

That's why I think it's a trap:  what does one mean by "average"?  Versus what the system declares?  

 

The overall discussion of both speed and SPD is interesting, tho.  It goes to setting tone, too, so there's no universal answer.  

[redsash]

Designing an introductory adventure for newbies right now. I did all the characters myself so END is taken into account (weapons bought to 0 END where appropriate, END and REC all set to reasonable levels), but I removed any mention of it from their simplified character sheets. It could very well become a long-term slugfest (I am gating a bunch of MCU characters into a volcano arena in the savage land and dropping ninjas and giant frogs on them until they weep) but if so I will make noises about fatigue when I feel like it.

 

Also removed SPD -- everyone is at SPD 4.

 

I did the same math as someone earlier -- standard characteristic maxima put running velocity right at real-world Olympic record levels.

[Wyrmy]

I record endurance use.

I use dice.

But it is not a house rule. 

 

So, if you have say 28 END and use 4 END on average in a phase, you get 7x4-sided dice. You can always look at your dice and see how long many phases of action you have left. As a GM this comes in handy if there are a lot of superagents around. I just ignore the actual END and use those dice, you use 4 and have a 5 rec, and you get "1" die back. Mostly accurate, but you do not waste too much time doing math or writing things down. 

[Tech]

On 4/13/2022 at 6:25 PM, LoneWolf said:

• Use END
• Calculate out normal END usage and note when it differs
• No house rules

When I create my characters, I figure out how much END they use and how long they can go.   Most of the time I build so they can go for a decent amount of time so I don't have to track every point.   What I do is to note anytime my END usage goes over or under that.  Most of the time I only need to figure out the END usage at the end of the turn.  When I get low on END I will start to track it more carefully.  

 

 Pretty much the same. When I GM though, if it's a villain who's going to run out of END, I keep track. If it's a villain that will take 3 turns or something like that of constant use, no need to. Only 2 game sessions in many, many years have ever gone beyond 3 turns of combat.

[DentArthurDent]

I design characters to last 3 Turns of half movements and full strength attacks. At least that’s the ideal I shoot for. This seems to be typical.

For myself I record, on paper, END use for every little thing. Mostly because we have a couple of players who allow the rest of us plenty of time between turns for bookkeeping. (Wow. That was a really nice way of saying that.)

 

I always recommend that new players buy everything with 0 END advantages. Or at least 1/2 END. They often scoff at spending the extra points. Until they play the first time.

 

Our DM does a wonderful job of ignoring END when needed and reminding players who are pushing every attack.

[Tech]

Alot of people seem to think END is a nuisance for them; for me it is not. Since we use END in our Champions campaign, I take that into consideration very much when designing a character - hero or villain. In this last weekend's game, a hero and a villainess were fighting for about a turn and a half. He was getting tired. I surprised him by the villainess saying, "Okay, I might consider leaving (huff) but it's not because I'm getting tired (huff)."  The players got a laugh out of that.

[unclevlad]

I don't think END should be completely ignored, because it is a cost you have to account for, one way or another...picking up Reduced END, or buying a really big REC, or possibly going HEAVY on the MA DCs or talents that enhance damage.  

 

That said:  if SPDs aren't high, then it's likely you can largely ignore END usage.