Strength and flight

[Kzinbane]

Most comics don't seem to worry about it. Iron man in Marvel for example lifts a truck and has no problem flying with it. Two silly boot jets that get him going at 200 MPH will not have enough thrust to lift 20 tons (or whatever)!

I want a bit more realism than that. Just 'cause I can lift a 100 tons should not mean that I can automatically fly with it.

I DID do a search so hopefully I am not asking a question already dealt with many times, but how does encomberance affect flight?

How much thrust does it take to lift 50 tons for example, if that were applied to a 200lb flying character how fast would he be able to go? It seems that flying speed should corrispond to lifting ability...

Anyhow ideas along these lines or rules is appreciated!

[Outsider]

As long as we're at it, can anyone explain why, when Iron man picks up that 20 ton object when standing firmly on the ground, he doesnt get pushed into the pavement like a golf tee?

 

I suppose you could make a campaign rule that allows a limitation on flight, such that the more mass it is carrying the slower it goes. Some people wouldnt have this, some would. The stronger the character, the more limiting it is, of course.

 

ie : 100kg Hero with 30" flight.

 

100kg = 30"

200kg = 25'

400kg = 20"

800kg = 15"

1600kg = 10"

3200kg = 5"

6400kg = 0' (can hover, cant move)

12800kg = -5" (down only)

25600kg = -10" (down only)

51200kg = -15" (down only)

etc.

[Kzinbane]

One of my favorites

 

One feat of strength I really enjoyed from I can't recall what book (Avengers I think). A tunnel leading to New York is collapsing, Thor is standing on a semi truck and holding the tunnel up. Um, well... wonder what the semi was hauling, blocks of adamantium?

Obviously Champions and the whole super-hero genre must forget physics to some degree in order to work. I have previously tended to deal with things like lifting cars or large objects by making it take a bit of extra time. If you try to lift a car and toss it in one motion for example you may end up just ripping the bumper off.

 

As for the flying I wish I had a physics degree. I mean if you have 1500 lbs of thrust you should be able to lift 15000 lbs I would think, and accellerate very slowly. it SEEMS like one could figure a speed rating into thrust and then by default into lifting ability. Superman with 150,000 tons of thrus then could lift a battleship and carry it while flying. Of course it would actually collapse around his arms and back as he's too small a point of contact for the structure to withstand... but that's another issue.

[Avatar]

My reasoning for IronMan's, or any other super's flight speed with lifting and not falling through the dirt is.........

 

 

 

ITS SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Common, sometimes Superman gets pounded and goes straight into the dirt, other times he bounces causeing cosmetic damage to the ground surface. Its all about what is heroic and super, and whats in the script. We look for too much reality in our fanatsy games (be they midevil, future, or super) and the fantasy is lost. All this gaming realy relies on suspension of disbelief, without that we chanied by the cruel rules of physics and reality.

 

 

Break the chains, enjoy the moment. (blank) hero flies with Navy Destroy at supersonic speed, and it doesn't crumple in on its own weight while suspended on a two foot squatre area.

 

 

*edit*

Dang you Kzinbane, for replying before I could finish, now I'm all redundant. CURSE YOU!!!!(raises fist in air and shakes it wildly)

 

Now back to our post

[Kzinbane]

Agree to a point

 

I agree to a point Avatar, however just 'cause our brick can lift 100 tons and can fly should not mean he/she/it can fly WHILE lifting 100 tons and carry it along!

By default playing champions you have to forget certain things - like, oh.. the laws of physics for example - still adding a bit of realism back in ("you can lift the battleship but it's going to take you a minute to get the balance point right and find a good spot") doesn't hurt.

 

Ok, now that you have the battleship lifted you want to fly at your full speed? Nope.

[Monolith]

There used to be a rule in Hero that the Active Points in Flight was the STR the character could move lift something. So if someone has 20" of Flight that was equal to 40 STR (not including their own body weight). So if someone needed to lift something that required a 30 STR that only left them 10 Active Points in Flight (5") that they could move without pushing.

 

I use the following the Encumbrance rules in FREd as follows:

Up to 50% of character's STR: -0" The character loses 10% of movement for each +10% of weight after that.

 

So someone with a 60 STR can fly with 50 tons. Each additional 10 tons costs the character 10% of their movement, up to only being able to make a half move as full moves.

[Derek Hiemforth]

There was a rule in 3rd Edition and before (removed in 4th and 5th) that you couldn't necessarily use your full STR when using Flight. You could only use as much STR as you had points in Flight. You might try something like that.

[Redmenace]

As a modification of Monolith's houserule, we have jetbelts, boots, rocketpacks translate 5" of flight to 5 pts of strength for purpose of pushing extra mass, or for fighting inertia in a zero-G setting. The items are assumed to be calibrated to the wearer's weight initially.

 

However, i suggest you talk it over with your players as reality can deflate the power fantasy of a super rpg quickly.

[Badger]

Technically we cant have flying characters without resistance to cold as I heard somewhere that thecompartment where the landing wheels are gets to -65 in flight. They mentioned on some documentary type thing as a Cuban escaped by hiding in the wheel compartment of a plane. Sometimes we just have to go cartoon physics.

[lemming]

Originally posted by Badger

Technically we cant have flying characters without resistance to cold as I heard somewhere that thecompartment where the landing wheels are gets to -65 in flight. They mentioned on some documentary type thing as a Cuban escaped by hiding in the wheel compartment of a plane. Sometimes we just have to go cartoon physics.

Well, it depends on how high up you go. I forget what the drop of temperature per elevation is, but most planes fly at 20,000 - 30,000 feet. It's cold up there.

[Ghost who Walks]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth

There was a rule in 3rd Edition and before (removed in 4th and 5th) that you couldn't necessarily use your full STR when using Flight. You could only use as much STR as you had points in Flight. You might try something like that.

I had wondered where I got that rule from...I've been using it in my campaign for years.

 

I have one player whose a physics/engineering dude, and he says the max amount of stuff a single person could lift, on a sidewalk, is about 25 tons. After that, the sidewalk would start cracking.

 

I tend to use a mixture, myself. You can't go to comic-booky or else you have the roadrunner cartoon. But you have to have some limits.