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The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."


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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

GLACIER

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
75	STR	65	24-	Lift 800 tons; 15d6 HTH Damage
11	DEX	3	11-	OCV:  4/DCV:  4
50	CON	80	19-
36	BODY	52	16-
1	INT	-9	9-	PER Roll 9-
0	EGO	--	9-	ECV:  0
40	PRE	30	17-	PRE Attack:  8d6
2	COM	-4	9-
7	PD	6		Total:  7 PD (7 rPD)
7	ED	12		Total:  7 ED (7 rED)
3	SPD	9		Phases:  4, 8, 12
25	REC	0
100	END	0
--	STUN	--		Total Characteristics Cost:  244

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
30	Body Of Ice:  EB 2d6, Damage Shield (+1/2), Continuous (+1), NND (defense is Life 
Support (Safe Environment [intense Cold], heat powers, or insulating clothing; +1), 
Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Always On (-1/2)
135	Freezing Blast: RKA 3d6, Area Of Effect (10" Cone; +1) plus RKA 3d6, Area Of 
Effect (10" Cone; +1), Linked (-1/2), Only Versus Inorganic Material (-1/2), END 18
37	Immense Fists:  Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2) for up to 75 STR, END +4
60	Body Of Ice:  Takes No STUN
20	Body Of Ice:  Sight and Hearing Group Flash Defense (10 points each)
24	Immense Weight:  Knockback Resistance (-12")
10	Body Of Ice:  Lack Of Weakness (-10) for Resistant Defenses
40	Body Of Ice:  Life Support (Self-Contained Breathing, Diminished Eating:  Need Not 
Eat, Safe Environment:  Intense Cold, Longevity:  Does Not Age, Immunity:  Diseases 
And Poisons)
42	Aura Of Freezing Cold:  Change Environment 32" radius, -4 Temperature Levels, 
Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2)
33	Body Of Ice:   Healing 3d6 (Regeneration; 3 BODY per Turn), Reduced Endurance 
(0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Extra Time + Increased Time Increment (1 Turn; -1), 
Self Only (-1)
8	Long Arms:  Stretching 2â€, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Always Direct (-1/4), No 
Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No Velocity Damage (-1/4)

439	Total Powers & Skills Cost
683	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
20	Enraged:  Berserk: when someone/thing interferes with his movement (Common), 
go 8-, recover 14-
25	Hunted:  the superheroes of Europe (MoPow, Destroy) 14-
25	Hunted:  Norwegian Government (MoPow, Lim Geo, Destroy) 14-
20	Physical Limitation:  Enormous, 8 meters tall with a 400,000 kg mass 
(-4 DCV, +4 to PER Rolls to perceive) (A, G)
20	Physical Limitation:  Instinctive Intelligence (A, G)
25	Psychological Limitation:  Compelled To Keep Move In A Straight Line (VC, T)
15	Reputation:  mindless monster 11-, extreme
30	Vulnerability:  2 x BODY from Flame and Heat attacks
303	Experience

683	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) For the first step in debugging Glacier, I removed the 6 levels of Growth and 6 levels of Density Increase (Always On), per the accepted 5th Edition way of creating heavy and large characters. I then rebuilt Glacier's Characteristics, adjusting the cost of his PD and ED to account for his Takes No STUN power. I note that the original Glacier received 20 points for buying his EGO back to 0, which is illegal, as it is automatically a 0 when you use Takes No STUN.

 

2) I reduced the cost of his Area Of Effect (One Hex) STR to 37 points from 112. 112 is the total cost for a 75 STR x 1.5.

 

3) Rebuilt Glacier's Damage Shield to account for 5th Edition changes.

 

4) Rebuilt Life Support, Change Environment, and Healing powers to account for 5th Edition changes.

 

5) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I removed the undescribed Distinctive Features as that doesn't seem to qualify under 5th Edition. I added in the Enormous Physical Limitation per The Ultimate Brick, and bumped up its value to account for Glacier's great weight. I also used the Instinctive Intelligence Disadvantage from The HERO System Bestiary to replace Glacier's original one to the same effect.

 

6) The original version of Glacier cost 707 points. He now costs 683, a 24-point decrease. As with Carpathia, he saved 80 points by removing the 6 levels of Growth and 6 levels of Density Increase. He also saved 75 points by purchasing his Area Of Effect (One Hex) STR correctly. Of course a lot of this saving was then eaten up by increased Characteristics costs and the increased cost of his Healing and Life Support.

 

7) Assessment: Glacier looks dangerous but he isn't. With a 7 DEF, he can be stopped by a well-armed SWAT team, and would fall in Phases to a military fireteam. He has a SPD of 3, 6" of Running (as does Carpathia, no increased Running for the giant-sized?), and a DCV of 0. Set, Brace, and fire at full auto with your M-16s and M-60s. I'm fairly sure that he'd drop pretty quickly. Bring some armor into play and Glacier becomes so much crushed ice (how well does 7 DEF protect against an M1A1's main gun? Answer: not very.)

 

If that's not bad enough, Glacier gets trashed in a simple fist fight with Carpathia. She does on average 7 BODY with each punch, while she takes an average of 14 STUN from his punches and 7 STUN from his NND. She can take 5 Phases of his punches, during which she hits him for 35 BODY. Note, however, that she will hit *him* for 35 BODY in one Turn, while he only hits her for 42 STUN (+ 21 from his NND). She has 72 STUN and is still standing. Even with his Healing, Glacier is in big trouble before he can land punch number five. If Carpathia Haymakers (might as well, no one is going anywhere in this fight) she does 14 BODY after defenses, and Glacier is in heaps of trouble. Simply put, Glacier needs a lot more DEF to be much of a threat to anyone.

 

Glacier's RKA looks really dangerous, until you realize the original author Linked the attacks together. What does that mean? That means some non-organic (like a car) take 2 3d6 RKAs, as opposed to one large 6d6 RKA. I think that needs fixing.

 

As unstoppable monsters go, Glacier needs a lot of work. A higher DEF, and some better defined attacks would work for starters. I also think some warm weather Limitations on his Regeneration would be a good idea.

 

As I just used this creation on my player group, I can tell you that a properly built Glacier is plenty tough. I mostly left stats unchanged(reducing BODY to 25 and boosting DEX to 14), but I made him a true automaton, eliminating the CON score and making all his powers 0 END. I boosted his PD and ED to 15 each. Let me tell you, while this still doesn't make the monster immune to a military assault, player characters will beat on this thing in frustration in most campaigns(including mine). I put his ice breath powers in a Multipower and left it at that. I made his Regeneration both with the heal limbs and Return from Dead option to represent the fact that Master Villains can probably just recreate him whenever convenient.

 

Rob

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

GLADIATOR

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
35	STR	25	16-	Lift 3200 kg; 7d6 HTH Damage
29	DEX	57	15-	OCV:  10/DCV:  10
28	CON	36	15-
15	BODY	10	12-
13	INT	3	12-	PER Roll 12-
14	EGO	8	12-	ECV:  5
25	PRE	15	14-	PRE Attack:  5d6
10	COM	0	11-

12	PD	5		Total:  32 PD (20 rPD)
12	ED	6		Total:  27 ED (15 rED)
6	SPD	21		Phases:  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
13	REC	0
70	END	7
50	STUN	3		Total Characteristics Cost: 196

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"


Cost	Powers & Skills
Martial Arts:  Dirty Infighting
Maneuver	OCV	DCV	Damage
4	Punch	+0	+2	9d6 Strike
5	Roundhouse	-2	+1	11d6 Strike
4	Low Blow	-1	+1	2d6 NND
4	Disarm	-1	+1	45 STR
4	Kidney Blow	-2	+0	1d6+1 HKA

17	Hits Hard:  Penetrating on 35 STR, END +2
65	Bolas:  Entangle 6d6, 6 DEF, Entangle and Character Both Take Damage (+1/4); 
4 Recoverable Charges (-1/2), OAF (-1) plus EB 6d6, Penetrating (+1/2); 4 Continuous 
Recoverable Charges of 1 Turn (-0), OAF (-1), Linked (-1/2) plus RKA 1d6, NND 
(defense is an unknown amount of Life Support; +1), Does BODY (+1); Activation 
Roll 9- (-1 1/2), 4 Continuous Recoverable Charges of 1 Turn (-0), OAF (-1), 
Linked (-1/2)
43	Cestus:  HA +2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); OAF (-1), 
Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2) plus Penetrating (+1/2) on 1d6+1 HKA, Reduced 
Endurance (0 END; +1/2); OAF (-1)
47	Net:  Entangle 8d6, 8 DEF, Entangle and Character Both Take Damage (+1/4); 
1 Recoverable Charge (-1 1/4), OAF (-1) plus Drain STR 3d6, Ranged (+1/2); 
1 Continuous Recoverable Charge of 5 Minutes (-1/4), OAF (-1), Linked (-1/2)
30	Sword:  HKA 2d6 (4d6 w/STR, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Penetrating (+1/2); OAF (-1)
15	Samnite Armor:  Armor (20 PD); Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2)
11	Shield:  Force Field (15 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Activation 
Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2)

Talents
18	Combat Sense 15-
10	Resistance (10 points)

Skills

15	Combat Skill Levels: +5 With Gladiator Weapons

3	Acrobatics 15-
3	Breakfall 15-
5	Defense Maneuver II
3	Demolitions 12-
3	Interrogation 14-
2	KS:  Gladiators 11-
2	KS:  Gladiator Fighting Styles 11-
0	Language:  Italian (native)
4	Language:  Latin (Idiomatic)
1	Language:  English (Basic Conversation)
3	Oratory 14-
3	Persuasion 14-
3	Security Systems 12-
3	Shadowing 12-
3	Stealth 15-
3	Streetwise 14-
2	Weaponsmith (Muscle-Powered HTH) 12-
4	WF:  Common Melee Weapons, Lasso, Whip

342	Total Powers & Skills Cost
538	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
25	Hunted:  Italian Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
0	Hunted:  Red Brigade (AsPow, Kill) 11-
25	Hunted:  UNTIL (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Fears Losing A Fair Fight (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Gladiator's Code Of Fighting (C, S)
5	Reputation:  Former Member of Red Brigade 8-
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
238	Experience

538	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Removed Gladiator's Penetrating Advantage from the cost of his STR and placed it in the Powers listing.

 

2) Gladiator paid 25 points for his 5 combat skill levels. He also did it twice. I dropped it to 3 point skill levels, as I figured Gladiator Weapons counted as a "tight group."

 

3) The original write up has Gladiator's cestus give him +2d6 Hand Attack with Penetrating (which is fine), but this was also supposed to add the Penetrating Advantage to his Martial Arts HKA. Using pages 104-105 of The Ultimate Martial Artist I was able to apply the Penetrating Advantage (at 0 END) to his Killing Strike. Note that while Gladiator can do a 1d6+1 HKA Penetrating, he can only do up to 4d6 of Penetrating Normal Damage (2d6 HA + 2d6 of STR). However, he can use the cestus with his 35 STR to do 9d6 of base damage (not counting bonuses for his martial arts).

 

4) Added Ranged to Net-based Drain so it would work properly with the ranged Entangle.

 

5) Gladiator paid for his Combat Sense twice. This was corrected.

 

6) The errata states that some of Gladiator's Skills are listed twice, other than Combat Sense, I'm not sure what they are talking about.

 

7) Gladiator shows a 13- for all his DEX skills. This is incorrect, as he as a 29 DEX ([29/5] = 5.8. 5.8 + 9 = 14.8, rounds to 15-). I upped these values to 15-. In a similar vein, all of his PRE skills were listed as 12-, not 14- ([25/5] = 5. 5 + 9 = 14.).

 

8) Folded trident into Common Melee Weapons, thus his WFs cost 4 points, not 5.

 

9) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages.

 

10) The original version of Gladiator cost 506 points. He now costs 538, a 32-point decrease. A lot of the points came from rebuilding his cestus properly, along with his bolas.

 

11) Assessment: Here we go again -- a terribly cliched character concept, even down to his name (Spartacus). Although not a bad idea over all, his magical gear seems more than a bit overdone, not to mention overpowered. Personally, I'd added "Range Based On STR" to all of his attacks, so he won't be hurling them at targets upwards of 500" away. Oh, and what is a "Gladiator's Code Of Fighting" anyway? It's never exactly explained in the book.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

HOARFROST

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
10	STR	0	11-	Lift 100 kg; 2d6 HTH Damage
20	DEX	30	13-	OCV:  7/DCV:  7
30	CON	40	15-
10	BODY	0	11-
20	INT	10	13-	PER Roll 13-
18	EGO	16	13-	ECV:  6
20	PRE	10	13-	PRE Attack:  4d6
16	COM	3	12-

20	PD	18		Total:  20 PD (0 rPD)
20	ED	14		Total:  20 ED (0 rED)
5	SPD	20		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
8	REC	0
60	END	0
50	STUN	20		Total Characteristics Cost:  181

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
84	Cold Powers:  Elemental Control; 167-point powers
48	1) Freezing Fog:  Darkness to Sight Group 8" radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4), 
Persistent (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2)
111	2) Freezing Fog:  Drain BODY and STUN 4d6, Variable Effect (+1/2), Area Of 
Effect (21" Radius; +1), Continuous (+1), Mobile (+1), Personal Immunity (+1/4), 
Persistent (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2); 
Always On (-1/2)
85	3) Cold Wind:  RKA 5d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Double Knockback (+3/4), END 17

2	Life Support: (Safe Environment:  Intense Cold)
32	Freezing Fog:  Change Environment 8" radius, -4 Temperature Levels, 
Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2)

Skills
4	Combat Skill Levels:  +2 OCV With Cold Wind

3	Bureaucratics 13-
3	Computer Programming 13-
3	Electronics 13-
3	Inventing 13-
1	Language:  Danish (Basic Conversation)
3	Language:  English (Completely Fluent)
0	Language:  Finnish (native)
5	SS:  Cryogenics 15-

387	Total Powers & Skills Cost
568	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
20	Dependence:  upon the body heat of others or take 3d6 per Hour (Common)
25	Distinctive Features:  ice and frost-covered body (NC, Ext [fear])
25	Hunted:  Finnish Military (MoPow, NCI,Capture) 11-
0	Hunted:  Midnight Sun (AsPow, Capture) 11-
25	Hunted:  UNTIL (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Loves Midnight Sun (C, S)
20	Psychological Limitation:  Very Lonely (VC, S)
15	Reputation:  Killer 11-, extreme
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
10	Susceptibility:  to Midnight Sun, takes 1d6  damage per Turn (Uncommon)
30	Vulnerability: :2 x BODY from Fire and Heat Attacks
20	Vulnerability:  2 x STUN from Fire and Heat Attacks
148	Experience

568	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Hoarfrost only paid 15 points for her 50 STUN, this was corrected to 20 points. ([10/2 = 5] + [30/2 = 15] + 10 = 30. 30 + 20 = 50.)

 

2) Rebuilt Hoarfrost's Cold Powers Elemental Control. Slot two of her Elemental Control is one of the main reasons European Enemies is such a terrible book. On the original character sheet, the power didn't come with Personal Immunity, which meant, that on average, the the Drain killed Hoarfrost in two Phases. In order for the power to be Always On, I added the "Uncontrolled" Advantage, as well as Personal Immunity, so Hoarfrost wouldn't kill herself with her own powers. I also added the "Mobile" Advantage (seen in Fantasy Hero) so that the Drain would move with Hoarfrost and "sweep" over the ground as it goes. Finally, I removed the "No Range" Limitation, as Drain is already a no range power. Please note that slot two is 250 Active Points!

 

In my opinion, I think the whole Elemental Control needs to be eliminated. I found some ECs with Always On powers in The Hero System Bestiary (see the Foulness Demons), but I'm not 100% sure of the idea. Personally, I'd Link all three Freezing Fog powers together, declare the Area Of Effect of the Drain to be 8" not 21", and make that one single power. The RKA would then be a stand-alone attack. If you do, it will look like this:

266	Freezing Fog:  Drain BODY and STUN 4d6, Variable Effect (+1/2), Area Of Effect 
(8" Radius; +1), Continuous (+1), Mobile (+1), Personal Immunity (+1/4), 
Persistent (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2); Always 
On (-1/2) plus Darkness to Sight Group 8" radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4), 
Persistent (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Always On (-1/2), Linked (-1/2), 
No Range (-1/2) plus Change Environment 8" radius, -4 Temperature Levels, Reduced 
Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Always On (-1/2), Linked (-1/2), No 
Range (-1/2)
169	Cold Wind:  RKA 5d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Double Knockback (+3/4), END 17

This adds +75 Points to the character cost, making Hoarfrost a 643-point character.

 

3) Bureaucratics is a base 13-, not 12-. ([20/5] = 4 + 9 = 13.

 

4) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages.

 

5) The original version of Hoarfrost cost 525 points. She now costs 568, a 43-point increase. All the points came from rebuilding her Elemental Control properly.

 

6) Assessment: Originally, Hoarfrost killed herself in two Phases due to her lack of Personal Immunity on her Drain (Phase 1, -6 BODY, Phase 2, -20 and dead). She also has no Personal Immunity on her Change Environment. I admit, I added the Life Support to shield her from the Change Environment and to allow her to live in the cold north (violating debugging rule 1), because otherwise the character really fell apart as a concept.

 

Personally, I don't see why she has a Secret ID, since she don't have a second life, as she's stuck as she is now. Also, if she is covered in ice, a Physical Limitation such as "Requires Specialized Medical Attention" seems logical.

 

Finally, the Finnish military dubbed her "Hoarfrost" which would only make sense is they were speaking English at the time. Okay, so perhaps they called her the Finnish word for same effect, but still... Then again, European Enemies never really seems to care about what the person's name is in their native language, and the one time it did (Das Wall) it got it wrong.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

Made some major corrections to Gladiator's Bolas. A Continuing Charge on an Instant power needs the Continuous Advantage to work properly.

 

GLADIATOR

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
35	STR	25	16-	Lift 3200 kg; 7d6 HTH Damage
29	DEX	57	15-	OCV:  10/DCV:  10
28	CON	36	15-
15	BODY	10	12-
13	INT	3	12-	PER Roll 12-
14	EGO	8	12-	ECV:  5
25	PRE	15	14-	PRE Attack:  5d6
10	COM	0	11-

12	PD	5		Total:  32 PD (20 rPD)
12	ED	6		Total:  27 ED (15 rED)
6	SPD	21		Phases:  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
13	REC	0
70	END	7
50	STUN	3		Total Characteristics Cost: 196

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"


Cost	Powers & Skills
Martial Arts:  Dirty Infighting
Maneuver	OCV	DCV	Damage
4	Punch	+0	+2	9d6 Strike
5	Roundhouse	-2	+1	11d6 Strike
4	Low Blow	-1	+1	2d6 NND
4	Disarm	-1	+1	45 STR
4	Kidney Blow	-2	+0	1d6+1 HKA

17	Hits Hard:  Penetrating on 35 STR, END +2
75	Bolas:  Entangle 6d6, 6 DEF, Entangle and Character Both Take Damage (+1/4); 
4 Recoverable Charges (-1/2), OAF (-1) plus EB 6d6, Continuous (+1), 
Penetrating (+1/2); 4 Continuous Recoverable Charges of 1 Turn (-0), OAF (-1), 
Linked (-1/2) plus RKA 1d6, NND (defense is an unknown amount of Life Support; +1), 
Does BODY (+1), Continuous (+1); Activation Roll 9- (-1 1/2), 4 Continuous 
Recoverable Charges of 1 Turn (-0), OAF (-1), Linked (-1/2)
43	Cestus:  HA +2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); OAF (-1), 
Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2) plus Penetrating (+1/2) on 1d6+1 HKA, Reduced 
Endurance (0 END; +1/2); OAF (-1)
47	Net:  Entangle 8d6, 8 DEF, Entangle and Character Both Take Damage (+1/4); 
1 Recoverable Charge (-1 1/4), OAF (-1) plus Drain STR 3d6, Ranged (+1/2); 
1 Continuous Recoverable Charge of 5 Minutes (-1/4), OAF (-1), Linked (-1/2)
30	Sword:  HKA 2d6 (4d6 w/STR, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Penetrating (+1/2); OAF (-1)
15	Samnite Armor:  Armor (20 PD); Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2)
11	Shield:  Force Field (15 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Activation 
Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2)

Talents
18	Combat Sense 15-
10	Resistance (10 points)

Skills

15	Combat Skill Levels: +5 With Gladiator Weapons

3	Acrobatics 15-
3	Breakfall 15-
5	Defense Maneuver II
3	Demolitions 12-
3	Interrogation 14-
2	KS:  Gladiators 11-
2	KS:  Gladiator Fighting Styles 11-
0	Language:  Italian (native)
4	Language:  Latin (Idiomatic)
1	Language:  English (Basic Conversation)
3	Oratory 14-
3	Persuasion 14-
3	Security Systems 12-
3	Shadowing 12-
3	Stealth 15-
3	Streetwise 14-
2	Weaponsmith (Muscle-Powered HTH) 12-
4	WF:  Common Melee Weapons, Lasso, Whip

352	Total Powers & Skills Cost
548	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
25	Hunted:  Italian Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
0	Hunted:  Red Brigade (AsPow, Kill) 11-
25	Hunted:  UNTIL (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Fears Losing A Fair Fight (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Gladiator's Code Of Fighting (C, S)
5	Reputation:  Former Member of Red Brigade 8-
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
248	Experience

548	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Removed Gladiator's Penetrating Advantage from the cost of his STR and placed it in the Powers listing.

 

2) Added Continuous to the two Linked Bola attacks in order for them to work as Continuing Charges (which only work on Constant or Persistant powers).

 

3) The original write up has Gladiator's cestus give him +2d6 Hand Attack with Penetrating (which is fine), but this was also supposed to add the Penetrating Advantage to his Martial Arts HKA. Using pages 104-105 of The Ultimate Martial Artist I was able to apply the Penetrating Advantage (at 0 END) to his Killing Strike. Note that while Gladiator can do a 1d6+1 HKA Penetrating, he can only do up to 4d6 of Penetrating Normal Damage (2d6 HA + 2d6 of STR). However, he can use the cestus with his 35 STR to do 9d6 of base damage (not counting bonuses for his martial arts).

 

4) Added Ranged to Net-based Drain so it would work properly with the ranged Entangle.

 

5) Gladiator paid for his Combat Sense twice. This was corrected.

 

6) Gladiator paid 25 points for his 5 combat skill levels. He also did it twice. I dropped it to 3 point skill levels, as I figured Gladiator Weapons counted as a "tight group."

 

7) Gladiator shows a 13- for all his DEX skills. This is incorrect, as he as a 29 DEX ([29/5] = 5.8. 5.8 + 9 = 14.8, rounds to 15-). I upped these values to 15-. In a similar vein, all of his PRE skills were listed as 12-, not 14- ([25/5] = 5. 5 + 9 = 14.).

 

8) Folded trident into Common Melee Weapons, thus his WFs cost 4 points, not 5.

 

9) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages.

 

10) The original version of Gladiator cost 506 points. He now costs 548, a 42-point decrease. A lot of the points came from rebuilding his cestus properly, along with his bolas.

 

11) Assessment: Here we go again -- a terribly cliched character concept, even down to his name (Spartacus). Although not a bad idea over all, his magical gear seems more than a bit overdone, not to mention overpowered. Personally, I'd added "Range Based On STR" to all of his attacks, so he won't be hurling them at targets upwards of 500" away. Oh, and what is a "Gladiator's Code Of Fighting" anyway? It's never exactly explained in the book.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

HOOD

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
25	STR	15	14-	Lift 800 kg, 5d6 HTH Damage
29	DEX	57	15-	OCV:  10/DCV:  10
28	CON	36	15-
12	BODY	4	11-
15	INT	5	12-	PER Roll: 12-
15	EGO	10	12-	ECV:  5
20	PRE	10	13-	PRE Attack:  4d6
24	COM	7	14-

12	PD	7		Total:  24 PD (12 rPD)
10	ED	4		Total:  16 ED (6 rED)
6	SPD	21		Phases:  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
11	REC	0
56	END	0
39	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  176

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"
Swinging:  15"/30"

Cost	Powers & Skills
60	Bow And Arrows:  Multipower; 120-point reserve; all OAF (-1)
1u	1) Arrow:  Drain DEX 4d6, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), NND (defense is 
Clinging; +1), Ranged (+1/2); 2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1) 
2u	2) Electrostun Arrow:  EB 5D6, Double Knockback (+3/4), Penetrating (+1/2),
2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)
2u	3) Explosive Arrow:  EB 5d6, Double Knockback (+3/4), Explosion (+1/2); 
2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)
1u	4) Flash Arrow:  EB 3d6, Affects Desolid (+1/2), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2),
NND (defense is Hearing Group Flash Defense; +1); 2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)
1u	5) Bola Arrow:  Entangle 3d6, 3 DEF; 2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)
2u	6) Net Arrow:  Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), Sticky (+1/2); 
2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)
2u	7) Magnesium Arrow:  Sight Group 8d6 Flash, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2); 
2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)
2u	8) Acid Arrow:  RKA 1d6, Continuous (+1), Penetrating (+1/2), Sticky (+1/2); 
2 Continuous Charges lasting 1 Hour (-0), OAF (-1)
1u	9) Arrow:  RKA 1d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), +1 Increased Stun Modifier (+1/4); 
3 Charges (-1 1/4), OAF (-1)
1u	10) Magnetic Arrow:  Telekinesis (16 STR), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2); Activation 
Roll 12- (-3/4), 2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1), Only Affects Metal (-1/2)
1u	11) Line Arrow:  15" Swinging; 2 Charges (-1 1/2), OAF (-1)

16	Armored Clothing:  Armor (10 PD/6 ED); OIF (-1/2)
24	Find Weakness With Multipower 15-
10	2d6 Luck

Perks
30	Followers:  16 followers of up to 75 points, built on a 50-point base
1	Fringe Benefit:  Passport
10	Money:  Wealthy

Skills
3	Combat Skill Levels:  +1 with Multipower
4	Range Skill Levels:  +2 with Multipower

3	Acrobatics 15-
3	Breakfall 15-
3	Concealment 12-
3	Fast Draw (Bows) 15-
3	High Society 13-
3	Inventor 12-
2	KS:  Bow Making 11-
3	Mechanics 12-
3	Mimicry 12-
2	Navigation (Land) 12-
2	PS:  Long Bow Hunting 11-
3	Shadowing 12-
3	Stealth 15-
2	Survival (choice) 12-
3	Tracking 12-
2	Weaponsmith (Muscle-Powered Ranged) 12-

219	Total Powers and Skills Cost
395	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
25	Hunted:  Scotland Yard (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
0	Hunted:  London Watch (AsPow, Lim Geo, Capture) 11-
25	Hunted:  MI6 (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Overconfident (C, S)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Prankster (C, M)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Flamboyant (C, S)
5	Rivalry:  Rainbow Archer (Professional)
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
85	Experience

395	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Rebuilt Hood's Multipower. Many of the Slots were incorrectly designed, and the original Multipower had a 60-point reserve, which was totally incorrect. Anyway, a quick breakdown of the changes I needed to make:

Slot 1: Yes, the defense for the NND is "Clinging." I added the Advantage "Ranged" in order to make the power work as an arrow. I also removed the Advantages of "Continuous" and "Sticky" as the former needed some sort of Continuing Charge, and the latter requires some sort of Uncontrolled and/or Constant power. If you make the 2 Charges Continuing, and add those Advantages back in, this Slot becomes 180 Active Points.

Slot 2: Originally, this power was "Stun Only." As a Stun Only power cannot do knockback, much less Double Knockback, I dropped that part.

Slot 4: I'm not sure what sort of "Flash Arrow" this is to make it an NND versus Hearing Flash Defense, but there you have it. This Slot also has the "Continuous" Advantage, but wasn't a Constant power, I dropped it.

Slot 5: A Bolo Arrow probably needs the "Entangle and Character Both Take Damage" Advantage, or "Takes No Damage From Attacks" Advantage. The same goes for Slot 6 and the Net Arrow.

Slot 8: Added the "Continuous" Advantage in order to make the Continuing Charges work properly.

Slot 10: I have no idea how this arrow is supposed to work. I do know it needs the "Affects Whole Object" Limitation to reflect the way I presume it works.

Slot 11: Despite having Charges, there was an END value given for this Slot.

 

2) The original Find Weakness was with All Attacks, which is unneeded. I rebuilt to work with the Multipower.

 

3) Hood's Followers are listed as "competent normals." I used the stats for a Competent Normal from HERO System 5th Edition to define his them.

 

4) The original version of the Combat Skill Level was +1 OCV with "Bow and Arrow." I expanded it to +1 with the Multipower.

 

5) Yes, Hood has the KS of "Bow Making" and the Weaponsmith skill. Sort of redundant. He also has the PS of "Long Bow Hunter," which I find questionable as well.

 

6) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages.

 

7) The original version of Hood cost 385 points. He now costs 395, a 10-point increase. All the points came from rebuilding his Multipower properly.

 

8) Assessment: Hood may be an expert archer and gymnast, but a 25 STR, 29 DEX, 28 CON, and 6 SPD seems a bit much. As someone else has pointed out, these stats put him on the same level as the 4th Edition character Dragon Master, a lifelong student of the martial arts who was a member of a government superhero team. On the other hand, his Rival, Rainbow Archer, is well known for being an Olympic-level archer with a 35 DEX!

 

Hood's Multipower is a disaster. Many of the Slots are poorly or illogically built with questionable Advantages. Some, like his Magnetic Arrow, are downright useless. And like Casca, he's not much offensively, with several 5d6 EBs and some 1d6 RKAs. And let's not get into the character concept of a British archer villain named "Hood."

 

Oh, and as a final insult, Hood comes after Huntsman of the Black Forest in the alphabetical listing.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

Slot 4: I'm not sure what sort of "Flash Arrow" this is to make it an NND versus Hearing Flash Defense, but there you have it. This Slot also has the "Continuous" Advantage, but wasn't a Constant power, I dropped it.

 

This is a Screaming Arrow. It lands in a hex and slowly takes out agents, providing that the first hit CON-stunned them or they otherwise can't leave the hex.

 

Slot 10: I have no idea how this arrow is supposed to work. I do know it needs the "Affects Whole Object" Limitation to reflect the way I presume it works.

 

Magnet arrows are good for throwing metal switches or sometimes moving metal things to point in a different direction (the arrow swings past and drags the tip of the object). Some things take damage being subjected to a high magnetic field. I've seen it used by Green Arrow to perform a two person Gun Disarm. It's one of the more "comic-book" type of trick arrows.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

This is a Screaming Arrow. It lands in a hex and slowly takes out agents, providing that the first hit CON-stunned them or they otherwise can't leave the hex.

 

That would work, but I'd give it Explosive and some Continuing Charges to make it work that way.

 

Magnet arrows are good for throwing metal switches or sometimes moving metal things to point in a different direction (the arrow swings past and drags the tip of the object). Some things take damage being subjected to a high magnetic field. I've seen it used by Green Arrow to perform a two person Gun Disarm. It's one of the more "comic-book" type of trick arrows.

 

I suspected as much. But the power needs to be built better (IMO) to reflect what it can and cannot do/ Not to mention something under the Powers section letting us know what it is.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

I suspect arrow one was suppose to be somekind of oil slick type thing. Maybe if it was redesigned using Change enviroment it would be better...

 

Also don't diss Dex 29 Speed 6 archers (I happen to play one) :D

 

I'm not dissing per se. It's more like the combination of all those stats seems a bit much, that's all.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

HUNTSMAN OF THE BLACK FOREST

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
50	STR	40	19-	Lift 25 tons; 10d6 HTH Damage
30	DEX	60	15-	OCV:  10/DCV:  10
40	CON	60	17-
25	BODY	30	14-
10	INT	0	11-	PER Roll 11-
20	EGO	20	13-	ECV:  7
40	PRE	30	17-	PRE Attack:  8d6
6	COM	-2	10-

30	PD	20		Total:  30 PD (30 rPD)
25	ED	17		Total:  25 ED (25 rED)
6	SPD	20		Phases:  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
18	REC	0
80	END	0
70	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  295

Movement:	Flight:  20"/80"
Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
15	Sword:  HKA 2d6 (4d6 w/STR); OAF (-1), END 3
33	Bow:  RKA 2d6 Affects Desolid (+1/2), Double Knockback (+3/4); OAF (-1), END 7
86	Mind Scanning 10d6, +18 OECV, END 5
27	Damage Resistance: 30 PD / 25 ED
50	Life Support:  Total (including Longevity:  Immortality)
20	Extra-Dimensional Movement (to a single location in the Nether-Realm), END 2
45	Flight 20", x4 Noncombat, END 4
40	Desolidification (affected by magic attacks), END 4
15	Enhanced Perception +5 PER with All Sense Groups
5	IR Perception (Sight Group)
5	Tracking (Normal Smell)
25	Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees) for all Senses
30	Find Weakness 11- with all attacks

Perks
30	Demon Hounds:  4 followers built on a 100-point base

Skills
24	Combat Skill Levels:  +3 With All Combat

2	Animal Handler (canines) 17-
0	Language:  Demon (native)
1	Language:  English (Basic Conversation)
3	Language:  German (Completely Fluent Conversation)
17	Tracking 18-

473	Total Powers & Skills Cost
768	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
40	Enraged:  Berserk when he locates his prey (Common) go 14-, recover 8-
25	Psychological Limitation:  Only Cares About Tracking Down And Killing 
Prey (VC, T)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Overconfident (C, S)
20	Reputation:  killer of superhumans 14-, Extreme
20	Vulnerability:  2 x STUN from Magic attacks
448	Experience

768	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) The errata sheet says that Huntsman has a x4 Noncombat Multiplier on his Flight. I included the correction here. Note that the Huntsman's Hounds don't have the x4 Noncombat Multiple on their Flight.

 

2) Huntsman originally paid 20 points for his Find Weakness with all attacks, when he should have paid 30. Interestingly, he seems to be the only person in all of European Enemies who underpaid for Find Weakness.

 

3) Originally Huntsman paid 75 points for his Followers. The errata sheet says he should pay 59 points for them. I'm not sure how this number was arrived at, as the Hounds are listed at a 100 point base, and were originally 337 points total. Even if the cost was based on the total points divided by 5, you get a base price of 67 points for one Follower. To have 4 would cost 67 + 5 + 5, or 77 points (each +5 nets 2 x number of Followers). Actual price for 4 100-point base Followers is 30 points ([100/5] = 20 + 5 + 5).

 

4) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I removed his Distinctive Features, since Saimain (Champions Universe) didn't have any either.

 

5) The original version of Huntsman of the Black Forest cost 787 points. He now costs 763, a 24-point decrease. Buying his Followers properly helped.

 

6) Assessment: Huntsman stands a good chance of killing just about every other character in European Enemies. Glacier, in fact, drops in no time to his Bow (2d6 RKA vs 7 DEF) or a few mighty blows from his sword (2d6 HKA + 50 STR = 4d6 HKA = hurting Glacier). Personally, I think he's the one guy who would walk out if you poured all of European Enemies onto a closed arena and let them slug it out. He's fast, strong, tough, hard to hurt, harder to kill, and can seriously dish it out. Which brings up the question of... Why isn't he Hunted? Why? Look at his Reputation! Someone should be after him.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

THE INQUISITION

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
15	STR	5	12-	Lift 200 kg; 3d6 HTH Damage
21	DEX	33	13-	OCV:  7/DCV:  7
23	CON	26	14-
10	BODY	0	11-
13	INT	3	12-	PER Roll 12-
25	EGO	30	14-	ECV:  8
20	PRE	10	13-	PRE Attack:  4d6
10	COM	0	11-

12	PD	9		Total:  12 PD (0 rPD)
12	ED	7		Total:  12 ED (0 rED)
5	SPD	19		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
8	REC	0
46	END	0
30	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  142

Movement:	Running: 6" / 12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
10	Darkness to Sight Group 1" radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance 
(0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); No Range (-1/2), OIHID (-1/4), Only Works At 
Night (-1/2) 
4	Sight Group Images, 1" radius ; Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), 
OIHID (-1/4), Only Works At Night (-1/2), END 1
30	RKA 1d6, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), BOECV (+1), Continuous (+1), Does 
BODY (+1); Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), OIHID (-1/4), Only 
Works At Night (-1/2), END 7
50	Suppress Mutant Powers 5d6, all Powers with a mutant power special effect 
simultaneously (+2), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), BOECV (+1); Concentrate 
(1/2 DCV; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), OIHID (-1/4), Only Works At Night (-1/2), END 11
18	Telepathy 8d6 ; Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), OIHID (-1/4), Only 
Works At Night (-1/2), END 4
35	Find Weakness 12- with all attacks
37	Healing 5d6 (Regeneration; 5 BODY per Turn), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), 
Persistent (+1/2); Extra Time + Increased Time Increment (1 Turn; -1), Self Only (-1), 
OIHID (-1/4), Only Works At Night (-1/2) 

Perks
1	Fringe Benefit:  Right to Marry

Talents
15	Danger Sense 12-

Skills
3	Bureaucratics 13-
3	Conversation 13-
3	Forensics 12-
7	Interrogation 15-
2	KS:  The Spanish Inquisition 11-
3	Mechanics 12-
3	Language:  English (Completely Fluent)
0	Language:  Spanish (native)
3	Oratory 13-
3	Paramedic 12-
3	Persuasion 13-
2	PS:  Priest 11-
2	SS:  Theology 11-

237	Total Powers & Skills Cost
379	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
15	Accidental Change:  11- at night (Common)
5	Distinctive Features:  Scar (EC)
25	Hunted:  Spanish Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
25	Hunted:  Vatican (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
20	Psychological Limitation:  Hates Mutant "Sinners" (C, T)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Multiple Personality Disorder (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Religious Fanatic (VC, T)
15	Reputation:  fanatic mutant killer 11-, Extreme
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
29	Experience

379	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) I tried to reproduce The Inquisition's powers as shown in the original text. One big problem is that his powers are not given any special effects, other than his RKA is some sort of "painful psionic killing attack." The Darkness is a "cloud of darkness." I'd consider putting all of his powers into some sort of Elemental Control, except I'm not sure what they are (although I suspect various forms of mental powers). In any case, I rebuilt all of The Inquisition's using 5th Edition rules, resulting in a great number of changes in point totals.

 

2) The Inquisition is yet another character in European Enemies with Find Weakness (roughly 1/4th of the book's 42 characters have this power) and like most everyone else, he pays the wrong amount for it. Find Weakness with all attacks is 30 points base for an 11- roll. The extra +1 adds 5 points to the power. So, while the original paid 25 points, he should be paying 35.

 

3) The Knowledge Skill rewritten from "Spanish The Inquisitor" to "The Spanish Inquisition." I have no idea what was meant there.

 

4) Paramedic was 3 points for an 11-. His INT makes that a 12- automatically.

 

5) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. No, I have no idea what he changes into accidentally at night (his "Hero Form" I guess). His Distinctive Features is mentioned on the character sheet but not described under "Appearance" section. His Hunteds are based on a logical guess. I'm fairly sure the Vatican has significant power and influence in Spain. Fixed his Psychological Limitations, and as per An Eye For An Eye listed his Multiple Personality Disorder as a Psychological Limitations.

 

6) The original version of The Inquisition cost 364 points. He now costs 379, a 15-point increase.

 

7) Assessment: The book doesn't bother to tell us which Disadvantages are for his night-only villain form, and which are for his daytime "mild-mannered priest." The Inquisition is probably better written up using Multiform. The Inquisition's powers are a horrible mess. No explanation is given for his Incantations, or what he is saying as Incantations. Since they only work at night, he's basically a one-trick pony (not as bad for a villain as for a hero), and like many European Enemies characters, can dish it out, but can't really take it.

 

As a side note, the character's name is "The Inquisition." In the original text, this leads to such awkward looking sentences as "Rumors of the The Inquisition's activities...".

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

MAMMOTH

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
85	STR	75	26-	3.2 ktons, 17d6 HTH Damage
19	DEX	27	13-	OCV:  6/DCV:  6
50	CON	80	19-
20	BODY	20	13-
23	INT	13	14-	PER Roll 12-
17	EGO	14	12-	ECV:  6
20	PRE	10	13-	PRE Attack:  4d6
6	COM	-2	10-

30	PD	13		Total:  30 PD (25 rPD)
20	ED	10		Total:  20 ED (15 rED)
4	SPD	11		Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
27	REC	0
100	END	0
88	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  271

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
53	Equipment:  Variable Power Pool (Gadget Pool), 40 base + 20 control cost; Can Only Be 
Change In Mammoth's Lab (-1/2)
16	Immense Weight:  Knockback Resistance (-8")
4	Long Arms:  Stretching 1â€, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Always Direct (-1/4), No 
Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No Velocity Damage (-1/4)
20	Invulnerable:  Damage Resistance (25 PD/15 ED)
30	Find Weakness 11- with all attacks

Perks
30	Base

Talents
5	Eidetic Memory
3	Lightning Calculator

Skills
10	Combat Skill Levels:  +2 with Hand-To-Hand

3	Computer Programming 14-
3	Electronics 14-
3	Inventor 14-
3	Language:  Danish (Completely Fluent)
3	Language:  Dutch (Completely Fluent)
3	Language:  English (Completely Fluent)
3	Language:  Finnish (Completely Fluent)
3	Language:  German (Completely Fluent)
0	Language:  Icelandic (native)
3	Language:  Swedish (Completely Fluent)
3	Mechanics 14-
2	SS:  Biochemistry 14-
2	SS:  Chemistry 14-
2	SS:  Computer Design 14-
2	SS:  Electrical Engineering 14-
2	SS:  Genetics 14-
2	SS:  Physics 14-

213	Total Powers and Skills Cost
484	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
20	Hunted:  Icelandic Government (AsPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
20	Hunted:  Swedish Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 8-
10	Hunted:  Eurostar (MoPow, Kill) 8-
0	Hunted:  UNTIL (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 8-
5	Physical Limitation:  Large, 11' tall, with an 800 kg mass (-2 DCV, +2 to PER Rolls to 
perceive) (I, S)
25	Psychological Limitation:  Megalomaniac (VC, T)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Hates Eurostar (especially Fiacho) (C, S)
15	Social Limitation:  Public ID (F, M)
10	Reputation:  ruthless killer 11-
30	Vulnerability:  2 x BODY from Heat-based attacks
134	Experience

484	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) I removed Mammoth's 1 level of Growth (Always On), per the accepted 5th Edition way of creating heavy and large characters. Of course, Mammoth doesn't really have just 1 level of Growth in the first place. He originally had 3, an observation borne out by examining his point totals for different Characteristics.

 

2) Rebuilt Mammoth's Variable Power Pool. Nothing special here, except some of the items he's said to use as part of his gadget pool sound like they will be more than 40 Active Points.

 

3) Mammoth definitely benefited from 5th Edition's dropping of General 11- Skills in favor of basing everything off of a Characteristic. His Electronics and Mechanics jumped from 12- to 14- and he saved 4 points in the process!

 

4) No rolls given for Science Skills of Genetics and Biochemistry. As they cost 3 points each, presumed they were the same as the other Science skills and gave them a 14-.

 

5) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. Amazingly, Mammoth doesn't get a Distinctive Features for being 11' tall, covered in thick hair, and equipped with two large ivory tusks. He is, however, overloaded with Hunteds. I added in the Large Physical Limitation per The Ultimate Brick, and folded the Psychological Limitation of "Holds The World In Contempt" into his "Megalomaniac" Disadvantage -- one is basically a subset of the other.

 

6) The original version of Mammoth cost 485 points. He now costs 484, a 1-point decrease.

 

7) Assessment: Mammoth, amazingly enough, pays the correct amount for Find Weakness! I think he's the first character to do so. Now, while Mammoth's write-up makes sense and is actually free of the mistakes prevalent throughout European Enemies, the origin story is so lame as to verge on sheer stupidity. I mean come on, if you're going to take over the world with an all-powerful computer, why turn yourself into a huge hairy monster? And extracting DNA from a mammoth? Why not something useful? Like a gorilla or tiger?

 

Anyway, if you want to further debug Mammoth, give him Linguist and Scientist, that'll save a few points at any rate. I'd also up his Gadget Pool, give it a minimum Focus Limitation of IIF (-1/4), and maybe some sort of Life Support versus cold.

 

For what it's worth, Alex Fauth states that White Rose can beat Mammoth in one turn, and there isn't a thing he can do about it.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

3) The Knowledge Skill rewritten from "Spanish The Inquisitor" to "The Spanish Inquisition."

 

(snip)

 

I have no idea what was meant there.As a side note, the character's name is "The Inquisition." In the original text, this leads to such awkward looking sentences as "Rumors of the The Inquisition's activities...".

 

Looks like someone did some kind of really WEIRD edit-swap between 'The Inquisition' and 'The Inquisitor', and appropriately enough, fit right in with The Book Of A Thousand FUBARs.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

Looks like someone did some kind of really WEIRD edit-swap between 'The Inquisition' and 'The Inquisitor'' date=' and appropriately enough, fit right in with The Book Of A Thousand FUBARs.[/quote']

 

I would redefine this character totally and make him one of those ultra grey Iron Age characters. Basically, he's out to punish other superhumans while denying the fact he's one himself. A form of overcompensation. Using the Multiform idea would lend credence to that.

 

Rob

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

MIDNIGHT SUN

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
25	STR	15	14-	Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH Damage
21	DEX	33	13-	OCV:  7/DCV:  7
25	CON	30	14-
10	BODY	0	11-
13	INT	3	12-	PER Roll 12-
14	EGO	8	12-	ECV:  5
18	PRE	8	13-	PRE Attack:  3 1/2d6
20	COM	5	13-

12	PD	7		Total:  12 PD (0 rPD)
29	ED	24		Total:  29 ED (20 rED)
5	SPD	19		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
10	REC	0
50	END	0
36	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost: 157

Movement:	Flight:  40"/80"
Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
80	Light Manipulation Powers:  Multipower; 100-point reserve; all Only In 
Daylight (-1/4)
11m	1) EB 16d6; No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Daylight (-1/4), END 8
12m	2) EB 12d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Daylight (-1/4), 
END 9
12m	3) EB 12d6, Explosion (+1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Daylight (-1/4), END 9
13m	4) Sight Group Flash 8d6, Area Of Effect (4" Radius; +1); Only In Daylight (-1/4), 
END 8
13m	5) Flight 40"; Only In Daylight (-1/4), END 8

33	Sight Group Flash 4d6, Continuous (+1), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4), 
Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), 
Only In Daylight (-1/4)
10	Damage Resistance (20 ED)

Perks
5	Fringe Benefit:  Member of the Aristocracy

Talents
3	Perfect Pitch

Skills
9	Combat Skill Levels:  +3 With Multipower

3	Acrobatics 13-
3	Electronics 12-
3	Language:  English (Completely Fluent)
1	Language:  French (Basic Conversation)
0	Language:  Swedish (native)
5	PS:  Musician/Singer 15-
3	Streetwise 13-

219	Total Powers & Skills Cost
376	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
20	Accidental Change:  11- when exposed to daylight (Very Common)
20	Hunted:  Finnish Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture)  8-
25	Hunted:  Swedish Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Believes He Should Be Treated Like Nobility (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Hates Hoarfrost (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Loves Yana Knurason (a.k.a. Hoarfrost) (C, S)
10	Reputation:  mad killer 11-
15	Social Limitation:  Public ID (F, M)
10	Susceptibility:  to Hoarfrost, takes 1d6  damage per Turn (Uncommon)
5	Unluck:  1d6
10	Vulnerability:  2 x BODY from Cold attacks
26	Experience

376	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Midnight Sun paid 10 points for his 12 PD. This was corrected to 7 (25/5 = 5 base PD).

 

2) Midnight Sun paid 25 points to have his 29 ED. This was corrected to 24 (25/5 = 5 base ED).

 

3) Midnight Sun paid a whopping 40 points for his 5 SPD. This was corrected to 19 ([21/10] = 2.1 + 1 = 3.1 base SPD).

 

4) The errata sheet states that Midnight Sun's EB 16d6 should have the No Knockback Limitation. I made the correction. I would also like to point out that the Limitation is written as "Only Works In Daylight," while the Powers/Tactics text states the powers work as long as it is day outside. Thus, his powers work inside a building or even if it is cloudy or overcast. I really think the Limitation needs to be worded to something like "Only During The Day" or "Not At Night" and should only be a (-1/4) Limitation.

 

5) In order to Midnight Sun from blinding himself, I added "Personal Immunity" to his Continuous Flash Attack. I also had to add "Uncontrolled" for it to work properly as an Always On power.

 

6) Combat Skill Levels bought at 3 points per level, not 5, since his Multipower certainly qualifies as a "tight group."

 

7) Kudos to Midnight Sun for being the first published character I can think of offhand to have "Perfect Pitch" in their write-up.

 

8) Basing the PS off of PRE drops it to 5 points.

 

9) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I must admit, these Disadvantages indicate that someone in the design process was totally out to lunch. He has an Accidental Change, but no where does it say what he changes into. He glows brightly, but he doesn't have a Distinctive Features to account for this (What? No bonus to other's PER Rolls to spot him?). He is another one of those Public ID types, who also happens to be a psychopath, and is Hunted by two major governments. Yeah... right. Oh, and while we are on the subject, look at his Reputation -- "mad killer." Do you know how many characters in European Enemies have this sort of Reputation? Somewhere between 8 and 12 (depending on how you look at it). I mean, come one, just how many psychopaths and sociopaths does an Enemies book need? This is a Champions supplement, not a Dark Champions book.

 

10) The original version of Midnight Sun cost 384 points. He now costs 376, an 8-point decrease. Having him pay the right amounts for his Characteristics helped a lot.

 

11) Assessment: Okay... let's start at the top. Midnight Sun's Multipower is fine, no complaints there, but... his No Range Flash doesn't work as described in the text, and, in fact, doesn't do much as all. Although it's Always On, it hasn't been bought with any sort of Area of Effect Advantage (or Explosion) so its not going to hit anyone (unless Midnight Sun hits them, and he has to specifically use his Flash, not just punch them). So, basically, he's dropped 33 points on a power that does nothing (and in the original version, he's dropped 27 points on a power that does nothing but blind himself!).

 

The funniest part of Midnight Sun's write up has to be the fact that he's just asking to die at the hands of Hoarfrost. He hates her, but takes 1d6 per Turn if she... uhm... hmm... I guess if she touches him or is really close by (funny... Hoarfrost also takes 1d6 from Midnight Sun...). He also takes 2 x BODY from Cold attacks, which means that Hoarfrost unloads her 5d6 RKA on Midnight Sun he takes (on average) 34 BODY! Oh, Armor Piercing, but that doesn't matter because Midnight Sun doesn't have any resistant PD, and only has 10 BODY. Scratch one Midnight Sun. I guess it's a good thing that Hoarfrost has that "Loves Midnight Sun" Psychological Limitation, eh?

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

MIDNIGHT SUN

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
25	STR	15	14-	Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH Damage
21	DEX	33	13-	OCV:  7/DCV:  7
25	CON	30	14-
10	BODY	0	11-
13	INT	3	12-	PER Roll 12-
14	EGO	8	12-	ECV:  5
18	PRE	8	13-	PRE Attack:  3 1/2d6
20	COM	5	13-

12	PD	7		Total:  12 PD (0 rPD)
29	ED	24		Total:  29 ED (20 rED)
5	SPD	19		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
10	REC	0
50	END	0
36	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost: 157

Movement:	Flight:  40"/80"
Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
80	Light Manipulation Powers:  Multipower; 100-point reserve; all Only In 
Daylight (-1/4)
11m	1) EB 16d6; No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Daylight (-1/4), END 8
12m	2) EB 12d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Daylight (-1/4), 
END 9
12m	3) EB 12d6, Explosion (+1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Daylight (-1/4), END 9
13m	4) Sight Group Flash 8d6, Area Of Effect (4" Radius; +1); Only In Daylight (-1/4), 
END 8
13m	5) Flight 40"; Only In Daylight (-1/4), END 8

33	Sight Group Flash 4d6, Continuous (+1), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4), 
Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), 
Only In Daylight (-1/4)
10	Damage Resistance (20 ED)

Perks
5	Fringe Benefit:  Member of the Aristocracy

Talents
3	Perfect Pitch

Skills
9	Combat Skill Levels:  +3 With Multipower

3	Acrobatics 13-
3	Electronics 12-
3	Language:  English (Completely Fluent)
1	Language:  French (Basic Conversation)
0	Language:  Swedish (native)
5	PS:  Musician/Singer 15-
3	Streetwise 13-

219	Total Powers & Skills Cost
376	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
20	Accidental Change:  11- when exposed to daylight (Very Common)
20	Hunted:  Finnish Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture)  8-
25	Hunted:  Swedish Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Believes He Should Be Treated Like Nobility (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Hates Hoarfrost (C, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Loves Yana Knurason (a.k.a. Hoarfrost) (C, S)
10	Reputation:  mad killer 11-
15	Social Limitation:  Public ID (F, M)
10	Susceptibility:  to Hoarfrost, takes 1d6  damage per Turn (Uncommon)
5	Unluck:  1d6
10	Vulnerability:  2 x BODY from Cold attacks
26	Experience

376	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Midnight Sun paid 10 points for his 12 PD. This was corrected to 7 (25/5 = 5 base PD).

 

2) Midnight Sun paid 25 points to have his 29 ED. This was corrected to 24 (25/5 = 5 base ED).

 

3) Midnight Sun paid a whopping 40 points for his 5 SPD. This was corrected to 19 ([21/10] = 2.1 + 1 = 3.1 base SPD).

 

4) The errata sheet states that Midnight Sun's EB 16d6 should have the No Knockback Limitation. I made the correction. I would also like to point out that the Limitation is written as "Only Works In Daylight," while the Powers/Tactics text states the powers work as long as it is day outside. Thus, his powers work inside a building or even if it is cloudy or overcast. I really think the Limitation needs to be worded to something like "Only During The Day" or "Not At Night" and should only be a (-1/4) Limitation.

 

5) In order to Midnight Sun from blinding himself, I added "Personal Immunity" to his Continuous Flash Attack. I also had to add "Uncontrolled" for it to work properly as an Always On power.

 

6) Combat Skill Levels bought at 3 points per level, not 5, since his Multipower certainly qualifies as a "tight group."

 

7) Kudos to Midnight Sun for being the first published character I can think of offhand to have "Perfect Pitch" in their write-up.

 

8) Basing the PS off of PRE drops it to 5 points.

 

9) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I must admit, these Disadvantages indicate that someone in the design process was totally out to lunch. He has an Accidental Change, but no where does it say what he changes into. He glows brightly, but he doesn't have a Distinctive Features to account for this (What? No bonus to other's PER Rolls to spot him?). He is another one of those Public ID types, who also happens to be a psychopath, and is Hunted by two major governments. Yeah... right. Oh, and while we are on the subject, look at his Reputation -- "mad killer." Do you know how many characters in European Enemies have this sort of Reputation? Somewhere between 8 and 12 (depending on how you look at it). I mean, come one, just how many psychopaths and sociopaths does an Enemies book need? This is a Champions supplement, not a Dark Champions book.

 

10) The original version of Midnight Sun cost 384 points. He now costs 376, an 8-point decrease. Having him pay the right amounts for his Characteristics helped a lot.

 

11) Assessment: Okay... let's start at the top. Midnight Sun's Multipower is fine, no complaints there, but... his No Range Flash doesn't work as described in the text, and, in fact, doesn't do much as all. Although it's Always On, it hasn't been bought with any sort of Area of Effect Advantage (or Explosion) so its not going to hit anyone (unless Midnight Sun hits them, and he has to specifically use his Flash, not just punch them). So, basically, he's dropped 33 points on a power that does nothing (and in the original version, he's dropped 27 points on a power that does nothing but blind himself!).

 

The funniest part of Midnight Sun's write up has to be the fact that he's just asking to die at the hands of Hoarfrost. He hates her, but takes 1d6 per Turn if she... uhm... hmm... I guess if she touches him or is really close by (funny... Hoarfrost also takes 1d6 from Midnight Sun...). He also takes 2 x BODY from Cold attacks, which means that Hoarfrost unloads her 5d6 RKA on Midnight Sun he takes (on average) 34 BODY! Oh, Armor Piercing, but that doesn't matter because Midnight Sun doesn't have any resistant PD, and only has 10 BODY. Scratch one Midnight Sun. I guess it's a good thing that Hoarfrost has that "Loves Midnight Sun" Psychological Limitation, eh?

 

I'm pretty sure 4th Edition Menton had Perfect Pitch as well....and that would predate this book...just as a useless bit of trivia.

 

Rob

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
15	STR	5	12-	Lift 200 kg, 3d6 HTH Damage
23	DEX	39	14-	OCV:  8/DCV:  8
23	CON	26	14-
10	BODY	0	11-
20	INT	10	13-	PER Roll 13-
20	EGO	20	13-	ECV:  7
30	PRE	20	15-	PRE Attack:  6d6
14	COM	2	12-

12	PD	9		Total:  12 PD (0 rPD)
12	ED	7		Total:  12 ED (0 rED)
5	SPD	17		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
8	REC	0
46	END	0
30	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  155

Movement:	Running: 9" / 18"

Cost	Powers & Skills
75	Mental Powers:  Multipower, 75-point reserve
4u	1) Ego Attack 5d6; Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), END 5
7u	2) Mind Control 10d6, Telepathic (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), END 4
2u	3) 4d6 Telepathy; Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), END 2

Martial Arts:  Fencing
Maneuver	OCV	DCV	Damage
5	Defensive Strike	+1	+3	2 1/2d6 HKA
4	Martial Block	+2	+2	Block, Abort
4	Martial Disarm	-1	+1	25 STR Disarm
4	Martial Strike	+0	+2	3d6 HKA
5	Offensive Strike	-2	+1	1 1/2d6 HKA
Use Art With Swords

29	Electrified Saber:  HKA 1 1/2d6 (2d6 w/STR); OAF (-1) plus EB 5d6, NND (defense 
is having Armor or 25+ ED; +1); 16 charges (-0), OAF (-1), Linked (-1/2), 
No Range (-1/2), END 2
10	Mental Defense (14 points)
6	Running +3" (9" total), END 2

Perks
1	Fringe Benefit:  Passport
15	Money:  Filthy Rich

Talents
3	Absolute Time Sense
10	Danger Sense 11-

Skills
6	Combat Skill Levels:  +3 OCV with Saber

3	Acting 15-
2	AK:  France 11-
3	Bureaucratics 15-
3	Conversation 15-
5	Defense Maneuver II
3	Fast Draw (Swords) 14-
3	High Society 15-
2	KS:  Napoleon Bonaparte 11-
2	KS:  Fencing 11-
2	KS:  Fencers 11-
1	Languages:  English (Basic Conversation)
0	Languages:  French (Native), 
9	Oratory 18-
9	Persuasion 18-
3	Riding 14-
3	Seduction 15-
13	Tactics 18-

256	Total Powers & Skill Cost
411	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
15	Enraged:  when someone tells him he's not Napoleon (Common), go 14-, recover 8-
10	Hunted:  Paris Police (AsPow, NCI, LimGeo, Capture) 11-
20	Psychological Limitation:  Code of Chivalry (C, T)
20	Psychological Limitation:  Honorable (C, T)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Thinks He's Napoleon (C, T)
0	Psychological Limitation:  Megalomaniac (C, T)
5	Reputation:  criminal nut 8-
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
116	Experience

411	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) The Napoleon of Crime (NOC for short) paid 26 points for 22 points of Martial Maneuvers.

 

2) NOC's various mental powers placed in a Multipower. I used all Ultra slots, although one could use mulit slots. This would allow NOC to use Telepathy on someone he's actively Mind Controlling.

 

3) The errata sheets states that NOC's Ego Attack should cost 4 END, which is what it costs in the original book. As it is 5d6 of Ego Attack, that's 50 Active Points of power, thus it costs 5 END.

 

4) The errata sheet states that NOC's Mental Defense is 14 points. I made the correction.

 

5) Corrected the various Skill Rolls and the like. In some cases, a Skill Roll needed to be listed, as it was left of the original sheet.

 

6) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I removed NOC's 15 points of Distinctive Features (Not Concealable, Noticeable) as no explanation was given for what it might be (other than an uncanny resemblance to Napoleon).

 

7) The original version of The Napoleon of Crime cost 455 points. He now costs 411, an 44-point decrease. Placing his mental powers in a Multipower helped immensely.

 

8) Assessment: Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that the French supervillain is a take off on Napoleon? How wonderfully original. Next, I expect the British character to be either John Bull or Winston Churchill (or Wellington), the Spanish to be El Cid (or maybe Christopher Columbus), the Russian to be either Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, or Joseph Stalin (who at least has the whole "man of steel" thing going for him), and the German to be either Sigfreid, Erwin Rommel, or possibly Adolph Hitler (well, it worked for The Boys From Brazil). Can we be any more absurd/cliched/offensive/stereotyped? Well, maybe if he'd been a cheese-eating, wine-drinking, mime, what would have been stereotyping. But then, a mime supervillain has something going for it, especially if you used classic mime routines as the basis for superpowers (Walking against the wind = movement Drain, trapped in a glass box = Force Wall, elevator down = Tunneling or Teleport.... say, I might have something here!)

 

For a 411-point character, NOC is rather weak. He has a moderate amount of defense and no resistant defenses, with an unremarkable BODY and STUN score (And why exactly does he have that 30 PRE....?). When you consider two of his mental powers have the Concentrate (1/2 DCV) Limitation, his combat prowess is questionable. Oh, and to be honest, Foxbat has already sewn up the "criminal nut" category fairly tightly.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

THE PIPER

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
18	STR	8	13-	Lift 300 kg; 3 1/2d6 HTH Damage
23	DEX	39	14-	OCV:  8/DCV:  8
23	CON	26	14-
10	BODY	0	11-
18	INT	8	13-	PER Roll 13-
14	EGO	8	12-	ECV:  5
15	PRE	5	12-	PRE Attack:  3d6
12	COM	1	11-

4	PD	0		Total:  29 PD (25 rPD)
5	ED	0		Total:  25 ED (20 rED)
5	SPD	17		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
9	REC	0
46	END	0
31	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  112

Movement:	Running:  11"/22"

Cost	Powers & Skills
14	Sonic Powers:  Elemental Control; 56-point powers; all OAF (Flute;-1)
46	1) EB 8d6, NND (defense is unknown; +1), Area Of Effect (9" Cone; +1), END 12
46	2) Hearing Group Flash 12d6, Area Of Effect (7" Cone; +1), END 12
46	3) Mind Control 12d6, Area Of Effect (7" Cone; +1), END 12
46	4) Suppress Sonic Powers 8d6, all Powers with a sonic special effect 
simultaneously (+2), END 12
14	5) Force Field (25 PD/20 ED), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +/14); OAF (-1), END 3

15	Endurance Reserve (250 END, 5 REC); OAF (Flute; -1)
10	Running +5" (11" Total), END 2
10	Luck 2d6

Talents
3	Perfect Pitch

Skills
3	Electronics 13-
9	Inventor 16-
7	KS:  Classical Music 17-
1	Language:  Danish (Basic Conversation)
1	Language:  English (Basic Conversation)
1	Language:  French (Basic Conversation)
0	Language:  German (native)
3	Lip Reading 13-
6	PS:  Flutist 17-
5	SS:  Sonics 15-
3	Systems Operation 13-

316	Total Powers & Skills Cost
429	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
0	Hunted: Eurostar (MoPow, Watching) 8-
25	Hunted:  German Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
25	Hunted:  UNTIL (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 11-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Hates Rock Music (C, S)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Hates To Be Compared To The Pied Piper (U, S)
20	Psychological Limitation:  Paranoid (C, T)
5	Reputation:  Kidnapper 8-
15	Social Limitation:  Public ID (F, M)
114	Experience

429	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Piper paid 4 points for his 14 EGO, This was corrected to 8.

 

2) Rebuilt Piper's Cold Powers Elemental Control. Slot one's defense listing is correct -- on the original character sheet, there is no defense listed for the NND, either on the character sheet or in the text. All the write-up says is "Sonic Attack," which is real helpful. I also folded the Force Field into the Elemental Control, as it is (I presume) some sort of sonic defensive shield, has the same OAF Limitation as the other powers, and is fed by the same Endurance Reserve as everything else. I know why is was originally left out, all the other powers are 120 Active Points, while the Force Field is 54. Yes, it is less expensive to leave it out, but that smacks of poor character design and of metagaming. See the Assessment for more on the flute.

 

3) By basing Piper's KS, PS, and SS skills off of a characteristic (in this case INT, DEX, and INT), the price of each dropped a point (except for the PS, which dropped two).

 

4) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. The errata sheet states that Piper should not have the Normal Characteristic Disadvantage, so I removed it.

 

Yes, they really listed "Hates Rock Music" as a Psychological Limitation. I hope Piper never meets Argent Anarky. Piper also had a Psychological Limitation of "Misunderstood and Strange." I took this out because I didn't feel it was a limitation. Okay, to be constantly misunderstood is a limitation, but they don't exactly tell me what sort of limitation it is. The text clarifies this limitation, or, actually gives us another one, which is something akin to a mild form of schizophrenia. Basically, Piper's emotional responses aren't what one would expect based on the situation. Since I was debugging just the write-up, and trying to not let the text influence my adjustments, I simply dropped the limitation entirely, feeling it fell under the "illogical" rule on debugging the characters.

 

5) The original version of Piper cost 377 points. He now costs 411, a 34-point increase. All the points came from rebuilding his Elemental Control properly.

 

6) Assessment: Piper is another one of those European Enemies characters who logically doesn't add up. He's basically a normal human with a sonic weapon in the form of a flute. Okay, so far so good, technological marvels such as that are common in comics. The illogic, at least in my opinion, is in his stats. No where do we find justification for his 18 STR, 23 DEX, 23 CON, 5 SPD, and so on. What makes him so physically fit? At least Hood has the excuse of being an expert hunter and archer to backup his Characteristics. Piper's not a mutant, or a super serum test subject, or much of anything else, he's just a former classical flutist who's done time in a German prison for murder.

 

The flute itself gives me headaches. I presume he has to play it in order for it to work, but here's the problem -- the write-up doesn't reflect that. As written, it's perfectly valid, if Piper has his OAF flute in his hand, then he has access to his Elemental Control. At no time are the SFX aren't taken into consideration with regards to limitations.

 

If you really want to debug Piper, one would need to make each slot "Area Of Effect (Radius)," and "No Range," and add "Incantations (Throughout)." The Incantations represent the fact Piper needs to play the flute constantly to keep each power going.

 

Note the Piper also has a Public Identity. Once again I question the logic behind this disadvantage.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

SILHOUETTE

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
13	STR	3	12-	Lift 150 kg; 2 1/2d6 HTH Damage
25	DEX	30	14-	OCV:  8/DCV:  8
20	CON	20	13-
15	BODY	10	12-
18	INT	8	13-	PER Roll 13-
14	EGO	8	12-	ECV:  5
15	PRE	5	12-	PRE Attack:  3d6
18	COM	4	13-

6	PD	3		Total:  16 PD (10 rPD)
6	ED	2		Total:  26 ED (20 rED)
5	SPD	15		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
7	REC	0
40	END	0
32	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  123

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
72	Shadowform:  Invisibility to Sight Group, No Fringe, Reduced Endurance 
(0 END; +1/2); Extra Time (Full Phase to start up; -1/4) plus Armor (10 PD/20 ED); 
Linked (-1/2) plus Darkness to Sight Group 1" radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4); 
Linked  (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), END 
20	Shadowform:  Desolidification (affected by sonic attacks); Cannot Pass Through Solid 
Objects (-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), END 8
5	IR Perception (Sight Group)

Talents
3	Lightsleep

Skills
8	AK:  Istanbul, Turkey 18-
3	Acrobatics 14-
3	Breakfall 14-
3	Bribery 12-
3	Bugging 13-
3	Climbing 14-
3	Concealment 13-
3	Conversation 12-
3	Disguise 13-
3	Lip-reading 13-
3	Lockpicking 14-
4	Language:  English (Idiomatic)
4	Language:  French (Idiomatic)
4	Language:  Russian (Idiomatic)
0	Language:  Turkish (native)
3	Security Systems 13-
3	Seduction 12-
3	Shadowing 13-
3	Stealth 14-
3	Streetwise 12-

165	Total Powers & Skills Cost
288	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
10	Hunted:  Istanbul Police (MoPow, NCI, LimGeo, Capture) 8-
20	Hunted:  KBG (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 8-
20	Hunted:  UNTIL (MoPow, Capture) 8-
15	Psychological Limitation:  Distrusts Men (C, S)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Fears Being Poor Again (C, M)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Vengeful (C, S)
10	Reputation:  best thief in turkey ,11-
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
30	Vulnerability:  2 x Effect from PRE Attacks

345	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Rebuilt Silhouette's Shadowform power by Linking all secondary powers to her Invisibility. The Desolidification remained a separate power, with all Limitations defined per 5th Edition.

 

2) Silhouette's Skill Rolls were all over the place. I won't go through each and every one, but suffice to say that she was listed as having an 11- with many skills in which the base Characteristic roll was much higher. I fixed all Skill Rolls to show the correct amount.

 

3) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. Notice she has 57 more points of Disadvantages than she technically needs.

 

4) The original version of Silhouette cost 299 points. She now costs 288, a 10-point increase. Rebuilding her Shadowform seems to be the reason why.

 

5) Assessment: Silhouette has no offensive powers aside from her 13 STR. This isn't a flaw, just a curious side note. However, based on the text in the book, I'd expect her to have something like Martial Arts, or a weapon, such as a pistol or a knife.

 

According to her color text, Silhouette is missing a few skills, specifically a few Professional Skills dealing with running a bar and brokering information, as well as a KS dealing with intelligence agencies. In fact, based on her color text, she should have a number of KS skills, since she deals in information of all kinds, and should have some knowledge of the Istanbul underworld.

 

I'm not sure why someone living in Turkey is named after a Hindu god of death and destruction. This is also not a flaw, just an observation.

 

Nothing in Silhouette's origin text or personality explains her Vulnerability.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

But then' date=' a mime supervillain has something going for it, especially if you used classic mime routines as the basis for superpowers (Walking against the wind = movement Drain, trapped in a glass box = Force Wall, elevator down = Tunneling or Teleport.... say, I might have something here!) [/quote']

 

If you like the idea of a Mime villain, check out my "Sharing the Wealth" thread for - naturally - the Mime. I'd be glad to hear your comments about that character, given what an astute job you do of analyzing the EE bunch - and I promise neither Mime nor any of the others is nearly as painful to read about as most of the EE characters.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
15	STR	5	12-	Lift 200 kg, 3d6 HTH Damage
23	DEX	39	14-	OCV:  8/DCV:  8
23	CON	26	14-
10	BODY	0	11-
20	INT	10	13-	PER Roll 13-
20	EGO	20	13-	ECV:  7
30	PRE	20	15-	PRE Attack:  6d6
14	COM	2	12-

12	PD	9		Total:  12 PD (0 rPD)
12	ED	7		Total:  12 ED (0 rED)
5	SPD	17		Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
8	REC	0
46	END	0
30	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  155

Movement:	Running: 9" / 18"

Cost	Powers & Skills
75	Mental Powers:  Multipower, 75-point reserve
4u	1) Ego Attack 5d6; Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), END 5
7u	2) Mind Control 10d6, Telepathic (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), END 4
2u	3) 4d6 Telepathy; Concentrate (1/2 DCV; -1/4), END 2

Martial Arts:  Fencing
Maneuver	OCV	DCV	Damage
5	Defensive Strike	+1	+3	2 1/2d6 HKA
4	Martial Block	+2	+2	Block, Abort
4	Martial Disarm	-1	+1	25 STR Disarm
4	Martial Strike	+0	+2	3d6 HKA
5	Offensive Strike	-2	+1	1 1/2d6 HKA
Use Art With Swords

29	Electrified Saber:  HKA 1 1/2d6 (2d6 w/STR); OAF (-1) plus EB 5d6, NND (defense 
is having Armor or 25+ ED; +1); 16 charges (-0), OAF (-1), Linked (-1/2), 
No Range (-1/2), END 2
10	Mental Defense (14 points)
6	Running +3" (9" total), END 2

Perks
1	Fringe Benefit:  Passport
15	Money:  Filthy Rich

Talents
3	Absolute Time Sense
10	Danger Sense 11-

Skills
6	Combat Skill Levels:  +3 OCV with Saber

3	Acting 15-
2	AK:  France 11-
3	Bureaucratics 15-
3	Conversation 15-
5	Defense Maneuver II
3	Fast Draw (Swords) 14-
3	High Society 15-
2	KS:  Napoleon Bonaparte 11-
2	KS:  Fencing 11-
2	KS:  Fencers 11-
1	Languages:  English (Basic Conversation)
0	Languages:  French (Native), 
9	Oratory 18-
9	Persuasion 18-
3	Riding 14-
3	Seduction 15-
13	Tactics 18-

256	Total Powers & Skill Cost
411	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
15	Enraged:  when someone tells him he's not Napoleon (Common), go 14-, recover 8-
10	Hunted:  Paris Police (AsPow, NCI, LimGeo, Capture) 11-
20	Psychological Limitation:  Code of Chivalry (C, T)
20	Psychological Limitation:  Honorable (C, T)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Thinks He's Napoleon (C, T)
0	Psychological Limitation:  Megalomaniac (C, T)
5	Reputation:  criminal nut 8-
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
116	Experience

411	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) The Napoleon of Crime (NOC for short) paid 26 points for 22 points of Martial Maneuvers.

 

2) NOC's various mental powers placed in a Multipower. I used all Ultra slots, although one could use mulit slots. This would allow NOC to use Telepathy on someone he's actively Mind Controlling.

 

3) The errata sheets states that NOC's Ego Attack should cost 4 END, which is what it costs in the original book. As it is 5d6 of Ego Attack, that's 50 Active Points of power, thus it costs 5 END.

 

4) The errata sheet states that NOC's Mental Defense is 14 points. I made the correction.

 

5) Corrected the various Skill Rolls and the like. In some cases, a Skill Roll needed to be listed, as it was left of the original sheet.

 

6) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I removed NOC's 15 points of Distinctive Features (Not Concealable, Noticeable) as no explanation was given for what it might be (other than an uncanny resemblance to Napoleon).

 

7) The original version of The Napoleon of Crime cost 455 points. He now costs 411, an 44-point decrease. Placing his mental powers in a Multipower helped immensely.

 

8) Assessment: Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that the French supervillain is a take off on Napoleon? How wonderfully original. Next, I expect the British character to be either John Bull or Winston Churchill (or Wellington), the Spanish to be El Cid (or maybe Christopher Columbus), the Russian to be either Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, or Joseph Stalin (who at least has the whole "man of steel" thing going for him), and the German to be either Sigfreid, Erwin Rommel, or possibly Adolph Hitler (well, it worked for The Boys From Brazil). Can we be any more absurd/cliched/offensive/stereotyped? Well, maybe if he'd been a cheese-eating, wine-drinking, mime, what would have been stereotyping. But then, a mime supervillain has something going for it, especially if you used classic mime routines as the basis for superpowers (Walking against the wind = movement Drain, trapped in a glass box = Force Wall, elevator down = Tunneling or Teleport.... say, I might have something here!)

 

For a 411-point character, NOC is rather weak. He has a moderate amount of defense and no resistant defenses, with an unremarkable BODY and STUN score (And why exactly does he have that 30 PRE....?). When you consider two of his mental powers have the Concentrate (1/2 DCV) Limitation, his combat prowess is questionable. Oh, and to be honest, Foxbat has already sewn up the "criminal nut" category fairly tightly.

 

Yeah...this character is one of the harder ones to do anything with. I'd probably give him normal characteristic maxima as well, but I can't see this guy being anything but a prologue to a more interesting villain.

 

Rob

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

SIR GAWAIN

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
25	STR	15	14-	800 kg; 5d6 HTH Damage
29	DEX	57	15-	OCV:  7/DCV:  7
23	CON	26	14-
12	BODY	4	12-
10	INT	0	11-	PER Roll 11-
18	EGO	16	13-	ECV:  6
28	PRE	18	15-	PRE Attack:  5 1/2d6
14	COM	2	12-

15	PD	10		Total:  15 PD (14 rPD)
12	ED	7		Total:  12 ED (12 [14] rED)
7	SPD	31		Phases:  2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12
10	REC	0
46	END	0
37	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  186

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"

Cost	Powers & Skills
Martial Arts:  Sword Skill
Maneuver	OCV	DCV	Damage
4	Block	+2	+2	Block, Abort
5	Defensive Strike	+1	+3	STR Strike
4	Disarm	-1	+1	+10 STR Disarm
5	Offensive Strike	-2	+1	STR +4d6 Strike
Use Art With Sword

38	Magical Gift of Strength:  Multiform (assume 287-point 40 STR, 314-point 65 STR, 
or 334-point 80 STR form; true form is 304-point 25 STR form); Forms Change At 
Precise Times, And No Other (-1)
20	Sword:  HKA 2 1/2d6 (up to 3d6+1 with STR and Maneuvers); OAF (-1), END 4
8	Sword:  Detect Blooded Enemies, Sense, Ranged, +3 PER, OAF (-1)
9	Armor:  Damage Resistance (14 PD/14 ED); OIF (-1/2)
3	Armor:  Lack of Weakness for Resistant Defenses (-5); OIF (-1/2)
7	Armor:  Mental Defense (10 points); OIF (-1/2)
7	Armor:  Power Defense (10 points); OIF (-1/2)

Skills
6	Combat Skill Levels:  +2 with Sword
5	Combat Skill Levels:  +1 with Hand-to-Hand

3	High Society 15-
4	KS:  Family History 13-
0	Language:  English (native)
3	Riding 13-
2	Survival (Choice) 12-
5	Tactics 12-
2	WF:  Common Melee Weapons

118	Total Powers & Skills Cost
304	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
5	Distinctive Features:  Archaic Speech Patterns (EC)
10	Enraged:  if code of honor is insulted (Uncommon), go 11-, recover 11-
10	Hunted:  Black Paladin (AsPow, Capture/Kill) 8-
20	Psychological Limitation:  Code of Chivalry (VC, S)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Vengeful (C, S)
5	Rivalry:  any "chivalrous" character (professional)
15	Social Limitation:  Public ID (F, M)
15	Unluck:  3d6
20	Vulnerability:  2 x BODY from Magic attacks
20	Vulnerability:  2 x STUN from Magic attacks

335	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Sir Gawain's original character sheet showed that he got stronger as it came closer to 12 noon. His STR, CON, BODY (and so on.) went up, but his DEX and SPD went down. The problem is, no where on his character sheet are the Limitation values explained for the various periods of time that he has each characteristic. After some thought I decided to represent Gawain's power via Multiform. Basically, Gawain changes forms at set time periods throughout the day. Everything he has stays the same, just his physical characteristics change. Gawain's Multiform looks like this:

CHA	9 PM-3 AM	3-8 AM/4-9 PM	8-11 AM/1-4 PM	11 AM-1 PM
STR	25	40	65	80
DEX	29	26	23	20
CON	23	28	33	38
BODY	12	15	18	21
INT	10	10	10	10
EGO	18	18	18	18
PRE	28	28	28	28
COM	14	14	14	14
PD	15	20	25	30
ED	12	16	20	24
SPD	7	6	5	4
REC	10	14	20	24
END	46	56	66	76
STUN	37	49	68	80

I decided to give the Multiform a -1 limitation to represent it's "locked" state. Gawain cannot choose to change forms, and changes forms automatically, whether he likes it or not.

 

2) Gawain's Martial Arts cost 18 points, not 19.

 

3) Gawain's KS costs 4 points for a 13-, not 7.

 

4) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. Gawain's Rivalry was dropped from 10 points to 5, as I couldn't figure out how it could net him 10 points. It would have to be either Professional/Romantic, With A Superior, or With A PC. It is probably the latter that makes it 10 points, but since no one PC was specified, I decided to drop it back down to 5. YMMV.

 

5) The original version of Sir Gawain cost 356 points. He now costs 304, a 52-point decrease. I'm not even going to try and guess how the original character total was determined.

 

6) Assessment: I've seen the "Gawain goes stronger as the day progresses" power before. It first cropped up in the old AD&D book Deities and Demigods. This version seems a mite extreme, even if one considers the note in his origin about how his power has been increased a hundredfold.

 

Gawain's origin makes a hash of Arthurian legend. I've never heard anywhere of Guenivere being burned at the stake for her tryst with Lancelot (burning was a more late-period punishment for heretics), and Gawain (AFAIK) didn't die by Lancelot's blade. In addition, his description doesn't match for someone who would have been alive in Arthur's time (which is presumed to be circa 500 AD), but then, it looks like this is a Hollywood version of Arthurian legend. Even so, he should speak Middle English or Old English (or maybe even a variant of Celtic), not modern English as his native language.

 

Note that the 12 noon Gawain is one of the most powerful people in the book, and might be able to give the Huntsman a good run for his money in a fight.

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Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged."

 

SPECTOR

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
10	STR	0	11-	Lift 100 kg; 2d6 HTH Damage
20	DEX	30	13-	OCV:  7/DCV:  7
15	CON	10	12-
10	BODY	0	11-
15	INT	5	12-	PER Roll 12-
15	EGO	10	12-	ECV:  5
10	PRE	0	11-	PRE Attack:  2d6
10	COM	0	11-

7	PD	5		Total:  7 PD (0 rPD)
7	ED	4		Total:  7 ED (0 rED)
6	SPD	50		Phases:  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
15	REC	30
40	END	5
23	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  149

Movement:	Running:  6"/12"
Teleportation:  20"/80"

Cost	Powers & Skills
22	Assault Rifle:  RKA 2d6, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2); 15 Charges (-0), OAF (-1)
132	Teleportation Device:  Teleportation 20", 1 Fixed Location, 1 Floating Location, 
Increased Mass (800 kg), x4 Noncombat, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Useable As Attack (no 
defense given; +1), Ranged (+1/2); IAF (-1/2), END 20
27	Teleportation Device: Desolidification (affected by Energy Blasts); IAF (-1/2), END 4

Talents
18	Danger Sense 15-

Skills
4	Combat Skill Levels:  +4 OCV Assault Rifle

5	AK: Yugoslavia 14-
3	Bureaucratics 11-
3	Concealment 12-
11	Demolitions 16-
3	Electronics 12-
3	Language:  English (Completely Fluent)
0	Language:  Serbian (native)
3	Lockpicking 13-
3	Security Systems 13-
3	Shadowing 12-
3	Stealth 13-
11	Streetwise 15-

254	Total Powers & Skills Cost
403	Total Character Cost

200+	Disadvantages
20	Hunted:  CIA (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 8-
20	Hunted:  Yugoslavian Government (MoPow, NCI, Capture) 8-
20	Normal Characteristic Maxima
20	Psychological Limitation:  Always Obeys Orders of Superiors in the Serbian 
Liberation Force (C, T)
20	Psychological Limitation:  Likes To Kill And Destroy Things (VC, S)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Vengeful (C, S)
10	Reputation:  Serbian terrorist 11-
15	Social Limitation:  Secret ID (F, M)
5	Unluck:  1d6
30	Vulnerability:  2 x Effect from PRE Attacks
37	Experience

403	Total Disadvantage Points

Designer's Notes:

1) Spector paid 30 points to have his 6 Speed. This is fine, until we see he has Normal Characteristic Maxima. His 6 Speed now costs 50 points. On top of his, he paid 20 points for his 15 REC. Taking Normal Characteristic Maxima into account this becomes 30 points.

 

2) Spector's rifle is presented exactly it was in the original text. Much like Godfather's submachine gun, it's not based on any real weapon I know of, and with Autofire combined with only 15 shots seems remarkably useless.

 

3) Spector's Teleportation Device was rebuilt to conform 5th Edition. No defense was given to the Useable As Attack Advantage, while it was originally listed as being able to teleport x6 human mass,which is impossible under the rules.

 

4) Yes, Spector's Desolidification is vulnerable to ... Energy Blast. I kid you not.

 

5) Originally, Spector paid 8 points for his +2 with rifle. The errata sheet states that this is meant to be +4 OCV with his assault rifle. He many not have a lot of shots, but he sure can make them count.

 

 

6) Fixed the point values for all Disadvantages. I'd like to point out that nothing in his origin or personality explains his Vulnerability. In fact, his Psychological Limitations argue against it.

 

7) The original version of Spector cost 400 points. He now costs 403, a 3-point increase.

 

8) Assessment: Let's start at the top. Spector has a 6 SPD, and Normal Characteristic Maxima. Why? One or the other has to go. Personally, I say the 6 SPD, as his origin doesn't support it. In addition note that 15 REC. Why? (Want to know why? So Spector can use the Teleportation Device more than once or twice a battle). Spector's Teleport should be based on an END Reserve, not his personal END.

 

As a side note, the text talks about how Spector will use "his weapons" but prefers his assault rifle. Note they don't list anything else but his rifle on the sheet. I also point out that Spector may belong to the Serbian Liberation Force, but I doubt it's initials are SLF.

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