Rookie Champions rules question(s)

[mytrustyd20]

Heya!

 

My wife and boy played some Champions over the weekend...good fun. However, we come from a strong d20 type background and some things came up during the game that kind of stumped me.

 

Situation one: my son "Shock" (a wise cracking martial artist/electricity mutant) wanted to grab one anti-mutant goon and smash him into another. I had him do a grab and then (in the same action) throw the guy, making a hit roll with a -2 (I figure it is kind of unwieldy). Should this take more time or is there a different mechanic to resolve this?

 

Situation two: My wife's character is "Tempest" (a party girl who hangs with Paris Hilton and Tara Reid by day and fights crime by night...(when she's not partying !!!)). Anyway, Tempest stood in front of a civilian and wanted to protect him. The guy she was fighting had higher speed and just moved around her and picked him up and ran off with him. She was kind of expecting to be able to DO something to react...like make an attack of opportunity or something. In Champions, how do you react to things like this?

 

Thanks much...we're having a great time with this game!

 

RTR

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

Situation one: my son "Shock" (a wise cracking martial artist/electricity mutant) wanted to grab one anti-mutant goon and smash him into another. I had him do a grab and then (in the same action) throw the guy' date=' making a hit roll with a -2 (I figure it is kind of unwieldy). Should this take more time or is there a different mechanic to resolve this?[/quote']

 

I like your aproach. Or just don't let go and use the one goon as a club on the other. About the only difference, under a struct rules interpretation, would be that Static can't make the second attack (the Slam) until his next phase, because the Grab attack ended this phase. It's unclear (IMO) in the rules book, but has been ruled (may be on the FAQ; more likely on the rules board) that the "Squeeze" and "Throw" followup are part of the grab, like rolling damage is part of a punch, but that throwing at another target is another attack action, and requires another phase.

 

Situation two: My wife's character is "Tempest" (a party girl who hangs with Paris Hilton and Tara Reid by day and fights crime by night...(when she's not partying !!!)). Anyway' date=' Tempest stood in front of a civilian and wanted to protect him. The guy she was fighting had higher speed and just moved around her and picked him up and ran off with him. She was kind of expecting to be able to DO something to react...like make an attack of opportunity or something. In Champions, how do you react to things like this?[/quote']

 

I think one of the other books suggests an "interpose" maneuver in which the defender voluntarily lowers his own DCV in exchange for an OCV bonus if someone attacks the person he's protecting. To have an attack available, you would reserve a half phase action for that purpose. eg., ignoring "Interpose":

 

Tempest: I half move to protect Civilian; if anyone comes after her, I'll atack him.

 

GM: Speed Demon rushes towards Civilian to Grab her. Use your reserved half phase.

 

Normally, the reserved half phase requires a DEX roll off, but if a player was that specific about their desired action, I'd generally let them get their action when the stated circumstances arose.

 

You can simulate attacks of opportunity using the Trigger advantage, but it requires spending points - it's not an automatic facet of the rules.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

Heya!

 

My wife and boy played some Champions over the weekend...good fun. However, we come from a strong d20 type background and some things came up during the game that kind of stumped me.

 

Situation one: my son "Shock" (a wise cracking martial artist/electricity mutant) wanted to grab one anti-mutant goon and smash him into another. I had him do a grab and then (in the same action) throw the guy, making a hit roll with a -2 (I figure it is kind of unwieldy). Should this take more time or is there a different mechanic to resolve this?

 

Situation two: My wife's character is "Tempest" (a party girl who hangs with Paris Hilton and Tara Reid by day and fights crime by night...(when she's not partying !!!)). Anyway, Tempest stood in front of a civilian and wanted to protect him. The guy she was fighting had higher speed and just moved around her and picked him up and ran off with him. She was kind of expecting to be able to DO something to react...like make an attack of opportunity or something. In Champions, how do you react to things like this?

 

Thanks much...we're having a great time with this game!

 

RTR

 

Welcome and welcome to Champions/HERO!

 

Situation one: sounds about right. Not sure what the official 5th ed rules regarding this are, but we allow a crush or throw following a grab, for no extra time.

 

Situation two: This is what holding actions are all about. She flies down in front of the civilian (half move) and holds a half phase. When the villain tries to run by and grab him, she tries to interfere - blast the villain, block the grab, whatever. Roll-off DEX to see who gets their action off first.

[mytrustyd20]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

Guys/Gals:

 

Thanks much. Tempest used her full move to move by the fallen civilian...so it sounds like we played it out correctly, given the circumstances.

 

I really appreciate the feedback.

[Blue]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

This remind anyone else of those NFL "You make the call!" commercials.

 

Announcer: "It's Phase 6 and Tempest has a SPD of 6. A speedster with a speed of 9 tries to blow past her to get at someone Tempest is protecting. What is Tempest's best choice of action."

 

[Run Commercial for Villainsupply.com]

 

Announcer: "If you said that since Tempest has an action this segement and has not acted yet, even though the speedster is faster, Tempest can abort to a defensive action to protect her ally/NPC, then you made the right call!"

 

-----

[Blue]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

In case my rambling was too obtuse (as I tend to be), if you have not acted in a given segment, whether it's your action phase or not, if you want to perform an action deemed by your GM to be "defensive", you can use your next action phase now and perform a defensive action.

 

Generally "defensive" actions (Turning on your Force Field, performing a Dodge manuver, Diving for Cover, etc.) are for self-preservation, but I think pretty much any GM will allow a defensive manuever to defend someone else.

 

Look up "Aborting an Action", page 236 of the old 5th Edition Book (I dont' know what page it's on in the newly released 5th Edition Revised). Basically, this is possible as long as you haven't already performed an action this segment. So a wiley villain might hold action, let our hero act first this segment, then try to speed around you with the delayed action. But generally it's more likley a villain will charge in, the hero will take their next action (even if it's not in this segment) and use it to defend the person.

 

Prompting the line: "Curses! Foiled again!"

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

Situation One: Grab & Throw is executed in a single phase, but only if you are trying to damage the target. If you are trying to throw the target at another target, that requires a second attack action, and is covered under the normal throwing rules (-2 is a little light since a character is inherently unbalanced and not aerodynamic which is -4, I think). So, he would have to grab and do X, as long as X isn't a follow-up attack or a throw (which releases the grab); Grab & Squeeze would be good for this phase and he could throw him in the next.

 

As an option, you could interpret this as a Sweep maneuver. Essentially he is making 2 attacks, starting with the grab. If they were adjacent, I might not apply any penalty to the throw, but still require the attack roll. If you read the rule on Sweep, he would be -2 to both attacks (due to the hurried nature of making multiple attacks), and if he succeeds on the grab he can then make a second attack on the other goon (again at -2). The only other thing would be the Sweep maneuver puts you at 1/2 DCV. So, if you look back at your original assessment, you were so close to the rules as to give yourself a pat on the back. Sweep is also a full phase action, so the hero couldn't move an perform it (although there are certainly ways to handle this if you want).

 

Situation Two: You played it correctly, but there is something that Tempest could have done. If the bad guy did not act in the same segment Tempest moved to protect the Civilian, Tempest could have either:

 

A) Abort to Dive for Cover to intercept the bad guy (like a football block). If she made here DfC roll (DEX - 1/1" of diving needed), you could allow (this is an option not an official rule) her to make an attack against the bad guy. If she succeeds, she has interposed herself and bad buy must now maneuver around her after making a DEX roll (possibly penalized by the success of the attack roll) to avoid slamming into her.

 

Abort to Block Adjacent. This is a more official rule than option A. Blocking for another is a -2 penalty to the block roll. Essentially as the badguy moves in to perform the Grab maneuver she Blocks for the civilian (who also technically could be dodging or diving for cover as well - unless the civilian is just so awestruck as to have no abortable action). Hopefully the badguy had enough move to do a 1/2 move and grab maneuver or a grab by (you can't just run up and grab someone for free), and then had enough move to get away before Tempest could react (because unless the badguy did a Grab By the Grab ended his move).

 

As for the AoO functionality in Hero, it exists defensively without question (i.e. Abort to..., particularly Block Adjacent). Offensively, you either need a held action, or need to Hurry an action (+1d6 initiative for -2 to all actions) in a given phase.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

Another option for using one thug to attack another -- instead of grabbing Thug #1 and trying to throw him into Thug #2, you could attack Thug #1 with something that does Knockback, and if you position yourself right, Thug #1 will be Knocked Back into Thug #2, hurting them both from the impact.

[CBikle]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

Hi.

For situation #1, you handled that pretty well. I might've tossed in the OCV penalties for grabs and/or treated the whole maneuver as a variation of the sweep maneuver.

 

For #2, I might've allowed Tempest to abort to grab the innocent and have a dex vs. dex rolloff (normally you can't abort to an offensive action, but I'd allow it because this action seems reasonable).

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Rookie Champions rules question(s)

 

I just thought of something, Tempest could have done a Grab By to grab the Civilian and hold onto her. Then when badguy showed up he would have to forcefully remove the civilian from Tempest's hold.