help with building powers

[Alkai]

Hello All,

 

While I purchased Hero a couple of years ago, I am just now able to run an introductory session for my friends. Blame the delay on my groups' fascination with d20. The session is scheduled for tomorrow night.

 

Anyway, I reckon most of the night will be spent making characters. To make things easier on us all (3 of us played 3rd edition Champions way back in the day, but none have played recently), I chose to go with Sidekick instead of the full Hero System.

 

I think this is a wise move. One of my friends is going to be late to the session, so he sent me his concept and asked me to make his character for him.

 

Now, this guy is not known for his originality, and neither does he really know how Hero works. But I'd rather him play the kind of character that he wants to play, so I'm trying to build the character as close to his vision as possible. Here is the exact text of what he wants me to build for him. The powers I need help with are bolded. The rest I think I can figure out (although feel free to chime in if you have ideas).

 

I want to play Shadowcat

 

Type: the Combatant, a la Wolverine, or Deadpool, or Bullseye, etc. As opposed to say the "speedster" or the "muscle".

 

Concept: Alien Gladiator

Abilities:

Shadowmeld - not true invisibility and not as "schooled" as others in it's use (who can move AND be Shadowmelded) but as long as I don't move too much (I can kneel down and get back up, take out a weapon, and such, but taking a "five-foot step" ruins the meld), I'm "Heavily Camoflauged".

 

Charge/Initiative Priority: Shadowcat is quick, but not necessarily fast, like a cheetah she can make short bursts of speed say every other "round". When charging an opponent has a chance to Stun (possible?) that opponent.

 

Combat Expertise: Expert with all weapons and a few martial arts styles, but focus on Swords/Claws.

 

Low-Light Vision and Keen Hearing; in D&D terms has blind-fighting feat.

 

Also in AD&D terms (trying to think how to put warrior abilities from WOW into D&D terms):

Two-Weapon fighting

Cleave, Great Cleave

Improved Disarm

Improved Feint

Improved Trip

Quick Draw

Improved Initiative

Power attack

Improved Sunder

Improved Critical (keen)

Whirlwind attack

Stunning Blow

 

oh, and yells, one to boost her AND her allies confidence (say giving everyone a +4 to hit, so to speak) and a demoralizing shout (- 4 to hit from enemies).

 

And some minor regeneration ability, Fast healing 1 or 2 (1 point healed per round).

 

Weakness: She relies on weapon and armor; she'll use the best she's got at the time. She's still a master martial artists but, she can't sunder weapons with a Karate Chop.

 

Any help you can give me would be appreciated.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: help with building powers

 

Is this for a supers or heroic level game?

 

I ask because the combat mechanics of HERO are the real key selling point for new players. Being able to model specific abilities is secondary to this because the new players need to understand the mechanics first before the modeling will make sense.

 

If the game is supers it might turn out better to treat this like a convention game and run an intro 4-color game with pre-gen characters.

[Alkai]

Re: help with building powers

 

Yeah, it is a relatively low-powered (200 base, 100 disadvantages) supers game.

 

I'm not sure if they'll want to run pregen'd characters... but that's a good idea. I'll run it by them.

 

It is really only this one particular player who seems to have difficulty separating himself from past RPGs he's played. The rest of the group seemed very interested and looking forward to character design.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: help with building powers

 

Yeah, it is a relatively low-powered (200 base, 100 disadvantages) supers game.

 

I'm not sure if they'll want to run pregen'd characters... but that's a good idea. I'll run it by them.

 

It is really only this one particular player who seems to have difficulty separating himself from past RPGs he's played. The rest of the group seemed very interested and looking forward to character design.

 

This sounds suspiciously similar to an experience I had a couple of years ago.

 

One of the players in our game was a hard-core D&D power gamer. We tried to explain to him that we were going to start with champions until everyone learned the combat mechanics and then change to a heroic lower power genre later. I ended up making the characters for all the players except him. I was not the GM (that's the one thing I've done the least of in roleplaying). Our GM had been running games in D&D and other systems for a long time. His last experience with HERO was 4th ed. He was happy for the change since I was willing to provide rules support with my extensive HERO library (I have about 70-80% of all the 5th ed and probably more of the earlier stuff going back to 1st ed.

 

Anyway, the power gamer wanted to play a character called Iron Lich (think Spawn + Doctor Fate). The guy did not want my help building the character but just wanted to borrow one of our copies of fred (5th ed) which seemed cool at the time since we had 2 copies each of 5er, 5e and Sidekick to go around between me and my friend (That Masked Man on this board). The GM evidently got spoiled by me on the process of character review since I went to great lengths to help make sure all the character's I helped build were balanced to each other (to ensure schtick preservation). The GM was still catching up on all the rules since he was new to 5th and hadn't played or GM'd HERO in several years. He didn't really LOOK at the guys character sheet. It was horrible. Everything was OIF and OIHID in a huge multipower that made no sense. If the character ever lost his focus he had about 50 points worth of characteristics and skills. He ended up causing a villain power inflation reaction by the GM before I figured out what really happened. When I finally got a copy of the character in my hands I converted the concept to a more legal and balanced (with the rest of the team) character who was still arguably the most powerful character. After I showed this to the GM he confronted the player in the nicest way possible. The player sulked and complained about his character 'getting nerfed' every session after that before we finally kicked him out of the group. The game went on after that for about 6 months until one of our original players moved to California. We're now playing D&D 3.5 with characters that started out as 0 Level and are now 3rd and 4th Level. I love the story the GM is telling (his own world) but I have little desire to learn the game mechanics even though I'm playing the medic (Cleric).

 

Sorry about the ramble.

 

I seem to be turning this into a Roleplaying post instead of a HERO system post.

[Sean Waters]

Re: help with building powers

 

.....................

 

Shadowmeld - not true invisibility and not as "schooled" as others in it's use (who can move AND be Shadowmelded) but as long as I don't move too much (I can kneel down and get back up, take out a weapon, and such, but taking a "five-foot step" ruins the meld), I'm "Heavily Camoflauged".

 

 

I'd do this with a substantial bonus to the stealth skill, and call it a superpower.

 

7 points + 5 stealth (only when in shadow -1/2)

5 points + 5 stealth (only when in shadow AND only moving slowly)

5 +2 DCV (14- activation, only when in shadow)

 

 

Charge/Initiative Priority: Shadowcat is quick' date=' but not necessarily fast, like a cheetah she can make short bursts of speed say every other "round". When charging an opponent has a chance to Stun (possible?) that opponent.[/b']

 

 

This will also increase move through damage and thus chance to stun.

 

6 +5" run (only useable every other phase, as 'extra time': -3/4)

 

 

Cleave, Great Cleave

 

This is a triggered attack, trigger being that you drop the opponent.

 

 

Quick Draw

 

Fast Draw skill

 

Improved Initiative

 

+DEX (no figured -1/2, only to improve initiative (DEX order) -1 1/2 (that is a guess - there is an 'official' figure somewhere)

 

Say +5 DEX (only to improve initiative): 5 points

 

Stunning Blow

 

+ damage (only to stun -1/2)

 

Say he has a killing attack: +1d6 HKA, only to stun: 10 points

[jtelson]

Re: help with building powers

 

[/b][/i]

+DEX (no figured -1/2, only to improve initiative (DEX order) -1 1/2 (that is a guess - there is an 'official' figure somewhere)

 

The Lightning Reflexes Talent does that at an (in my opinion) overpriced 3 points for +2. Your pricing seems more appropriate but doesn't allow for the downscaling they included in the talent.

[Diamond Spear]

Re: help with building powers

 

Keep in mind that my builds for HERO tend to be different from what most people build. I’m not sure why that is but it seems to be true. My thoughts on the power builds are presented below. I also noticed you included what he sees her weaknesses as being and there’s not much to go on there so you might want to question him a little bit about that.

 

 

POWER BUILDS

 

Shadowmeld – Invisibility to normal sight – only when moving less than one inch, with a fringe, must be in shadow.

 

Charge/Initiative Priority – This is actually two powers. First power Extra running - +”x” inches running – partially limited power (I’d say -1/2) not usable in consecutive actions.

Second Power - +”x”d6 damage, -only when charging by making a full move.

 

Quick Draw – Fast Draw talent

 

Improved Initiative: Either DEX bought as no figured characteristics and only for purposes of determining Initiative OR Lightning Reflexes (preferred)

 

Stunning Blow - +”x”d6 damage, full phase activation, stun only

 

If you have questions about how I wrote these up just ask. I’m at work so they are kind of quick and dirty write-ups.

[tancred]

Re: help with building powers

 

[/b][/i]

 

 

I'd do this with a substantial bonus to the stealth skill, and call it a superpower.

 

7 points + 5 stealth (only when in shadow -1/2)

5 points + 5 stealth (only when in shadow AND only moving slowly)

5 +2 DCV (14- activation, only when in shadow)

 

 

Might want to give a similar bonus to Concealment Skill.

I'd give it an additional Limitation "Only To Conceal Self, -½" since it's for hiding yourself, not concealing other objects.

[Flames]

Re: help with building powers

 

I think one thing that's important with new players is that they understand what their powers will and will not do in game mechanical terms.

 

A newbie player who has a fire-based elemental control framework is likely to assume that his energy blast enables him to do force walls of flame that damage anyone that touches them, even though he didn't buy force wall.

 

If he's seen a similar character in comics or movies do a power stunt, he'll assume his character is capable of the same trick.

 

I would encourage each new player to buy a high level of Power skill for his or her power set, and then use the optional rules from The Ultimate Skill that cover mimicking powers by special effect.

 

Another idea would be to hold back 50 points from each PC at the start of the campaign, and then, as they come up with new uses for their powers in the first few sessions, dole those points out on an as-needed basis to have them add those new powers right into their power sets, perhaps with mandatory levels of Limitations piled on that they can subsequently use their XP to buy off.

 

For instance, the aforementioned fire-based character might figure out that he can put up a damage shield force wall around his enemies, but it uses a lot of END. The GM gives him a few points from his reserve to buy that actual power and add it to his elemental control framework, and then with XP the player buys off the Extra END limitation.

 

I can say that from personal experience that it's fairly satisfying to have a character buy of Limitations and get better at using powers from one session to the next.

[SteveZilla]

Re: help with building powers

 

I want to play Shadowcat

 

Shadowcat from the X-Men comic book?

 

Shadowmeld - not true invisibility and not as "schooled" as others in it's use (who can move AND be Shadowmelded) but as long as I don't move too much (I can kneel down and get back up' date=' take out a weapon, and such, but taking a "five-foot step" ruins the meld), I'm "Heavily Camoflauged".[/i']

 

Based upon the name "Shadowmeld", and the descriptives, I would build this:

 

9 Shadowmeld: Invisibility to Sight & Hearing Groups (25 Active Points) - Bright Fringe(-¼), Only When Not Attacking(-½), Chameleon(-½), Only While In Strong Shadows or Darkness(-½). END Cost: 2

 

But in case that isn't what was desired, could you define "Shadowmeld" for us?

 

Charge/Initiative Priority: Shadowcat is quick' date=' but not necessarily fast, like a cheetah she can make short bursts of speed say every other "round". When charging an opponent has a chance to Stun (possible?) that opponent.[/b']

 

Two purchases, a Compound Power, and a Talent:

 

12 Pounce: Compound Power (22 Active Points. END Cost: 2):

+6" Running (12 Active Points) - Only If Not Used Last Phase(-1/2)

*AND*

+2d6 Hand Attack (10 Active Points) - Hand-to-Hand Attack(-1/2) - Only If Not Used Last Phase(-1/2) - Linked to +6" Running(-1/2)

 

Talent:

4 Lightning Reflexes +4 for Pounce

 

Cleave' date=' Great Cleave[/i']

 

The Fantasy Hero book has pretty much this exact thing. It's a naked Advantage (Trigger) bought to cover enough Acive Points for the character's attack. The normal rules for Naked Advantages make it apply to only one attack as opposed to the Feat(s) which in D&D can be used with any attack (IIRC).

 

Quick Draw

 

Buy the Skill, Fast Draw. It needs to be bought for each type/group of combat weapon as defined by the Weapon Familiarities.

 

Improved Initiative

 

Buy the Talent, Lightning Reflexes. It can be bought for all actions (3 pts per +2 for when you act with any action, or 1 pt per +1 for when you act when using a single predefined action.

 

Stunning Blow

 

If the character uses Hand Killing Attacks mostly, you could buy:

 

Naked Advantage: Increased Stun Multiple (buy it for enough AP to cover the attack it's for).

 

If the character uses base STR (or STR w/ a Hand Attack weapon), buy:

 

+3d6 Hand Attack - Hand-to-Hand Attack(-1/2), Does No Body(-1/2)

 

Or, you could buy 5 pt Combat Skill Levels (all HtH combat) - Only to Increase Damage of Attacks(-1 or thereabouts?)

[ghost-angel]

Re: help with building powers

 

Shadowmeld: Shapeshift Sight Group, Must Remain Still

 

Charge: Running +6"; Only To Make Half Move, Requires 1 Phase to Recharge

 

The +6" Running Only For Half Moves allows her to make a "full move" and still attack - it effectively doubles her Running for 1 Phase so a half move is equivalent to a full move; this cannot be used to move more than their normal Running (meaning it only ever adds when performing a half move action, characters should not be allowed to make 2 half moves, that's a full move and then these inches of Running do not apply).

 

Cleave/Great Cleave - Hand Attack (or HKA); Only When Performing Sweep Maneuver

 

Improve Initiative: Lightning Reflexes

[pinecone]

Re: help with building powers

 

I guess I look at this a little differantly...I'd shy away from Exact versions and go for matching the "Flava"...so I'd look at this and see "Master of weapons/back up MA" and try for that...

 

If you don't use sweep, buy it for this Char., look at Two weapon fighting. I'd just buy a high DX and speed....these are two that aren't really in D20 and have a major effect on fighting. I'd buy +X running: only for 1/2 moves for short bursts of speed. the cleave feats and etc are really combat boosters that a big speed and dex duplicate in hero...

 

Shadow melding Invis: sight group REnd>0, only in shadows -1/2, can only move 1" and maintain -1/2....Hmmm what else?

[gojira]

Re: help with building powers

 

So how did the session go? Let us know, Alkai...

[Alkai]

Re: help with building powers

 

Wow! Thanks for the help everyone!

 

The session ended up not happening because one of the players threw out his back and was on some pretty heavy meds, so we decided to hold out.

 

But actually I think it is preferable that I take some more time to prepare anyway. We're now scheduled for this coming Friday.

 

I think one of the toughest to grasp, yet coolest, things about the Hero System is the sheer amount of possible ways to build powers.

 

I am almost finished designing Shadowcat for my friend. I'll post what I came up with shortly.

[Sean Waters]

Re: help with building powers

 

Wow! Thanks for the help everyone!

 

The session ended up not happening because one of the players threw out his back and was on some pretty heavy meds, so we decided to hold out.

 

But actually I think it is preferable that I take some more time to prepare anyway. We're now scheduled for this coming Friday.

 

I think one of the toughest to grasp, yet coolest, things about the Hero System is the sheer amount of possible ways to build powers.

 

I am almost finished designing Shadowcat for my friend. I'll post what I came up with shortly.

 

(My bolding) Word of such wisdom in one so young!

 

Moreover, you can build the character in any of the ways sugegsted and still have an interesting and playable character, albeit perhaps, with a slightly different emphasis.

[gojira]

Re: help with building powers

 

 

Two purchases, a Compound Power, and a Talent:

 

12 Pounce: Compound Power (22 Active Points. END Cost: 2):

+6" Running (12 Active Points) - Only If Not Used Last Phase(-1/2)

*AND*

+2d6 Hand Attack (10 Active Points) - Hand-to-Hand Attack(-1/2) - Only If Not Used Last Phase(-1/2) - Linked to +6" Running(-1/2)

 

Talent:

4 Lightning Reflexes +4 for Pounce

 

What about just buying +11" Running, useable every other phase, then use Move By/Move Through for the "Pounce?" That seems the easiest and most efficient to me. Buy some levels for Move Through/Move By too.

 

 

 

The Fantasy Hero book has pretty much this exact thing. It's a naked Advantage (Trigger) bought to cover enough Acive Points for the character's attack. The normal rules for Naked Advantages make it apply to only one attack as opposed to the Feat(s) which in D&D can be used with any attack (IIRC).

 

For superheroes, I've done things like: Weapon de Jour +3d6 HtH, OIF. It's OIF because you can pick up any weapon and use it, or draw a new one, with at least a half phase action. Very comicy and well with-in the scope of the rules, I think. Also a very simple build.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: help with building powers

 

I think one thing that's important with new players is that they understand what their powers will and will not do in game mechanical terms.

 

A newbie player who has a fire-based elemental control framework is likely to assume that his energy blast enables him to do force walls of flame that damage anyone that touches them, even though he didn't buy force wall.

 

If he's seen a similar character in comics or movies do a power stunt, he'll assume his character is capable of the same trick.

 

I'd say, with new players, let 'em. There's enough in the system for a new player to learn and understand without having to hit them with the full force of "only get what you pay for". Playing anal retentive GM will turn them off of Hero for sure.

 

I'm not saying give away the farm; maybe make sure they have a Multipower for additional stuff, but also give a new player some room to have fun while they're still learning what OCV and DCV and PD and ED are.

[SteveZilla]

Re: help with building powers

 

What about just buying +11" Running' date=' useable every other phase, then use Move By/Move Through for the "Pounce?" That seems the easiest and most efficient to me. Buy some levels for Move Through/Move By too.[/quote']

 

The idea was that you use the Running/HtH Attack to make a Move By/Through. There's no reason why you can't use HtH attack when doing a Move By/Through.

[Alkai]

Re: help with building powers

 

Well, the session went pretty well last Friday. Of course, since the group was unfamiliar with the intricacies of the Hero system we spent all night making characters. We were able to end the night after a mock battle between the PCs (so that I could show them how combat worked).

 

The player who wanted the Shadowcat character discussed earlier in this thread ended up changing his mind completely and going with a mentalist type of character. Even though he is my friend, he is a bit of a problem player. I had to forbid him from pumping an insane amount of points into Mind Control. In fact, he was trying to get away with having Mind Control as his ONLY power (can you say, "24d6"?), with just enough points thrown into END to allow him to use it at full power more than once. He didn't want to take any other skills, perks, talents, characteristics, or powers.

 

He didn't seem to comprehend why I was prohibiting him from doing what he wanted. He got a bit upset that "it appeared" that I wasn't imposing limits on the other players. I told him that I was approving characters on a case-by-case basis, and that I would apply the same "quality control check" criteria to each of the other player characters. The other players created very interesting and intriguing characters, with reasonable abilities, and I really didn't have to mess with their builds.

 

Finally I think he understood my reasoning, but he remained a bit sore about it.

 

One other question I got dealt with ingame money. As we were playing a superheroic campaign, I gave them the reasons outlined in FRed as to why you can't spend money on equipment and such, and instead had to pay for everything in CPs. The aforementioned player had a tough time grasping that as well.

 

How do you guys handle money in superheroic campaigns? Is it really used at all? If not, do you see a point in taking the money perk?

 

Beyond these troubles, the night went very well, and the mock combat was quite enjoyable.

[ghost-angel]

Re: help with building powers

 

We use money all the time.

 

The trick is - if an average citizen can get it (hammer, cell phone, bullets, flash light, ski mask, car - rented or otherwise, plane ticket, crowbar, food, you get the idea) then the Superhero can get it.

 

But - normal items are subject to GM Fiat, meaning normally a cell phone isn't designed to stand up to the rigors of a Superfight, so if you really get knocked around expect it to be broken if the GM thinks that not having a cell phone will be important within a short period after the fight. If he paid Points for it, then for whatever reason it's not in the pocket that takes the brunt of the damage.

 

Likewise if you think it won't cause any balance problems for a PCs to have a sports car (say it's the love of their Secret Identities life, spending most of their income on it, or they're just rich) then by all means let 'em have it. Don't forget license plates are traceable if they try to abuse it though.

 

One thing to watch is letting players load up on things like firearms. Sure, the average person can get a gun, and collectors can get lots of guns, but those can cause balance issues. I would limit the player or have all his weapons registered legally and hey - ballistics tests can trace back.

 

For things like a billy club for those heroes that like them. If they didn't buy one as part of the SFX of an attack and want it for free remember that the damage of mundane items is limited to BODY+DEF of the item. Likely a brick can hit harder than a bill club.

[Sean Waters]

Re: help with building powers

 

I'd say, with new players, let 'em. There's enough in the system for a new player to learn and understand without having to hit them with the full force of "only get what you pay for". Playing anal retentive GM will turn them off of Hero for sure.

 

I'm not saying give away the farm; maybe make sure they have a Multipower for additional stuff, but also give a new player some room to have fun while they're still learning what OCV and DCV and PD and ED are.

 

With players new to the system I almost always leave 50 or so points unassigned to sweep up 'great new ideas' they have about what their character should be able to do

[Sean Waters]

Re: help with building powers

 

Well, the session went pretty well last Friday. Of course, since the group was unfamiliar with the intricacies of the Hero system we spent all night making characters. We were able to end the night after a mock battle between the PCs (so that I could show them how combat worked).

 

The player who wanted the Shadowcat character discussed earlier in this thread ended up changing his mind completely and going with a mentalist type of character. Even though he is my friend, he is a bit of a problem player. I had to forbid him from pumping an insane amount of points into Mind Control. In fact, he was trying to get away with having Mind Control as his ONLY power (can you say, "24d6"?), with just enough points thrown into END to allow him to use it at full power more than once. He didn't want to take any other skills, perks, talents, characteristics, or powers.

 

He didn't seem to comprehend why I was prohibiting him from doing what he wanted. He got a bit upset that "it appeared" that I wasn't imposing limits on the other players. I told him that I was approving characters on a case-by-case basis, and that I would apply the same "quality control check" criteria to each of the other player characters. The other players created very interesting and intriguing characters, with reasonable abilities, and I really didn't have to mess with their builds.

 

Finally I think he understood my reasoning, but he remained a bit sore about it.

 

........................

 

Worth pointing him at the campaign active point limits, or, if he instists, let him have his 24d6 MC monster, but point out that he's not spreading his points well.

 

With reasonable characteristics, he has not got a lot of room left for defences and something that people often forget about mentalists is that a flash attack will often stop them dead: no line of sight, no mind control. He probably wouldn't buy telepathic for the MC either, so has to be close enough to tell his 'slaves' what to do. He probably also does not have top flight defences, so a decent hit may stun him. Every time his head bounces off the pavement, make sure you mention that it wouldn't have happened with a more rounded build

 

BTW the best defence against MC is probably levels with your EGO roll: 20 points will get you +10 on your EGO roll - enough to break out of MC from almost anyone, even a 24d6 MC monster - much more effective than spending the points on mental defence (although it is less help against telepathy and other mental powers, it does work against everything but Ego attack)

 

I know this kind of victimisation is frowned upon by many, but try it and see – it just might work*.

 

*Or it might wreck your game and your friendship, but hey, all life is about taking chances

[SteveZilla]

Re: help with building powers

 

We use money all the time.

 

The trick is - if an average citizen can get it (hammer, cell phone, bullets, flash light, ski mask, car - rented or otherwise, plane ticket, crowbar, food, you get the idea) then the Superhero can get it.

 

But - normal items are subject to GM Fiat, meaning normally a cell phone isn't designed to stand up to the rigors of a Superfight, so if you really get knocked around expect it to be broken if the GM thinks that not having a cell phone will be important within a short period after the fight. If he paid Points for it, then for whatever reason it's not in the pocket that takes the brunt of the damage.

 

Likewise if you think it won't cause any balance problems for a PCs to have a sports car (say it's the love of their Secret Identities life, spending most of their income on it, or they're just rich) then by all means let 'em have it. Don't forget license plates are traceable if they try to abuse it though.

 

One thing to watch is letting players load up on things like firearms. Sure, the average person can get a gun, and collectors can get lots of guns, but those can cause balance issues. I would limit the player or have all his weapons registered legally and hey - ballistics tests can trace back.

 

For things like a billy club for those heroes that like them. If they didn't buy one as part of the SFX of an attack and want it for free remember that the damage of mundane items is limited to BODY+DEF of the item. Likely a brick can hit harder than a bill club.

 

This delves into the area of Mundane Items. IMO an object is Mundane if it affects the game in, at most, a trivial manner. A cell phone only used to call his Aunt Mary from time to time is Mundane. A cell phone used to coordinate with others in combat is not. Same phone -- different use. So it's not always the item, but also the use it is put to.

[Maur]

Re: help with building powers

 

Not sure I see the difference. A cell phone is a cell phone. But if you want it to have extended battery life, HD video capabilities, message passing, etc... then it wouldn't be mundane.

 

As the GM of our group is fond of saying "If we have it as a basic capability today, then the group has devices with those features for free". So, you could coordinate combat via cellphone, but remember they usually only have a few hours talk time at the best.

[pinecone]

Re: help with building powers

 

Not sure I see the difference. A cell phone is a cell phone. But if you want it to have extended battery life, HD video capabilities, message passing, etc... then it wouldn't be mundane.

 

As the GM of our group is fond of saying "If we have it as a basic capability today, then the group has devices with those features for free". So, you could coordinate combat via cellphone, but remember they usually only have a few hours talk time at the best.

 

Not to mention Dead spots, breakage, being monitered by the bad guys...all stuff "super" equipment avoids....