Champions Background Information

[PamelaIsley]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

That VPP is only 30 points. About "half power" for most of the things that a regular superhero can do. It's also only possible for Witchcraft to change her VPP's powers only "at base," i.e., with access to her spell books.

 

Perhaps you understood these things already, I just thought I'd mention them in case you missed it. That VPP is not very Zatanna-ish to me, it's far limited to really simulate the sort of stuff that Zatanna can do. Rather, it's more of a demonstration how to make a character that is more flexible and can sometimes "conjure up" new powers and sfx when needed.

 

You might feel otherwise, which is ok. I just wanted to add a bit to the conversation.

 

I don't know the rules well enough (at all) to feel one way or another.

 

Variable powers are big no-nos in M&M, at least to me. They seem cop-outs or ways to avoid keeping a character on theme. Comic characters, of course, have variable powers all the time (think Green Lantern or the afore-mentioned Zatanna). But it makes for a poor RPG character, in my opinion -- unless, of course, you are playing a campaign with just one GM and one player.

 

My reflexive reaction to Witchcraft was that she was a PL 10 character with a variable power. But that's just my M&M biases being projected onto how the stat block reads to me.

 

On the UNTIL issue, the real UN has trouble deploying peacekeepers who are just lightly armed soldiers on loan from national armies. The idea that it could, during the Cold War (the height of veto-phobia), create a permanent security force to police superhuman activities is a little far-fetched; more far-fetched to me than superheroes and supervillains, actually. If you want SHIELD in the game, make something like SHIELD and leave real world organizations that don't work out of it.

 

The U.S. government loves bureaucracy (and national security-oriented bureaucracy best of all), but PRIMUS on top of the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA, DoD, etc. also seems a stretch. It's not as unbelievable as UNTIL, but it's close.

[Greywind]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

SHIELD originally belonged to the UN. The ultimate universe made it part of Homeland Security.

[PamelaIsley]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

SHIELD originally belonged to the UN. The ultimate universe made it part of Homeland Security.

 

Nick Fury . . . U.N. peacekeeper!

 

I really didn't know that. I don't know that much about Marvel. I was thinking of Iron Man the movie.

[Greywind]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

Which was based, in part, on the Ultimate universe. Specifically, Nick being played by Jackson.

 

Mainline, Nick is a white guy with a history that runs back to WWII.

[gojira]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

I don't know the rules well enough (at all) to feel one way or another.

 

OK, well that's why I thought I'd mention it.

 

Variable powers are big no-nos in M&M, at least to me. They seem cop-outs or ways to avoid keeping a character on theme. Comic characters, of course, have variable powers all the time (think Green Lantern or the afore-mentioned Zatanna). But it makes for a poor RPG character, in my opinion -- unless, of course, you are playing a campaign with just one GM and one player.

 

OTOH, M&M allows Pushing, yes? And Hero System really doesn't, unless you spend points on it. So most M&M players actually have the equivalent of a variable power pool, it's just built into the rules.

 

At least I think they do. How does Pushing work in M&M? The example I heard was Fire Guy wants to use his Fire Attack power to melt the asphalt his enemies are standing on, and making them get stuck, thus turning his attack into an Entangle with AOE. Which in Hero is a no-no unless you actually bought the Entangle, or have a VPP, or spent some points on Power Skills and want to burn a "one use only, ever!" power from the GM.

[PamelaIsley]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

OK, well that's why I thought I'd mention it.

 

 

 

OTOH, M&M allows Pushing, yes? And Hero System really doesn't, unless you spend points on it. So most M&M players actually have the equivalent of a variable power pool, it's just built into the rules.

 

At least I think they do. How does Pushing work in M&M? The example I heard was Fire Guy wants to use his Fire Attack power to melt the asphalt his enemies are standing on, and making them get stuck, thus turning his attack into an Entangle with AOE. Which in Hero is a no-no unless you actually bought the Entangle, or have a VPP, or spent some points on Power Skills and want to burn a "one use only, ever!" power from the GM.

 

I think you're talking about a power stunt. There are penalties for stretching your powers like that.

[gojira]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

I think you're talking about a power stunt. There are penalties for stretching your powers like that.

 

I'm pretty sure the poster at rpg.net used the term "pushing," but yeah I could be misremembering. "Penalties" is a lot different than "can't do it at all" imo. Just sayin'.

[Greywind]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

Which in Hero is a no-no unless you actually bought the Entangle' date=' or have a VPP, or spent some points on Power Skills and want to burn a "one use only, ever!" power from the GM.[/quote']

...or use it as the basis to eventually build and add the ability to your repertoire.

[PamelaIsley]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

I forgot about this open question.

 

What gojira is referring to is definetely called a power stunt. There is nothing called "pushing" in M&M rules.

 

A power stunt allows a player to temporarily acquire a power feat (which includes an alternate power). The penalty is that the character is fatigued after performing the stunt.

 

This penalty, though, can be offset by using a hero point.

 

Power stunts are a subset of extra effort rules.

 

I've converted Defender, Icicle, Bluejay, and Morgaine to M&M rules. Witchcraft is just too bizarre with that variable power. Eliminating it would require substituting something in its place, but the types of things she does with it are either too cheap (danger-sense is very cheap in M&M) or buff-oriented (M&M's hard power level caps make buffing kind of pointless or impossible).

[gojira]

Re: Champions Background Information

 

Thanks for that explaination of M&M. I don't have the rule book so it's hard to filter sometimes what other folks claim the rules are.

 

the types of things she does with it are either too cheap (danger-sense is very cheap in M&M) or buff-oriented (M&M's hard power level caps make buffing kind of pointless or impossible).

 

Just sorta speculating here: Give Witchcraft a VPP, but at greatly reduced power. If the rest of the characters are at PL10, then the VPP is at PL5. Or give her an extra hero point (can you buy those at creation?) so she can stunt her powers somewhat more often than other characters. This would capture some of the feel of her powers in M&M, without having to duplicate them exactly.

 

Of course, all that without actually knowing the rules.