Quick Question from a New Hero

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

 

Booster Gold has Skeets as a Follower. Skeets clearly acts to aid Booster in many ways. Booster has to search for or save Skeets fairly often.

 

Clearly, Skeets is a DNPC and Alfred is not.

 

 

Well, I must admit these four sentences just confused the ever-loving snot out of me.

 

Also, please keep in mind that I'm using the 5E Revised rules. I don't know what a Physical Complication is.

[Greywind]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

I agree with the Contact/DNPC or Follower/DNPC usages. But the Rivalry/Contact makes little sense to me.

 

Batman has Alfred as a Follower. But Alfred virtually never gets in trouble, even when aiding directly in cases. He walked into a firefight between Penguin & the GCPD and Killer Croc & his gang to untie Robin - and was totally unmolested the entire time. (This was during No Man's Land).

 

Booster Gold has Skeets as a Follower. Skeets clearly acts to aid Booster in many ways. Booster has to search for or save Skeets fairly often.

 

Clearly, Skeets is a DNPC and Alfred is not.

...obviously overlooking Skeets' deviant behavior in 52...

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

Also' date=' please keep in mind that I'm using the 5E Revised rules. I don't know what a Physical Complication is. [/quote']

Complications are basically the same thing as Disadvantages. So it's Physical or Psychological Complication instead of Physical or Psychological Disadvantage.

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

Ah! Thank you!

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

When you said Physical Complication, I thought you meant incontinence or constipation. Wonder how many points those are worth? Eww!

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

Incontinence would probably be more of a Social Complication (Disadvantage). Or Distinctive Feature: Smells like....

[Chimera 12]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

When you said Physical Complication' date=' I thought you meant incontinence or constipation. Wonder how many points those are worth? Eww! [/quote']

 

If I was running that campaign, probably nothing because I wouldn't be all that interested in having them actually come up in play. And if it doesn't come up, it's not really a Complication and thus not worth any points.

 

(Insistence on bringing it up all the same might be a good way for the player -- not the character! -- to earn some quick Negative Reputation, though. )

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

OK. I've done some research on the Internet, and according to every article that I can find on Skeets, he possesses the following Powers, Talents, Skills, etc.:

 

 

1. Artificial Intelligence: Basically his Intelligence score (How high should it be?)
   
2. Flight: Self-explanatory (On JLU, he's seen hovering. Do I have to buy Flight at 0" to hover?)
   
3. Cognitive Thought: Would this be Deduction or something else?
   
4. Voice Projection: Ventriloquism? Or does this just mean that he can talk?
   
5. KS: Earth History (21st - 25th Century): Should I buy this up to 17- ?
   
6. Powerful Energy Blaster: Basic EB. How many dice should it be? No Body? 2x Stun?
   
7. Immune to Reality and Temporal Manipulation: Not sure how to buy this one. LS?
   

The article goes on to say that Skeets has various tools and weapons inside his shell. Ideas on this?

 

I already know one of his disadvantages: Psychological Limitation: HAL 9000 secret orders. Who really knows what's going on inside Skeets' shell?

 

Any thoughts at all about his characteristic scores and how to build this puppy is greatly appreciated.

[Nevenall]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

for #7 I'd suggest a limited 75% damage reduction. I believe that with GM permission you can define it as affecting all powers of a particular special effect, and 75% plus some reasonable ordinary defenses is close enough to immunity for a game.

[clsage]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

Hello! I'm using the 5Ed Rev Rules' date=' and using HeroDesigner v2.37. As a mental exercise, I'm trying to create Booster Gold. My question is about Skeet: Is Skeet a follower or a sidekick? I asked someone this question and they told me that he would be a DNPC. How can he be a DNPC? He really isn't [i']dependent[/i] on Booster.

 

Btw, the version of Booster Gold and Skeet that I'm attempting to build is what's shown on the awesome Justice League Unlimited TV show (which should be put back on the air with all-new episodes as soon as possible).

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

First, let me say welcome to the forums !!

 

Secondly, you might want to give these a look (if you have not seen them already):

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscomic/aju/BoosterGold.HTML

 

and

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscomic/aju/Skeets.HTML

 

Both are written (to the best of my knowledge) based on the JLU TV series and might give you some ideas....As for the Skeets "DNPC versus Follower" question, from the looks of it the linked sheet(s) list him as a Follower. Which, IMNSHO, would also be the way to go. YMMV of course.

 

Speaking of getting ideas, let me take a moment to recommend "SURBROOK'S STUFF" and its' character archive: http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/archive.html

Whenever I am stuck for ideas or just playing around with concepts it's one of my first stops. Lots and lots of tasty ideas to steal....errr, adapt !

 

-Carl-

[Jhamin]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

OK. I've done some research on the Internet' date=' and according to every article that I can find on Skeets, he possesses the following Powers, Talents, Skills, etc.:[/quote']

 

I strongly endorse the suggestions others have made regarding Subrook's site as a source of character write ups and inspiration for the best way to do new ones.

 

That said, let me make some suggestions....

 

[*]Artificial Intelligence: Basically his Intelligence score (How high should it be?)

Skeets always struck me as OK but not brilliant. I'd leave it at 10. Remember that for a little yellow floating gadget even *having* an intelligence is pretty good.

 

[*]Flight: Self-explanatory (On JLU' date=' he's seen hovering. Do I have to buy Flight at 0" to hover?)[/quote']

But he doesn't just hover. He is able to fly along and keep up with Booster. 0" of flight would let you float in place but would not let you move anywhere. I'd go with 6" if you want him to move like a normal human, but I'd give him 10" or 12" to let him be fast enough to outrun most humans but get left behind by anything "speedy" like a car or truck.

 

[*]Cognitive Thought: Would this be Deduction or something else?

I might just call this the ability to act like an NPC and not just respond to requests. Skeets has his own personality and can take action without orders. This is the default for most Hero NPCs so I'd just leave it alone.

(An example of something that doesn't have this might be a Magical Golem that can fight if ordered to but will just stand there if it's master forgets to order it into action. This would be a Psychological complication/disadvantage in Hero along the lines of "Incapable of independent action)

 

[*]Voice Projection: Ventriloquism? Or does this just mean that he can talk?

I'd say it just means he can talk. Once again, a big deal for a floating lump of circuits but not something that costs points for a follower.

 

[*]KS: Earth History (21st - 25th Century): Should I buy this up to 17- ?

If you want him to pretty much always know everything that happened in history, then yeah a 17- works well. If you want him to be useful but not always know everything lower the skill accordingly.

 

[*]Powerful Energy Blaster: Basic EB. How many dice should it be? No Body? 2x Stun?

I'd say a basic EB would work. As for how powerful? That is a good question. Does he ever really help Booster win with it? If so, an attack about as powerful as you have decided Booster's are. If not, then fewer dice. I don't recall Skeets being much of a combat monster so I'd probably not go very high here.

 

[*]Immune to Reality and Temporal Manipulation: Not sure how to buy this one. LS?

This is one of those "how does it work in your game?" kind of powers. If someone has a transform or a drain defined as "ages you rapidly" then the defense is Power Defense. If it is an environmental effect, then Life support is the way to go. If time effects are attacks that damage you with "rapid aging" as the special effect then you need extra PD/ED/Armor/Damage Reduction that only protects against these attacks.

 

Personally, I'd go with Power Defense, only vs. Time Effects (-1). But that is just me.

 

 

The article goes on to say that Skeets has various tools and weapons inside his shell. Ideas on this?

 

I'd just say he has the right widgets he needs to use his mechanics/electronics/whatever skills without needing special tools and not worry about it much. The writeup that was linked to a couple posts ago gives him a variable power pool so his gear can have more serious game effects.

 

 

As for the whole "is he a follower or a DNPC?" question? I usually determine that by asking this question:

 

Would the character's life in general be better if the sidekick stayed home most of the time?

 

Sure, Followers are a pain at time, and DNPCs can come in handy once in a while, but most characters are either generally useful or generally a pain to have around.

 

Batman has to save Robin a lot, but Robin (in most portrayals) distracts the baddies, defuses bombs, and rescues hostages while Batman does his thing, making Batman's life easier. Thus, Robin is a follower.

On the other hand, Newt from Aliens mostly just made everyone's lives harder. They kept having to rescue her and even though she was actually pretty skilled to have survived all alone for that long these skills never really came in handy. This makes her a DNPC.

 

In this case, Booster really seems to rely on Skeets in most every adventure and really misses him when he is gone. I'd say Skeets is absolutely a Follower.

[JmOz]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

I actualy kind of like the idea of follower +DNPC, especialy with the removal of complications as a point saver for followers. Of course the "Useful" contact portion should not be used.

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

I'm actually building Skeets first to see how many points it will cost Booster. More thorough research of Skeets has revealed that Skeets does NOT know everything that happened between the 21st and 25th Century. It was mentioned in a comic book (probably Booster Gold . . . no fooling!) that there was a 'nuclear exchange during which all historical records were lost', so I'll probably buy Skeets' KS at 12- .

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

OK. I sifted through this thread, and here are the votes thus far:

 

Escafarc, Nuclear Fridge, Cardinal, BoloOfEarth, clsage, and Jhamin all vote that Skeets should be a Follower.

 

SleepyDrug votes that Skeets should be a DNPC.

 

Matt Holck votes that Skeets should be both.

 

I believe that we have a consensus, good people. Skeets will be a Follower.

 

Oh, and yes, I did check out Surbrook's amazing site for ideas. Thanks for the lead.

 

In relation to Skeets' Flight power, he'll be able to fly (and keep up with) Booster Gold (same amount of Flight). For Skeets to hover though, do I also need to buy Flight at 0" as well as his normal Flight for him to do so?

[RexMundi]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

No you don't need to buy Flight 0".

 

~Rex

[Chimera 12]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

In relation to Skeets' Flight power' date=' he'll be able to fly (and keep up with) Booster Gold (same amount of Flight). For Skeets to hover though, do I [u']also[/u] need to buy Flight at 0" as well as his normal Flight for him to do so?

 

Flight is assumed to include the ability to hover by default; if a character with Flight can't hover, that's a Limitation on the Power. Since Skeets can, in fact, hover, just buy his Flight normally and you're done already.

[New Hero]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

if a character with Flight can't hover' date=' that's a Limitation on the Power.[/quote']

 

Kinda like 'The Human Bullet' (or whatever his name was) on the animated series, 'The Tick'? You know, the hero that got to crime scenes by firing himself out of a cannon?

[Chimera 12]

Re: Quick Question from a New Hero

 

Kinda like 'The Human Bullet' (or whatever his name was) on the animated series' date=' 'The Tick'? You know, the hero that got to crime scenes by firing himself out of a cannon? [/quote']

 

Not having actually seen the cartoon but going with my imagination, I'd call that a special effect for Leaping.

 

The classic example for 'can't hover' would be an airplane that needs to maintain a minimum forward speed to avoid stalling and potentially crashing, of course.