(4thE) How to Make Superman on 250 Character Points.

[VunderGuy]

Hello. I recently bought the 4th Edition of Champions at my local game store and am running into some issues of min-maxing an attempt at creating the best Superman I can with only 250 character points. If anyone knows and can help me through the process and with concepts I don't quite understand yet in this system, your help would be greatly appreciated. 

[Chris Goodwin]

Lots of people here would be happy to help!   

 

Probably the first thing to decide is what about Superman you're going to focus on.  He won't be the Kryptonian demigod; he'll be a starting superhero on 250 points.  You'll be deciding basically how far back you're going to trim him.  

 

The powers themselves will be pretty easy; Champions was built to emulate four color superheroes, so it shouldn't be hard to look at Powers and decide what he's got.  

 

We'll start with the super strong flying brick.  Superman pretty much invented this.  60 STR, Flight, Armor, N-Ray Vision, probably Telescopic and Ultrasonic Hearing, for starters.  Energy Blast to represent the heat vision.  Rounding him out some might be pushing close to 250 with this build; we can start with exact numbers once you're ready.

[VunderGuy]

3 minutes ago, Chris Goodwin said:

Lots of people here would be happy to help!   

 

Probably the first thing to decide is what about Superman you're going to focus on.  He won't be the Kryptonian demigod; he'll be a starting superhero on 250 points.  You'll be deciding basically how far back you're going to trim him.  

 

The powers themselves will be pretty easy; Champions was built to emulate four color superheroes, so it shouldn't be hard to look at Powers and decide what he's got.  

 

We'll start with the super strong flying brick.  Superman pretty much invented this.  60 STR, Flight, Armor, N-Ray Vision, probably Telescopic and Ultrasonic Hearing, for starters.  Energy Blast to represent the heat vision.  Rounding him out some might be pushing close to 250 with this build; we can start with exact numbers once you're ready.

 

I understand that. Frankly, the current hero system couldn't even accurately simulate DCAU Superman, let alone any version of him actually more powerful than a tactical nuclear warhead let alone any version that's planet to star level like Post-Crises Superman or multi-galaxy to universal like Pre-Crises Superman. 

 

Anyways, I'm on the library computer, so, let me just post this response before time is up and I have to relog. 

[VunderGuy]

Alright, so, pretty much the way I have my 250 points allocated is thus:

 

Characteristics:

100 Strength

35 Dexterity

20 Constitution 

20 Body

20 Intelligence

20 Ego

20 Presence

20 Comeliness

50 PD

4 ED

6 speed

24 Recovery

40 Endurance

80 Stun

 

Characteristic Point Total: 175

80P to Strength

45P to Dexterity

30P to PD

20P to Speed

 

80P to strength.Figured it made sense to make Supes have 100 in at least that category... and also because I was experimenting and wanted to throw around 20 d6's for fun.

 

45P to dexterity for 35 dexterity because the enemy test characters I'm testing him against all have 35 dexterity and I at least want to contest them whenever we're on the same segment.

 

30P to PD because I wanted my PD to at least 50 for normal attacks and because I bought 50 points of Damage Resistance for killing attacks.

 

20P to Speed because I wanted to go on the same segment against the enemy test characters so that I can context them with the requisite 1d6 tie breaker. 

 

 

Skills/Talents/Perks/Powers

30P for 50% Resistant Damage Reduction to Physical Attacks

25P for 50 points of damage resistance to Physical (and Energy attacks? I'm not sure how this power works. Do I have to purchase individually for physical AND energy attacks or?...)

20P Regeneration + 2 body per turn. 

 

Skills/Talents/Perks/Powers Cost: 75

 

Everything tallied together: 250

 

 

 

Now, the disadvantages I took to make this all possible were:

 

DISADVANTAGES:

Psycho Limit: Code Against Killing (common): 20P

Secret Identity (Clark Kent): 15P

Susceptibility (Green Kryptonite), Uncommon, Damage taken even segment, 3d6: 30p 

Vulnerability Uncommon x2 (Red Sunlight): 10P

Vulnerability Common x2 (Magic): 20P

Reputation: Almost Always (Extreme): 20P

Psycho Limit: Honorable: Always Keeps Word: 20P

Pyscho Limit: Superpatriot, moderate: 10P

Distinctive Features (haircut, curl): Easily concealable: 5P

 

DISADVANTAGE COST TOTAL: 150P

 

So, yeah, that's the build as it stands, so, that's what we have to work with and what we'll be altering I suppose. Thank you so much for your help. This was driving me nuts last night! So, on another note, if I took power limitations, would that lower the cost for certain things and could I effectively get even more character points from the savings and apply them elsewhere? 

 

 

 

[Greywind]

No skills to represent Clark being a reporter?

[VunderGuy]

Just now, Greywind said:

No skills to represent Clark being a reporter?

I would have, but:

 

1) I thought only 250 points were allowed.

 

2) This was primarily a combat build, not a full roleplaying build. Why, I STILL don't understand combat! And this was after a breakthrough I had with a buddy of mine I was testing combat out with where we actually thought we understood and up with a system that seemed to make sense of Turns, Segements, and Phases. But that's a separate issue for another thread... unless someone could also help me to understand combat here too, in which case, Muchos Gracias, amigo. 

[TranquiloUno]

So, wait, no flying? No enhanced senses? Not even X-ray vision?

 

Hero system can simulate more powerful versions of Supes just fine. Just need more points.

 

The thing about building kinda "blue sky" Heroes characters is they are fairly meaningless without a set of campaign guidelines to go along with it.

100 Str might be too high. 4 ED is definitely too low (yes, you buy both defenses separately and keep in mind Energy Defense is things like laser blasts and whatever). 50 PD is probably too high, particularly with 50% Damage Reduction.

 

But since those are all relative to the other characters\NPCs in the game they might be too low, or not high enough.

 

 

 

[TranquiloUno]

Granted these are 350pts but Hyper-man from these forums has a bunch of good write ups for the JLA here:
 

http://www.killershrike.com/MiscCharacters/Contributions/Hyper-Man/Supers/JLA/WriteUps.aspx

 

You might use them as references even with the point discrepancy.

 

Also I think deliberately pegging your Spd and Dex to match the test enemies is...I mean, sure, fine, but it's not really a good way to build to the Superman concept.

[dsatow]

You could easily make the Superman from Action #1 with 250 plus disads.  The problem usually is to create him from later years comics.  You can think about it in game terms as every comic he's been in, say he earns 2 xp.  Just in action comics alone, that's 2000+ xp!

[Chris Goodwin]

It looks like you're starting all of his base Primary Characteristics at 20.  Which is fine if that's a particular set of rules for a particular game, but the standard starting value is 10 in each.  Starting them each at 20 is effectively adding 125 points to the character.  

 

1 hour ago, VunderGuy said:

I would have, but:

 

1) I thought only 250 points were allowed.

 

Usually for a regular game, a player saves a few points out for things like background and noncombat related Skills.  

 

1 hour ago, VunderGuy said:

2) This was primarily a combat build, not a full roleplaying build. Why, I STILL don't understand combat! And this was after a breakthrough I had with a buddy of mine I was testing combat out with where we actually thought we understood and up with a system that seemed to make sense of Turns, Segements, and Phases. But that's a separate issue for another thread... unless someone could also help me to understand combat here too, in which case, Muchos Gracias, amigo. 

 

Combat Time:  The system used here is "phased movement" or "impulse movement".  If you've played Car Wars or Starfleet Battles it's similar to those.  If you haven't:  A Turn is 12 seconds long, consisting of 12 Segments.  A character's SPD tells how many times they can act (Phases) during a Turn, and those Phases are spread out as evenly as possible throughout the Turn.  So SPD 2 goes on Segments 6 and 12, 3 goes on 4, 8, and 12, and so on.  SPD 6 goes on 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.  

 

Combat typically starts on Segment 12, giving almost all characters a chance to act.  During a particular segment, characters act in order of their DEX, from high to low.  This can have some interesting effects; in Segments where they both have an action, a character who is DEX 23, SPD 4, will go before a character who is DEX 21, SPD 5.

 

On the Champions board, forum user @Cassandra has started a thread where she posts 250 point characters created in 5th edition.  Even though there are some rules differences between 4th and 5th, there aren't many, and you can get a good idea of power levels and attacks and defenses.  A Champions player named Mathew Ignash (who may or may not frequent these boards; I'm not sure) has a web page with a very large number of 4th edition 250 point characters as well.  These all might prove helpful to look at.

[VunderGuy]

1 minute ago, Chris Goodwin said:

It looks like you're starting all of his base Primary Characteristics at 20.  Which is fine if that's a particular set of rules for a particular game, but the standard starting value is 10 in each.  Starting them each at 20 is effectively adding 125 points to the character.  

 

 

Usually for a regular game, a player saves a few points out for things like background and noncombat related Skills.  

 

 

Combat Time:  The system used here is "phased movement" or "impulse movement".  If you've played Car Wars or Starfleet Battles it's similar to those.  If you haven't:  A Turn is 12 seconds long, consisting of 12 Segments.  A character's SPD tells how many times they can act (Phases) during a Turn, and those Phases are spread out as evenly as possible throughout the Turn.  So SPD 2 goes on Segments 6 and 12, 3 goes on 4, 8, and 12, and so on.  SPD 6 goes on 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.  

 

Combat typically starts on Segment 12, giving almost all characters a chance to act.  During a particular segment, characters act in order of their DEX, from high to low.  This can have some interesting effects; in Segments where they both have an action, a character who is DEX 23, SPD 4, will go before a character who is DEX 21, SPD 5.

 

On the Champions board, forum user @Cassandra has started a thread where she posts 250 point characters created in 5th edition.  Even though there are some rules differences between 4th and 5th, there aren't many, and you can get a good idea of power levels and attacks and defenses.  A Champions player named Mathew Ignash (who may or may not frequent these boards; I'm not sure) has a web page with a very large number of 4th edition 250 point characters as well.  These all might prove helpful to look at.

 

Is 10 the Base for all the primary stats in 4th Edition? 

 

So you're saying that for a regular game, players normally take character points out of their character point allotment for said skills? Those points aren't handed to them by the GM but come from the 250 points? 

 

Alright, so, my question to that is... what happens in the segments where 2 characters don't act? Nothing? 

 

Also, gotcha. Will check out his stuff, 

[Chris Goodwin]

13 minutes ago, VunderGuy said:

 

Is 10 the Base for all the primary stats in 4th Edition? 

 

Correct.  10 is the base in all the editions, unless the GM says otherwise.  

 

Quote

 

So you're saying that for a regular game, players normally take character points out of their character point allotment for said skills? Those points aren't handed to them by the GM but come from the 250 points? 

 

Correct, but it's even more constrained than that.  In 4th edition, a starting superhero gets 100 points for free, and can gain up to an additional 150 points by taking Disadvantages.  It was fairly early on in the 4th edition days that it was discovered that 250 isn't really enough for a viable superhero to include Skills and all the other things a hero usually has, so in 5th edition a "standard superhero" power level was redefined as 200 points for free plus up to 150 more in Disadvantages.

 

Quote

 

Alright, so, my question to that is... what happens in the segments where 2 characters don't act? Nothing? 

 

Correct.  Characters can delay their Phases, which sometimes gives them an opportunity to act in Segments when they otherwise wouldn't.  Either the GM keeps track of delayed actions, or the player speaks up when they want to use them, but otherwise those Segments are just skipped.

 

Quote

 

Also, gotcha. Will check out his stuff, 

 

[assault]

I'm pretty sure 4e has Everyman skills. If so, you can skip spending points on skills to begin with. He won't be a very good journalist, but that's not the point.

[massey]

You summoned me?

 

How much min-maxing do you want?  Like kinda being efficient with your points min-maxing, or your character sheet calling a rape crisis center min-maxing?

[archer]

I'd give him Professional Skill: Reporter 11< for 2 points. That'd let him do what a reporter does. He can increase his skill roll by taking more time than a normal reporter would have to then make up that lost time by  flying over traffic as Superman. (+2 points)

 

I think you should have spent only 15 points to get his SPD up to six rather than the 20 points you have listed. (-5 points)

 

PRE and COM probably need a (only in Hero ID -1/4) limitation which would save some points and represent the difference between how people perceive Clark vs how they perceive Superman. That'd save you 1 point on the COM and 2 points on the PRE. (-3 points)

 

Reduce the INT to 18 since he doesn't get any functional difference by spending two more points to get a 20 INT. (-2 points)

 

Personally I'd reduce the Susceptibility to green kryptonite to some extent and add a Hunted: Superman's rogues gallery. (no change to point total)

 

 

The green kryptonite causes loss of his Kryptonian powers and stats across the board in most versions of Superman. Red Kryptonite causes loss of Kryptonian powers and stats across the board in pre-Crisis versions and randomly transforms him in some manner (getting extra eyes, becoming a giant, devolving, becoming small, changing colors, etc.) You could consider adding either or both of those limitations to any or all stats and powers.

 

The attempts I've seen for Superman on 250 points usually has a Kryptonian Power Tricks multipower, something along the lines of:

 

Multipower 56 active points (doesn't function in the presence of kryptonite or under a red sun -1/4)  (x2END on all slots -1/2) Real cost 32

3u a plain 11d6 Energy Blast or a 3d6 Ranged Killing Attack with increased maximum range x5 (for +1/4)  whichever you choose to give him (Heat vision causing energy damage)

3u 5d6 Energy Blast (SuperBreath, a cone of physical damage +1 )

3u 5d6 Entangle (Freezing Breath)

3u Flying 25"

3u extra STR

 

Putting an extra STR slot in the multipower usually has Superman starting off with a base STR of 45 or 55 and this multipower slot bumping it up around 100). Doing the slot like this would make you rework the base STR and all the figured characteristics and maybe reduce some of the related defenses but you'd end up with enough points to pay for the multipower. It really depends on whether you want your Superman to be a just a guy with muscles or whether you want him to have access to some ofthe other iconic Superman powers (you could go further and add Tunneling to the multipower if you wish or Teleport to reflect how fast he can move sometimes).

 

There used to be a lot of 4th edition conversions for popular characters like Superman but I've lost all of them over the years except for http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscomic/aju/Superman.HTML

 

That link I think is 4th edition but it might be 5th. He doesn't try to keep the point total down but it does a good job of reminding you the different powers Superman has, some possible limitations on his powers, and some disadvantages.

[massey]

This is a 5th edition build.  It should be legal for 4th edition as well, but the costs will be a little different because the costs of some of the powers have changed.  Primarily the Aid power went up in cost from 5 points per D6 in 4th to 10 points per D6 in 5th.  But in 5th it doesn't cost End, so you'd need to add that.  It also uses Megascale, which is a 5th edition Advantage.

 

Please understand, it's likely that no one is actually going to let you play this character.  It is an example of what you can do.  He's pretty powerful across the board, but I went for versatility instead of raw damage.  I could have reduced the number of powers he had and increased the limit on the Aid so that each existing power would be higher tier, but I didn't.

 

Superman

 

Val    Char    Cost
20/70    STR    10
14/25    DEX    12
15/40    CON    10
13/25    BODY    6
18/26    INT    8
14/22    EGO    8
15/31    PRE    5
16    COM    3

5/30    PD    1
5/30    ED    2
3/6    SPD    6
7/32    REC    0
30/130    END    0
32/82    STUN    1

6"/31"    RUN    0
2"/27"    SWIM    0
3"/38"    LEAP    -1
Characteristics Cost: 71

 

Cost    Power
99    Solar absorption: (Total: 232 Active Cost, 99 Real Cost) Aid 1d6, Can Add Maximum Of 50 Points, Can Apply Adders (+1), All super powers simultaneously (+2), Multiple Special Effects (All special effects simultaneously; +2) (192 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), Can only charge in direct yellow sunlight (-1/4), Only 1/2 effect to Body, Swim, Senses, Leaping, LS (-1/4), Only 2/3 effect to Dex, Spd, overall lvls, 1/3 to Ego, Pre, FTL, special defenses, 1/6 to Int (-1/4) (Real Cost: 85)

plus

Naked Advantage: Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per 6 Hours; +1 1/4) for up to 32 Active Points (40 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), No delayed return rate in Red Sun system, goes at 5 pts per Turn (-1/2), Can only charge in direct yellow sunlight (-1/4), Only 1/2 effect to Body, Swim, Senses, Leaping, LS (-1/4), Only 2/3 effect to Dex, Spd, overall lvls, 1/3 to Ego, Pre, FTL, special defenses, 1/6 to Int (-1/4) (Real Cost: 14)

 

4    Kryptonian Powers: Elemental Control, 10-point powers,  (5 Active Points); all slots Only when Aid is active (-1/4)

[Notes: Full charge provides:  4D6 RKA, 40 Str TK, 16D6 Dispel, 6D6 Entangle, 30" Flight, 17" Megascale Flight, 4 Overall levels]
3    1)  Heat Vision 1: Killing Attack - Ranged 1/2d6 (10 Active Points); No Knockback (-1/4), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
3    2)  Superbreath 1: Telekinesis (7 STR) (11 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
3    3)  Superbreath 2: Dispel 3d6, any fire power one at a time (+1/4) (11 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
3    4)  Superbreath 4: Entangle 1d6, 1 DEF (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
4    5)  Flight 1: Flight (30" total) 5" (10 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
4    6)  Flight 2: Flight (17" total) 3", MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4) (10 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
2    7)  Superspeed: +1 Overall (+4 total) (10 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2), Superspeed bonuses only (-1/4), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)

 

    Kryptonian Powers package, all slots Only when Aid is active (-1/4)

[Notes: Full charge provides: 30/30 Damage Resistance, 13" Knockback Resistance, +8 perception, +8 vs range mods, 26 pts Life Support,
10 pts Flash Def Sight and Hearing, 10 pts Power Def]
4    1)  Damage Resistance (5 PD/5 ED) (5 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
2    2)  Knockback Resistance -1"; Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
2    3)  +1 PER with all Sense Groups (3 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
2    4)  +1 versus Range Modifier for Hearing Group and Sight Group (3 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
1    5)  Life Support  (Safe in High Pressure); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
6    6)  N-Ray Perception (Sight Group) (10 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
4    7)  Detect Beyond visual spectrum 22-/14- (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
4   8 ) Detect Radio / Ultrasonic Spectrum 22-/14- (Hearing Group) (5 Active Points); Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
1    9)  Sight Group Flash Defense (2 points) (2 Active Points); 1/2 Effect vs magic, red sun, kryptonite (-1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
1    10) Hearing Group Flash Defense (2 points) (2 Active Points); 1/2 Effect vs magic, red sun, kryptonite (-1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)
1    11) Power Defense (2 points) (2 Active Points); 1/2 Effect vs magic, red sun, kryptonite (-1/2), Only when Aid is active (-1/4)

 

    Kryptonian Powers (full charge)
0    1)  +50 STR (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2)
0    2)  +11 DEX (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2)
0    3)  +25 CON (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2)
0    4)  +12 BODY (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2)
0    5)  +8 INT (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    6)  +8 EGO (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    7)  +16 PRE (Calculated Aid Effects)
0   ? +25 PD (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    9)  +25 ED (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    10) +3 SPD (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    11) +25 REC (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    12) +100 END (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    13) +50 STUN (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    14) Running +25" (6"/31" total), Calculated Aid Effects
0    15) Swimming +25" (2"/27" total) (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    16) Leaping +25" (3"/38" forward, 1 1/2"/19" upward) (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    17) Damage Resistance (25 PD/25 ED) (Calculated Aid Effects)
0    18) +8 PER with all Sense Groups and Calculated Aid Effects
Powers Cost: 153

Cost    Skill
3    Deduction 13- (14-)
3    Disguise 13- (14-)
3    Navigation 13- (14-)
3    Paramedics 13- (14-)
3    Persuasion 12- (15-)
    
0    Language:  Kryptonese (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points) [Notes: Kryptonese is a background skill for Superman.]
    
3    AK: Earth 13- (14-)
3    PS: Reporter 13- (14-)
    
4    SS:  General science knowledge 14- (15-)

Skills Cost: 25

 

Cost    Perk
1    Fringe Benefit:  Press Pass
Perks Cost: 1

Total Character Cost: 250

Pts.    Disadvantage
20    Accidental Change:  Other types of Kryptonite Always (Uncommon)
20    Dependent NPC:  Lois Lane 11- (Normal; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID)
20    Hunted:  Lex Luthor 11- (Less Pow, NCI, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)
15    Physical Limitation:  Stunned by exposure to Green Kryptonite (Frequently, Greatly Impairing)
15    Psychological Limitation:  Code against killing (Common, Strong)
15    Psychological Limitation:  Protective of innocents (Common, Strong)
15    Psychological Limitation:  Stands up for little guy (Common, Strong)
15    Psychological Limitation:  Follows the law (Common, Strong)
15    Psychological Limitation:  Stands for truth and justice (Common, Strong)
15    Reputation:  Big Blue Boy Scout, 14-
15    Secret Identity:  Clark Kent (Frequently, Major)
30    Susceptibility:  Kryptonite 3d6 damage per Phase (Common)
10    Vulnerability:  1 1/2 x STUN Magic (Common)
10    Vulnerability:  1 1/2 x Effect Magic (Common)
10    Vulnerability:  1 1/2 x STUN Kryptonite attacks (Common)
10    Vulnerability:  1 1/2 x Effect Kryptonite (Common)
Disadvantage Points: 250
Base Points: 200
Experience Required: 0
Total Experience Available: 0
Experience Unspent: 0

 

[massey]

The way the character above works is like this.

 

The Aid power temporarily boosts stats and powers.  You can normally use it on others or yourself.  Superman took a limitation so that he can't use it on other people (self only).  Normally Aid fades pretty quickly, and normally it's cheaper to just buy up your starting level of power to a higher level than to rely upon Aid.  That's because Aid normally only works on one power at a time, and you have to keep using your actions to keep the power boosted.  To get around this, Superman purchased his Aid with some Advantages on it.

 

"Applies to all powers of a given special effect" is a +2 Advantage.  It triples the cost of the power, but it applies to all superpowers of a given power description (all fire powers, all magnetism powers, etc).  That's helpful when you have a lot of different powers of the same type.  In 5th edition, you can take an additional +2 Advantage to apply it to all powers of all special effects.  So your guy could theoretically boost everybody's powers (Captain Booster increases all the powers of everyone on his team -- Ice Lad, Fire Chick, Magic Man, and Gravity Boy), no common special effect is necessary.  Now, you could probably define Superman's abilities as being "Kryptonian Powers" and just use the first +2 Advantage and be safe.  Superman went ahead and paid for a +4 Advantage so he wouldn't have to argue with the GM that his heat vision and ice breath were the same special effect.  But that second +2 Advantage doesn't exist in 4th edition, so prepare to argue.

 

Superman also purchased a delayed fade rate for his Aid (otherwise it would go away at 5 points per turn, meaning he'd have to spend several actions each turn to maintain his power).  This is a +1 1/4 Advantage.  Superman purchased it as a Naked Advantage (which is called that in 5th edition, but is still legal in 4th), because that Advantage itself is limited.  His powers fade in a red sun system (a -1/2 limitation on the advantage only), which because he's expected to have space adventures counts as a real limitation.  He also purchased up the maximum amount of the Aid.  Normally 1D6 of Aid would only boost his powers by the max you can roll on the dice -- 6 points.  But he paid extra to increase that amount to 50 points -- thus his 70 Str.

 

Superman also took limitations on the Aid, to decrease the amount Aided to certain abilities.  While it's important for Superman to have a 70 Str, it's not important for him to wind up with a 65 Presence.  His stats shouldn't be boosted equally.  He took two -1/4 limitations to reduce the amount that went to certain secondary stats and powers.  Those are fairly low value limitations because the Aid itself is really cheesy.

 

Superman purchased Overall levels which cost Endurance.  This represents his superspeed.  By paying Endurance, he activates it and becomes much more accurate/hard to hit/good at skills when he's consciously trying.  He's also got a bunch of base powers, like Damage Resistance, Life Support, and other powers that have a limitation "only when the Aid power is active".  This means that Clark doesn't have any of these powers if the Aid is unavailable for some reason.  Normal Clark Kent has 5 PD and ED, but it's not Resistant unless he's getting some yellow sunlight.

 

To go from no powers to Superman, Clark needs to get into the sunlight of a yellow sun.  He stands outside and uses the Aid power.  At first, he's just a poor schlub with a Speed 3.  But as he stands there, using his Aid power every time he has an action, he'll quickly absorb enough that his Speed starts increasing and his stats will get really high.  The numbers after the slash represent his full power.  Once he has boosted his abilities with the Aid, they will only fade at 5 points every 6 hours.

 

Two more things to note:  First, near the bottom of the character sheet is a section labeled "Kryptonian Powers, full charge".  This is something I had to put in to make the character sheet work right in Hero Designer.  It isn't really important to the character sheet in a text format or for gameplay.  Second, the character has a lot more Disadvantages than he needs.  That's something I was doing for the sake of completeness and my own game universe.  They're totally extra and you don't need that many.

 

Enjoy.  But please don't break your GM.

[VunderGuy]

2 hours ago, massey said:

The way the character above works is like this.

 

The Aid power temporarily boosts stats and powers.  You can normally use it on others or yourself.  Superman took a limitation so that he can't use it on other people (self only).  Normally Aid fades pretty quickly, and normally it's cheaper to just buy up your starting level of power to a higher level than to rely upon Aid.  That's because Aid normally only works on one power at a time, and you have to keep using your actions to keep the power boosted.  To get around this, Superman purchased his Aid with some Advantages on it.

 

"Applies to all powers of a given special effect" is a +2 Advantage.  It triples the cost of the power, but it applies to all superpowers of a given power description (all fire powers, all magnetism powers, etc).  That's helpful when you have a lot of different powers of the same type.  In 5th edition, you can take an additional +2 Advantage to apply it to all powers of all special effects.  So your guy could theoretically boost everybody's powers (Captain Booster increases all the powers of everyone on his team -- Ice Lad, Fire Chick, Magic Man, and Gravity Boy), no common special effect is necessary.  Now, you could probably define Superman's abilities as being "Kryptonian Powers" and just use the first +2 Advantage and be safe.  Superman went ahead and paid for a +4 Advantage so he wouldn't have to argue with the GM that his heat vision and ice breath were the same special effect.  But that second +2 Advantage doesn't exist in 4th edition, so prepare to argue.

 

Superman also purchased a delayed fade rate for his Aid (otherwise it would go away at 5 points per turn, meaning he'd have to spend several actions each turn to maintain his power).  This is a +1 1/4 Advantage.  Superman purchased it as a Naked Advantage (which is called that in 5th edition, but is still legal in 4th), because that Advantage itself is limited.  His powers fade in a red sun system (a -1/2 limitation on the advantage only), which because he's expected to have space adventures counts as a real limitation.  He also purchased up the maximum amount of the Aid.  Normally 1D6 of Aid would only boost his powers by the max you can roll on the dice -- 6 points.  But he paid extra to increase that amount to 50 points -- thus his 70 Str.

 

Superman also took limitations on the Aid, to decrease the amount Aided to certain abilities.  While it's important for Superman to have a 70 Str, it's not important for him to wind up with a 65 Presence.  His stats shouldn't be boosted equally.  He took two -1/4 limitations to reduce the amount that went to certain secondary stats and powers.  Those are fairly low value limitations because the Aid itself is really cheesy.

 

Superman purchased Overall levels which cost Endurance.  This represents his superspeed.  By paying Endurance, he activates it and becomes much more accurate/hard to hit/good at skills when he's consciously trying.  He's also got a bunch of base powers, like Damage Resistance, Life Support, and other powers that have a limitation "only when the Aid power is active".  This means that Clark doesn't have any of these powers if the Aid is unavailable for some reason.  Normal Clark Kent has 5 PD and ED, but it's not Resistant unless he's getting some yellow sunlight.

 

To go from no powers to Superman, Clark needs to get into the sunlight of a yellow sun.  He stands outside and uses the Aid power.  At first, he's just a poor schlub with a Speed 3.  But as he stands there, using his Aid power every time he has an action, he'll quickly absorb enough that his Speed starts increasing and his stats will get really high.  The numbers after the slash represent his full power.  Once he has boosted his abilities with the Aid, they will only fade at 5 points every 6 hours.

 

Two more things to note:  First, near the bottom of the character sheet is a section labeled "Kryptonian Powers, full charge".  This is something I had to put in to make the character sheet work right in Hero Designer.  It isn't really important to the character sheet in a text format or for gameplay.  Second, the character has a lot more Disadvantages than he needs.  That's something I was doing for the sake of completeness and my own game universe.  They're totally extra and you don't need that many.

 

Enjoy.  But please don't break your GM.

Ha! GM? I AM the GM. I'm trying to learn how to play this game so I can help others play this game so I can I can show them the wackiness of the campaign I have in mind.

[VunderGuy]

7 hours ago, TranquiloUno said:

So, wait, no flying? No enhanced senses? Not even X-ray vision?

 

Hero system can simulate more powerful versions of Supes just fine. Just need more points.

 

The thing about building kinda "blue sky" Heroes characters is they are fairly meaningless without a set of campaign guidelines to go along with it.

100 Str might be too high. 4 ED is definitely too low (yes, you buy both defenses separately and keep in mind Energy Defense is things like laser blasts and whatever). 50 PD is probably too high, particularly with 50% Damage Reduction.

 

But since those are all relative to the other characters\NPCs in the game they might be too low, or not high enough.

 

 

 

Dude, I don't even know how senses and endurance and range and positioning are supposed to work. I don't even have a hex map or know where I could get one! I'm just trying to get a handle on character creation and barebones combat first, which is why for my tests, both me and the other guy were both assumed to be in melee range and stuck in place... Even though he had a 50 caliber mini-gun.

[massey]

1 hour ago, VunderGuy said:

Dude, I don't even know how senses and endurance and range and positioning are supposed to work. I don't even have a hex map or know where I could get one! I'm just trying to get a handle on character creation and barebones combat first, which is why for my tests, both me and the other guy were both assumed to be in melee range and stuck in place... Even though he had a 50 caliber mini-gun.

 

Senses work like this.  Everybody gets a basic Perception roll.  3D6, roll under a target number.  That number is 9 + your Int / 5.  So a normal person (Int 10) has a Perception roll of 9 + (10/5 = 2).  So an 11- chance to notice something is amiss.  The Superman you posted has a 20 Int, so he'll have a 13- Perception roll.  Better, but not superhuman.

 

For range, anything up to 4 hexes away incurs no penalty.  From 5-8 hexes, it's a -2 to your Perception roll, and that counts as an OCV penalty as well to shoot somebody.  Every bracket after that is twice the range for another -2.  So from 0-4 hexes, no penalty.  For 5-8, a -2 penalty.  9 hexes to 16 hexes, -4 penalty.  17 to 32 hexes, a -6 penalty, and so on.

 

Senses are divided into different "Sense Groups".   Sight and Hearing are obviously the two big ones for humans.  There are additional ones you can buy, like Radar or Spatial Awareness.  Some senses are "Targeting" senses that you can use to locate an enemy in combat.  Think of it this way, a targeting sense is good enough for you to shoot somebody accurately from far away.  Normal people only have sight as a targeting sense.

[Chris Goodwin]

Here can be found a hex paper generator! 

[VunderGuy]

10 hours ago, Chris Goodwin said:

Here can be found a hex paper generator! 

How big do the hexagonss have to be and what other dimensions do they require?

[Greywind]

Big enough to hold a figure, whether it be a miniature, a standup, a penny, a die, etc. Usually between 1-2".

[VunderGuy]

10 minutes ago, Greywind said:

Big enough to hold a figure, whether it be a miniature, a standup, a penny, a die, etc. Usually between 1-2".

 

Which one did Champions 4th edition use?

 

[Chris Goodwin]

15 minutes ago, VunderGuy said:

 

Which one did Champions 4th edition use?

 

 

1 hex = 2 meters.  It assumes 1 inch hexes, which is why movement values are denominated in inches.