1st Edition Champions review on Save for Half

[starblaze]

So after hearing numerous reviews of Marvel FASERIP and Villains and Vigilantes we finally get some love for Champions.  I did enjoy the podcast although I didn't agree with everything  they said.  Still nice to see my longtime favorite supers game get some attention.

 

http://saveforhalf.com/2019/04/23/episode-17-champions-1st-edition/

[Scott Ruggels]

I though their discussion was good. They all have obviously played it, and even after 30 years they still remembered the terminology. 

[archer]

I thought the multipower vs elemental control discussion was very interesting in the way that they broke it down between engineering/accounting types vs artistic/creative types.

 

I don't know that they're correct but the discussion was interesting.

 

I had a class which at the beginning of the semester measured each student to see whether they were engineering/accounting or artistic/creative and divided up the class into mixed groups (as much as possible since the overwhelming majority were engineering/accounting types) for a semester-long group project.

 

I measured out as being dead in the center between the two types so I was thrown into a group as the sole "artistic/creative" person in the bunch. It was a very weird experience since our intermediate goals could only be accomplished through having a little bit of creativity, good instincts, and actually measuring the results of our previous decisions...but everyone else in the group thought that creativity was a threat, that people who were the least bit creative were weird and couldn't be trusted (because they all misunderstood the extensive lecture about it in class), thought that having a gut feel for what's going on and trying to make a decision which would allow you to measure whether you were correct was nuts, and that measuring things at all was completely irrelevant.

 

I spent my semester, as the only one on the team with any measurable creativity (and apparently any engineering/accounting), pulling my hair out. And this after three years of looking forward to finally qualifying to be able to take the class because it had sounded like the most fun and interesting experience I could imagine having in a classroom.

 

Anyway, when I'm building characters, I always have a multipower and almost never build one with an elemental control.

 

I don't know how anyone could find a multipower confusing. If nothing else, build only fixed slots with three large slots, three small slots, and know you can only use one large and one small at a time.

[starblaze]

Typically Multi-powers are good for utility belts and weapons with multiple functions like Judge Dredd's Lawgiver pistol.

[archer]

1 hour ago, starblaze said:

Typically Multi-powers are good for utility belts and weapons with multiple functions like Judge Dredd's Lawgiver pistol.

 

 

Yeah, they're good for that. But they aren't good only for that.

[Tasha]

I found the 2ed version of Multipowers SUPER confusing. After I had someone explain them to me (back in 83'ish), then they made sense. Never had a problem after that.

I wonder if creatives use mostly Fixed slots and the Engineering/Accounting types are more likely to favor Multi slots.

[Chris Goodwin]

13 minutes ago, Tasha said:

I wonder if creatives use mostly Fixed slots and the Engineering/Accounting types are more likely to favor Multi slots.

 

I'd have pegged that exactly the other way around.  

 

I used Fixed slots to represent different settings of a weapon or gadget, e.g. a Star Trek phaser's stun, kill, vaporize settings.  Multi slots to represent someone who has a certain amount of maximum power output; they can switch it from one use to another, but they only have so much.  I can't think of an example off the top of my head.  Human Torch, maybe?  

[Tasha]

Yeah, but you have to LOVE fiddling with the math behind allocating pool points to a number of powers.

Fixed slots you just choose the abilities and that's pretty much all of the math you have to do. Kind of EC that you can only use one power at a time.

I use fixed slots for characters that have a number of powers that aren't ever used at the same time. Usually thematically linked in their special effect (ie having a Blast, Darkness, Barrier and a Flash that are all based on wind special effects, but nothing that might not want to use together.

 

[Hugh Neilson]

19 hours ago, Chris Goodwin said:

 

I'd have pegged that exactly the other way around.  

 

I used Fixed slots to represent different settings of a weapon or gadget, e.g. a Star Trek phaser's stun, kill, vaporize settings.  Multi slots to represent someone who has a certain amount of maximum power output; they can switch it from one use to another, but they only have so much.  I can't think of an example off the top of my head.  Human Torch, maybe?  

 

The Starship Enterprise - "more power to shields".

 

I can't think of many published characters with Multi slots, other than 1e Starburst, the poster child for the model you describe.

 

Of course, one issue is that, if this character wants (say) a 10d6 Blast, 20 meters of Flight and +15/+15 rDef most of the time, that was (when we had force fields) 100 points in the Multipower pool.  Imagine if he can get up to 100 meters flight (no offense or extra defense), land and drop the shields to fire off a 20d6 Blast, and next phase Abort to a +50/+50 Force Field.

[Scott Ruggels]

I could not figure any of that out, so I just bought the powers straight, or whined to my fellow players to fix it. I consistently failed math in school and can’t do any math outside of my former profession. 

[assault]

I generally use multi slots for flight (and occasionally force fields), fixed for everything else. This is with a base that is slightly larger than the fixed slots, allowing the character to use a little bit of flight (and/or force field) in addition to the fixed slots. When the latter aren't in use, the character has lots of flight (and/or force field) available.

 

So it might look like:

 

MP - Zappy Energy Powers

Pts Slot No Fixed/Multi Power

60 Pool

6 1 multi Up to 15" Flight

6 2 multi Up to 15 PD/15 ED Force Field

4 3 fixed 8d6 Energy Blast

 

I probably wouldn't use that exact build. Maybe something more like:

 

MP - Zappy Energy Powers

Pts Slot No Fixed/Multi Power

60 Pool

6 1 multi Up to 15" Flight

5 2 fixed 10d6 Energy Blast

 

Obviously, in both cases I would add extra slots with experience. In fact, I might start with the second build, and add a Force Field slot that way. In that case I'd also bump up the pool a little.

[Toxxus]

On 4/26/2019 at 2:27 AM, archer said:

I thought the multipower vs elemental control discussion was very interesting in the way that they broke it down between engineering/accounting types vs artistic/creative types.

 

One of my jobs did that for our development team and it did me no favors at all.  I was above average on risk-taking for the "preferred" developer mentality and WAY too high on the creative end.

 

My boss actually recommended I quit and start up my own company or something.  Luckily I convinced them to let me stay and I've been doing quite well as a developer for nearly 20 years.

 

You can't throw the outliers out with the bath water.