SirViss

How DEMON relates to other Organizations, like the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Moon, and Supers with a Mystical bent, like Talisman, Black Paladin, and even Takofanes.

I'm being dense I know. I got to buy off: Density Increase, Always On your answer to my last question was: "In the case of using Grab or Grab By to try to snatch a weapon or Focus, normal Grab rules apply re: using STR to oppose the attack." So here is how see it now: When Grabbing an opponent, the opponent is the one that chooses to exert himself to try to break free, so he has to use the free action of using Casual Strength. When Grab action is to grab a focus, instead of "Squeezing" or "Throwing", you can "Wrench" in that same phase, and this requires a Str vs STR contest roll. Since the action is actualy initiated by the attacker, the defender gets to use his full STR. Is this right? P.S. If a Grabbed opponent exerts himself to break free, he would have to spend END, but you only ever have to pay END for STR once oer phase. Would this END be counted as having been paid in the previous phase (if he used his STR then), or on the next phase (thus not having to pay END for STR in that next phase)?

I have problems with the PS skills myself, but I don't think that it would necessarily do what you think. It won't give you skills that have their own entry in FRed. It might be a Complementary Skill for a few skills that Thieves often use, like using Streetwise to find a Fence, or maybe Perception rolls when casing a house, or looking for a hidden safe. I think a lot of PS skills are used more oftern for Complementary Skill rolls than anything else. It can represent the fact that the character is better at skills often associated with his profession when they are used specifically in the execution of said profession.

Under the Grab maneuver (FRed p.256) it says that to grab someone you must make an Attack Roll, and if successful the opponent is grabbed. Then it says that you have a choice to Squeeze or Throw. It does mention later on that, beacause of the Casual Strength rule, that strong characters can effectively ignore Grabs from much weaker foes, beacause you can make a Strength roll immediately with said rule. Where I encounter a problem is when I look at the rule for Grabbing Foci and Grab Bys: Concerning Grabbed Foci, it says that the attacker can, after a successful Grab, wrench the Focus away, but it doesn't specify that the first "wrenching" attempt happens in the same phase, or on the next phase. As for Grab Bys, it is obvious that for Grabbing Foci that there is a Strength Roll in the same phase, but does the owner of the Foci only use Casual Strength? I don't think so, since the struggle is initated by the attacker. What if the Grab By was to Grab someone instead of a Focus, is there an immediate Strength contest to see if he can hold to the person? The point that confuses me is that there seems to be a difference in how Strength vs Strength constests are handled depending on if a Focus or an opponent is Grabbed. I hope I haven't confused you. I think I may have confused myself... Note: Hmmm, you probably are getting ready for DundraCon and might not have immediate access to the books. If so, i can repost the question after Monday, if you wish. Hope everyone has a great time!

I'm sorry but I am getting my RPG systems confused with one another. When a character is grabbed, is there an immediate STR roll to hold on to the Grabee? If so, how much strength can each character use? I've checked the FAQs and I know that a casual strength check is a free action. I just want to make sure I got it right.

Well, I checked the Silmarillion and all they say about the Nazgûl is: "Those that used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing."... The rest if the paragraph goes on on how they fell under the power of Sauron. I'm sure that in some Role-Master product they have been detailed with histories, but I don't remember anything about the history of the mortal phase of the Nine being penned by Mr. Tolkien.

Under the description of DEMON in CU it says that the Initiate-ranked members act as field commanders and priests of DEMON. Problem is that they don't give anything but general details about them. Mainly I would like to more about the Golden Wand, their badge of office, which can "harm those it touches." I know DEMON has been around for a while. I was wondering if this piece of equipment is only in fifth ed, and if not, what it was like in the past? If you have suggestions of how a DEMON Initiate should look like (stat-wise) go ahead, but mainly I am interested in the Golden wand.

When thrown, I believe that you should take STR damage, influenced by whatever you land on. If you just skip along the "floor", I would call it half-damage that can be reduced by Breakfall, as if the character suffered knockback. For the basic damageof being thrown, the rule is mentionned under the Grab standard maneuver (FRed p.256). It says that after grabbing someone you have the choice of squeezing for STR damage and holding on to him, or throwing him for STR damage, subjecting him to the affect if a throw (see Martial Throw) and releasing him.

Chalk me up as one that appreciates these write-up, too. I'm new to GMing, and it is nice to see how someone else runs his game. Give me another perspective on things.

Thanks Chuckg! I had a (very) fleeting though that went along the same line, but your suggestion has made it gel a lot better. LL: Many thanks to you for your suggestions. Quite a few things that made sense, but the players I have are new to the system and the genre, so I don't want to hit them with curses yet. Don't want them to get discouraged this early in the campaign. They haven't even got inflated egoes yet! Once they get to big for their britches, THEN the curses and NCI can enter the campaign. But keep the ideas coming. I am sure that there are more good ideas and suggestion out there...

* BUMP * I guess nobody uses DEMON after all... Oh well, I guess I should find that grind stone...

Hello everybody, I don't know how I did it but i managed to rope myself into using a villain organization that I'm not ready to use. So I send this S.O.S. out to HEROdom. I'm sure some of you have used DEMON. I was just wondering how you guys used this org. Are they just VIPER with wands? Mainly, what would a typical DEMON Initiate would be like. CU was nice enough to give the "typical" stats for a Brother and a Morbane, but all it say about Initiates is that they are usually the field-commanders, and that they have a Golden Wand that can harm those that it touches. P.S.: I have really only started playing HERO since the FRed came out, so I don't have any references from the previous editions, and my funds are limited, so I don't plan on buying supplements form the previous editions either. Edit notres: DOH! I really should read the rest of the DEMON entry. They give the stats for the membership of a typical Demonhame at the bottom of the page!

Hello again guys, Well, I said that I would post my comments later, but this is later than i thought I would. Reason is that my access to the internet was limited yesterday, but mostly it was because I was dependeing on my email account providing me with alerts. Thing is Hotmail decided that Hero Games would send me spam! (Bad Hotmail, BAD!) I thought this thread was dead... Boy, was I wrong! Thanks, guys, for the response. Some great suggestions in there. Now, to some of my thoughts: I'm fairly new at GMing, so I decided to mostly stick to CU as written. I have the Champions Universe and Millenium City books, and now have VIPER and UNTIL also (Yippee!) So that it for were i get the background. A few of you have made comments that VIPER is a terrorist organization, but you have to agree that a lot of their operations have an "organised crime" feel to them. And though I agree that VIPER can't control all crime in a city, there is bound to be some friction with other organizations. The Triads I see as having the least friction because they can restrict their operation to China Town or the like. In the case of the Russians, they could have "good" relations already with VIPER, since VIPER would probably be looking for more way to get their hooks into Russia itself. The Yakuza probably would have the greatest friction because of the history of what happened in Japan in the CU. The one I have the most problems defining is "The Mob" of the US. Mostly the problems stems to the fact that they do just want to make money. It is a business for them. So, if there is friction, how would they (the Mob) generally handle it. They wouldn't want to take on VIPER directly, concidering the firepower than can be brought against them. So what kind of "edge" would they have to potentially make VIPER backdown if VIPER started muscling in (knowningly or unknowingly) on what the Mafia woud concider its turf. Another thing I would like ideas on would be what COULD be bones of contention between any of the Mafias and VIPER. I see 2 in particular: political corruption and drugs. I could easily see more than one local gov official having to jump through several hoops until the Organizations decide who REALLY owns him... And as for drugs, the friction would be what kind of drugs, quality (too many death might scare of some marks), the actual smuggling, and then distribution. Any other ideas (or comments)? Also, I can see the relations between organized crime and VIPER being determined localy. Personality of the local heads would be VERY important, especially concidering the people that seem to often gravitate to the head of Nests. The often have personalities that are... unique and may rub influencial criminals the wrong way... And last, there is VIPER`s stated goal: to rule the World. I don't know how the Mafias feel about possibly runing business in a world dominated by VIPER. And there grandiose plans often disrupt business (GASP!) When a building is destroyed by that orbital Death Ray , the mobs might not be too pleased with the fact, since that was one of the places where they had been laundering millions of dollars... I know this is a comic book world, so don't think too hard about logic, but I would like a veneer of sense to permeate my campaign...

Hey guys, I just want to hear some of your thought on a question that I have been posing to myself, ever since one of my players took the Mafia as a hunted: In a world where VIPER exist, how do you see the "normal" crime syndicates existing? The main reason I mention VIPER is because that organization seems to fill the niches that would be typically taken by the Mafia. This is according to the VIPER: CotS book. Money-laundering, white-collar crimes, smuggling, etc. How could the Mafia, Yakuza, Triads, etc, compete, concidering the resources (both in manpower, and tech) that VIPER has access to. I'll let the debate begin, and put some of my ideas and observations down later.

Steve, your reply to Vanguard question about Vehicle Characterstics was: "See the errata page for TUV, here on the website. ..." Where is the errata for the TUV. I went to the errata page and can't find it...

To determine which sense group to base it off of, I would simply ask myself "Which sense would I have to Flash so that the character couldn't use it?" If no sense group applies then it is from the Unusual Sense group.

Before I start, I just want to ask what the purpose for this bomb is? (In the campaign. I know bombs are meant to blow things up... ) Here are some of my thoughts: I would build it as a vehicle. A vehilce has all the stats you used for your bomb, except Int, and the TUV book suggests that you could add Int to a vehicle if you don't want to go through the trouble of making a computer (have to make a Template in HD though, I think). And vehicles cannot be stunned, so you don't need the Automaton (Takes No STUN) power. If you don't make is as a vehicle, at least take the 45 pts variant of the power. Sure, it should loose some power every time it takes Body damage, but that isn't a problems, as 1 Body Damage and its destroyed. 38 Dex is kind of high. If you are buying it that high so that it has a high CV (moslty DCV, I think), then just buy a bunch of 2 pts Movement levels. Those can augment the vehicles DCV if it Dodges, or reduce the Turn Mode, or augment acceleration/Deceleration. Of course that assumes that it will try to Dodge which would mean that until in gets close enough for final approach (less than on Full Move away), it would only do Half Move and save a phase, or just Dodge. Makes for dramatic moment though. On it last phase, not being able to Dodge, the characters have their best chance to blow it up before it reaches its Target! (Using held action.) I won't touch much on the Speed. That is HIGH! Maybe lower the Speed and boost the movement? Target Lock: Being an unusual sense, this makes the missile practically impossible to spoof! Just want to know what sensors it would be using. Also why Discriminatory and Analyze? It is Detect Target, so the job of the sense woudl be to Detect the target. Unless this missile is completely on its own and there is no one to assign its target. (One of the reasons I would like to know the purpose of the missile in the campaign.) Well you don't need to have a high OCV with this anyways. With Trigger, all you have to do is enter the a Hex of the Target and BOOM! TRÈS nasty! With 13 DCV, 10 Speed, 38 Dex, and sensors built as an unusal sense, you have made a weapon that HAS to be blown up (probably with an AoE attack). What are you going to do (or have already done) to your poor players!

I just want to know: If a character buys 15 pts of Growth he gets -2 DCV, but do people targeting him also get +2 OCV for Target Size: 2x Human Size (p.247)? The same question would apply to vehicle sizes.

How about Automan and his sidekick Cursor... Anyone remember these guys?

There is the Early Edition guy (Precog with a Focus[Newspaper])

I was just wondering if the powersuit in the TUV (p.83) should have had to buy "limbs", concidering that most vehicle can't manipulate anything without some "extra limbs". Just to check, I looked up in the Mecha section and Mecha have to buy limbs. Would you concider a powersuit a very small "Mecha"?

If you collect Digital Hero, in DH #11 Steve covers the Trigger advantage, and how you could use it to replace the Damage Shield advantage. It comes to the same cost in the end though. Anyway, you might be able to come up with something with Trigger advantage, as long as your GM allows it to automatically reset (which is covered in DH #11)

First thing that springs to mind for me is: Environmental movement: night movement (or name it anything you like.)

The Puppet King (inspired from a character in Teen Titans). An animated being with the power to control the minds of humans. Okay, he wasn't 2" tall, but I think the idea has merit...

It's playing here (in Canada) on the Space Channel on Jan 17th and 18th...