SirViss

Re: Black Mask I, II, and III.

Black Mask I is detailed (with character sheet IIRC) in Champions Universe.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

BatManuel was actually in the live version of the show.

Re: Galactus!

Odd as he actualy fights

 

Okay hes weakened, but he still fight Marvels Mightiest and they actually beat him.

 

Has been hurt many times by beings below his Vast power.

Which just goes to show that he is the epitomy of a plot device.

No, really. In more than one comic, he has taken out (or ignored) fleets that could have blasted the crust off the Earth, but in that one fight he is beaten by a handful of Earth's heroes. (This is the comic where the big "G" gets a new Herald, Supernova, right?). And he wasn't just weakened, he was at death's door. After the fight they noticed that he was shrinking (devouring his own mass).

The way I would interpret Galactus would be that generally I wouldn't stat him out, as at his full power he is simply a force of the Universe. But you may want to stat out what he would be at his lowest power level, where he could be beaten. That is essentially what they did in the comic. They (Earth's hreoes) had already out-smarted him twice (IIRC). It would have been boring if they had done it a third time, so it this time they had to outfight him.

Made for a great story, and isn't that the purpose for a plot device?

Re: Help with a design

I'll assume that this is a reply to what I posted.

...Problem with TK is (as it states), that it continues to function even if the body is totally dismembered, which I think is not what Spence wants...

Well, he did say that the victim should have some automaton characteristics, which implies that the victim would (mostly) ignore STUN. I should have specified that the TK should only work if the "victim" was still alive.

... I think (in 5E) that his proposal with the mind control is pretty good, but one could think about a major mental transform: removes targets sense of pain, heals back (immediately) if mind control is broken...

Well, Mind Control would work for controlling the victim it doesn't give him "automation effects", which is why I suggested handling the target's movement with TK.

The question that I would have for Spence is, while the "invader" is possessing a body, can "it" suffer pain (STUN and/or BODY) from Physical (and Energy) Attacks? This could be important for how to build the possession. I had assumed that, no they could not, mostly because of the "automation effect" mentionned.

Also I didn't know that the invader would eventually assimilate the skills of the host. I would have suggested Telepathy to the list, if I had known.

Re: Help with a design

Here is what I came up with in 1 minute or so, so there isn't a lot of deep thinking in this one. Use at your own risk.

1. Noncorporeal Entity: Desolidification, Persistent, Inherent, Always On. (As CrosshairCollie suggested)
   
2. A Massive Transfer STR to TK[Affect Solid World, Only to 0 STR, maybe make it AVLD (Mental Defenses), maybe Continuous, with a duration seasoned to taste].
   
3. Clinging [Affect Solid World, only to remain attached to victim, maybe with extra STR so that the invader can remain "attached" if the victim suffers knockback]
   
4. Invisibilty [To every "normal" sense group, since the invader will be possessing the victim], only when possessing a victim ]
   
5. A level of TK [No Range, Affect Normal World, only to use on a victim of possession, possibly with Fine manipulation, maybe Reduced END (½ or 0 END)] you think your victims should generally have after they are taken over (I would suggest 25 STR, excluding Transfer). Could include a limitation "Only to +X STR of victim". ** Note: This could be massive if you are expecting to use this against supers, especially Brick. **
   

So what happens here is the incoporeal invader Drains the victim's STR to zero, so the victim won't be able to resit the TK Garb and Control. The victim will be conscious so will remember everything. And even if he is Stunned he will still not stop. The Transfer (instead of a Drain) is to limit how many points you need to invest in the TK. The suggested base 25 STR of TK is so that if a 60 STR Brick is attacked, he will still emerge with 65 STR after possession.

I await your comments.

(woops, didn't read the word doc. Will do that later)

Re: Megascale and Hyperdrive

...

That also brings up the question, most of the Hyperdrives are bought with the limitation "Extra Time 1 week" would this apply to both the 100-500LY jump and the 1-5 kilometer jump? It seems counter-intuitive to make the PCs travel in hyperspace 1 week either way.

...

Having gone through Terran Empire, the Extra Time specified is for the full journey. They list multiple versions of hyperdrives in Terran Empire p.160, and under each "Extra Time" limitation, they also give the breakdown of a unit per time. For the Epsilon class drive, which I believe you used for you example, it says:

1 week for full journey, or about 3 LY per hour.

So a short in-system jump would take virtually no time.

P.S.: the minimum scaling per inch is 2000 km, not 1 km, as far as I could tell.

Re: Megascale and Hyperdrive

...

In perparing for my upcoming Star Hero game, I was thinking about the Hyperdrives that are typical in Terran Empire. They are bought as Teleportation usually a low number of inches (say 5") with the Megascale advantage creating a Tport that goes 100LY/inch and they have the advantage "may be scaled down to 1"=1 kilometer (+1/4)"

 

My question is, how does this ship with that Hyperdrive get 30LY?

 

If the minimum is 1" and the maximum is 5" then it seems that they can only go 100LY to 500LY or they can go 1 kilometer to 5 kilometers. I don't think it makes sense that they get the 30LY in many 5 kilometer trips?

...

Well, the maximum distance/inch is 100 LY, the scale down option allows you to choose any distance between 100 LY to 1 km, meaning you could define every inch as 10 LY. Then the ship simply has to teleport 3" and it should reappear 30 LY from where it started.

As to the amount of time spent in hyperspace, I don't have the Terran Empire book at hand. If noone has answered that by tomorrow morning, I might look it up and see what i can do.

Re: Weapon poisons: show me what you use

Most weapons come with a sample. Iron Oxide' date=' it provides a wonderful death dealing poison known as Tetanus [/quote']

Actually Tetanus is cause by a bacteria.

Infection usually originates from a contaminated wound, often a cut or deep puncture wound.

The "rusty nail causes tetanus" is more because the nail is probably dirty, not rusty.

 

The Mongols (IIRC) dipped the tips of their arrows in horse-manure, which almost guarranteed someone that received a deep wound from their arrows to come down with Lockjaw (i.e.: Tetanus)

Re: Everyman

Let me add my kudos to his.

My use of NPCs has jumped 1000% since I bought it!

Re: Error in Enemies Unleashed

To be honest, I am not going to be getting the hard copy of this book either, but what I like (and hoping will come out soon) is the HD character pack. Now THAT I will find helpful.

All those villains in one package sure cuts down on the numbers of packs i want to buy!

Re: How evil is this?

If the TK STR is only to throw doesn't it technically still use the "Grab and Throw" mechanic? If it does then most Bricks will pretty much ignore it, as the Opposed STR roll will make them nearly immune.

Unless you want to have Martial Throw as a Damage Shield, and that would be a build tat GMs would have to keep a close eye on.

Re: Help with Hunted

If your alien demonstrates any technology more advanced than common on Earth, that would likely attract the attention of the Warlord, whose own equipment is derived from captured alien tech.

...

Don't forget ARGENT. They would love to get Alien Tech to reverse engineer it and maybe make the next "big scientific breakthrough". And rake in the cash from selling it to the highest bidder...

Re: New Liquid Armor (for real)

Gotta rep this mudpyr8 for the links simply because this explains a character's new power in my campaign so well it's... eery...

Re: Playing cards as offensive weapons...

If you can find episodes of the Mythbusters, they tested the Myth of the Deadly Card Thrower. Adam (one of the hosts) could throw it around 15 feet, hitting a cube of ballistic gel about 1.5 feet on the side, and once had the card stick in the gel. The equivalent of a paper cut basically.

Note: This is all wrttien from memory, I may have gotten some of the facts a little off.

Also showing up on this episode is a card throwing champ (or something). I think he held the distance record. The title to the episode was "Exploding Jawbreaker".

Hope this helps.

Re: 2 GMs One Game

I've GMing a Champions campaign for 3 years and and two of the players have finally volunteered to Co-GM with me. It does take a bit opf the pressure off. ALso, it reduces the chances that the plots might get repetitive.

Heck, I started this game because I wanted to be in a superhero campaign. Finally will get my goals.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See?

Updated goings on of VIPER, DEMON, the IHA, Dr. Destroyer, and the like. Also, any changes that have happened in Millennium City in the last four years (2003-6).

My campaign is advancing very slowly, so the characters are still in early 2003.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See?

I would like to see a write-up of Hydro, who is mentionned in Millennium City, as a hero that shows up in MC, but patrols the Great Lakes.

Re: Looking for Champions Players in San Jose, CA!

I would check and post the Player Finder Board, if I were you.

Good luck finding some players!

Re: The Flood: Not a Simple Transform

You could use a VPP Skill Mimic Pool (Only to imitate appropriate skills from Flood Victim; -1). Don't know how large the pool should be, but that would be the easiest way.

Re: What's new?

Found here, the one thing that is really new in the Equipment Guide is:

explosives and other weapons reprinted and revised from Dark Champions, including all-new material on poisons, chemical and biological weapons, and nuclear bombs

(my bolding the interesting bits.)

Re: Holding 'em Back

Unless he chooses to do stuff other than use his STR or his STR is Reduced END (to 0 or 1/2). The last thing I want to do is have this used in game and have everyone at the table go... um... so the shadow guys are holding the mentalist down' date=' and even though he's not resisting in any way, he lacks the energy to use his Ego Attack?[/quote']

Ah, the pleasures of trying to cover all your bases. I feel your pain (I GM too).

 

Here is another way of looking at it. How often does a character not use their strength. Not "STR" but strength. You say that "what if a character simply doesn't resist...", but unless they decide to go to 0 CV, they will be using their strength in combat, if only to "dodge" (not the maneuver, but simply maintaining DCV), to point or aim, or turn their head to look at their target (usually necessary for mentalists). I believe this to be fairly rare.

 

Now if a character has his STR bought with Reduced END (to 0 or 1/2), he is nearly impossible to tire out, and having his END reduced, shouldn't bother him much anyway.

 

And if there are characters that you feel really shouldn't suffer the reduced END, well I guess my original suggestion won't help.

 

A few other ideas that pop into my head would be to really make it a Summon, though I won't dare to venture as to what the creatures would have to be like to simulate the effect you are looking for. And Thia suggested something that you may want to keep in mind: Change Environment can do some "minor" damage to characters. You could make CE UAA to make it stick to the target and have it do END Damage (Only to keep STR END usage constant) and leave it at that.

 

Than again I just migt be nuts.

Re: Holding 'em Back

I'm not sure if Drainng both STR and END works. According to the SFX as described to me, there should be absolutley no effect on the target if he just stands there, unless the target is so physically weak he collapses under the pressure of the shadow creatures (which sounds like a STR Drain). The trick is that if the character uses his STR (which isn't really "drained"), he must spend END for everything that is effectively Drained and then the END for the remaining STR he can actually use. Sure, I could make it Drain STR and END, but the mechanics of how that works doesn't even come close to the mechanics of what should actually happen. Maybe a second Drain END Continuous 0 END Persistant Uncontrolled that's Limited to only Drain END when the character would be using it... Seems like it'd cost way too much compared to what actually happens.

...

I think you may be over-analysing the whole thing. The stated goal is that the target should be getting tired about as quickly as if he was using his "real strength", right? Well Draining STR and END should simulate this. Since his pool of END will be smaller, he will be spending "more" for his lower STR, and be getting tired quicker than would be indicated by using less STR.

That is how I see it anyway. Anything else (as far as I can tell) is probably way more complicated than you want.

Re: VERY new GM seeking Powers help...

I know this is mentionned in the thread that Lord Liaden referred you to, but it bears mentioning again: The UNTIL Superpower Database is a very good reference for examples of power constructs. It has a good sampling of powers for empathic characters.

2 (unrelated) questions:

1. If a character only has inches of leaping base on STR, and his STR has be bought to 0 END, does he pay END for his Leaping?
   
2. If a character has a "Encrypted Radio" based on Mind Link, should it have the "Does not Grant Mental Awarness" modifier? (I know this is a philosophical question and you usually don't answer those, but I have seen this build more than once in various books, and I found it odd.)
   

Re: A couple of how to questions

...

Brick trick: Something that's seen many times in animated super fight. A strong character slugs another character, sends them flying for so long they are able to dash or fly past the knockbacked character and hit them again before they can recover.

I finally figured an another way of doing this, but the Brick would also need to have access to Speester Tricks. In Two Places At Once (USP, p.102, also found in the USPD I think) is based on the Duplication power, and the two duplicates cannot be more than a Half-Move apart. The first hits the target and the second waits for the knockback to bring him into range.