jwpacker

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

First and foremost, Fedifensor, I never take offense on a character critique. It's been some time since I was a regular role player, and I'm sure to make mistakes, both technical and glaring tactical mistakes. And besides, it's your world - you make the rules.

I will take everything you included and the character as he sits, and submit a version 2.0 to you. Probably tonight, but we'll see how quickly I can make everything work. In the long run, he'll be a tighter, better character with more than two dimensions.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Characteristics: 122

8 STR 18

30 DEX 20

16 CON 18

8 BODY 14

8 INT 18

26 EGO 23

5 PRE 20

2 COM 14

1 PD 5

1 ED 5

10 SPD 4

0 REC 8

7 END 50

0 STUN 32

Powers: 179

50 MP: Mental Manipulation (50 Point Pool)

5u 1) Mental Hands: Telekinesis - STR 26, Fine Manipulation (49) - 5 END

5u 2) Mental Strike: Ego Attack - 5D6 (50) - 5 END

4u 3) Mental Paralysis: Entangle - 2D6, Based on ECV, vs EGO not STR, No

Damage from Physical Attacks, Cannot form Barriers (50) - 5 END

3u 4) Alter Emotions: 10D6 Mind Control, Only to Alter or Inflict Emotions (50)

- 5 END

2u 5) Empathic Healing: 5D6 Simplified Healing, Only on Others, Side Effect -

Takes 1/2 of damage that is healed (50) - 5 END

20 EC: Mental Powers (40 Active Points)

20 1) Mind Reading: 8D6 Telepathy (40) - 4 END

10 2) Mind Finding: 8D6 Mind Scan (40), Only to Establish Telepathic

Communication or Mink Link (-1) - 4 END

20 3) Telekinetic Shield: 16 PD/ 16 ED Force Field, Costs END only to activate (40)

- 4 END Activation

10 4) Telekinetic Levitation: 16” Flight, Costs END only to active, 25 meter maximum

altitude (-1/2), No Noncombat Multiple (-1/2) (40) - 4 END Activation

20 5) Precognitive Dodge: + 8 DCV (40) - 0 END, Constant

10 Mink Link: Any One Person, Linked to Mind Finding (-1/2) - 0 END

Skills, Talents and Perks: 49

Skills:

3 Scholar

2 KS: American Literature, 12-

1 KS: English Literature, 11-

2 KS: American History, 12-

1 KS: Modern European History, 11-

2 KS: Known Supers, 12-

3 Conversation,

3 Persuasion

3 Streetwise

3 Analyze: Mental Powers

3 Deduction

3 Scientist

1 SS: Biology

1 SS: Biochemistry

1 SS: Metabiology

1 SS: Psychology

2 AK: Denver/Boulder Corridor

3 Language: Spanish (Fluent, slight accent)

Everyman Skills

0 1) Acting 8-

0 2) AK: United States 8-

0 3) Climbing 8-

0 4) Concealment 8-

0 5) Conversation 8-

0 6) Deduction 8-

0 7) Language: English (Idiomatic, native accent) (4 Active Points)

0 8) Paramedics 8-

0 9) Persuasion 8-

0 10) PS: Cook - Mexican Food 8-

0 11) Shadowing 8-

0 12) Stealth 8-

0 13) TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles, Small Rowed Boats

1 Access: CSU Metahuman Studies Lab

1 Computer Link: CSU Metahuman Studies Database

9 Contact: Metahuman Studies team, 11-, secret id only, useful skills,

group

Disadvantages: 150

15 DNPC: Dr. Masterson, mentor and lover, slightly less powerful, unaware of

secret ID, 11-

25 DNPC: Family, mom, dad and six siblings, normals, unaware of secret ID,

large group, 8-

15 Psych Lim: Monophobia, fear of being alone, worse when he’s unable to

at least contact someone with mind link or telepathy, common, strong

20 Psych Lim: Entirely in love with Dr. Masterson, would do anything for her,

common, total

15 Psych Lim: Gregarious, chatty and talkative with everyone around him, wants

to be everyone’s friend and the life of the party, common, strong

15 Social Lim: Secret Identity, Armando Gonzales, Frequent, Major

15 Vulnerability: 1.5xBODY, 2xSTUN from sonic attacks (Uncommon)

15 Hunted: Metahuman Studies Department (Less Powerful, NCI, Easy to find

Watching, 11-)

15 Hunted: Fraternity House (Less Powerful, NCI, Easy to find, Watching, 11-)

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

* Skills - I'm looking for 30+ points of noncombat skills/perks. Miracle's xharacter sheet should be looked to as an example. She has 26 pts of noncombat skills and a 2 pt Weapon Familarity included for flavor, plus 14 points of perks. I consider that to be on the low side of what I prefer. If you have less than that, you may want to pull points from elsewhere and think about what skills and perks you can add.

I nixed one of my EC slots, one of my MP slots and some of my purchased END and wound up with 29 more points worth of noncombat skills and perks, for a total of 49 points.

I'll post an updated version as soon as I get a free moment to do so.

OT: How are you liking your G1? Had they released it on Verizon, I'd have been one of the first in line...

Re: Three Villians, one picture, no ideas.. One Contest...

The guy in the devil suit is a tough one to peg, and ain't nobody going to beat Lucius on Reverend Chuck. But the guy up top, I think I have a line on him...

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Here are my stats for Armando Gonzales, soon to be Engram, protector of the innocent! Note that I have not populated his two Hunted disads, wondering if there is an appropriate pool of badguys to pull from.

8 STR 18 3 SS: Psychology, 12-

30 DEX 20 3 SS: Metabiology, 12-

16 CON 18 3 KS: US History, 12-

8 BODY 14 3 KS: American Literature, 12-

8 INT 18 3 Conversation, 12-

26 EGO 23 3 Deduction, 13-

5 PRE 20 2 Language: Spanish

2 COM 14 20 Skills

1 PD 5

1 ED 5

10 SPD 4

0 REC 8

12 END 60

0 STUN 32

127 Characteristics

50 MP: Mental Manipulation (50 Point Pool)

5u 1) Mental Hands: Telekinesis - STR 26, Fine Manipulation (49) - 5 END

5u 2) Mental Strike: Ego Attack - 5D6 (50) - 5 END

4u 3) Mental Paralysis: Entangle - 2D6, Based on ECV, vs EGO not STR, No

Damage from Physical Attacks, Cannot form Barriers (50) - 5 END

5u 4) Mental Weakness: Drain - 3D6 EGO, Usable at Range (45) - 4 END

3u 5) Alter Emotions: 10D6 Mind Control, Only to Alter or Inflict Emotions (50)

- 5 END

2u 6) Empathic Healing: 5D6 Simplified Healing, Only on Others, Side Effect -

Takes 1/2 of damage that is healed (50) - 5 END

20 EC: Mental Powers (40 Active Points)

19 1) Mental Invisibility: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, No Fringe, Costs END only

to Activate, Human Mind Only (44) - 4 END Activation

20 2) Mind Reading: 8D6 Telepathy (40) - 4 END

10 3) Mind Finding: 8D6 Mind Scan (40), Only to Establish Telepathic

Communication or Mink Link (-1) - 4 END

20 4) Telekinetic Shield: 16 PD/ 16 ED Force Field, Costs END only to activate (40)

- 4 END Activation

10 5) Telekinetic Levitation: 16” Flight, Costs END only to active, 25 meter maximum

altitude (-1/2), No Noncombat Multiple (-1/2) (40) - 4 END Activation

20 6) Precognitive Dodge: + 8 DCV (40) - 0 END, Constant

10 Mink Link: Any One Person, Linked to Mind Finding (-1/2) - 0 END

203 Powers

15 DNPC: Dr. Masterson, mentor and lover, slightly less powerful, unaware of

secret ID, 11-

25 DNPC: Family, mom, dad and six siblings, normals, unaware of secret ID,

large group, 8-

15 Psych Lim: Monophobia, fear of being alone, worse when he’s unable to

at least contact someone with mind link or telepathy, common, strong

20 Psych Lim: Entirely in love with Dr. Masterson, would do anything for her,

common, total

15 Psych Lim: Gregarious, chatty and talkative with everyone around him, wants

to be everyone’s friend and the life of the party, common, strong

15 Social Lim: Secret Identity, Armando Gonzales, Frequent, Major

15 Vulnerability: 1.5xBODY, 2xSTUN from sonic attacks (Uncommon)

15 Hunted:

15 Hunted:

Armando Gonzales was the born into a large, poor family in Thornton, Colorado. The seventh child of seven, the household was always noisy, and Armando seemed ill suited to it, torn between wanting to be out and about with everyone, and involved, but overwhelmed by the noise. No one was terribly surprised when Armando developed many imaginary friends. Perfectly normal, the school psychologist said, for a child who can't be the center of attention for his parents to invent people who give him their undivided attention. Everything was fine, in fact, until one of Armando's imaginary friends showed up on their front porch.

The woman, for a real woman it was, introduced herself as Dr. Masterson, a young researcher from up in Boulder. She told Armando's parents that he had contacted her telepathically, and said he was trying to find a friend, and he wondered if she would be his friend. At first, she played along, but over time came to realize two things. First, if Armando had been casting about for friends using his innate psychic abilities, it seemed likely that he might be contacted, eventually, but by someone who didn't have his best interests at heart. And second, that given that she had had to drive a significant distance to find the family, Armando must be a very powerful psychic indeed.

Armando's parents, along with Dr. Masterson, found some researchers at Colorado State University who were only too happy to help test out some of Armando's abilities. As Dr. Masterson had predicted, Armando was especially gifted for a boy of ten, with the potential for a significant increase in that power when he hit puberty. The university staff offered to provide an environment where Armando could safely explore the limits of his power and grow into them in a controlled way. Armando's parents agreed, and Armando became a regular at the CSU Metahuman Studies department.

In addition to being able to read and send thoughts across great distances, Armando proved to have access to a whole suite of possible tools. He had an innate grasp of emotions, and could not just read them, but cause them to bloom in people. In one competition with another budding mentalist, Armando, now sixteen, accidentally knocked the other man unconscious.

As soon as he turned eighteen, Armando applied for, and was quickly accepted at, CSU. He began taking classes in Metahuman Studies from professors who had been like surrogate parents for him. Having grown up poor, it was only through grants and loans that he can attend the university.

Having emerged from his shell, Armando became a very gregarious student, and everyone seemed to know who he was and to generally like him. He still tended to retreat to the library to recharge in the comparative silence, but he found being alone trying. He gravitated to activities that weren’t too loud, like gaming clubs and the like, but tended to avoid sporting events and concerts.

He's currently twenty years old, he's completed his sophomore year of college, and he's agonizing about what to focus on. Metahuman Studies, while interesting, hasn't proved to be as engrossing as he might have hoped. He's actually leaning towards a double major in English and History, but explaining that to his parents might take some doing.

To add to some drama in his life, he's found himself involved in a relationship with his former mentor and patron, Dr. Tamara Masterson. No one - not his family or hers - is aware of this change in their relationship.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

It'd be some form of Mind Scan combined with Telepathy' date=' but I'd have to dig into the rules to come up with the specifics. Basically, you sweep an area for a particular type of mind, then use Telepathy to contact the person.[/quote']

 

That makes perfect sense. I misread Mind Scan and thought it, like most mental powers, was LOS only. I've come up with everything but a movement power for my character, but the EC I have his powers in is a little expensive. I'm going to try a combination of MP and EC to see if I can bring the costs down to just astronomical.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Hey, Fedifensor, I need an assist.

I'm having a hard time coming up with how to create the power he used to contact Dr. Masterson. I love the idea of a lonely boy broadcasting his wish for some friends to talk to mentally, but I'm not sure how to buy it - or if I even should, honestly, or just call it "unfocused, youthful use of powers" and hand-wave it away...

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Looked it over - I like the background. There are a few things that will need tweaking, but nothing that alters the core of the character. Probably the biggest thing we'd need to discuss would be the superhero moonlighting, due to the lack of superhero activity in the city up to this point. The relationship with the mentor is a nice twist, by the way.

Whoops...missed that bit about there not being any super activity yet. I added that in there to give you a lead to pull me into the campaign. We can totally nix it if that's a better way to run it, and allow for Armando to become Engram during the first part fo the campaign.

Now, as far as powers are concerned, I will want to see a rough writeup so I can figure out how Armando functions in combats. Mentalists are always tricky in a Champions game, as the rules can set them up to be absurdly underpowered or absolutely overwhelming. It's a tough balance when a character's main attacks can completely bypass traditional defenses, and most supers aren't built with high EGO scores and/or lots of Mental Defense. That's not a strike against the character...I just want to let you know that if the submission is accepted, I'm going to take great care in making sure the final product will be balanced.

I'm totally down with that, but as I'm seeing him as having never really used his powers in combat before, I think it'll be pretty broad, and not overpowered in any area.

I'm about to hit the sack for the night, but will put a baseline character sheet together shortly and get it uploaded here. I don't have HDC, so I hope plain text is okay.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Alright, boss, you wanted a quick character sketch. Here's who I propose playing:

Armando Gonzales was the born into a large, but poor family. The seventh child of seven, no one was terribly surprised when Armando seemed to have a lot of imaginary friends. Perfectly normal, the school psychologist said, for a child who can't be the center of attention for his parents to invent people who give him their undivided attention. Everything was fine, in fact, until one of Armando's imaginary friends showed up on their front porch.

The woman, for a real woman it was, introduced herself as Dr. Masterson, a young researcher from up in Boulder. She told Armando's parents that he had contacted her telepathically, and said he was trying to find a friend, and he wondered if she would be his friend. At first, she played along, but over time came to realize two things. First, if Armando had been casting about for friends using his innate psychic abilities, it seemed likely that he might be contacted, eventually, but someone who didn't have his best interests at heart. And second, that given that she had had to drive a significant distance to find the family, Armando must be a very powerful psychic indeed.

Armando's parents, along with Dr. Masterson, found some researchers at Colorado State University who were only too happy to help test out some of Armando's abilities. As Dr. Masterson had predicted, Armando was especially gifted for a boy of ten, with the potential for a significant increase in that power when he hit puberty. The university staff offered to provide an environment where Armando could safely explore the limits of his power and grow into them in a controlled way. Armando's parents agreed, and Armando became a regular at the CSU Metahuman Studies department.

In addition to being able to read and send thoughts across great distances, Armando proved to have access to a whole suite of possible tools. He could create images that were so realistic that people at first thought he was in fact a latent summoner. In one competition with another budding mentalist, Armando, now sixteen, accidentally knocked the other man unconscious.

As soon as he turned eighteen, Armando applied for, and was quickly accepted, at CSU, taking classes in Metahuman Studies from professors who had been like surrogate parents for him. Having grown up poor, it was only through grants and loans that he can attend the university.

He's currently twenty years old, he's completed his sophomore year of college, and he's agonizing about what to focus on. Metahuman Studies, while interesting, hasn't proved to be as engrossing as he might have hoped. He's actually leaning towards a double major in English and History, but explaining that to his parents might take some doing.

To add to some drama in his life, he's found himself involved in a relationship with his former mentor and patron, Dr. Tamara Masterson. No one - not his family or hers - is aware of this change in their relationship.

He's also been doing some moonlighting as a superhero - a secret he's kept even from his lover. He's been making some contacts with local supers in the hopes of joining up with a team of them to make the best use of his powers in a group that could support his weak areas.

Re: Metahumans Rising: The Darker Side of Hero Life

Sweet! Thanks!

I've applied, but can't send my character in until I get off work this afternoon. Will send something to you then.

Re: Metahumans Rising: The Darker Side of Hero Life

Hey, can't find this on the Hero Central website - is it part of the main Metahumans Rising campaign?

Re: Which is your least favorite archetype to play?

I just wanted to chime in on this post. In one of my champions games (back in 4th with 250 point characters) I remember getting in a fight with an ex-super villainess (she was in her late 50's) with my Brick with 50 str and a 20 point CaK. She had been firing off some 50 to 60 point entangles and EB's so I decided to haymaker her in an attempt to stop her. Turns out she had no real defenses' date=' so between the hit and the knock back I had killed her. It was odd, I just assumed she had defenses, I never even checked. Out of game it kind of shocked all of our players who had assumed the same thing I had, just I was the first one to land a blow. So yeah some hero I was, killing old woman. There was some RPing to deal with a trail and I had to put the character on hiatus while he spent time in Jail.[/quote']

 

It really does depend on the type of campaign your GM is running, I think, whether this should have been allowed to happen or not. Specifically, were I running a Golden or Silver Age game, I think I would have deused your character out of killing her. Given a Bronze or even more likely in an Iron Age campaign, I would have allowed it, and given you the chance to have that fantastic RP moment and aftermath.

 

And I actually have the hardest time being a plain old energy projector or brick, and as such have gravitated to mentalists to keep things interesting.

Steve--

I've searched and searched without success, so I hope this hasn't been beaten to death in some deeply buried thread...

I know from the FAQ that simply applying an increased characteristic as part of a racial package does NOT automatically increase the NCM for that characteristic.

My question is how best to do that, if I wanted in my game to have a racial package that included, say "+5 STR, Max Raised to 25" - how much should that cost?

My guess is not a great deal, as the whole NCM disadvantage in Superheroic games is only worth 20...