Vox

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

And here's the revision.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

Cool, I'll get on those changes. You're 100% correct about Missile Deflection (and the implication that it's not the best choice), so I'll probably use that spell slot for a Wall of some sort.

I'll have a revised version by tomorrow night.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

Attaching new .hdc file for Shadow's perusal.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

No problem. I'm patient.

~Gabriel

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

Hm. I like what you did with the skills.

Here's a revised version, changes made mostly to reduces the per Phase cost of Bone to Steel and to improve Metal Storm.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

I only have the basic templates for HD, and none of them seem work quite properly with this website. But in any event, here's Arius the Smith.

Background

In life Arius was a warrior and sometime smith for a fairly small agrarian village. Despite his advanced years (he was nearing 60 at the time), Arius was given the honor of leading the village's defense against the army of Varakus Bane. While attacked by nothing more than a general's entourage (that had chanced upon their settlement), the village was destroyed in a single evening. Of his people, only Arius was taken alive. He had rallied the villagers together for one last stand, and outmaneuvered the undead for so long that the Doom general who watched the proceedings from atop his horse decided not to waste such strong will. The process of making him a Doom began as soon as the group returned to the main encampment.

As a Doom general, Arius proved to be something of a failure. While he remembered little of his life before, one thing remained: his love of the craft. What magic he was taught became nothing more than a tool for smithing, and he had no patience for other matters. Realizing that his use as a smith was greater than his potential as a general, Bane and his commanders allowed Arius to dedicate himself solely to the forge. He spent the remainder of the war crafting weapons of incredible beauty, which was largely wasted on the undead who bore them into battle.

The fall of Bane proved troublesome for Arius, in that it deprived him of the sheltered lifestyle to which he had become accustomed since his death. The days of spending twenty hours a day shaping metal were past. Now he was a fugitive, an abomination in the eyes of the victorious army and the priests who accompanied them. He fled into the mountains and spent most of the intervening years on the run from hunters both real and imagined.

Finally Arius could take no more. His overture to New Dawn took the form of a letter written in a fastidious hand, left on the doorstep in the dead of night. He wanted amnesty. He would do whatever it took to prove himself, so long as they could provide a way for him to stop being hunted. Surely they would have some use for a Doom master of metal, even if he were something of a savant?

Personality/Motivation

Arius was never a complicated man, and that has remained largely unchange since his transformation. He loves the work of shaping metal, creating weapons, armor, or whatever else catches his fancy. Having been raised originally in a simple, rural community, he has low expectations, and his time in Bane's army was for him just one more uncomfortable situation that he had no choice but to endure. Matters of the living he remember well enough, and the callousness he sometimes evinces is simply that of a cranky old man rather than an unsympathetic undead.

Quote

"Don't pester me! Can't you see that I'm working!" - when informed of Bane's destruction

Powers/Tactics

The ability to change weapons to suit a situation leaves him flexible, and hardening his bones renders him difficult to injure. Metal Storm is excellent for softening a formation before it comes to close combat.

Re: Sub-Zero's Ice Clones

Link the ice clone to the Martial Dodge maneuver via Trigger, Resets. If he uses Dodge and the attacker misses with a melee attack, the Entangle goes off. No need for a physical manifestation. Just make it an Area to avoid accuracy issues.

My two centavos.

~Gabriel

Re: Costumed Crimefighters Collective

I get the feeling that a campaign of this sort would be a great learning experience for everyone involved. Players that aren't ordinarily inclined to optimize would get to play the 'most powerful hero' every once in a while, and optimizers would be forced to see how the other half lives.

~Gabriel

Re: TK Techniques for a BIG FIGHT???

It seems almost as though you've each read more into what the other was saying than was actually there.

In the interest of keeping things civil, I think it's important to recognize that so long as the preferences of the players and GM agree, everything will be hunky-dory. And that's true regardless of what those preferences are.

~Gabriel

Re: TK Techniques for a BIG FIGHT???

This may go without saying, but having Fine Manipulation on his TK opens up a can of very nasty worms in the form of grabbing particular pieces of a hero's equipment/armor. The heroes who need foci are often the ones who can't resist an 80 STR grab. Does the aforementioned sorcerer have a staff? A crystal?

Depending on how smart Solbreaker is, very nasty things can happen without his even doing any damage to the heroes.

~Gabriel

Re: Hero Philosophy - SPEED

Treat the character as SPD 6 (2' date='4,6,8,10,12) but star one of the phases - it can only even be used then for a mental attack and nothing else.[/quote']

 

This is precisely what I was talking about.

 

~Gabriel

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

I understand completely.

PbP gaming is a strange beast, isn't it? I can't even count the number of games I've had implode on themselves over the years. It's rare to see a game that has managed to keep going despite so many players dropping.

Anyway: if your bad luck continues, drop me a PM.

~Gabriel

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy

Being an incurable insomniac, I find myself with a degree of free time. If you're still looking for players, I might consider applying.

First, however, I'll need to wade through all of the established background. I prefer to have a character that inhabits the world smoothly.

~Gabriel

Re: London Knights

Hey, the brick is actually a pretty smart guy...he just has the technological know-how of a 7th century Northern European.

~Gabriel

Re: Hero Philosophy - SPEED

Buying Speed with limitations seems like a natural solution to the 'spotlight' problem. Give every character the same base Speed (say, 4) and then allow them to buy additional Speed with character-appropriate limitations. Gadgeteers with +2 Speed (Only For Adjusting VPP), Martial Artists with +2 Speed (Only To Use Melee Attacks), and so on.

With a system like that in place, you could have an 8 Speed speedster without everyone else feeling left out. The non-speedsters would be getting to make combat decisions at the same pace as the speedster, while leaving the speedster feeling as though he did in fact have an edge.

~Gabriel

Re: London Knights

While the character himself won't have a CvK, I myself have a pretty strong Code Versus Not Screwing Up Games. He'll use the edge on robots and the like, and just clobber everything else. I deliberately avoided giving him any Enraged Disads for that very reason.

That being said, if a villain commits some truly heinous crime right in front of him, the sword might just be the right answer to the problem...

~Gabriel

Re: London Knights

@vox: I think a ghost horse' date=' that even has a name, deserve more than just being a SFX for flight. Write Enbarr up and buy him as a follower.[/quote']

 

I thought about doing that, but I wasn't sure how much hassle would be involved. If you have any more specific advice, I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

~Gabriel

Re: London Knights

mac Lir's completed .hdc attached. I'll reproduce the stats and background here for those who're only casually interested.

Re: London Knights

Is the position of brick still open? That's what mac Lir seems to have turned out as, and I don't want to be wasting my time finishing him...

~Gabriel

Re: London Knights

Well, I have been drawing up stats for an Irish hero named Manannan mac Lir (after the traditional god of the sea); but if you don't want to have too many mystical types, I can always pan around for another idea.

~Gabriel

Re: Raw STR: Marvel

I prefer to invoke a particular era, or even run of comics, when I define a character's stats. It ensures that anyone reading instantly has an idea of where I'm coming from.

For example, Hulk from Secret Wars? Starting STR well over 100. Held up a mountain and he wasn't even enraged when he started. Hulk from Planet Hulk? Much lower starting strength.

Superman's invulnerability/weaknesses from Infinite crisis? Nearly incalculable. He flies through a red sun and takes no damage at all except for losing his abilities; i.e. goes up against his greatest weakness in its most extreme form and tanks it like a man. Superman's invulnerability/weaknesses from any comic in which Batman needs to be shown kicking his butt? The green K allows an ordinary bloke to bloody him.

If you want to avoid bickering, build for a specific appearance.

~Gabriel

Re: Android Selves

Hypothetically, you could build the Android as a vehicle. Buy limited megascale TK and clairsentience to represent the ability to 'pilot' the android remotely. This actually has several benefits:

1). You can buy several androids, and still be limited to using only one at a time.

2). Each individual android is fairly replaceable.

2). It would leave open the possibility of a villain with similar technological abilities taking over your android! Competing for control over your creation? Awesome!

Maybe something like this:

Become The Android

See Through His Eyes: Clairsentience (Sight, Touch, Smell/Taste And Hearing Groups), Discriminatory, Targeting, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), MegaScale (1" = 10,000 km; +1 1/4), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1 m (+1/4) (195 Active Points); Only To Perceive Through The Senses Of An Android (-3/4)

Operate Android: Telekinesis (10 STR), Fine Manipulation, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), MegaScale (1" = 10,000 km; +1 1/4), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1 m (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Only To Operate Androids Remotely (-3/4), Linked (See Through His Eyes; -1/2)

Total Cost: 144 points

You'd get a massive cost break on the androids themselves because they'd be built as vehicles, so I think it's only fair to pay a lot for the ability to operate them remotely. Plus, I think it's really cool to have the ability to operate to operate ANY android built as a vehicle, even if you didn't build it yourself (a rival's androids, perhaps?).

Anyway, just an idea.

~Gabriel

Re: Who homages the Watchmen or those the Watchmen homaged?

I tend to think that challenge has little to do with drama. It's the human element that makes RPing interesting for me, and that can be maintained regardless of the powerlessness or omnipotence of the PCs so long as they care about someone.

~Gabriel

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Just a rider for an attachment.

~Gabriel

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

I have been asking all new players a few questions before I can really start them up the game. With that in mind, I will just post them here

 

1. If you have any DNPCs, I need their name, relationship, age and where they live.

2. Where does you character live? If you took a disad such as poor, then you would probably live in the Rookery or some similar low income area. If you took poor and are a college student, professor, etc. then you probably live around the college in an apartment (garden loft, etc). You can actually have an home in some of the less "affluent" location if you would like (ie Switchback) and have a warehouse type loft (maybe you are a squatter, maybe not). If you character has a lot of family in the area, then put that down. For instance Engram's DNPC mother lives in Sugar Hills, his sister lives in Waxhaw, his girl friend lives in Center City, his has an apartment in Eastvale (close to TSU in Waxhaw).

3. Where do you work?

Again, pointing to Engram, he works in Waxhaw but TSU has a campus in Center City as well.

 

You character needs a reason to go to Center City occassionally, or at least go thru Center City to get somewhere else. Half of the cities population lives and works in Center City. You don't have to live and work there, but it would be nice to have a reason you pass through now and again. If your character lives at the far edge of the Market District and has little reason to exit the area, it is going to a lot more difficult to get you "into the city". I don't want anyone to suspend belief as to why where they live, work, etc... but having your book of the month getting routed into the city everytime Dr ABC attacks is going to get old really fast

 

Thanks.

Kuan Ti's only DNPC is Wu Fei Chun, one of his childhood friends who followed him to Taiwan and served as his right hand man. He is slightly older than Kuan Ti, but only by a few years (early-forties). In the fighting that preceded Kuan Ti's arrest and annihilated his organization, Fei Chun was wounded in the neck and paralyzed below the waist. During the years that Kuan Ti was in prison, he lived with his son's widow in Beijing. Upon breaking out, Kuan Ti recovered his armor, accessed some of his assets from the old days (that had been in a Swiss bank), and decided to take Fei Chun and his daughter-in-law with him to America.

Having set Fei Chun up with a house in Center City, Kuan Ti now lives in hotels all over Thebes, never staying in the same hotel more than a week. He works as a dealer in antiquities using the name Gordon Lau. For the most part he works out of his hotel room, but he frequents all of the antiquity dealers in the city, both major and minor. His interest in the business, aside from providing money, is the recovery of mystical artifacts similar to his armor that he had once owned, but were confiscated and then sold internationally by the Chinese government.

He takes a taxi (Kuan Ti doesn't drive or even have a license) to Center City about twice a week to visit Fei Chun and his daughter-in-law. Kuan Ti is attracted to the woman (her husband died at the age of 20, having been married less than a year, so she's now 35 years old), but respects his only friend far too much to ever make it known.

~Gabriel