Blackjack

Re: How much use ist the Ultimate Martial Artist for aFantasy/SF/Cyberpunk Campaign? At the risk of sounding redundant, I have to fully agree with the others. If you're going to be running a HERO game with any hand-to-hand combat elements, UMA is essential.

Re: Campaign Limits DCV and Armor I'm not sure what you mean, Fox... If you spend character points on something, those points are gone - they can't then be used for something else. If a player wants to build a character that invests a substantial amount of his points in a particular direction, then he'll by necessity be weak in other aspects. This certainly does not automatically mean that the character will be a problem. Look at speedsters. Many people (myself included) love playing them even though they require people to spend a LOT of points on a very expensive characteristic: SPD. This is why many speedsters don't have a lot of other powers other than "Speedster Power Tricks." They are "one-trick ponies" with an effective trick. Some HERO players don't like high-SPD characters because they believe such characters are unbalancing. I can tell you from personal experience, all that SPD and Running doesn't do you much good if you get hit with an Entangle or englobed in a Force Wall that prevents you from accelerating to a high-damage velocity... For a genre example: Where most of the JLA spent most of their points on Powers and generally few points on skills, Batman is built in the reverse: lots of points in Skills, few in Powers. (Let's call characteristics a wash, for the sake of this conversation...) I don't think anyone will argue that this makes Batman LESS efective than the rest of the JLA. Bats' skills make him just as useful as Superman's Flight or GL's Power Ring... Can some points be spent more efficiently than others - of course. But efficiency comes with limits, if a GM is willing to use them, and everything in the game has a counter. If a character puts all his eggs in one basket, that's his choice, and most GMs can find ways to upset that basket when necessary...

Re: Don't be a hater! Most of the people in my gaming groups have reacted mostly favorably to the Fifth Edition and its supplements. Obviously, there has been some disagreement on a few of the new things: some of the UMA Martial Maneuvers, MegaScale, etc. However, most of that comes more from inertia and a lack of desire to re-tune older characters than actual criticism of the rules themselves... As for 'not wanting to know the answer,' I think your implication may be right. Some people do like to complain simply for the sake of complaining. Others may have legitimate criticisms: "I'd have done it differently..." but that doesn't necessarily mean the work is bad. Me? I've got no complaints. HERO's books haven't disappointed me yet.

Re: How would you do this? Mixing skills and Power Modifiers is always tricky. In general, as for what "unjams" or restores the burned out power or skill, that's up to the GM based on special effect. In specific, for this case, the player and the GM can look at the Burnout and Jammed mechanics to see if they properly simulate what the character is looking for. If they don't like it that particular mechanic, no problem...

Re: How would you do this?

Re: Champions Universe: The Director’s Cut I frequently "co-opt" 5ED published materials - esp. villians and NPCs. Although our campaign universe and it's history are significantly different from the 5ED universe, I do borrow elements from it. I have transplanted Eurostar into our universe and used other CKC villians against my players. In our Dark Champions campaign, we use the Hudson City setting ("a wretched hive of scum and villiany...") Bottom line: the published resources are just that - resources. I can pick and choose what to use to enhance the game for myself and my players.

Re: Favorite Superhero Lines Batman: _Justice League:_ "Secret Society" The Bat bursts in on Clayface, mid-robbery, and starts berating him for his predictablility. The rest of the Society suddenly come out of hiding... Paraphrasing: "I see you've brought some friends. Wish I'd thought of that..." Then, the warehouse door falls open, revealing the rest of the League. Bats: "Oh, that's right, I did..." *** From _Justice League:_ "The Enemy Below" Superman grabs DeadEye and orders him to say who hired him. DeadEye basically tells him to forget it. Batman then grabs DeadEye and walks several feet from the rest of the League, whispering into DeadEye's ear. DeadEye then collapses blathering "I'll talk... I'll talk..." Wonder Woman: "What did he SAY to him?" Superman: "You don't want to know."

Re: BODY drain vs. electrical devices You're right, Dust Raven. That's why my character's MP includes several different versions of EMP: the BODY Drain, a Dispel, a Suppress, even a Flash that blinds radio and radar emisssions (Radio Sense Group)... EMP: Hours of fun for the whole family...

Re: BODY drain vs. electrical devices I have a character who has a similar power built in a similar fashion for the same reasons you cite. The power works very well for frying electrical devices, esp. if you Limit the power so that it specifically cannot harm anything else. Of course, how much such a Limitation would be worth depends on your judgment and your campaign... With the Limitation, he won't be tempted to use the attack on "non-machines," which tends to balance out it's use... I'll be curious to hear what you finally decide. Please let us know...

Re: Creation philosophy An excellent point, Sean, though YMMV. I have often seen characters built more "efficiently" (and thus more "esoterically") purely for the sake of efficiency (ie: saving points, proving a point, etc...) You are also correct in saying that a "straightforward" character (one built on few to no Power Limitations or Frameworkls) can be equally effective. Using the general game parameters of the Midguard campaign (Zl'f's game), I have built two characters that could be members of Midguard (power-wise), neither of whom have a Power Framework and both of whom have 77 Real points or less in Powers with VERY limited Limitations... Nightwolf: a 350-pt demi-brick Martial Artist (wrestler). 50 STR, 29 CON, no characteristics built with any Limitations at all, no Framework. 53 Points in Native American warrior avatar Powers... Oh, and he has 106 points in Skills - TWICE as many as in Powers... Peregrine: a 350-pt winged speedster. 33 DEX, 9 SPD, no characteristics built with any Limitations, no Framework. 46 out of 77 points of Powers in Flight (w/ Usuable as Gliding). She also has more points in Skills than in Powers (103 - 77). Both of these characters are battle-tested against Midguard and fared pretty well It's not just you, Sean. I've found the same thing. I can build characters that are much more rich, balanced, and well-rounded with the extra 100 points, rather than just making them 100 points tougher...

Re: Creation philosophy Believe what you wish, Ki-Rin. Those of us who actually _play_ with this character know better...

Re: Creation philosophy No - because most speedsters rely on their movement velocity (Move Through, Passing Strike, etc.) to do damage to their opponents. Generally speaking, if you trap a speedster in an Entangle or a Force Wall were they don't have room to accelerate, they are trapped. A Martial Artist does the same damage in a 2x2 ring as they do in an open field... That's _half_ the typical 12 DC average of most superhero campaigns. She can't do normal STUN damage to to most bricks on an average roll: 7 * 3.5 = 25 STUN - 20 PD (which is LOW for a brick if we're honest with each other...) and it'll take _days_ to take them down. The NND is even 2 DCs below the 12 DC average and doesn't work _at all_ on armored opponents. In my experience there simply aren't that many unarmored opponents in the superhero world... Uh, 215/216? No... Her best OCV is with an attack is 17 with a Sacrifice Strike that does 10d6 and leaves her with a 12 DCV - meaning she can do below average damage and give most opponents a 45-50% chance to return the favor. Can she hit, yes, with love taps. Can she avoid attacks, absolutely, and spend the whole fight dancing but you can't attack while dodging... What she does instead is a little bit of both - which means she is effective, no more, no less, in combat... It just doesn't work out that way - see above, do the math... Again, you're entitled to your opinion, but the facts simply disagree. Most bricks (375-425 points) in the CKC can hold their own against Zl'f (a 400 point character). How do I know? Because I've run the games where it's happened.

Re: Grabbing multiple foes

Re: Question about resistant defenses with power defense and others The rule you mention allows a character to buy defenses against Limited Defense attacks bought with the Does Body (+1) Advantage. EX: Mindkiller has Ego Attack, Does Body (+1). Most characters with Mental Defense will still take the BODY of the attack even though their Defense protects them from the STUN. If Mindshield buys his Mental Defense Resistant, then that much BODY doesn't get through. The bottom line is: everything that can be done to another character has to have some defense or opposite in order for the game to be balanced. As for how - you simply buy Damage Resistance for the Defense. If your character has 15 points of Flash Defense, and you want 10 of it to be Resistant, it'll cost you 5 points. (1 CP makes 2 points of nonresistant defense resistant) Hope that helps!

Re: Question about CE Ooohhh... Cool power. Consider it co-opted for use by one of my characters...

Re: Heat Vision I recently built the following power for a Champions Super-Mage, but it could easily be modified for Fantasy Hero, other genres, or as a "Power Trick" for Supes' Heat Vision: Heat Weapon: Telekinesis (16 STR), Cumulative (1 Turn) (+1/2) (36 Active Points); Only to Disarm (-1 1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4). Real Cost: 12 points I know, normally "Cumulative" is not allowed for Normal Damage powers, but in this case, the "damage" done is not normal, but rises to the point where the target can no longer hold on to the weapon because it has grown too hot... If you want the heated object to damage anyone who touches it, you could combine/link an EB... Hope that helps.

Re: Jane's Superhumans Terrific work, Publius.

Re: Jane's Superhumans

Re: Rapid Fire reality check It may have been Twilight 2000... Thanks!

Re: Rapid Fire reality check Exactly. Well said. No. It was a game I saw being test-played at a convention years ago. I don't remember the name of it, but I don't think it ever got off the ground simply because it wasn't very playable.

Re: Rapid Fire reality check Zeropoint, As you said, the rules are for combat situations. Also keep in mind that the rules are designed for two objectives. The first is a modicum of reality, but the second and more pressing is game playability and balance. I have seen an RPG that required taking square roots to calculate the damage from explosives because it produced a "more realistic" result! Sometimes you have to sacrifice _ pure realism_ for playability. Clearly, the ability to attack more than once in a phase requires a significant penality to prevent overuse. The limits applied to Rapid Fire, Sweep, etc. are logical; consistant with other, similar rules; discourage overuse of the manuever; and most of all, are EASY to apply. Finally - nice shooting.

Re: Edna "E." Mode!

Re: multiform - is this for real? I don't think you're being a "pest" at all. That's what these discussion boards are for... ... and if I have any further comment, I'll post it on the other thread.

Re: multiform - is this for real? Excellent points, Simplygnome. The truth is that ANY system can be misused and abused. In the case of a role-playing game, that's part of what the GM is for. However, just because something CAN be abused by a handful of munchkins doesn't mean that it doesn't work for most of the people, most of the time... I agree with Simplygnome. From my personal experience, the rules for Multiform, Duplication, and the like actually work pretty well. If, as you become more comfortable with the system, you don't agree, you can modify them to fit your game. For example you could charge 1 CP for every 2 points in the other form. You could even disallow them completely in your game if you wish. Welcome to HERO system. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Re: AID and Lingering According to FREd (pg 74): "When a character buys an Adjustment power through a (Framework), if he switches the Framework to another power, the boosted (or reduced) Characteristic or Power fades at the standard rate; it does not dissipate immediately." Hope that helps!