Trebuchet

Re: Naming the baby Vista.

Re: Why the dislike for Find Weakness? I guess I'm one of the strange ones. I never had a problem with it as a GM, have never played a PC who had it (although I once designed one; a MA "brick breaker" named Argent who had FW on a 25-), and don't particularly mourn its loss in 6E. I can see where it could be a headache in some campaigns, but it never was in games I played in.

Re: Starting over with HERO Wow. That's an interesting change. I'd love to know Steve's reasoning on this. (I don't necessarily disagree with the change; I'd just like to know how and why he arrived at this particular conclusion).

Re: Starting over with HERO I hadn't heard that part. Is that confirmed?

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery Why not just double the rolled BODY damage to calculate Stun rather than take the time to roll twice as many dice? Quicker, with on average identical results. My thought on either of these methods is that they make Killing Attacks do too little Stun. While I disliked the old Stun Lottery because its outliers were either too little or too much, I don't want them to become totally ineffectual either. With this method you're paying 3X as much for an attack that does precisely the same Stun as a normal attack against a target with rDEF but potentially much more if the target lacks any Resistant defenses. Is that a worthwhile buy? If Hero were to go that way, then buying AP or PEN attacks become a much better buy than KA.

Re: Character advancement I tend to purchase new Skills and Perks with XP rather than upgrading raw combat power. I like to think this not only fleshes out the character but provides previously unavailable methods of problem solving. It's not always about pummeling the bad guy.

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) Actually, that sounds pretty cool. Disaster relief is not something I'd want to do every game session, but it might be interesting as a change of pace. I'm not certain how my primary PC Zl'f would be useful in such a scenario. Oddly enough, her potential 15- Bureaucratics (including 2 Overall Levels) ability or piloting skills might be more valuable than her heavily combat-oriented powerset. My secondary character, Justicar, is a Roman Catholic priest with healing powers alongside his martial arts. He'd be useful in any number of ways both physical and spiritual.

Re: Blocking - What's the point? Did you say the same thing upthread? Sorry I missed it. I'm outta Rep for 24 hours...

Re: Blocking - What's the point? I'd never really noticed that before, HM. That makes Block hands down the better maneuver to use when Prone, Grabbing, or Grabbed. Rep for pointing that out.

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery Yes, a list of several "official" options for Killing Attacks might be the best approach. I'd be surprised if this hasn't already occurred to Steve even it's not how he ultimately went (which we don't know yet). We don't know which arguments (and his own extensive experience playing Hero) carried the most weight with Steve.

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery I remember watching the Mythbusters chop down a foot-thick tree with a .30 caliber minigun. It can be done, but it took hundreds of rounds to do it. I think your method would simulate that rather nicely.

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery To me the thing that's really weird is that you and I both disliked the old Killing Attacks method but for very different reasons. You clearly dislike the highly variable amount of BODY generated; I absolutely despised the Stun Lottery but had no problem with the BODY damage. Others in my group think the Lotto is the single best feature of KA's. To me this just illustrates that there is no "correct" answer on this issue, but merely more or less tolerable compromises. I'll be interested in seeing the entire package Steve puts together on what has clearly proven to be one of the Hero system's most volatile issues. There's almost no chance our group will adopt 6E when it comes out but there's also no doubt several of us will buy copies of it, if only for academic purposes. I know I'll be ordering my copy of 6E ASAA (As Soon As Available).

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) No question. I admit it wouldn't come up in our 4-color Champions game except possibly as a lead-in to a scenario where we have to figure out why this particular village keeps being attacked and stop it. Maybe a supervillain or villainous agency is at the root of all this... I completely agree. But then, I play in a 4-color campaign and have zero interest in playing in an Iron Age one. None of our 5 co-GM's would present such a scenario unless there was a 4-color scenario hidden beneath the apparent Iron Age exterior. Given that we've had two teens playing in our campaign along with their father for the past few years, the child-rape stuff probably wouldn't appear at all. Again, in our campaign we'd fully expect to find (not be given) that loophole based on past experience and general campaign tone. I know there are campaigns that would not. Nothing against those kinds of campaigns or GMs (the beauty of Champions/Hero is that it will allow those variants and more); personally I just wouldn't want to play in one. I play Champions to escape reality for a while; I wouldn't be interested in playing in a game-world that is as dark or darker than the real one I inhabit. This WWYCD was presented as an ugly situation. Again, I don't think it would appear in our campaign; but I've tried to address it as if it did. My apologies if I seemed a bit snarky. I'm afraid my "4-color glasses" tend to tint my view of Champions. I forget there are lots of players out there playing in darker campaigns than I do. I don't play *the* game of Champions.

Re: Blocking - What's the point? Block applies OCV vs OCV rather than the usual OCV vs DCV. This can shift the odds of success considerably, especially if the opponent has levels rather than inherently higher DEX and/or SPD. Block also lets you defend another character; something no form of Dodge allows. We've used it many times in our Champions campaign to defend a fallen or Stunned comrade.

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery Damn. That'll teach me to ignore chats. This keeps an element of randomness, but gets rid of the instant-fight-ending x4 and especially x5 Stun Multiplier results. (I assume characters will still be able to buy Increased Stun Multiple.) A good roll can still result in a lot of Stun from the KA, but still on average less than a same-cost normal attack. This is not a perfect solution, but it's a darn good compromise. I can already see this is going to be a very unpopular decision in my gaming group. Everyone but me likes the existing pre-6E version. Me, I've hated the Stun Lottery forever. I suspect ultimately this will reinforce our group's decision to stick with 5ER. Sorry, Steve. Can't win them all.

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

Re: New Broom Terrorists IIRC shortly after their arrival in Utah there was a small group of radical Mormons who terrorized those fellow Mormons they felt were not sufficiently devout, committing several murders. They were only around a year or two. There was even a Sherlock Holmes story based on them. That might not be as old as you want.

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) Sure enough. But the OP essentially postulated a superhero type campaign; after all this is a WWYCD scenario not a "What Would Your Character Ignore?" For my money, a "super-vigilante" having a crisis of conscience over receiving such a letter might provide a good opportunity for some role-playing. You don't have to have superpowers to be a hero, as firemen and soldiers exhibit on a daily basis. Having powers might make it harder to ask "But what can I do?"

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) Go ahead, direct it at me. I can take it.

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) Well, you've certain got forum sarcasm and irony down pat... I guess that's good. If you postulate a world which contains superhuman beings, it's not all that far-fetched to postulate that many if not most of those superhumans could successfully deal with thugs using AK-47s. Yes, there would be those who lacked either the power, logistical capabilities, or motive to go after these types. I'd like to think most players aren't interested in playing PCs who lack the motive to protect children, even ones in a remote African region undergoing meltdown. Do I think the application of force will magically end slavery and oppression in Africa (IRL or even within an RPG)? That's a discussion for the NGD. Do I think superheroes could or should at least try? Hell yes! That's why they're called superheroes.

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) The OP made it pretty clear the letter could have arrived by a very roundabout way or even by a proxy. It doesn't take a whole lot of oomph to beat up common thugs armed with assault rifles and machetes in a world with superhumans. It's not much different than fighting gang members in urban streets. If you can't or won't even deal with that kind of thing, then what's the point of being a costumed adventurer in the first place? It's doubtful the hero(es) would need to pummel the bad guys more than a couple of times before they'd decide there are easier ways to make a living. My primary PC, Zl'f, has very low defenses and a Total CvK, but that wouldn't stop her from breaking bad guys' guns and bones (not necessarily in that order).

Re: Mind Scan vs. The Detective We've always dealt with mentalists short-circuiting mysteries by a couple simple expedients: 1) Use mooks who don't know the scheme as cutouts; 2) Deliberately plant false info on said mooks. It's not going to take long for smart evildoers to figure out how to protect their nefarious schemes once it becomes known the heroes have a mentalist.

Re: portable computers - too much? Define the wrist computer as being no more capable than a modern (real) desktop PC. It provides a basis everyone can understand, player and GM alike; and if there's any argument as to what it can or cannot do just demonstrate it on a real PC. If nothing else, limit the available Skill rolls to something modest like 11- or 12-. For my money, instant access to Wikipedia or Google aren't a substitute for real expertise. That takes books, study, and probably actual experience.

Re: Why the dislike for Find Weakness? If we still used damage caps in our Champions campaign I think we'd use a house rule like this. It's a common sense solution to avoid FW becoming potentially unbalancing. Only one PC in our game has FW. Even though he has a fairly good OCV (DEX 33) we haven't found it to be a problem. For one thing, opponents tough enough he needs to use it on tend to have LoW and/or Damage Reduction; nor does he have it on his biggest attack. It takes very little LoW to render the theoretical 1/4 - 1/8 - etc defense progression moot.