Trebuchet

Good luck on the rescue. I don't know how tough Team Vanguard is, but unless you're 450 point heroes it'll probably be a very tough fight. I hope your team has some characters with Mental Defense.

Can a Grab or Martial Grab be used to disarm an opponent (with appropriate penaties for weapon and/or STR differential), or are these completely different maneuvers? (Grab seems to be more along the line of holding something). Could you grab something from an opponents grasp; thus essentially disarming him?

Most of our team is in the 25-35 XP range, so we're not exactly new but not exactly battle-scarred veterans either. Eurostar had never made an appearance in our campaign (We don't play in the CU, only poach suitably modified villains from it. ), so we were quite taken aback when we finally realized who it was we were fighting. Fortunately our mentalist Prodigy was more than a match for Mentalla, although she was tough to finally put down and it ultimately took three of us to do it. Durak was our biggest problem; Prodigy ended up mentally paralyzing him. We'd have done better if we'd had our own brick Silhouette, but her player was the GM. We all have Code vs Killing, so I can't see our team killing Eurostar except by accident. We even rescued the other villain team Eurostar had hired and treacherously abandoned on a disabled (and about to explode) Russian nuclear submarine 600 feet down. Good thing MidGuard has it's own flying submarine...

It just goes to show that you can never give up. When my MA was down to 3 Stun I was seriously contemplating having her jump overboard to escape, but I elected for her to stay because running wasn't very heroic, and she opted to attack Mentalla instead. And in just 4 more segments we'd completely turned the tables and pulled out a skin-of-our-teeth victory. The entire fight took two full Turns; a fairly long battle by Champions standards in my experience. She was even running low on END, something that is almost never a factor for her, due to Pushing. Funny how my character, the lightest defended and lowest DC character on the entire team, was at one point the only one even standing. All in all it was one of the toughest fights (maybe the toughest) I've been in in 20+ years of playing Champions. The GM didn't insult us by cutting us any slack, and that made the victory all the more sweet.

In our monthly run yesterday our team MidGuard defeated Eurostar in a pitched battle on a tramp freighter in the Aegean Sea. We had no idea they were involved; we'd already defeated another villain team they'd treacherously set up as scapegoats and rescued the crew of a Russian nuclear sub. Eurostar had us on the ropes for a few seconds; at one time two of our 4 members were out and the other two were stunned, but a couple of seconds later we'd turned it around. My martial artist Zl'f got to strike the final blow that put Mentalla down, with a fabulously lucky 44 Stun generated with a 10d6 attack. (Mentalla even Ego Blasted Zl'f and stunned her while she was fighting Scorpia, but Zl'f recovered before Scorpia could attack because Scorpia had already aborted her next phase to Dive for Cover to avoid Zl'fs Area Effect 1 Hex attack. That's what happens when a SPD 5 martial artist fights a SPD 9 one.) At one point my character was down to 3 Stun; fortunately that was Phase 12 and she got her Post-12 Recovery. We really sweated blood for that victory; at the low point in the fight we were figuring we'd have to do an "Escape from Eurostar's Headquarters" adventure next month. True, Eurostar was short two members (Fiacho and Fuermacher were absent) but our team was also short two members. All in all, not bad work for 4 350-point characters. How many of you have fought the "Big E"?

Grond or Dr. D come to mind... Actually, if you really want to figure this out using HERO, you need to take a couple of other factors into account: 1) A baseball weighs .8 kg, which is the sane as a character with 40 points of Shrinking. So right there you get a +9" KB. Furthermore, a baseball is designed to fly further than an average object of the same weight. It's not only balanced and symetrical, but the interior structure is designed to provide extra distance. That makes sense; after all no player can throw a baseball as nearly far as a good batter can hit one. A baseball bat is the same as a club (4d6), which is effectively the same as adding 20 STR to whomever uses it. In addition, since a baseball is thrown at the batter, that means he is using Missile Reflection to redirect the "attack" in a direction of his choosing along with additional energy. In essence the energy from the pitcher adds to the energy from the batter and the bat, which is why a good throw gets a better hit than a t-ball stand. So Grond winds up and pitches to Dr. Destroyer... Number crunching I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.

I think you're approaching this incorrectly. Mike clearly clearly stated "with a bat." That means you're looking at Knockback distances, not a throw. Realistically, of course, hitting a leather-covered ball with a wooden bat with sufficient force to drive said ball into orbit would vaporize both bat and ball.

I think it's a cool idea, but it will be hard to prevent the players from feeling utterly helpless. Don't forget that in such a scenario, at least one of the Destroyers would be a good guy. If you play it like Jet Li's movie, the good Destroyer would be getting tougher too. If you want this scenario to be less over the top, perhaps use a less powerful villain... I can't wait to see the Legion of Interdimensional Foxbats!

I did something similar in my game about six years ago. A 12 year old Israeli boy, the nephew of one of our PCs, developed the mutant ability to create "real" images when he was asleep. When he suddenly lapsed into a coma, his powers kicked into high gear. The team knew there was a problem when they had to fight Darth Vader (complete with real working Light Saberâ„¢) and Christopher Reeves as Superman, who were guarding the boy's hospital room. More fun later ensued with giant robots (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) which rampaged through Jerusalem. ( I still rue that this adventure took place before the Powerpuff Girls came out. Go Buttercup!) The team finally figured out what was going on when they went to visit the PCs sister at home and saw the video tapes of his favorite movies. It turned out the boy had a brain tumor which was affecting his powers. Fortunately one of the other PCs was a brilliant surgeon...

While this kind of thing can potentially lead to major abuses, if he's a good role-player and you trust him not to abuse it why not give it a shot? Tell him up front it's provisional and if it doesn't work out he'll have to use a different character. If he has to buy "Affects Real World" on all his powers that ought to keep him from getting too grossly powerful. Subtle might be better.

If I ever finish it, I'll send you a copy. You're talking about the story with the fallen angel, right? Yeah, a sequel might be tough although you might consider introducing a more "good" angel than Angelique was as a new foil. Perhaps one that acts stupid so his opponents underestimate him but is actually pretty sharp would provide an interesting twist.

Proditor, I hope you'll let us know how the adventure goes after you run it.

Dave, my King James quotes that particular passage as "neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor", which seems to imply a different meaning. I would read that to be saying "Do no harm to your neighbor or his family." Or am I interpreting that wrong?

Yep, same character, although the border crossing was actually into Finland. I'm currently working (Since last October!) on a new much longer short story about her. So far it's 25 pages long; I expect it'll hit 40 or 50 when I'm done.

Actually, I once had a similar experience with this same character when I (briefly)) played her in another campaign before I started this one I'm in now. Our hero team, the Sentinels, was fighting a Demon Lord in Albany IIRC. My character (called Flash Dancer in those days) was the only team member who was devoutly christian and routinely wore a Russian Orthodox crucifix. Not only was the bad guy unable to look at her crucifix, but when he actually managed to hit her and knock her into the nearest building it turned out to be (wait for it) a Russian Orthodox church. Because of her faith he not only couldn't enter the building to finish her off, but when she recovered and reentered the battle she was able to burn him badly with holy water taken from the nave. Ya gotta have faith.

Good point. I wasn't planning on having her pop off Bible quotations at the drop of a hat, only that she takes her religion seriously and honestly. Even most Roman Catholics (Heck, most atheists!) know a few quotes from the Bible; after all it's the central literary source for all of western civilization. Do you know anyone in your life that routinely wears a cross and takes his or her faith seriously? I certainly know lots of people like that. I think some people have got the wrong idea in this thread. Zl'f is not some type of religious avenger-type; just a young and idealistic woman with high moral standards. She's looking for the same kind of justification that a Christian policeman or soldier would seek in their choice of careers, with the added difficulty of a firm belief that killing is usually wrong. She'd probably never kill anyone herself no matter what the provocation. Her faith is part of her background, not a central part of the character concept. I just wanted some ammo if someone challenged her being a superheroine as somehow being "wrong" because it involves violence. (If you knew how detailed my character's background writeup is, you'd understand. It's three full 8½ x 11 pages with narrow margins in a 10 point font. That doesn't even include the 2-page writeup of her DNPCs and the short story... )

Re: Tre Gadfly, I was seriously wondering if your invincible ignorance and patent stupidity was just a clever act, but alas I see it is not. It's a shame some of the intelligent liberals on these boards have to have you as a putative ally; you really lower their collective IQ. Wax eloquent and in great depth about my many flaws for all I care. You now have an honored place on my Ignore List.

Re: Re: Re: WWJD Why do you feel it necessary to interject utter nonsequiturs into every discussion? I completely fail to see how that's relevent to this thread. While Californian and Texans may not see eye to eye on some political issues, I think both groups would probably agree that rape, robbery, kidnapping, murder, torture, tyranny, child molestation are evil. Or are you claiming most Californians don't consider those things evil? I can't think of anywhere Jesus advocated killing. Nor was I asking for such examples for my character in this thread; I was asking for Bible quotations to justify her being a superheroine. In point of fact she has a Code vs Killing. Was anyone in this thread talking about justification for killing villains? I'm glad you think hypocrisy is a good thing; no doubt your life is entirely lived on its principles. As for your preference to "sound like a fool than a Texan," don't worry. You do.

I think that's a fairly accurate description of how I try to live my life. Sans the first 4 commandments (The ones that describe the relationship between God and Man), the Ten Commandments make a pretty good guide to living a moral life. I'm hoping if he does indeed exist I'll qualify as a "virtuous pagan." I appreciate your thoughts; it's an interesting subject. Keep right on digressing.

Re: WWJD Nightfly, don't you ever get tired of sounding like an utter fool? (That was a rhetorical question, in case that went over your head.)

Really? Name one. True. You can be a communist and be praised by progressives all over the world.

Since she's part of a Avengers-type global spanning hero team, the local politics part is largely moot, but I think your other points are right on. She probably does consider crime fighting a calling, just as many policemen or firemen do. After all, she can do things literally no one else on Earth can do. What else can someone with SPD 9 and DEX 43 do that isn't a waste of her God-given abilities? Dig ditches? Write software? (although, since her secret ID is as a skilled executive assistant, her typing speed is really something to behold!)

Since I'm a product of western civilization, I see no real reason to pretend to honor other systems of morality. I will evaluate other people's moral behavior by my standards, not by theirs. They may be valid for holders of those other systems. I won't even pretend to be objective about them. A morals system where you can pick and choose which rules you adher to isn't a morals system at all; it's just window dressing for doing whatever you want.

Note that that philosophy in no way prevents a life of total debauchery and hedonism as long as you're OK with your friends and aquaintances enjoying themselves too. I'd like to think there's a bit more to life than just sex and drugs.

Hmmm, good question. I suspect the answer would be a bit of both. She is proud, and it's enough of a character flaw even her enemies have used it against her. On the other hand, she's a very straight arrow on the morality/sin front. No sex until marriage, yadda, yadda. However, her pride predated her acquisition of superpowers so I don't think she'd be worried about that per se. (She was an Olympic medalist in gymnastics before she got her powers.) One of the reasons Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins is it's so insidious. It's often mistaken for confidence when it's actually arrogance.