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Andrew Cermak

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Posts posted by Andrew Cermak

  2. Demonic Metabolism: how to model it?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Demonic Metabolism: how to model it?

     

    Creating a package deal for demons in my campaign world who have assumed corporeal form. Among other things' date=' such beings can get away with smoking heavily, drinking heavily, and consuming junk food by the truckload without suffering a single ill effect (stuff that's bad for humans is good for demons). I know to use Life Support: Immunity for the first two parts of this, but how do I model the third? And for those who might bring it up, I'll thinking about reserving Full Life Support almost excussively for noncorporeal form (there have to be some drawbacks to manifesting as flesh and blood, afterall). Thoughts?[/quote']

     

    You don't have to model it. It's a special effect of having an "alien" biology. Characters aren't likely to be throwing junk food attacks around, so it's not an ability that's going to have much of an effect on game balance.

     

    But if you insist, you could just build it as a cheap Immunity.

  3. "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..."

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..."

     

    I just hate it when people say idiotic nonsense like "No way Superman could lift the hammer!" and then utterly ignore any and all evidence that says otherwise.

     

    Kind of an ironic complaint, considering we've seen Superman fail to lift the hammer.

  4. "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..."

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..."

     

    By what strange standard are you judging "Warrior Spirit"? Fighting Evil is what every version of Supes has done for almost seventy years now. Supes won't kill' date=' but then the comics code Thor rarely left human corpses behind him.[/quote']

     

    Does Superman enjoy fighting?

  5. "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..."

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..."

     

    I even recall Thor explaining to the Peter David hulk that it took a "true and noble spirit" to be able to lift it.

     

    Now... is anyone really going to argue that Superman lacks a "true and noble heart"?

     

    From a Thor/Viking perspective? Yeah, I will.

     

    The Vikings had a special hell for men who died of sickness or old age. If you didn't die in battle you were a coward and not a true man.

     

    A warrior spirit is an integral part of any Norse concept of nobility, and Supes doesn't have it. Superman is a hero; he isn't a warrior, and he ultimately doesn't measure up to a Norse god concept of worth.

  7. Support for Low Level Supers style Dark Champions

    in Dark Champions

    Posted

    Re: Support for Low Level Supers style Dark Champions

     

    Street Level Champions got the same general treatment as "Dark Champions: The animated series" that I saw some mention' date=' but it was treated with a slightly condescending edge when it was mentioned.[/quote']

     

    No, it wasn't. There's nothing condescending about taking a genre that's based on comic-books or a cartoon series and acknowledging that it is like a comic book or a cartoon series.

     

    You're projecting.

  8. Support for Low Level Supers style Dark Champions

    in Dark Champions

    Posted

    Re: Support for Low Level Supers style Dark Champions

     

    I guess what I'm saying is I got the impression that Street Level supers just didn't get as much respect in this edition of Dark Champions. Its almost been renamed "Dark Champions:The Animated Series" which implies' date=' at least subtly that is only for children and must be simplistic. It didn't get the props the other genres did.[/quote']

     

    There are four different flavors of "street" supers/crimefighters presented in Dark Champions: Vigilante Crimefighting, DC: TAS, Iron Age Champions, and Street-Level Champions. You seem to be focusing on the one that is least like what you want and then complaining that you're not getting what you want.

  9. 2006 Schedule Blurbs

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: 2006 Schedule Blurbs

     

    Kind of a rough spot when it comes to Champs, DoJ needs to put out the rewrites to provide details needed for newer players but the older players who have been around long enough to have an earlier edition or two are looking for the new and exciting products the other genres are getting.

     

    But on a closer examination, even the accusation of there being a lot of rewrites falls flat.

     

    Looking at the line:

     

    Champions looks nothing like the books that previously bore its name. None of them offered this kind of detailed overview of the comic-book genre.

     

    Champions Universe is a top to bottom rewrite of the previous version. The percentage of recycled material isn't that high. And while CKC has recycled villains in it, a large number are completely new.

     

    Millennium City and Vibora Bay are new.

     

    Champions Battlegrounds, Shades of Black, and Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth are all new adventures.

     

    VIPER and UNTIL are strongly based on previous material, but even they are far from being direct ports. And DEMON is so different from its previous incarnation it may as well be considered a new organization.

     

    The Mystic World borrows a lot from the Ultimate Supermage. But let's not forget that TUSM was a PDF only release. I doubt that a large percentage of Hero fandom has that material. Arcane Adversaries has some commonalities with Mystic Masters and CotN:HE, but most of the characters therein are all-new.

     

    The USPD is one of a kind. You'd have to go back to Gadgets! to find a comparison to Gadgets and Gear. And that would be a fairly lame comparison, considering that GNG is many times its size.

     

    Galactic Champions covers completely new territory. Hidden Lands promises to do the same.

     

    There's never been a Champions book like Villainy Amok before.

     

    I'm sorry, but the idea that we're being deluged with old material doesn't hold up.

  10. 2006 Schedule Blurbs

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: 2006 Schedule Blurbs

     

    Says a man who read DoJ's "Announcement" about sales being down and the company going out of business if people didn't start buying books.

     

    You're still operating entirely from ignorance, and being remarkably presumptuous in telling DoJ that they're running their business wrong.

     

    You say books like Galactic Champions are the way to go and books like VIPER and UNTIL aren't, but you can't say how much GC sold compared to the other two, can you?

     

    'Cause if you can, by all means enlighten me.

  14. Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

     

    A fair point well made!

     

    Thank you, sir. :cheers:

     

     

    Metagame power? Eh?

     

    By that, I mean that Damage Reduction does the same thing Armor/Defenses do, at its basic level. It reduces damage. That we have one power that reduces damage by a percentage and other powers that reduces damage by a set amount isn't strictly necessary; Armor and Defenses would suffice to represent any of the SFX Damage Reduction can represent. The reason we have Damage Reduction is not to emulate powers that can't otherwise be emulated; it's there to game the system in a way that it can't otherwise be gamed.

     

    That's not to say that I think DRed is bad or wrong; I use it now and then. But to say that it's better than Armor for an effect like rolling seems entirely subjective to me, because they do the same thing. Just in different ways.

  15. Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

     

    ....well' date=' not really - you might still get hit, but only by the edge of the entangle and it should be less effective - only one arm in the webbing, or whatever - [/quote']

     

    Do you roll hit locations for Entangles? Regardless, most Entangles have an implied sticky/wrap around effect that could easily be described as Entangling someone hit by the edge, if the GM puts a modicum of effort into it. Most of the rest of the Entangles out there are defined as effecting a specific Hit Location anyway, so whether you were grazed or not doesn't much matter.

     

    GM and player description of how special effects interact is vital to making Hero's flavor come through. If the GM and players care enough to make the effort, powers like Danger Sense Dodging work perfectly fine and can make the game more fun for everyone. If they don't care, well, why bother nitpicking? ;)

     

    and it would make no sense really if the mechanic you were 'dodging' was a ranged drain. A glancing blow 'logically' should also have a reduced effect - but the mechanic does not simulate this.

     

    Disagree. Most examples of ranged drain SFX I can think off off-hand don't really care where they hit you. Frex, a tranq dart doesn't much mind if it hits you in the arm or the leg instead of the chest. You're still going to sleep right quick.

     

    If you want danger sense roll with punch then you build it with damage reduction not armour. Far more appropriate mechanic.

     

    Damage reduction is a metagame power. From a SFX standpoint it and Armor can freely substitute with few exceptions. I can't think of a good reason why Armor can't be used to simulate rolling, and the books appear to back me up.

  16. Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

     

    Danger sense dodging is not a Hero power' date=' it is a power built [i']using [/i]Hero powers, and the name is wrong*: it does not simulate dodging, or it would work against, for example, entangles.

     

    It simulates dodging just fine. Think of it as a last minute twist or roll that turns an accurate shot into a glancing one. It's easy to imagine why that wouldn't help much against an Entangle.

     

    Danger Sense Roll-with-Punch might be a more accurate name, but it hardly rolls off the tongue. :)

  17. Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Question about "DANGER SENSE DODGING"

     

    Personally' date=' I'm stuck on why "Danger Sense Dodging" is defined as the ability to take a hit instead of the ability to avoid one.[/quote']

     

    Because with OCV Levels, AoE attacks, dumb luck and a dozen other factors, a high DCV just isn't that reliable a defense. Spider-men and Nightcrawlers seem to go down a lot easier in Hero than they do in the comics.

     

    Armor bought as a last-minute "roll-with-the punch" and tied to Dex or Danger Sense rolls helps Artful Dodgers last through a combat without compromising their concept.

  18. "I can't hear you!" effect

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: "I can't hear you!" effect

     

    I was trying to think of some way to have powers that are based on vocalization (anything requiring Incantations' date=' a sonic scream, etc.) simply not work when this silencing power is activated. Should I be looking at Darkness, Suppress, or Dispel? And would this also cover Flashes vs. Hearing?[/quote']

     

    Darkness, Only prevents Speech, Not Hearing (-1/2). If you have Galactic Champions, check out The Examiner; he's got a sample power for his Power Pool that does this.

  24. Applying shapeshift in game

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Applying shapeshift in game

     

    Also interesting to note Taximan's position about requiring touch so that the shift is 'real' (of course you then run into the problem: I can fit through a 6 inch hole, so I'm going to have to be long and thin, but as I didn't buy SS for sight I still look normal...erm...).

     

    You won't look normal, you'll just look like what you are: a guy stretched out and compressed. You won't fool anyone into thinking you're a snake or a rope.

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