TedJMill

Re: Making a Brick in DC

How about giving him super-strength, but linking his extra defenses to something like density increase, with a limitation that he's immobile while using it? He can confront the villains, go dense, and keep them occupied and let them use up their ammo on him, while other heroes are picking them off. But he has to turn off those defenses to move or to start hitting people, so he's still vulnerable to surprise attacks or to enemies counter-attacking while he's punching them out.

Re: How many ways can you do this?

Transformation: bullet to air

Teleportion, usable vs. others, on the target

I'd call it a special effect. But if everyone starts carrying around silver bullets, then a Vulnerability to silver should be worth more points, since it's now a very common attack.

Originally posted by archer

The GM has the discretion to allow Personal Immunity to provide immunity to similar Powers, according to the description of Personal Immunity.

Similar as in "identical twins are immune to each other's powers", or as in "all users of a specific spell with Personal Immunity are immune to that spell", NOT as in "I have fire blast with Personal Immunity so I'm immune to all fire powers". Your 25 point Immunity should apply to something very specific; making it immunity to a general category like fire is more of a GM INdiscretion, going way beyond what Personal Immunity is intended to cover.

If you have a fire blast and buy personal immunity, that DOESN'T make you immune to fire in general; it makes you immune to YOUR fire blast. So that 25 points you're suggesting should be immunity to only one specific power used by one specific character, e.g. the Human Torch's fire blast, but not his near-nova blast, and not the fire powers of anyone other than the Human Torch.

I'd treat megascale and normal scale as different realms, metaphorically; for game purposes, some things happen in megascale, others happen in normal scale. When you're travelling cross-country you're operating in the megascale realm; when you're in a fight you're operating in the normal realm. If you buy just one, your power only operates in that realm; if you want both, you need to buy both, usually in a multipower.

If you just buy megascale movement you're saying "My movement power is good for travelling huge distances quickly, but not useful in fights." The specifics why it's not useful could be thought of as inaccuracy, turning limits, extra time, whatever. The exact reason really doesn't matter; for game purposes it just means your power can get you to the fight quickly, but has limits such that you don't use that power during fights.

Whereas if you buy both megascale and normal versions, in a multipower, you're saying "This is how useful my power is for travelling huge distances, and that is how useful it is for maneuvering around a battlefield." Comic-book characters would have that multipower if their powers are useful in both situations. And you'd simulate their specifics by varying how much normal scale and megascale they have; some characters are better at the tactical than the long-distance, while others are the reverse.

It's a game construct, but it strikes me as a useful one. You have your tactical battles, and you have your long-distance trips and plot-device weapons and so on, and they're pretty much separate aspects of adventures. So it makes sense to define how good a character is at each separately as well, rather than to start with a single power and try to flaw it enough so the megascale capabilites don't turn into overwhelming tactical capabilities.

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Also, Blue, I would highly recommend treating Flight UAA as a Stop Sign power. After some abuses, I only allow it in limited situations personally.

 

Movement usable as an attack is one of the most ridiculously powerful constructs the game allows.

Yes, it's different, and thus much more powerful, than most other UAAs. Other UAAs rely on the side effects of an otherwise useful power. There's a downside to growing, or shrinking, or becoming desolid, or whatever, and taking them as UAA inflicts that downside on an enemy, along with the beneficial aspects.

But the effect of Flight UAA is not a normal downside of the flight power; characters with flight don't have to worry about floating in the air unable to control themselves. It's more like inflicting someone with a major disadvantage than like giving them a power with negative aspects. So I'd charge for Flight UAA based on the cost of similar powers that greatly impair an adversary, rather than what the cost of Flight plus the UAA advantage normally would be.

Mana

The section "Magic is a Natural Resource" incorrectly refers to "mana" as a Biblical term. "Mana", meaning the energy of magic, is a word from the Maori of New Zealand. It should not be confused with the similar-looking but unrelated Biblical term "manna", with a double 'n', meaning a miraculous food.

Good idea: describing your female superhero's origin on an island of Amazon women.

Bad idea: describing your male superhero's orgy with an island of Amazon women.

Good idea: Villain attempts to gain power by practicing necromancy.

Bad idea: Villain attempts to gain power by practicing necrophilia.

Good idea: Powers based on teleportation.

Bad idea: Powers based on telemarketing.

Good idea: able to transform into any member of the animal kingdom.

Bad idea: able to transform into any character in the Magic Kingdom.

Good idea: superhuman accuracy with projectile weapons.

Bad idea: superhuman accuracy with projectile vomiting.

Good idea: Naming your superhero team "The Defenders".

Bad idea: Naming your superhero team "The Offenders".

Good idea: A hero who solves crimes by using his photographic memory and x-ray vision.

Bad idea: A hero who solves crimes by watching pornographic movies and x-rated television.

Good idea: A supervillain named Magnum, because he carries a big gun.

Bad idea: A supervillain named Magnum, because he carries a big bottle of champagne.

Good idea: x-ray vision which is blocked by an inch of lead.

Bad idea: alpha-ray vision which is blocked by an inch of air.

The USPD has kind of a "Nighthawk's most embarrassing moments" theme in some of the pictures and sidebars.

P. 121 - villain escapes by tossing diner stuff at him

P. 130 - stone gargoyle falls from a roof onto his head

P. 158 - he gets burned by illusionary fire

P. 163 - he gets attacked by schoolchildren

Is that deliberate, a running gag, or just how it happened to work out?

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Must remain moving is a fairly standard 1; been around a while (in fact my current PC, a speedster, has a couple of powers that require him to make a half move).

The USPD has a couple of speedster powers with that limit as well, for a 1/4 Limitation. "Running Up Buildings" using Clinging has a 1/4 "Must Make At Least a Half Move Each Phase", and "Anti-Friction Protection" is Damage Resistance with a 1/4 "Only When Moving".

Originally posted by lemming

Test yourself

 

Wired did an article on autism and how many geeks have a tendancy to show some of the behaviour patterns. I got a 31...

What does getting a 37 mean for me?

Originally posted by Seenar

Could come in handy to scan the faces of a crowd too, I would think.

 

Or listen to several converstaions at once

Some other uses:

Watching hours of surveillance videos quickly.

Spotting a clue which appears in one frame of a film.

Identifying and resisting subliminal suggestions.

Looking through books of mug shots to identify someone.

Seeing through invisibility defined as rapid movement or vibration.

Re: Re: Super names I've used

Originally posted by Dynamo

Good stuff. Thanks for contributing.

 

Care to provide an etymology for Demat?

It's short for dematerialization. I used it for a character who could make objects intangible, but I got it from a "Doctor Who" episode where the Demat Gun was a disintegration weapon.

Super names I've used

Here are some superhero and supervillain names that I've used, that I don't see on the list:

Athena

Demat

Doctor Reality

Electric Knight

Explorer

Kintaro (Japanese mythological hero, super-strong and able to talk to animals, means "Golden Boy")

La Chatte Charmant (French for "The Charming Cat")

Mnemonic

Night Flyer

Preserver

Roadrunner

Skyrocket

Time-line Rider

Transition