Gary

Re: Working With RedPen and AP It's actually 11/36 of getting at least 1 Body through with 2 separate 1d6 KAs vs 5 resistant defenses. My thought is that the 2d6 AP RP attack should have an advantage over a straight 2d6 KA. It's 50% higher active points offset by a 20% reduction in price. 36 real points vs 30, and harder to fit into a power framework.

Re: Marvel's Best "Bricks" Is this "best" as in who would win a fight, or is it "best" as in coolest brick?

Re: What would you trade for wealth?

Re: What would you trade for wealth? Occasionally useful? When did that happen?

Re: SPD Standards Even chopping down greatly and getting rid of Area Effect Selective, I still have the movie Spiderman at 399 pts. Frankly, I think I'm still shortchanging him at this point level. I certainly can't see chopping 49 more points. Value Characteristic Cost 40 Str 30 26 Dex 48 23 Con 26 15 Body 10 23 Int 13 15 Ego 10 15 Pre 5 14 Com 2 20 PD 12 14 ED 9 6 SPD 24 13 Rec 0 46 End 0 47 Stun 0 189 Cost Power 10 Clinging 12 +3 DCV Must Make Spider Sense Roll (-1/4) 6 +6" Leaping 6 +3" Running 2 +2" Swimming 1 Diminished Breathing 1 End/Turn 1 Diminished Sleep 8 Hours/Week 62 Multipower 62 pts 6 5 Def 5d6 Entangle 1/2 End 6 10d6 Flash 1/2 End 3 30" Swinging 0 End (+1/2) 3 6" Stretching Always Direct (-1/4) No Velocity Damage (-1/4) 0 End 118 Total Powers Cost Cost Skill 3 Acrobatics 14- 3 Breakfall 14- 2 CK New York City 11- 3 Computer Programming 14- 3 Contortionist 14- 5 Cramming 3 Electronics 14- 3 Inventor 14- 3 Mechanics 14- 3 Systems Operation 14- 2 PS Photographer 11- 3 Scientist 2 Biochemistry 14- 2 Chemistry 14- 2 Mathematics 14- 2 Nuclear Physics 14- 2 Organic Chemistry 14- 2 Physics 14- 2 Research 14- 6 3/3 Combat Luck Spider Sense 36 Danger Sense Immediate Vicinity All Attacks 17- 92 Skills and Talents Cost 399 Total Character Cost

Re: What would you trade for wealth? No. Nope, the genie ain't that stupid.

Suppose you (the real life you) were given an offer by a genie that you can have great wealth, but it came at a price. You had to trade one single point of a Hero System characteristic for the equivalent Hero System wealth. You can never improve that characteristic again in the future. Which characteristics would you trade? Str 1 pt of Str equates to about 15% lifting capacity, and gets you $100,000 a year. You can't lift as much, you have a lower pain tolerance, you recover slower, you can't quite jump as far, etc. Dex 1 pt of Dex equates to 1/3 CV pt and 1/5 to a Dex roll. Since this would be real life, there are no such things as 'break points', so dropping from 10 Dex to 9 would have real consequences. You would be permanently clumsier, slower reflexes, less hand eye coordination, not as good at Agility skills, etc. On the plus side, this equates to $300,000 per year. Con 1 pt of Con means lower pain tolerance, slower recovery, less energy, and you catch colds and diseases easier and you get tired quicker. Having lower Con quite likely means that you'll have an earlier death than you normally would. $200,000/year Body 1 pt means you're that much closer to dying if in an accident. It's also harder to fight off the effects of certain diseases and again you'll probably have an earlier death. $200,000/year Int 1 pt means you think slower and are less perceptive and aware of our surroundings. Any job or task that requires thinking takes longer and is more difficult. Again, there would be no 'break points', so dropping from 10 Int to 9 would have real world consequences. $100,000/year Ego 1 pt means you have less willpower and are more malleable to the suggestions of others. You don't operate as well under stress as you used to and you have less self confidence. $200,000/year Pre 1 pt means that the world is a scarier place. People don't take you as seriously, and you're more prone to be impressed by others. You also don't interact as well with others as you used to and you become more introverted and shy. $100,000/year Com You have to trade 2 pts here. You're simply not as good looking as you used to be. $100,000/year Spd This one gets you a whopping $5,000,000 a year, however you will permanently act slower. Either you're a slower thinker and/or your body doesn't move as quickly as before. Most likely a combination of the two. Very sluggish reaction time. Rec You get out of breath easier and you have a much slower recovery from injuries and diseases or sicknesses. Quite likely you'll have a somewhat shortened lifespan. $200,000/year Swimming For this one, you have to trade in the ability to swim at all and never be able to learn how in the future. $200,000/year for 2" Swimming. Running 2 Pts means that you'll always move 1/6 slower than you used to. If it takes you 20 minutes to briskly walk a mile, now it takes you 24 minutes. $200,000/year Which characteristics would you be willing to trade in, and in what order?

Re: Heroic level characteristics ramble Sounds like you have a 13-14 Str to me.

Re: Working With RedPen and AP Sounds like it's be simpler and more elegant to buy the reduced penetration attack, and then have a Find Weakness on top of it. That should get you the effect you want.

Re: Heroic level characteristics ramble Str is what you can barely lift off the ground and stagger a couple of steps. I think most people can move 166 pounds (8 Str) off the ground and stagger a couple of steps. And there are many people who can move 333 pounds (13 Str) off the ground and stagger. So athletic fit people who purchase 13 Str doesn't bother me. For Int, I prefer to think of it as 8 Int = 100 IQ. And every point of Int equates to 5 IQ. So NCM would be 160 IQ (very few people actually exceed this) at 20 Int, and 210 IQ at 30 Int which is the highest an age 60+ can achieve without spending double. Almost nobody in real life has ever hit that level. Now every 25 pts of IQ is a different Int bracket, and 25 pt steps is substantial enough to notice in real life.

Re: SPD Standards When Spidey webs up groups of people at a time, he's not at 1/2 DCV based on the source material. Thus Rapid Fire is NA, not to mention Rapid Fire is a potentially abusive maneuver to begin with. Thus Area Effect Selective. Even if you get rid of Area Effect Selective, it's still a big chunk of a 350 pter to spend on the webshooters. As far as skills are concerned, you have to read the source material. Even college age Peter Parker was a wunderkind with an amazing breadth of scientific knowledge. The comic book one invented his Webshooters and webbing on his own, and was able to pull stunts like creating an anti-magnetic inverter to deal with the Vulture's wings. Plus of course his Spider Tracers. Here's my writeup of a mature Spiderman with a lot of experience under his belt. Could you post your version of Spiderman at 350? I'm curious to see exactly where you're going to chop, especially if you keep the webshooters. http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40602

Re: Gravity is gone?

Re: Gravity is gone? Cancer, would you know enough physics to guess what would happen to a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole if gravity was turned off for a second or a minute?

Re: Has HERO achieved maximum desirable complexity? I was giving an answer on why the adding damage rules were so complex. Anyway, which would you prefer, +3d6 HA or +15 Str and sell back 5 Stun? They both cost the same. You've been spying on me haven't you?

Re: Running an Epic Battle Killer Shrike had some really nice rules for mass combat posted on the Fantasy Hero board awhile ago.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? At some point, I have to assume you'll get tired of trying to act like a victim. It's tiresome that every other post by you is an accusation or rant of some sort. By your reasoning, points and power levels don’t matter. The fact that only a handful of heroes in the entire world can even match Takofane’s minions doesn’t matter. The fact that Destroyer has thousands of minions tougher than the average hero doesn’t matter. The fact that they have the capability to end most fights in one phase doesn’t matter. Why even have heroes at all? If one shot plot devices are all that mattered, you can throw Destroyer, Menton, and Takofanes against Indiana Jones and according to you, Jones would kick their butt every single time. Heck while we’re at it, Sipowitz from NYPD Blue would crush them according to your reasoning because he would always find the magical plot device no matter how illogical or inconsistent that may be. Every single time like clockwork. He can even beat them if they all combine forces against him. For some reason, the three of them will just sit around and twiddle their thumbs while this is happening. Unlike you, I believe scale matters. It sounds to me like you would be much happier playing Amber RPG where you can basically make stuff up as you go along.

Re: Has HERO achieved maximum desirable complexity?

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? Well, if there was even a single team of 600 or 700 pters around, at least operating in Europe, then Eurostar would not be considered the threat they are. 1) Viperia and Gravitar are relatively straightforward types. They can be dealt with by a creative and diverse team. 2) Menton is extremely tricky. He's not going to fight any hero group straight up, and he'll work behind the scenes mind controlling puppets to do his bidding. He can be a problem for even 700+ pt hero teams due to the subtle nature of his powers. 3) Dr D and Takofanes is simply impossible for 700 pt non-cheesed out characters built the way most CU writeups are built (I realize that PC types are generally more efficient than that). Especially if you give the two of them the support structure and minions that they're supposed to have. I think to maintain internal consistency, the reason that the MVs haven't taken over or been more destructive than they have been, is that they actively work to sabotage each others' plots. And this has been consistently supported by the source material.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? If they gave superpowers to everybody on Planet Earth, then it's way beyond what the CU is capable of. I didn't fob off anything. I explained by page number and source where the quotes came from. Please show me (and I mean a source and page number) where your 'scads' and 'healthy' numbers of 500-800 pt heroes kicked Eurostar's face in. For someone who whines so much about other people 'ducking' questions, you sure duck a lot yourself. Sure there are. The number of Plot Device level characters in DC is truly astounding. The Phantom Stranger by himself can probably deal with any of them.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? You mean by the heroes getting his respect and then having him call off the dogs? That may work with Darkseid, but Takofanes doesn't operate that way. Darkseid was 'defeated' by negotiation. Takofanes has that inconvenient 25 pt Wants to Kill or Enslave Everyone on Earth Psych Lim. Would have to have heroes greater than the ones shown in CU. Then stat him out in a believable way. Or have a believable personage who can legitimately stop him. Or the other MVs out there. If there are significantly more powerful (2 in the 1500-2000 pt range), I wouldn't have quibbled. However, you were the one apparently insisting that 'scads' and 'healthy numbers' of 500-800 pt heroes are enough by themselves to stop someone like Takofanes. Incidentally, you still haven't explained how 'scads' and 'healthy numbers' equates to Europe being completely terrified of Eurostar.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? Of course I do. And comics usually have some heroes that are at or close to the level of Master Villains. Do you care at all about internal logical consistency in your games?

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? It seems your standard operating procedure is to try and act like a victim when contradicted. Very sad. And please point out a single time where I mentioned 'confined space' and 'mass rush each other in numbers'. You're the only one who's brought up Warhammer, and it's rather ridiculous. I have been giving responses. You just don't happen to like those responses.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? Interestingly, the United States is supposed to have 1 person with powers per 100,000-1,000,000 people. If we average it out to 1 per 500,000, we get 600 people with powers, or 10% of the world's population of powered people. Of these 600, 240 would be sufficiently powerful to be heroes, and 96 would actually be heroes according to CU. And Destroyer and Takofanes between them probably killed 30-40 heroes. So 1/3 or more of all the heroes in the US got wiped out in 2 incidents.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? There you go again with your Warhammer fetish.

Re: Is defeating a Master Villain sometimes counterproductive? All it would take would be 2 1500-2000 pointers. There couldn't be enough 800 pointers on the planet given the CU paremeters to make enough of a difference.