Daltwisney

Re: Dead Zone Retrocognition/Precognition I haven't actually seen the TV show version, but from the book, and the older movie, I would say Tasha's build is accurate. I don't envy the GM for this, not so much for the volume of visions (He decides when something warrants a vision), but for having to try and mold the 'future' into the vision.

Re: Companions of an Uncertain Fate Server either exploded or just booted me off.

Re: Companions of an Uncertain Fate As an FYI, the server is listed as up in Maptool, but gives a connection timeout when attempting to connect. (Not a big issue at this time, I just still want to test the modified Attack macro). If this is not just me, it might need looking into before Thurs.

Re: Campaign Building Blocks: General Musings Not quite finished (well, not polished anyways), but ready for me to run a one-off playtest with my local group. 2 files attached, the first is the 'rules' portion, the second contains some spell builds (on pages 2-4). Notes: Several Spells (mostly those with fixed effect) have both "PRE Min Does Not Add To Effect" and "Effect Cap +0 DC". In theory, one could build a Spell that can have its effect increased by CSLs or Spell-Casting Successes, but not PRE, so both options are valid. In the case of fixed effect Spells, the apparent 'double-dipping' is acceptable to me as a matter of consistency (All Spells have a PRE Min and an Effect Cap). None of the Spells listed have the "Requires A Skill Roll (-1/5 AP) Limitation listed, mainly because I originally built them in a VPP and had the Limitation on the VPP. The only Spell whose cost changed was "Invisibility", which gained a point outside the VPP. I will remedy this later. The Defense Spell "Jabarrah's Flaming Freedom" left out some notes, mainly that it is a Damage Shield that does not add to the character's attacks, but only affects Entangles and persons grabbing the character. None of the Spells list their Active Cost. It is there in HD, just not output in the "Spell Book". I have an additional sheet to be filled out with memorized spells that includes both the Spell-casting modifier and the 'points' for +1 DC. I did not include the base VPP or End Battery, both of which are tailorable by the player as far as points go. The END Battery has a Recovery (usually) equal to the total END, which only activates after 4 hours of relatively undisturbed sleep or meditation. Most of the game setting is not finished yet, but just as a point of reference, most human society is pantheistic, there are many 'gods', but none grant power to their followers ala the 'typical' D&D Cleric archetype. Priests MAY be spell-casters if their chosen deity permits, but they learn magic the same as anyone else. I am probably increasing the initial "spells known" to 10 instead of 6, to increase variety, and because I ended up with a whole lot more sample spells than I thought I was going to. Comments and questions welcome. EDIT: I just noticed that both the PRE Min and Effect Cap Advantage/Limitations are screwed up. The values appear correct, but the descriptions are all whacked. I'll have to check them in the HD file tomorrow and figure out what happened. EDIT: Fixed. The character I exported them from wasn't built with the correct template, so it garbled the info from the Prefab, which was.

Re: Campaign Building Blocks: General Musings

Re: Campaign Building Blocks: General Musings I stole the PRE Min idea from Nolgroth (no idea where he got it) I wanted to make all 3 stats have some effect without making it overly complex, and it adds a little variety. You can have a limited capability for magic (low ego), yet have powerful spells (high Magic Roll, high PRE), or conversely, a versatile selection of spells (high Ego), with less power (lower PRE or Magic Roll), and everyone's favorite, the pocket Nuke (High Ego, High PRE, High Magic Roll, yet can't lift a loaf of bread). Just need to balance the starting points so there is no clear overall advantage to Magic vs Melee. (Situational Advantages are fine, of course) One other note, since I have 3 ways to add damage (PRE, Casting Successes, CSLs), I created another Limitation - Effect Cap, which scales in value by how much you can improve the spells base effect. (Most spells are not PC created, and many have Limitations which a point-conscious player might not take - for example, why add an Effect Cap if the spell will still cost 1 point?)

These 3 skills offer various Categories (2 point) and Subcategories (1 point). Is it possible to purchase one of these skills at the single subcategory level for 1 point, or is there a minimum cost for the skill? This came up entering some Templates, and there appears to be disagreement/confusion regarding the correct answer.

Re: Companions of an Uncertain Fate With Nol saying he was taking the night off, I basically planned on it being just that, a night off.

Re: Campaign Building Blocks: General Musings I too have been working on a magic system for a local FTF game (actually 2 systems, but they are very similar in 75% of the details). I am actually trying to incorporate all 3 'mental' stats into the system. Due to campaign underpinnings (some of my players read these boards) I can't provide some of the 'why' details, but the basics are as follows: 1) EGO is willpower, the higher your EGO, the higher your capacity for magic. Thus EGO controls how many 'spell slots' you can have. 2) INT is mental agility, and still governs the learning and casting of spells. Spells are highly complex formulae, and the more precisely and quickly you can invoke these, the more power your spells will have. 3) PRE is projection of will. It effects the power of cast spells, but in a static manner. All spells have a PRE Min, and exceeding that PRE Min will raise the power level of the spell. Conversely, having a PRE lower than the PRE Min makes the spell more likely to fail, as it imposes penalties to the INT-based Magic Roll. Most spells are built at minimum DC, and improved through PRE > PRE Min, and successes on the Magic Roll. If a Spell is built at above minimum DC, the value of the PRE Min (which is a Limitation) drops for each increase in DC. There is also an AP Cap (I think it is 30 atm, but is not finalized). Spells slots in one system represent 'memorized' or stored portions of spells, in the other, they govern the maximum number of different spells that can be in a character's pool at one time. Both systems use a VPP to 'hold' ready spells and one uses an END Battery to represent Mana, or casting reserves. I guess the point of this is that I think your PRE based system will work just fine, and if that is what makes the most sense to you as you envision Magic working in your game, then it is the correct path.

Re: Companions of an Uncertain Fate

Re: Advice needed for balancing my first 6E campaign Balancing a HERO game can be a tricky thing, but here are a couple basics: The PCs should have an advantage. The goons (or mooks) already have an advantage - numbers. The typical PC advantage is Defense, as measured by SPD, CVs, and Defense Characteristics. SPD is pretty obvious, more actions is generally better. If the mooks have CVs a couple points lower than the PCs, this increases the likelihood than the PCs will hit them, and lowers the chance that they will hit the PCs. Just be sure that the mooks have enough of a chance to hit that the PCs are actually in some danger. If both sides are armed with fairly equivalent weapons, the mooks should pose enough of a threat that eventually they can wear the PCs down. This means that the PCs have some level of defense (PD or ED) that is superior to the mooks. Typically, a PC should be able to 1 or 2 shot a mook, but the reverse usually isn't true (though a lucky head shot can spoil a PC's day). As far as 'Bosses' go, most of the above applies, except that the boss should have the ability to weather the PC's attacks for a time, forcing them to wear him down, or use special tactics. Also, bosses are usually surrounded by a few mooks or mook+ lieutenant types, forcing the PCs to split their focus at the start.

Re: How Much DCV?

Re: How Much DCV?

Re: Running up stairs. Since you referenced inches, we'll do the math for 5E: Each floor is approx 10' in height. The horizontal space required for the stairway will be about 18' (this could be a single run or zig-zag or box, it really makes no difference.) Each 'floor' of stairs then is between 20' and 21' of movement. 13 floors x 20' = 260' = about 40". Going up, the character is going against gravity, so his movement is effectively 8". It takes 5 phases to climb 13 floors at combat speeds. At full non-com (assuming he hit the bottom of the stairwell at full speed) it would take a phase and a half of movement.

Re: Companions of an Uncertain Fate I don't particularly care either way. Seeing the mechanics is not why I play the game. The only time I actually look at any tokens with any interest that aren't mine is while working on macros. While I admit there are times when seeing an enemy token might remove some sense of 'mystery', I don't ever go out of my way to look, and I certainly don't base my actions around anything I might see. So, basically, if you feel it's necessary and will improve the game, go for it. It won't lessen my enjoyment any, or alter my participation.

Re: Companions of an Uncertain Fate I don't think there is a mechanical problem. The difference in Skill Roll values for 9 + (CHAR/5) and 8 + (CHAR/4) are pretty insignificant at our CHAR range. I think the relatively low occurence of skill rolls makes it seem like most of the rolls we are asked to make fail, because we are generally making them only when it is important, so failure is more noticeable. I wouldn't change anything, in the longer run, I think you'll see things even out.

Re: Champions Powers: Psionic Palsy There is no Variable Effect on the listed power, it is an ACV, AVAD, DEX Drain. It is likely that the description is just in error, probably due to translation from 5E.

Re: Anyone running any online games? So, I disconnected for the second time tonight, and now when I log back in, I connect, the campaign loads.... and no one else is connected. EDIT: Relogged, seems I am back now, but no one is talking

Re: 5E Darkness Elemental (Large)

Re: How Much END? You may want to re-read Steve's answer. Since the Energy Blast has an associated END cost (AP/10) and does not use STR, the default 1 END is not used. In the case of the 60 STR punch, his answer does seem to imply that it should cost 7 END. However, my group has also never used anything but AP/10 (or /5 for Heroic STR). The 'other' maneuvers (Dodge, et al) are costed at 1 END. I don't see any direct benefit or dire consequences arising from continuation of this practice, so I doubt we'll change it, 'official' answer or no.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Universal Personal Profile. Essentially, the character's Stats (Characteristics) presented as a hexadecimal string. Also used for planets to summarize their 'stats'. (Although then it was Universal Planetary Profile).

Re: Looking at characters in Champions 6E I really don't use published characters enough for it to be a problem for me. That said, the amount of 'new' material that is just tweaked versions of old material is substantial. IMO, spending some time on the Characters to bring them in line with the paradigm shift in Characteristics would have been welcome, and worthwhile. Obviously, that was a path they decided not to take. It was not my decision to make, and I don't fault them either way.

Re: Looking at characters in Champions 6E This is one of the biggest issues with the published material. Even though Figured Characteristics were removed in 6E, nothing was retooled as a result. The primary and most obvious example of this was DEX, which often suffered inflation due to it's driving effect on CV and Speed. Even with that dependence gone, published material hasn't adopted any shift in response. I started a Champs game shortly after 6E was released, and I very specifically set it up so that the PCs (and any Super-Powered Enemies), while substantially faster and more dexterous than Agents, didn't have to be spectacularly so to perform well. So far the results have been positive, but the sad truth is that if I choose to use any published characters (on either side), I will have to re-stat them, since they will far outshine the PCs otherwise.

Re: Looking at characters in Champions 6E If they have no mental powers, it is likely that this is a holdover from the 5e versions, probably a translation from ECV. Other than the breakout rule in the APG and any powers with OMCV as an 'Alternate Combat Value', I can think of no 'standard' need for a higher OMCV for a character without Mental Powers.

Re: Does the Giant Flaming Ape have a name? He appears in Champions Online, his name is Qwyjibo. I do not know if there is an official 6E write-up for him yet. If not, I imagine it may be in one of the upcoming Villains books.