Daltwisney

Re: Cars as weapons in 6E The damage is only indirectly related to the weight. More accurately, the damage comes from the Momentum of the object, its mass times its velocity. (p = m*v) The strength of the thrower determines the energy (momentum) imparted to the object, which means that the higher the mass, the lower the velocity achieved, and actually, the velocity drops over distance due to friction/air resistance. Now, if you wanted to telekinetically hold a car above someone and drop it, allowing gravity to give it momentum, it will accelerate to terminal velocity (if the distance is great enough) and then the energy 'transferred' will be greater due to the mass. Hero treats throwing objects as 'instantaneous' (you throw, it hits) which propagates the illusion that all those objects are traveling at the same velocity, but in truth, if the same amount of force (strength) is used to throw a baseball and a car, the car travels MUCH slower, which is why it does the same damage (assuming sufficient PD and BODY for both objects).

Re: Group Immunity I'm not sure I'd allow it as a Naked Advantage version of PI, UOO. Usable by others is usually reserved for a power construct and not simply an advantage. One way you might get around it would be to build the darkness with PI, then buy Usable Simultaneously as a Naked Advantage, with the Limitation that they couldn't actually use the Darkness power themselves. I'm not sure on the SFX of this character's Darkness ability, so I don't know the reason behind "my teammates should be immune to it", but I'd be hesitant to allow it.

Re: Impact of Figured Characteristics Essentially the 6E template for HD removes and replaces the Characteristic definitions from 5E. You would need to customize it to reverse those changes. I think it should just be a matter for a simple extension template, but I'm not sure how far the ramifications of those changes would reach.

Re: Skill roll on linked powers Yes, I was in error there, I was thinking of a different scenario, where the entire power is used, but is only partially effective.

Re: Skill roll on linked powers The RAW frown on using linked this way (Boosting the same power with another instance of itself). I would probably build it as a Partially-Limited power (6E1, p366) something like this: Blast Xd6, Limited Power(Conditional, character must have 1 gem) + Blast Xd6, Limited Power(Conditional, character must have 2 gems) + Blast Xd6, Limited Power(Conditional, character must have 3 gems) and so on... I'd apply Requires a Skill Roll to the entire power construct (so it is applied to each 'part' of the power). Now, as written, the Requires a Skill Roll Penalty and END cost would always be calculated on the Full power (regardless of how many gems the character actually has or uses). You could lower the value of the Requires a Skill Roll limitation, and define it as only being affected by the Active Points actually used due to the number of gems possessed/used. I can't think of a quick fix to reduce the END cost proportionally right now, but I'm sure someone out there can. (Maybe buy all but the initial dice at 0 END, though that raises the AP).

Re: What can you do with five points?

Re: Balls of Steel 6E: An object cannot do more Damage Classes (usually dice of normal damage) than it's DEF + BODY. So with an exceptionally lucky roll, it could do 2 x (DEF + BODY) in BODY Damage. (6E2, 173)

Re: Change Environment: a dangerous weapon Part of the reason CE seems so under-appreciated is probably historical. As an example, most of the people in my gaming group have been playing Champions/Hero for a LONG time, hailing from the days when CE couldn't even make your toast land butter side up. So, when a new edition of the rules comes out, they leaf through the Powers, see CE, and skip reading it, because they 'know' it's useless. It doesn't have a fancy new name, and in the new edition's 'What has changed' section, there isn't a heading labeled "Change Environment - not just for flavor anymore". The sad thing is that even though the utility of CE has been improving over 2 editions of Hero, some of these people still 'know' it sucks, so they haven't read it.

Re: Balls of Steel

Re: Balls of Steel

Re: Balls of Steel Aye, they would, which is probably a good rationale for the Charges not to be Recoverable. While you could pick up one of the used bearings, having taken 3 of its 4 BODY, chances are that it is no longer Balanced or Aerodynamic, probably having been somewhat flattened or otherwise deformed by the impact. The reasoning behind the 13 Total was so that he could do his full 12 DCs of STR damage according to the "Objects of Opportunity" rules. Another thing to note is that IF he actually does pay points for it, the DEF and BODY become important only as stats for a Focus, because then it is no longer an "Object of Opportunity", and thus he could push his STR, or Haymaker the attack and get full benefit.

Re: Balls of Steel Ball bearings on the order of 2.5" diameter are readily available, and a standard Baseball (which is quite different from a Basketball, and was the size mentioned by the OP) are 2.875" to 3" in diameter. How available they are 'in the field' may be another matter, but they certainly exist. A bit more complicated could be the toughness (DEF and BODY) of such items, but in a Superhero world where someone with a 60 STR exists, I think that's pretty much a decision for the GM to make. If he thinks it's reasonable, then it is, no Materials Engineering required.

Re: Balls of Steel

Re: Balls of Steel It is Power Advantage that is purchased separately from a Power. Such as AP on a portion of a character's STR, or the ability to make any gun up to a specified power-level Autofire. The power can be used without the advantage if desired. The description and rules appear at the beginning of the Advantages section in both 5ER (p244) and 6E (6E1, p314).

Re: Balls of Steel There ya go. 6E just extended it to allow for other attack types (HTH, Mental, M. Arts) in combination instead of just Ranged Attacks.

Re: Balls of Steel

Re: Balls of Steel It is. I like the way the rules for it read, but I'm not starting my 6E game for about a month, so I don't know how they play yet. I predict shock on the part of some of my Players the first time they encounter someone using them. (I've told the people who I know DON"T have the books, the ones that have them, not so much).

Re: Balls of Steel Actually, the first bullet point under Multiple Attack refers to "multiple attacks against the same target with the same attack" (6E2, p 73). This is functionally similar to Autofire, the tradeoff being Multiple Attack defaults to Full Phase (Rapid Attack can reduce this to 1/2 Phase), and Multiple Attack puts you at 1/2 DCV. Plus the 'to hit' mechanic is slightly different.

Re: Time Manipulation based powers

Re: Time Manipulation based powers This kind of thing can fit in well. Especially as a defense for someone who doesn't have a lot of fighting skills. In 6E, I think it would be simplest just to buy up the DCV stat a bit with "You move too slow" as the special effect/justification. You might come up with a Limitation on part of it if you choose, but at 5pts for +1 DCV, it pretty much models the old "DCV only" levels straight up.

Re: Balls of Steel You wouldn't have to charge him anything, that's what the Multiple Attack rules are for.

Re: Balls of Steel If he was using for a single shot adventure, I might let it slide w/o points, but since it sounds like an 'always available' deal, I'd have him pay: He always (barring losing the Focus, if it has one) has 16 shots available. One of the caveats of 'Objects of opportunity' is that they aren't always there. Or they aren't balanced and/or aerodynamic. Or someone might get a tad upset at you breaking their car over a Supervillain's head, doubly so if the car belongs to the Supervillain. Baloo, just be happy that he didn't want to hit people with a metal bust of his brother Richard.

Re: Time Manipulation based powers I actually had/have a 5E PC based on "Time Powers". Sadly none of the 3 you specifically mention, though I did consider the first 2 when building him. Basic background: He was created by a futuristic agency which exists to protect the "Temporal Continuum". Their modus operandi was generally to send one of their created agents back to a point when the time-line was jeopardized in order to prevent that occurrence. In his case, there was a problem with his transport to 'our' time, that resulted in both him being slightly out of sync with time, and giving him amnesia regarding his identity or his mission. It was decided as well that Time Manipulation did cause aging as a side effect, which led to 'creation' aspect of the 'Time Agents'. Since having agents get old and die quickly due to the strains of their abilities was inefficient, the Agents were created as beings that did not eat, sleep, or age, drawing their sustenance directly from time (Ain't the future grand?). Another basic premise I used for Time Manipulation was 'It is easier to affect oneself than others'. Anyways, he is essentially a Martial Artist with the following Time related abilities: 1) A bonus of +5 to Speed, 1 Continuing Charge/Day that lasts a Turn, with the Side Effects that his Speed is reduced by 5 for the following Turn. Simply defined as borrowing time against the immediate future, with the single Charge representing the strain it causes.(I've actually NEVER used this Power, bizarrely enough) 2) My take on the Speed Drain/Entangle was a 2d6 Major Transform, Continuous, with Limited Range. Low dice with Continuous to represent the effort to affect another person this way. (Turning someone into themselves 'stopped in time', heals back as soon as I move out of range) 3) Desolidification, Cannot Move through Solid Objects, x5 END. Basically the idea was he could shift himself 'out of phase' with the present long enough that attacks would go through him, but that solid objects which had a more permanent duration would still exist to him and thus block movement. At full END, he could do this for 2 phases (total 40 END, costs 20 END a phase). 4) Teleportation, must be able to travel through intervening distance. Essentially he could pause time for himself, walk to another reachable point (a door wouldn't block him, unless it was locked, and he couldn't teleport into midair), and resume action. I not as thrilled with this power as I could be, but I haven't come up with better yet. 5) Danger Sense, Intuitional, Any Danger on a 14-. Essentially a limited form of Precognition. 6) As a Effect of being marginally out of phase with Time, he also had 2d6 Blast Damage Shield, NND vs Immunity to Aging (I wasn't sure this would be acceptable, but the GM let it pass). This was Any Contact, so it affected his physical attacks as well as physical attacks against him, defined as a minor system shock due to contacting his out of phase body. Going back to the 'easier to affect oneself' premise that I built, I decided to make the majority of my offense simply physical (the Martial Arts), saving most of the Time Manipulation for Defense and Utility. The only other skills he remembers at this point are Linguistics training and complete Fluency in the Major Western European languages, plus Russian and Latin, though he's recently been noting an odd familiarity with Computer Programming. I don't know if any of this is helpful, as I haven't switched him to 6E yet. I'll ponder how I would build some of the things you mentioned as see what I come up with.

Re: Simple question about Invisiblity

Re: Simple question about Invisiblity Although the rules say that things like: 1) throwing paint on an invisible person, 2) throwing a blanket over them, 3) or putting powder or liquid on the floor so they leave footprints may help locating an invisible person, nothing is really said about environmental effects. My answer would be that it really depends on the special effects of the Invisibility Power. If you are bending light around you or are simply transparent, perhaps. If you are 'invisible' via some sort of 'I'm not important enough for you to notice' field (something like the Vampiric Discipline of Obfuscation from Vampire - The Masquerade, for example), then I would probably say no, since even though the rain or hail might be interacting with you, that could also be deemed 'not important enough to notice'.