PamelaIsley

So stealing from Killer Shrike, here are my proposed setting parameters. I tried to keep it simple (I originally went through all the active members of Sentinel, Capital Patrol, and Justice Squadron, but how often will that actually come up?), but it's still longer than Killer Shrike's. I couldn't decide on whether the campaign would be centered on 300 point or 400 point 6E heroes, so I just wrote it up as though either could be used. This is very much a draft. The Bluebird Champions Universe (BCU) A Modified Champions Universe Setting Main Differences from 6E Champions Universe 1. Magic is not the source of all superpowers. Superpowers come from a variety of means, and supermagic is just one possible origin for superhumans. 2. Ignore all published dates in the 5E and 6E Champions Universe. Unless a specific date is given in the BCU, all events simply occur in the past. 3. There have been no extradimensional or alien invasions of the Earth. Very few people on Earth believe in the existence of extraterrestrials. Superheroes and villains with alien origins exist, but the public either does not believe their origin stories or is unaware of them. 4. Other dimensions exist, but there are no known interdimensional empires or states. Dimensions exist primarily as the domain of entities such as demons, Lovecraftian monsters, or unknown forms of energy. There is very little extradimensional travel, even by these other entities, without elaborate summoning rituals. 5. UNTIL, PRIMUS, and similar organizations do not exist. Governments monitor superhuman activity, but regular defense and law enforcement agencies are responsible for dealing with any threats. 6. Superheroes and supervillains cancel each other out in a geopolitical sense. Governments and militaries are far more powerful than even the combined might of all superhumans, so superhumans are not a factor in global political maneuverings. No government maintains a large superhero team to supplement its military forces. 7. Supertechnology has not really spread enough to have any effect on the world’s technological level. Virtually all villainous henchmen use real world guns, not blasters. 8. Superhumans were largely inactive during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The modern era of superhumans began with the appearance of Vanguard about 12 years before the Battle of Detroit. This coincided with the rise of Dr. Destroyer and Takofanes. 9. The Battle of Detroit happened eight years ago. The battle seriously weakened the superhero community, causing most teams to slowly disband and many solo heroes to retire (if they weren’t killed in the fighting). For unexplained reasons, many of the villains active during this time also faded away. 10. The new era of superheroes began with the founding of the Champions a “year or so” before the present year. Almost all villain origins should be considered to start within a few years of this event, unless there is a strong thematic reason to have them active in the earlier modern era. (The purpose of this is to keep villain ages somewhat realistic.) 11. Although in decline, the Sentinels and Justice Squadron (called Justice in the BCU) are still active, although they are rapidly being eclipsed in prominence by the Champions. 12. The following master villains from 6E Volume 1 do not exist in the BCU: Istvatha V’han, Shadow Destroyer, Shadow Queen, Skarn, Tezcatlipoca, Tyrannon, and Doctor Yin Wu. 13. The following master villains were “finally” defeated around the time of the Battle of Detroit, and are not active: Dr. Destroyer and Takofanes. 14. The following villain teams from 6E Volume 2 do not exist in the BCU: Red Guard and Tiger Squad. Typical Hero Rules 1. Typical "new" heroes are created either as low powered (300 point / 60 matching complications) or standard (400 point / 75 matching complications) characters. 2. No character may have more than one characteristic above 20 without a strong thematic reason (no randomly high dexterities or constitutions, as is common in published material). If someone has a Dexterity above 20 or an intelligence above 20 for example, there needs to be a reason they are one of the world’s greatest athletes or one of the most brilliant humans to ever live. 3. In general, active points are capped at either 60 points (low-powered heroes) or 75 points (standard), with possible exceptions for an individual power. DCs should be capped around 12. Villains and NPC heroes will be adjusted to compensate for this, as needed. 4. Non-speedsters should not have a SPD above 6. 5. Extradimensional origins should be avoided.

@Killer Shrike I love these setting parameters: 1. Magic is not the seed of all superpowers. 2. The Champions went missing a year ago. No one seems to know where they went. This isn't necessarily a campaign plot point, I just wanted them out of the way so that the PC's can have the stage. Their base and other accoutrements are in the care of Dr. Silverback in the meantime. 3. The smart chips used in MC are not generally known about by anyone, even most cops. 4. Turakian Age, Valdorian Age, Terran Empire, Galactic Champions, and other published settings are not in the same timeline as CU5-KS1. 5. Campaign morality is a little darker than CU proper. Not Iron Age dark, but a little grittier. People do get killed, and Killing attacks are used from time to time. Killing people as a hero will result in legal action and/or issues with other non-lethal heroes. I am going to try to do something similar for my proposed setting, keeping things as simple as I can.

I so totally ignore the magic is the root of everything angle that I didn't even think to mention it. I own the Terran Empire sourcebook (and haven't ever read it; I bought the Traveller stuff around the same time and just used the Third Imperium), but I ignore pretty much all the timeline stuff that isn't "modern age" CU.

I've heard of this before and looked into it. It's a little too different from the CU for me. I like the Champions Universe, I just think it needs pruned significantly and has too much Silver Age creep in it.

But that Desolidification power isn't linked with anything. It doesn't need to possess someone to be desolidified. There is a ghost in the Bestiary that has both the Possession Linked with Desolidification and then a separate Desolidification power. So I guess that's how it is done. It doesn't make sense to me to pay for the same power twice.

I want to build a Shadow being as a villain's servant whose primary power is the ability to posses others, using the Possession Power in 6E APG1, but merging her form with theirs (her body disappears, which I would argue is the more common interpretation of Possession). I'd also love it if the possession power gradually consumed / aged the victim's body so the Shadow kept having to jump around to new bodies (this plays into her backstory a little bit that she enjoys having a physical form even at the expense of destroying it), but let's just start with a basic possession power. This power is in the 6E bestiary a few times: 94 points, Possession: Possession (Mind Control EGO +60, Telepathy EGO +40), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); No Range (-½), Unified Power (-¼) plus Desolidification, Projection (+0), Merging (+0), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Feedback From Host Body (-1), Linked (-½), Unified Power (-¼); This feels like a good start. But there are some issues with it. First, if the being doing the possession is already inherently Desolidified, do you need the linked Desolidification power or do you just need these weird 0 point advantages Projection and Merging? Second, I can't build this power in Hero Designer at all. No matter how I enter the numbers, I can't get this cost. I also don't understand why Feedback From Host Body is a -1 limitation when that's already part of the basic Possession Power in APG. What do people think?

Thanks Sean! This actually is closer to what I was looking for. I will just build it as part of sight.

I just looked at Wraith. Very interesting character. I notice you skipped Martial Arts for him and did build a lot of his stuff as Powers. I'm going to do the same thing. I'm building both of my costumed avengers as 300 point characters too (although skewing less powerful than Wraith in terms of active points in their powers). Thanks so much!

I hadn't thought of entangle before, but Darkness to Sight Group definitely could (it's why she has the dispel darkness power). I am sure the entangle could too.

I seriously appreciate any feedback. I have long owned the Hero books, but I've basically never played it (just briefly online) and sometimes struggle to put all of these numbers in context.

This heal back condition is copied from the 6E Champions power book. It is very common there (the book builds a lot of acid power that cause blindness). If I were GM'ing a game where Aetheria blinded a PC, I would probably allow almost any healing superpower to reverse the damage, in addition to organ-regrowing regeneration and the extremely uncommon transplant. The idea for her susceptibility was built on something I seemed to have cut from her writeup (for space I guess since it was in the stat block). Basically, if you put Aetheria in a box and cut her off from light (other than from her powers), she will eventually die. She needs some small amount of light to absorb (not so much in the context of the power Absorption, but like how humans get vitamin D from the sun) or she suffers damage. Just closing her eyes isn't enough. Just it being night time isn't enough. It has to be Total Darkness. Maybe that's too uncommon to count as a complication, but that's the idea. I'd be happy to rebuild it. Excellent feedback on the Personal Immunity. Again, I think I copied some of this power from Champions Power 6E and they had it. But I should have taken a closer look at how it interacted with the rest of her build. Your feedback is awesome. Thanks so much!

I'm building two Costumed Avenger type characters (think low-level Batman types or like DarkAngel from DC:TAS) and I just have a small observation. Building characters with powers is more fulfilling with Hero. There seems to be a lot more character and better structure. But building equipment / non-powered heroes is a lot more fun with M&M 2E for some reason. It's just tedious to create lots of martial arts moves, utility belts, and such with Hero. Just a flashlight is an ordeal.

Yes, I agree. I'm trying to add in more AoE flash attacks and one AoE blast. Edit: Reworked her powers slightly to add an AoE blast and a Flash attack that's a cone.

I created an NPC hero with a backstory involving Teleios and that lead me to re-read his 6E entry. His characteristics are unbelievable, especially considering how the text goes out its way to say that he disdains the idea of being superhuman in any way. I can't imagine a scenario where Teleios's stat block would be needed (he works better as a plot device than as an actual villain), but it would have to be heavily changed. I would also probably take away his power to create superhumans on demand (and with the precise powers that he wishes) and make it more he has the capability to sometimes create superhumans successfully, but the results can be somewhat unpredictable. It just makes sense and keeps some balance. Again, I see no reason this power requires being statted out anyway.

Aetheria Total: 500 STR 10, 11-, 2d6, 100 kg DEX 18, 13- CON 18, 13- INT 18, 13- EGO 18, 13- PRE 23, 14-, 4 1/2d6 OCV 7 DCV 7 OMCV 3 DMCV 3 SPD 6 PD 6 24 (18r) ED 10 28 (18r) REC 10 END 60 BODY 10 STUN 40 Total Cost: 169 Skills & Talents Combat Skill: Light Blasts +2 (10) Acrobatics, 13- (3) Charm, 14- (3) Computer Programming, 13- (3) PS: Physicist, 12- (3) SS: Biology, 13- (4) SS: Physics, 14- (5) SS: Optics, 14- (5) Stealth, 13- (3) Wealthy (6) Absolute Range Sense (3) Striking Appearance +1 (+1d6) (3) Total Cost: 51 Powers Absorb Energy (25 Body, Energy to Endurance, Delated Rate of Return (5 per minute) +1 (56 Active Points), Unified -¼); (40) Photon Shield (Resistant Protection 18 PD / 18 ED, (54 Active Points), Costs End to Active -¼, Unified -¼); (36) Photonic Aura (Sight Group Flash 3d6, AoE: 3M Radius +¼, 0 End +½, (26 Active Points), No Range -½); (17) Light Speed Travel Multipower (50-point Reserve, Unified -¼); (40) 1. Slow Light Speed (Flight 50 M, (50 Active Points)); 4f 2. Atmospheric Light Speed (Teleportation 1m, Megascale (1m = 10,000 km) +2, (3 Active Points), Must Pass Through Intervening Space -¼); 1f Nightvision; (5) Surrounding Light (Increased Arc of Perception 360 degrees with Sight Group); (10) Eyes of Light (Sight Group Flash Defense 20 points, (20 Active Points), Only Works Against Light, Very Common, -¼); (16) Light Blast Multipower (90-point reserve, (90 Active Points), Unified -¼); (72) 1. Light Bolt (Blast 12d6, 0 End +½ (90 Active Points); 7f 2. Light Burst (Blast 12d6, AoE (8M Radius) +½ (90 Active Points), No Range -½); 5f 3. Laser Beam (RKA 4d6, Armor Piercing +¼ (75 Active Points), Beam -¼); 5f 4. Dispel Darkness (Dispel Darkness to Sight Group 20d6 (60 Active Points)); 5f 5. Flare Burst (Sight Group Flash 10d6, ½ End +¼, AoE (16M Cone) +½, (87 Active Points); 7f 6. Flare Blast (Sight Group Flash 12d6, ½ End +¼ (75 Active Points)); 6f 7. Ultraviolet Blinding Flare (Major Transform 9d6, Sighted Person to Blind; Heals Back with Eye Regeneration or Transplant (90 Active Points), AVAD (Flash Defense Sight, All or Nothing) -½, Limited Target (Sighted Living Beings) -½, Limited Range (20M) -¼); 4f Total Cost: 280 Matching Complications Distinctive Features (Mutant, Not Concealable, Noticed, Uncommon Senses); (10) Social Complication (Secret Identity: Eirene Arcus, Frequent, Major); (15) Psychological Complication (Greedy, Common, Strong); (15) Psychological Complication (Intellectual Vanity, Common, Strong); (15) Vulnerability (1 ½ Stun v. Darkness / Shadow Powers, Uncommon); (5) Susceptibility (Trapped in Total Darkness, 1d6 per turn, Uncommon); (10) Total: 75 points Background: Eirene Arcus has never gotten the respect she deserved -- at least in her mind. In high school and college, she thought too many of her peers and teachers focused on her looks, ignoring her obvious intellectual brilliance. So she pushed herself even harder, taking only the most advanced science and engineering classes. She ultimately earned a PhD in physics, focusing on the study of optics and light. But being a great researcher still didn’t bring her the recognition she wanted. Eirene decided to do her own projects on the side. She designed and constructed a device that she thought would convert light into usable power. Unfortunately, she proved to be a better scientist than engineer. Her photon generator exploded one night, bathing her entire lab in a powerful light energy. But she wasn’t harmed. Quite the opposite. Eirene found that the light energy infused her with incredible power. She could now control and manipulate light. Convinced that she had succeeded in making herself into a superhuman, Eirene decided to take the respect and recognition she wanted from the world. The supervillainess Aetheria was born. Aetheria’s career has been limited, but successful. By carefully planning her operations, she has succeeded in stealing a great deal of wealth and equipment (allowing her to continue to study her powers and try to rebuild her generator). She has worked successfully with a few other supervillains who aren’t focused on world domination (or random violence) and has earned a bit of respect for her knowledge of ultraviolet radiation and optics from some of her new peers. Personality: At her core, Aetheria is greedy. She is greedy for attention, recognition, and material wealth. Convinced that no one ever took her intelligence seriously because of her appearance, she is taking out her frustration on society by committing crimes. Although she possesses a wide variety of powers that could be quite deadly or destructive, she doesn’t take any pleasure in being overly violent. She doesn’t want to kill people, she just wants them to acknowledge her general superiority. She has an acerbic wit, that sometimes can be charming, and is always striving to prove that she is more intelligent than people she is talking to or, as a villain, fighting with. Her desire to show off her intellect can cause some to manipulate her (she has been convinced to cooperate with other villains by this kind of flattery, or defeated by heroes because they play on her willingness to try to prove she’s smarter). Eirene alternates between being very angry when her looks are complimented and using her appearance to get her way; it simply depends on her mood. Powers: Aetheria is a light controller. She has potent powers built around her ability to project and manipulate light energy. She can fly incredibly fast (almost the speed of light), absorb many forms of energy to convert into endurance, create a shield around herself, and produce a variety of blinding flashes (both as blasts and as an aura). She can see in the dark and few powers can ever blind her. She also has a potent array of blasts, including a laser beam that can cut through most anything (she would have to be very angry to ever use this on a living being). In the early part of career, she could accidently produce a blast that caused permanent blindness, which horrified her. She has become a little more jaded as an experienced villain, but seldom uses this power now that she can control it. Aetheria thinks that she gained these powers purely as a result of her experimentation and takes great pride in her work. But the truth is that she merely activated a latent mutation. She probably would have developed her abilities regardless. If someone ever said this to her, she would be absolutely enraged. Appearance: Eirene Arcus is an attractive blonde woman who appears to be in her late 20s. Her blue eyes have been dulled into a light grey by her powers, but otherwise she shows no ill effects. As Aetheria, she wears a low cut bodysuit that is magenta on the sides and white in the center, along with a matching magenta cape, white opera gloves, and boots. She usually disdains a mask (early in her career she wore a full mask, but she discovered quickly that just by constantly producing a low level glow, most people would be incapable of recognizing her). Notes: I'm very fond of this character's backstory (although I'm more proud of Ultragirl). She's intended to be just a light controller supervillain. Edit: Reworked her powers to include two AoE attacks. Aetheria.hdc

I can't make a math case for my opinion, but this exact issue came up frequently in my M&M gaming and it's just frustrating. You shouldn't make characters pay for equipment that is easily available elsewhere. Cell phones, flash lights, goggles, binoculars, coats for cold weather, regular automobiles, etc. should just be available whenever people want them. It's just ludicrous to write up a Superman clone and then include an entry on his sheet for his iPhone or a simple communicator. If you can buy it on Amazon or at a mall, players should have it. Guns and weapons are more on the line, I guess. But my players used to make fun of me for trying (early on) to enforce the rule that if they picked up a gun from one of Joker's goons during a fight, they'd have to get rid of it by the end of the session. Why? What happened? Magic recall? The rest of your points go more to games that involve superheroes more powerful than my preference. I wouldn't jack up attacks just because guns are easier to use. In fact, I'm constantly trying to keep guns and normal humans effective in my super games. I hate the idea of Silver Age power levels and the idea that just because someone can shoot energy out of their fingers, they can fight at the same level as a jet, tank, or APC. Anyway, my opinion didn't help you much. I'm just backing up the idea that enforcing equipment rules on superheroes drives many players nuts.

Ultragirl v2.0 Total: 500 STR 70*, 23-, 14d6 DEX 18, 13- CON 30*, 15- INT 13, 12- EGO 13, 12- PRE 23, 14-, 4 1/2d6 OCV 8 DCV 8 OMCV 4 DMCV 4 SPD 5 PD 10 35 (25r) ED 5 30 (25r) REC 15 END 65 BODY 25* STUN 60* Total Cost: 152 Skills & Talents Acrobatics, 13- (3) SS: Biology, 11- (2) SS: Chemistry, 11- (2) SS: Genetics, 12-, (3) CS: +1 HTH (8) Striking Appearance +1 (1d6) (3) Total Cost: 21 Powers Super Resistance (Resistant Protection: 25 PD / 25 ED, Unified -¼); (60) Super Body (+15 Body, Unified -¼); (12) Super Body II (+40 Stun, Unified -¼); (16) Super Strength (+60 STR, Half End +¼, Unified -¼); (60) Super Durability (+20 Con, Unified -¼); (16) Regeneration (2 Body Per Turn, Unified -¼); (26) Chest Blast (Blast 12d6, Unified -¼); (48) Environmental Resistance (Life Support: High Pressure, High Radiation, Intense Cold, Low/Pressure/Vacuum, Self Contained Breathing); (17) Super Sight (+10 Telescopic Range Modifier for Sight Group); (15) Super Movement Multipower (60 point reserve, Unified Power -¼); (48) Flight (24M, Half End +¼, Megascale 1M=10KM +1 ¼); 5f Super Speed (Flight 40M, Half End +¼, Only in Contact With Surface -¼); 3f Super Swimming (Swimming +25M (29M total)); 1f Total Cost: 327 Matching Complications Social Complication (Secret Identity: Karen Sharple); (15) Vulnerability (Magic, 1 ½ stun damage, Common); (10) Psychological Complication (Fake Memories, Uncommon, Strong); (10) Psychological Complication (Code of the Hero, Very Common, Strong); (20) Psychological Complication (Overconfidence, Common, Moderate); (10) Hunted (Teleios, Infrequently, Mo Pow, NCI, Watching); (10) Total: 75 points Background: Ultragirl first appeared in Washington, D.C., stopping a rogue manimal attack. The creature had escaped from a secret ARGENT research facility and was menacing tourists on the National Mall when a striking woman in a white costume flew down from the sky and quickly subdued the manbear. After accepting the thanks of those she saved and announcing herself as “Ultragirl, the heir to Vanguard,” the blonde flew off. Ultragirl has appeared several more times in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York. She doesn’t talk much to the press or even to those she rescues. She has cooperated indirectly with several other heroes tackling the same threat or investigating the same crime, but has revealed almost nothing about herself. She simply says that she is following in the legacy of the world’s greatest superhero, and will continue to protect the citizens of the United States from any threats. Karen Sharple thinks she is a normal young woman who manifested superpowers out of nowhere while working at a genetics lab in Maryland. She felt a strong pull to use her powers for good and in several forays against small time crime discovered that she seemed immune to most forms of damage. Pushing herself further and further, she finally decided to take on the mantle of Ultragirl. Karen, however, is wrong. The truth is that she was created by Teleios as an experiment to insert a mole within the superhero community. With great effort, the Perfect Man succeeded in growing a female body with very impressive superpowers. He used false memories from a woman at one of his front companies to provide a backstory. However, Teleios lost control of Ultragirl when trying to implant triggers to ensure his absolute control over her. She escaped from his lab and woke up on the streets of Baltimore, thinking she actually was Karen Sharple and having almost no short-term memories. Now Teleios watches her from afar, wondering how much of his control programming imprinted and closely monitoring how her powers develop. Personality: Ultragirl epitomizes a self-sacrificing hero. She wouldn’t hesitate to risk her life to protect innocents or to stand up for what she believes in. The code of the hero is actually a strong part of her genetic makeup. She is convinced that she knows what is right, and won’t hesitate to do what’s necessary (she has no code against killing, although she has yet to resort to that when stopping crime or a threat). The rest of her personality is underdeveloped. She is distant, disdainful of the opinions of others when they disagree with her, and cold in her reactions to people (particularly when she is behaving as Karen Sharple). Complex emotions remain foreign to her (as does most humor). Although she is a human, her personality resembles that of a robot or alien trying to learn to be human. She considers herself above emotion, but the truth is that she simply struggles to process strong feelings and how to react. Ultragirl is extremely confident in her powers and abilities. If something were to actually hurt her, she might become enraged or frustrated. Despite her confidence, she is not an experienced tactician and tends to go about combat or problem solving using direct methods. Powers: Ultragirl possesses powers built around strength and durability. She can fly, has strong resistant defenses, can survive in most environments (including a vacuum), and heals rapidly. She can also emit a powerful energy blast from her chest, which gives her some ability to fight at longer ranges. Because almost all of her powers come from Teleios’s genetic engineering, they are vulnerable to a drain attack on one of them. There is some indication that Ultragirl is just scratching the surface of what she can do, and that her potential is much greater than her already considerable abilities. Appearance: Teleios engineered Ultragirl to resemble an exaggerated superheroine, something of an in joke to himself. She is tall, conventionally beautiful, with overdeveloped curves. Her blonde hair is shoulder length and complements her blue eyes. As Ultragirl, she wears a tight, white leotard with a scoop neck top. Her legs are bare. Her costume is accented by a blue cape and red gloves and boots. Karen feigns unawareness of how her figure affects those around her (particularly when she is in costume), but she is perfectly willing to take advantage of the distraction both in combat and in personal interactions. Notes: The second Brick. I have 400, 500, and 600 point versions of her depending on how I want to use the character. It's obviously a mash-up of Power Girl, Galatea (from JLU), and other things. I sort of envisioned her personality like 7 of 9 from Voyager. She's meant to be more powerful than the average hero. Her powers are Unified because they come from the same source (Teleios). Every time I look at the build, I find a new way to be slightly more efficient, so I'm sure it's not the greatest min/maxing effort (although that is seldom the point of any of my builds). Thanks for all the help. Ultragirl500pt.hdc

This is extremely helpful. Thanks!

Well, this time I think this is just flat out better. I'm adopting most all of these changes into my "official" version of Paragon.

I set myself up there I think. Do you think it works as written then?

I would settle for just the presence of magic.

The rest of her magical abilities, so that all are affected by drain magics or dispel magics or whatever.

I've been struggling with this for over a week and I don't know why I didn't just post here. Witchcraft and Talisman have a magesense power that costs basically nothing and seems to do nothing. There is sort of a detect magic in the 6E Champions book that costs a ton but seems kind of weird. Basically, I want to build a power that allows a mage to detect magic. I'd like it to be passive. And I'd like it to be always on (so it can work together with a complication that she's distracted by magic and magical power). This is what I came up with in HD: Detect Magic (Detect A Class Of Things 14- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Range, Telescopic: +6 (20 Active Points); Always On (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4)); (11) Is this close to making sense?

Yes, me too. The backstory explanation that I came up with years ago was that once he became a hero he decided to adopt all the conventional "hero codes" so that he would fit in better. But it makes less sense on re-reading it. Edit: I'm changing it to Needs to Prove Self.

Play by Forum is generally where you use individual posts to roleplay action. It works better for rp'ing that doesn't require dice or involve combat. But it's like: GM Posts: It's a dark and stormy night as you approach the old, run down mansion. Player 1 Posts: Darkwing Duck moves up to ring the doorbell to see if anyone is at home. Player 2 Posts: Gosalyn rolls her eyes. And so on. It's cumbersome compared to live options, but it helps when people live in different time zones or can't all be online at the same time. I have not done it for anything like DnD, M&M, or Hero.