Brandi

How about Sanctuary? Anyone in the group who likes just character interaction can have a ball chatting it up with people who might normally be their worst enemies...

Well, I never saw Automan (didn't get cable 'til the later 90s and the Sci-Fi channel's never been part of basic service in my area), but I did like the heck out of Tron...

I find that in face-to-face there are little effects I can do with my voice and body language that are difficult to consciously describe and type up.

Isn't Range Based on STR only a -1/4 limitation?

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

is that the show where the cursor was diamond shape and would turn into a spiky asterix to indicate a negative?

 

Strange, that sounds like the Bit from Tron.

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

Oooo, Quatermass novels - good suggestion. A good filmic adaptation of a Quatermass story was "Five Million Years to Earth": Martians experiment on primitive humans to advance their evolution and give them potential mental powers.

 

Yep, that was the one I was thinking of under an alternate title, which, given the idea that the Martians unconsciously influenced our notions of heaven and hell isn't a bad title at all...

Actually, Quatermass and the Pit might be a good source... also Horror Hotel and Burn, Witch Burn.

Also, brick powers are the easiest to model in Hero. The first time I tried creating a Champs character in 4th ed, I considered a vocal mimic, and after many conflicting suggestions from the expert players and trying to figure out whether hollering some kind of high-frequency sound through a bullhorn would be an EB or what, I came *this close* to giving the damned game up.

 

But made Irving instead.

 

[FWIW, a mimic is considerably easier to model in FRed now that Shape Shift can be bought as affecting specific sense groups...]

If it's good enough for a real lion, it's good enough for Irving: the claws for a lion as described on pp. 307-308 of 5th ed have the Restrainable limitation.

 

As for why he came to life... you know, I've never settled on an origin that really felt right to me, and I also wanted to leave it open in case our GM had any clever ideas. My current theory is that somehow, like the Overlook hotel, he has gradually absorbed a psychic residue from people passing by, sitting on and by him, etc. It's quite possible that a more specific spirit has influenced his personality, maybe some reader who spent much of his life enjoying books by the stone lion. And perhaps that's where Irving got his name...

 

This also suggests that Patience, the other lion, has the potential to awaken as well, but perhaps per his name he doesn't feel the need for haste.

Good show, though it would've been funny to see one of the young snots like McFarlane or Rob Liefeld in there. (Wanna bet they asked for too much money?)

 

The section on the Comics Code was pretty good but it seems like in trying to keep to the superhero theme they really didn't put across the impact EC comics had and how a lot of the Code seemed designed to specifically gut their comics. (And that picture of Dr. Werther was a cliche come to life. He looked like he was weaned on a lemon!)

Originally posted by Enforcer84

How does he perform his notarial duties if he cannot write in his Journal or use his stamp?

 

The team's techie worked up some basic waldoes that let him do fine manipulation. They're too large and clumsy for him to use outside the base, but they do let him do things like affix signatures and use computers.

Just trying out Hero Designer and converting a 4th ed character to 5th Edition. Interestingly, his point cost dropped, probably because of the increased cost of Hunted/Watched with Public ID and the new ruling that being permanantly large is a disadvantage...IrvingPlayer: Brandi Weed

Val	Char	Cost
60	STR	50
17	DEX	21
23	CON	26
20	BODY	20
15	INT	5
13	EGO	6
20	PRE	10
16	COM	3
20	PD	0
20	ED	0
4	SPD	13
17	REC	0
50	END	2
62	STUN	0

12" RUN00" SWIM-212" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 154

Cost	Power	END
14	Big and Heavy: Knockback Resistance -7"
-10	Easy to Hit: -2 with DCV
10	+8 PD, Hardened (+1/4) (10 Active Points)
19	+15 ED, Hardened (+1/4) (19 Active Points)
20	Damage Resistance (20 PD/20 ED)
5	Lack Of Weakness (-5) for Normal Defense
5	Lack Of Weakness (-5) for Resistant Defenses
50	Life Support , Eating: Character does not eat, Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents, Immunity: All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents, Longevity: Immortal, Safe in High Pressure, Safe in High Radiation, Safe in Intense Cold, Safe in Intense Heat, Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum, Self-Contained Breathing, Sleeping: Character does not sleep
9	Roar: +20 PRE (20 Active Points); Only to Cause Fear (-1), Incantations (roar) (-1/4)
17	Claws: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (plus STR) (vs. ED) (30 Active Points); Restrainable (-1/2), Reduced Penetration (-1/4)	3
7	Reach: Stretching 1", Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (11 Active Points); Always On (-1/2)
12	+6" Running (12" total)	1

Powers Cost: 158

Cost	Skill
5	Cramming
5	Breakfall 13-
3	Oratory 17-
3	KS (INT-based) 12-
3	KS (INT-based) 12-
1	Deduction 8-
3	+1 with any three related Skills
1	Language: Spanish (basic conversation)

Skills Cost: 24

Cost	Perk
1	Public Notary: Fringe Benefit: License to practice a profession

Perks Cost: 1

Cost	Talent
4	Speed Reading

Talents Cost: 4

Val	Disadvantages
20	Distinctive Features: Giant Marble Lion (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)
20	Physical Limitation: Big and Heavy (2" Long, 1600kg, +2 PER rolls for others to spot) (All the Time; Greatly Impairing)
15	Physical Limitation: No Fine Manipulation (Frequently; Greatly Impairing)
10	Physical Limitation: Achromatic Colorblindness (Frequently; Slightly Impairing)
5	Physical Limitation: Anosmic (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing)
20	Psychological Limitation: Honorable (Common; Total)
20	Psychological Limitation: Code Against Killing (Common; Total)
5	Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x STUN Sonics (Uncommon)
5	Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY Sonics (Uncommon)
15	Social Limitation: Public ID (Frequently; Major)
10	Money: Destitute
25	Hunted: VIPER 8- (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish; Extensive Non-Combat Influence; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find)
15	Hunted: US Government 8- (Mo Pow; Watching; Extensive Non-Combat Influence; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find)

Disadvantage Points: 185

Base Points: 200Experience Required: 0Total Experience Available: 0Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 341

Height: 6' 0"	Hair: Grey
Weight: 3528 lbs	Eyes: Grey

Appearance: He's the Fortitude statue from the New York Public Library, carved out of pink Tennesee marble (which has greyed over the years). Note that while Irving stands about 6' high, his body length means he effectively covers 2 hexes.Personality: Irving is gentle, curious, inquisitive, and very idealistic. If he thought he could do the people of New York city more good by retiring from active superheroing and teaching adult literacy classes, he might just do so. Even as part of the active superteam Omega Unit he prefers trying to talk people out of fighting, and protecting bystanders to actually smashing bad guys.Quote:"Was the color orange named for the fruit, or the other way around? Mind you, I can't really tell the color, but..." (followed by, "Good question, Irving, but could you ask it later, when we're NOT staking out the VIPER base?")Background: No one, not even Irving himself, is quite sure how or *why* the great marble lion once known as Fortitude woke up and decided to explore his home and the outlying city. Nobody's really inclined to stop him, though... (Nobody knows why he chose the name Irving, either. He says he just likes the way it sounds.)Powers/Tactics: Irving really would rather talk than fight, and if he can prevent a fight by talking it out with the villains he will (his first encounter with a supervillian, Armadillo, actually ended up as a quiet discussion of Xeno's Paradox and the development of calculus until another member of the team who was itching for trouble showed up...). When Irving must fight he uses his heavy paws to great effect, preferring to swat rather than actually use his claws; he also has the very un-feline habit of ramming big and dangerous opponents.Campaign Use: Pacifist brick with a remarkably odd outlook on life.

So far I'm leaning towards 'physically normal rat with disturbingly powerful psi talents.'

Okay, so I was following in the right direction. Since funds are a bit iffy I can at least borrow a friend's copy of Bestiary for now. I suppose this little guy will have abnormal END to power his powers, although maybe I can buy it with just that limitation so we don't have a rat who can run a marathon...

I know that creating a permanently shrunk hero is straightforward enough, but I'm considering the matter of a permanently tiny-- and not super-strong-- creature.

 

An intelligent rat.

 

Can one just buy STR down to -20 and figure movement accordingly for being quite small and light?

There's a gunbelt example in the FReD book, p. 207. Apply the OIF limitation to the Multipower reserve (the gunbelt) and then apply the OAF limitation to the slots (the guns).

Originally posted by Super Squirrel

A person created a tiered system for their character. He had four 'gears' and each had a new and harder activation roll to turn on.

 

Actually, *is* there any way this could be done without being abusive? The idea of powers that could only activate in a cumalative fashion is not an inherently bad one.

Irving (the NYPL lion): Either Ray Harryhausen or John Lasseter animating him; voice by James Earl Jones. Maybe vocoded slightly to sound a bit raspier.

Maybe this is just something I'm overlooking in the books, but I was looking at good old OIHID and the notes on how it's restrained...

 

Well, can the condition be something like a focus? The Gatchaman heroes are all effectively folks whose powers are OIHID, but I remember an episode of the show where Keeyop, er, Jinpei, er, whoever, lost his bracelet and could not activate his suit 'til the rest of the team brought it back to him. Would this just be a special effect of OIHID? It seems a bit more problematic than Defender's just taking longer to change into his power suit or the "gag Billy Batson so he can't say Shazam" situation.

I was musing over something I remembered from the first X-Men movie... Mystique had shapeshifted into a Wolverine duplicate and they had a fight. She had the claws, but since they weren't adamantium he sliced right through them (causing her to shriek in pain, of course!).

 

But this got me to thinking: what if you had a really consummate shapeshifter... one who could duplicate certain powers that basically came from the limbs of people they were duplicating? The GM might rule that Wolverine's claws can't be properly duplicated as they're metal, but Sabertooth's could. Or Nightcrawler's tail. Or Angel's wings.

 

Obviously this is a VPP, but it seems like it would need some limitation along the lines of 'Can only duplicate powers that have the Restrainable or Inherent limitation'.

 

How would you guys do it? Is it even legit?

I think Marble Archie and my Irving would get on like a house on fire...

Thank you, Ben!

Steve-- would it be possible to modify the online database page so that updated categories and new powers get a "New!" icon placed by them during updates? That way, if you don't want to list out every new power (though so far you're not getting too many) a viewer can at least glance through and see where to look for themselves?

First combat in the first Champs game I ever played. One of our guys, a techie called Flash, gets knocked out; however, the rest of us are busy engaging other VIPER agents and can't get to him right away.

 

Did I mention that Flash had a Damage Shield 0 END Persistent?

 

He'd melted through the concrete floor of our base and was about 5 or 6 feet down below that before we could get to him, mercifully not having hit any underground powerlines or water mains or GAS MAINS along the way....

Re: More Monkey Mayhem from me!

 

Originally posted by Magmarock

Lemurderer (serial killer, excaped from a French zoo)

 

Despite the name, this guy should be an orangutan, not a lemur.

 

Think about it.