Captain Xenon

Re: Purple Powers purple? its a beam of pure AWESOME! usually though, your 'generic' force bolts end up with a color that matches the costume.

Re: Wait - you punch WHAT?!? (or what would the damage from an atomic bomb be?) actually you can defuse a nuke with a sledgehammer.... its just that when you knock the shaped charges out of alignment you dont get a nuke, just a big pipe bomb of uranium or plutonium that explodes and scatters radiation in a small area. so your tank gets a point-blank BOOM of explosives and goes flying, anyone else in the room gets a smaller boom with shrapnel, and the building is irradiated... count it as a change environment that does damage until you take a shower. good place for an excuse to get new powers, but no hero should die from a little radiation. just give em a penalty for a short time as they recover.

Re: "Faulty" Power you could buy a multipower, with ultra slots for the various flashes. or, you could take the 'side effect' limitation at -0. either way, this sounds closer to an advantage, than a disadvantage overall. call it +0 and leave it at that.

Re: Forth wall perception? could be a severely limited clairvoyance(extra-dimensia, possibly time with back issues). if you let him see the VILLIANS scenes as well, then its a real edge. "oh crap! red alert guys, Doc Destroyer is coming! quick, everyone grab a force-field belt before the megascale aoe NND goes off!" for a good vpp.. have him steal an artists ink pen! that would be a fantastic summons, being able to draw people and things (but he isnt that great an artist, so a point cap on their powers).

Re: Humans are "Special" so to follow that train of thought... you meet aliens, and either fight to the death, or else adapt to a niche, each race holding a comparative advantage on something in galactic commerce. in sci-fi, mankind adapt to being merchants.

Re: Humans are "Special" well, humans are a species of ape... as for ants, i think each colony counts as one individual for general purposes, so when colonies fight its like individual animals fighting over a resource. not really a 'war' ants are a good example of a bug hive though. nice and alien, in how different they are from us.

Re: Humans are "Special" on the topic of self-geneticly-modifying species... look at the Kzin from Larry Niven's known space series. they engineeried their females to be stupid. its a social change from when a primitive race conquered a more advanced one, stole their tech, and abused it. then in Dr Who, there where those gargoyle-things that kept taking traits from various other races they met, to augment themselves. If a species messes with its own genetics and has an 'oops', then its lifespan becomes much shorter... and theres another fermi paradox variable. If we presume a universe where man is the stupidist, most socialy primitive species... I think we could even then find a way to make that an advantage. a 'oh crap! the barbarians sacked rome!' kind of thing. perhaps a better argument, would be what happens when a primitive race encounters a galactic civilization, and why would the civilization decide this is not a good thing to happen? how dangerous is going to another world, really?

Re: Humans are "Special" this is a fun thread ive not seen the star trek rpgs. so dunno about those... Most game systems set humans at zero, and rate everything relative to us. something to think about for star trek though- im guessing your list is incomplete, including only those species that have star travel. So therefore, its not about how smart you are, but how long it takes you to get into space. the smarter vulcans/romulans (same species) got there sooner than humans. we dont know how many races get to the stars in what time frame, or how long their empires take to advance to the industrial age. brains alone is not enough. you need creativity, curiosity, ect. stuff that all the star-faring races are going to have to some degree. In any game setting.. humans are going to be the only 'average' race. our edge is we can spend more build points on skills, and choose a more diverse specialization than the guys who have half their points tied up in a racial package. in other words.. you see a range of humanity, but only the weaker members of the 'strong' races. things to consider for this discussion however.. humans naturaly form groups. we take sides, form tribes. we are xenophobic of things that look nasty, before we even ask if its dangerous. So we have an edge over non-group species, and will avoid the 'nasty' looking species to group with the others. Now, imagine a human empire, built by allying ourselves with species that dont offend us to look at, and trying to mold them into what we expect. we minght be able to do it too. we get into your head, figure out how you think... and give you a logical explination as to why agreeing with us is your best option. well, marketing does anyway.

Re: Humans are "Special" Key point, is we dont know what is 'normal' for habitable worlds yet. gravity? atmosphere? dominant lifeforms on average? What if humans are the biggest species, physicaly? there was a movie where this happened, and when the alien cop landed on earth he was like 12" tall at most. Humans are bipedal primates who work in groups, are omnivores, and use tools. we have a septic bite, and we can train ourselves to break stone with our bare hands. we know kung fu! now, how common are primates? or mammels? in 'never play chess with a dragon', most races are dinosaurs, or bugs, or even plants- mamals are rare and looked upon as vermin. Think how life evolves. we have an oxygen atmosphere, because some plant came along and polluted the atmosphere with a chemical toxic to everything else. So we have an edge over amonium atmosphere evolution- we can seed algea to kill their ecosystem. Then you get the cambrin explosion. every last possible option is explored at once, and the best adaptation becomes the new planetary standard. Theres a bunch of factors involved, but if you get an exotic enviroment, then you may end up over-specialized. Then life evolves and competes... do you have land outside your ocean you can move onto? hard to get fire underwater. once on land, whats the best form? dinosaurs were the best form on earth, until a chance meteroite killed em off planetwide and let the vermin breed and evolve higher than rats. We wont see big one-celled creatures because of how cells grow (surface area vs volume). we wont see many big 'bugs' because of how their exoskeletons breathe. we wont see many smart plants. but we have no data whatsoever on non-organic life (silicon base?). looking at what can evolve... based on what we know, it seems more likely that the top of the line will be a dinosaur-derived group. and we all know that giant apes always beat mutant lizards. our victory is assured what about social systems? the winner has to be evolved to work as a group. tribal or herd behavior. lone predators dont need starships. i like the psionic ideas. what if we are the most radiation-resistant? able to expose ourselves carelessly to 'lethal' energy feilds with little care or concern? x-rays, magnetic feilds, and so on.

Re: Perk: Gold Cross Policy? gold cross would make a tape backup of your mind, and take a cell sample.. if you die they grow a clone and upload the backup. the downside is cost, backups that are lacking vital data (including why those guys want you dead)... and the possibility someone could make a clone and send him to kill you.

Re: Dr Destroyer really did die. What now? What if doc destroyer had a backup plan for his death? a masterwork of long-term planning, that would take place when he was confirmed dead? What if Destroyer had a son? So, the Son of Destroyer is kidnapped. he wasnt aware of who he was... but his abscence does not go unnoticed. where plot goes from there, depends on what the plan was, and how the kid reacts to it. other than that... i expect on DD's death, a lot of troops will desert. no use fighting for a dead mastermind after all. Several other organizations and villians will probably take over various assests, leaving destroyer loyalists with little or nothing... hmm, that would be an awesome background for a new hero, wouldnt it? left with a crumbling legacy of a supervillian, salvaging what he can to become a hero.

Re: Things That Make You Go "Hmmmm...." why combine AOE(radius) with no range? that seems self-defeating. If i was GM, i would not allow those two on the same power. now, AOE (one hex) could work, giving a suppresion field, for multiple targets in touch contact. i could see this working as a guy who supresses any devices you put on him to suppress his powers, all at once.

Re: What are the Normal Limitations? look at it the other way around: HA is cheap, because for 5 points of strength you get the same thing, with numerous bonuses. HA is actualy Strength with (-1/2) for not affecting figured characteristics. On top of that, HA is weaker in that it dosent add to weight lifted. strength at range gets expensive. you can go with telekinesis, streching, or the 'ranged' adder, but it all adds up to a higher active point cose per DC than your standard EB. ultimately, buying HA instead of Str is better for frameworks (cant get the -1/2 on strength as thats already forbidden), but in most other instances buying Str is more effective.

Re: test. i think i recognize that name...

Re: Other Odd Twists interesting thread 7: an alien, dying in the crashed wreck of his starship, brings an airforce pilot to him and grants the man the ring of the green lanterns. Following procedure, the pilot debreifs at base, and hands the ring over to his COs while being put in quarentine for a few days. the airforce recovers the wreck, and NASA tries to reverse-engeneer the alien technology. The ring ends up in the hands of a CIA agent, who uses its powers to defend America from crime.

Re: [Heresy] Do we need Killing Attacks? no.. you can take body witthout taking stun, IF the body is greater than your rDEF and the stun is less than your DEF. so a guy with a def of 10 and an rDef of 1, gets hit for 3 body, with 9 stun (standard x3 multiplier). 2 body gets past rDEF, and bo stun gets through. looking at it, i think killing attack needs an extra line of text. "stun from a killing attack cannot exceed 6 per DC of the attack". have the +1/4 stun multiplier increase that, and it works fairly well. (so 62.5 points for 10 DCs could do 70 stun max, more comparable to the 72 stun from 12d6 normal).

Re: Hero's game design secrecy i suspect a large part of this, is based on years of feedback and playtesting, based on how the game has evolved over its various editions. a proper explination of X is going to start with a concept, and move on through 5 editions of history. theres probably a few humerous stories along the way, of how someone broke a rule in an old edition. besides... its a game to us. its work to the game designer. do you think its fun to have a long discussion about work, after a long day of work? especialy if you know that the discussion will bring the trolls out of the woodwork.

Re: Resistant Defences go read AVLD very carefully... its only a +3/4 adder to change a power that already affects an exotic defense (FD, PD, MD) to affect a resistant exotic defensde. its not about body in this case. with a cap of 60 active points, you could get a 34-point attack with this adder. enough for 3d6 of a 10-pointer(drain, ego attack), some transforms), 6d6 of a 5-pointer (sight flash, some transforms), or 11d6 of non-sight flash (hearing for instance). slap that into a multipower, and you have a VERY ugly selection of abilities at your disposal. lets say its a 'sub-sonic disruptor', defense is resistant flash defense (hearing). stun beam 3d6 (ego attack), vertigo disruption 3d6 (agility drain), flash 10d6 (hearing and 'sense' of balance), nasuea beam 3d6 (minor transform, -2 penalties). that looks rather dangeours, for an OAF gun dosent it? throw that at your players, as a recurring joke villian. have him cause some trouble, and see how many people decide they need resistant flash def afterwards.

Re: Betterman Energy Balst Klatu verata ....*cough* Necktie! *cough* ahem. i think you could get the mentioned effect by using a limited form of indirect. Bypassing objects in your line of fire is what indirect is for after all. then add a limitation, that you can only damage objects of type X. overall, i would call it a +1/4 adder and a lim of -0 to -1, depending on how common the target is (not a limitation in some cases).

Re: [Heresy] Do we need Killing Attacks? interesting idea there gazza i think Killing is a modifier +2. you pay 3 times as much, and in exchange you roll the body, and multiple by that for stun. and its like an AVLD: resistant defense only(pd/ed) +3/4. so killing is actualy +3/4, +1/2 does body, with a AVLD (rDEF) tacked onto it. OTOH... killing +1 1/2, +1/2 does body, +3/4 AVLD extra, -1/4 decrease stun multiplier. 5*3.75/1.25= 15. its a key difference, and could be either way depending on what the 'killing' adder actualy does. i find the +2 to be more likely. so you could then get 'killing' that is stopped by non-resistant defenses for the same 15 pts, without the stun decrease. The mechanic looks like 'only roll the potential body damage, or 1d6 per 3 DCs. next, multiply stun by X (average of 3)' Killing is basicly like a normal attack done backwards. body primary, stun figured from that. it throws off the damage bellcurve. 12d6 can do 24 body and 72 stun max, 12 dice for probability. a standard killing atatck of 4d6 can do the same body (24), and up to 120 stun (166%). how big of an advantage is a stun multiplier, if you get a range of 33% to 166%? and the bottom end is more likely? as an adder onto a normal attack, you get less stun for the body you deal. aparently its +2. (1/3rd chance of 33%, 1/6th 66%, 1/6th 100%, 1/6th 133%, 1/6th 166%. and its +1/4 adder to get a higher max with better odds.) I think the easy way to fix the killing attack problem, is to replace the 1d6-1 multiplier with a 1/2d6 multiplier. less stun lotto, and you need a higher active point cost to get higher stun results which is closer to actual costs for normal attack stun (but still higher).

Re: New Mechanic: Meta Defense interesting. i think the approach is wrong though. you need to have a base of active point. we build this package with powers that already exist. next we choose out limitation, and apply that. also, are we getting resistant, if so how much? RKA BOECV does body isnt exactly common. but it could happen. do we need to use hardend? the key thing here is, that perhaps this meta-resistance is costing end to maintain? if it is, the active cost is very important. the trick is... how much meta is enough, vs say a 60 active point attack? 5d6 AVLD (62, but close enough) is an average of 17 or 18 stun. a flash will average 12. 6d6 mental would be 21 stun. 4d6 AVLD AP is 14 vs half your defense. Honestly.... the cheapest way to do this may be a VPP. 20 pt pool, base 10 contol, +1 no skill roll, +1 zero phase, -1 no choice on how/when powers change (reacts to defend you), -1 very limited class(defense vs X), net of +2 -2). total cost of 30 pts, you get up to 20 active points of defense, which is whatever you need at that moment. 20 points of one defense, or 14 of a resistant defense (20 if you have end to spend), or 16 points of hardened, ect. the trick here, is that its only 20 points at one time... if two guys hit you at the same time, its more likely something will get through.

Re: WWYCD - with a twist!: Imbalance of Power doppleganger check. this should be one of the first things in the safety manual, for both abused and abuser. i agree first response in a supers setting 'is this for real?' does create a small detachment from reality. a sneaky GM will distract the hero to location X, while a doppleganger goes to abuse the spouse.. or worse yet, seduce the hero into an affair, while the doppleganger does the abuse. aside from that... first get them to therapy, and (if they will finaly report it) get them to the authorities to make a statement. then go sit down with the abuser, have a talk, and get THEM to therapy. keep an eye on things, as this will be when most villians attack. the real challenge of this scenario, will be from media attention. i can imagine a tabloid headline 'Hero abuses gay lover'.

Re: Regrettable Disads one hero game, the only disads that ever came up were my vunerability to mental, and the base being public identity. as a result, the base got attacked every other game! and always by villians who automaticly rendered its defenses useless, and teleported out when defeated. more a question of a GM abusing one disad while ignoring all the others... but its something im never putting on a base again.

Re: What would your Master Villain do? Herr Doktor Von Ubel: "Guten Tag. obviously, the soltion can be found with Nazi science. We should stage a distraction, in each of their home towns. draw them all out at once, while our main force destroys their sattelite. the distractions will simply test a variety of weapons to find what is most effective." "in phase two, once we know which weapons to use, we attack the UN in new york. one force will hold the delegates hostage, while the main force maintains air superiority in the skies above new york. I have zeppelins which make excelent weapons platforms. we shall need to deploy at least one airship for each hero. there should be enough of us, that we can combien our efforts against the heros, hopefully outnumbering them." "I suggest that mechanon take charge of the information and electronic warfare... black out their comunications, create a proper fog of war. start a hundred false signals everywhere for them to scatter to respond to." "we can put a bioweapon inside the UN building itself... it dosent matter what. mustard gas, if we dont have anything better ready at hand. " "we will need a secondary force to hold off the various super-agencies, while this all takes place. we dont want the heros getting any help." "but my own master plan... We place upon each hero a trans-dimensional teleporter, and send them each into an alternate timeline, at which point the units burn out leaving them stranded. I would expect one of them would act to rebuild the device and seek their friends... so its best to send nuclear weapons through after them. " "for a backup plan, i recomend using a nuke on NYC. make sure you can escape the city quickly, should we need to go that route. "

Re: A Neat little special effect... also, theres the fact that an explosion in a confined space is more powerfull, as the shockwave will just bouce back. Chunky salsa effect. probably add a side effect, with a much larger AoE if the shield is broken before the explosion.