wick

I want to build a Focus that adds to strength but does not increase it above a certain value. What limitation would I put  on it and how much is it worth? Ex: powered exoskeleton that grants +15 STR but caps out at 30 STR.

What about if the hero had to use the strength built for the power and could not add their own. Say a magic amulet that makes you 30 STR regardless of your strength before using the focus?

Penalty Skill Levels!!  Doh! totally forgot about those. And looks like they did use CSL for the + to OCV. 

Didn't know about  Restrainable and Focus being mutually exclusive. I figured one stopped you from using the power by entangling/grabbing the limb with the power while focus meant you could be disarmed (via a disarm attack) or have your power taken away if KO'd.  

Thank you Cantriped. Although that is odd why the added powers only take some limitations. Maybe it is because the extra limitation points don't matter because the powers have to cost at least 1 Real point. 

 I was seeking to create the weapon listed on page 219 of Champions Complete but I am unclear of the limitations used and the best way to get the OCV bonus, Rmod and StunX

I suppose you can build it as a compound power (AK47 example A/R 63/19):

-RKA 2d6: Advantages: Autofire 5 (+1/2), Charges 30 (+1/4), OAF (-1), Restrainable (-1/2), Requires Hands: 2 handed (-1/2), STR minimum 9 (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4)

-+1 OCV: CSL +1 to AK47 Attack (2 points) or use power characteristic: OCV+1 (5 points)

- Rmod +1: CSL +1 to AK47 attack  with limitation only to counteract range penalties ( but what limitation do you use [limited power??] and how much value do you give it) or use power characteristic: OCV+1 (5 points) with the appropriate limitation

StunX+1  : Increase Stun Multiplier (+1/4) to the killing attack 

To get as close to the example weapon as possible I built it like this:

AK-47 7.62mm Assault Rifle:  (Total: 70 Active Cost, 22 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4), Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF Expendable (Easy to obtain new Focus; -1), Restrainable (-1/2), Requires Hands: 2 handed (-1/2), STR minimum 9 (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), 30 Charges (+1/4) (Real Cost: 15) <b>plus</b> +1 OCV (Real Cost: 5) <b>plus</b> +1 OCV (5 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses almost all of its effectiveness (-2) (Real Cost: 2)

My version comes out to 70 Active points and a real cost of 22.  VS the cost on the table of 63 and 19.  I got closer to the listed weapon when I forget to add the +1 stun multiplier advantage at 62/20. 

I suppose in a heroic level game you could just go with the listed price, But I was building a follower in a superheroic game who is a very competent normal person but if needed can access an armory of normal weapons bought through a VPP. 

The difference may be due to how the charges are built and the ability to replace charges. There is an option that says, "Recovered under unusual circumstances" is that for Recoverable charges or for any type of charges.

The wording for adding advantages to frame works is kind of unclear. It consist of 2 lines:

1) So you use just the option of "Framework Only" when applying the advantage. So if i want Armor Piercing it would bring up a 40 point mutpower pool to 60 Active points. Got it.

2) But then it talks about calculating the advantage on the slots.  I thought it was only added to the framework and not the slots?

Say I have two powers in the framework. One is a blast with no advantage but the second I want with less power but it has Armor piercing advantage.

Does adding the Armor piercing only to the multipower reserve just raise the AP of the reserve. Do I need to also add it to just the slot that I want to have AP? 

I would say his corporate competitor, Justin Hammer, in Ironman 2 was more of a professional rival (perhaps romantic as well with him trying to court Miss Potts away from Tony). Ivan Vanko, on the other hand, was definitely hunting Stark though. 

Aldrich Killian from Ironman 3, was the leader of the villainous organization AIM. While AIM is no Hydra you have to remember that Hydra should be a hunted of the Avengers ( a whole team of high powered supers), and not Ironman on his own. Aim was full of dudes that can burn right through Stark's armors with their hands. I honestly lost count of how many suits were destroyed. It took a bunch of Jarvis piloted suits ( I thought that was a scary idea at the time and was later made real in Age of Ultron), a powered up Pepper pots, War Machine, and Ironman to win the day. Not too shabby for some geek that Tony snubbed way back when.

By the way I would love to see a film with the forgotten Avenger girl friends getting captured by a would be super villain. While the bad guy is trying to send his ransom demands or what have you the combined brain power of Dr.Betsy Ross and Dr.Jane Foster along with the fiery fists of Pepper Potts ruin his day. Not a front line marvel film but it would be fun and I would buy a movie ticket.

I guess if you expand what the term language means you could expand it to quite a few species.  Simple chemical communication between ants comes to mind, but unless you can make those same chemicals you cannot speak and you need a way to analyze the chemicals they put down to read their language.  Bees perform a sort of dance to relay info about location of flowers to gather pollen. I remember an article where scientists used a fake bee puppet to communicate.

Otherwise you could read the body language and behavior of wild animals to know what they are saying at a sub basic level.  

Domestic animals communication is a bit better, some people do have a knack and understanding of how dogs think.  They make excellent trainers. 

Corvids and a few other bird species are remarkably intelligent even showing crude tool use (look Mah no opposable thumbs). I suppose if you can simulate the bird sounds and decrypt what they mean you can listen and speak bird.

I would say, however, that animals do not have a common language.  Can't speak to a raven and an ant with the same skill.  The species would need to be very closely related to have a shared language, and even then they would have dialects. Look at Eastern and Western meadowlarks which sometimes interbreed to make hybrids, but have different bird songs.

Most animals would have very simple concepts. Food this way. Alert predator! Attack!.

Chimps would have more. They have been shown to be able to learn sign language and communicate with humans with a fairly broad language base. It is unclear whether these trained chimps have more of a vocabulary than wild chimps. Perhaps through their training their brains developed more for communication than wild born chimps do. ( their is some elasticity in development, not everything is genetics.)  

That's why the Power gives a target an INT score.

 

Granted, only 3 INT....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks that should perhaps have a Limitation, only for targets with INT below 3 naturally

Additionally, when speaking the language of the palindromedary, one must also know how to speak out of both sides of their mouth.

Once upon a time, I took the time to write out some suits of armor with "all the modifiers they actually deserve". That included Extra Time, Gestures (Both Hands, Throughout), Concentration (Throughout), etc, and was based on the logic that activating the power was 'putting on the armor' and deactivating it was 'taking the armor off'.

 

The end result was that the character who bought armor with CP was able to afford much, much better Defenses than they needed/deserved (Defense powers are already cheap even without dividing their costs by 2 or 3). The limitations basically never limited the character (because who chooses to try to fight crime without most of their defensive powers activated), unless they completely debilitated the character (I.E. the armor was Dispelled and couldn't be reactivated in Combat-Time, or combat started while they were unequipped).

 

Nowadays, I consider the amount of time it takes to Don or Remove a suit of armor to be a valueless quality, in much the same way that Personal/Universal Foci have the same value. I also consider it separate from activating or deactivating the armor (so Dispelling Armor doesn't make it fall off)*. However long it takes for you to put on your armor is balanced out by the fact that it is going to take the enemies just as long (or longer) to strip it off of you (making it significantly harder to deprive you of said defenses).

 

*I've never needed/wanted to build a power that Dispelled Armor, and generally treat armor as if it was Always On.

Egad! I am not trying to milk every limitation I can out of it. But there should be some difference between a characters whose armor appears magically on them and a character who just puts on some jumped up Kevlar.  I think I like the "Real Armor" limitation with the Sfx that it requires a clothing change to be activated. If she is captured her armor could be taken away so its a Focus from what I read about OIAID they cannot, but steps can be taken to prevent them from going into secret ID. If I make it a universal focus I could lend it to someone else if needed. If its personal only, it makes the focus function more like OIAID. 

I know there is a fine difference between Focus and OIAID. I made another similar character that did used OIAID for their armor and most of the time they function the same as far as I can tell. What really is the difference? Perhaps people use OIAID when they should be using Focus? What happens to OIAID man when he is captured, can he be deprived of his alternate Identity to prevent him from using his power? I suppose there is also a similarity between using multiform and OIAID as well ( Does Hulk's strength/toughness come from using multiform or just use OIAID for example).

Comic book Thor has secret ID where he uses a walking stick to transform into Thor. Focus, OIAID, or just a Sfx for Multiform?   Although the stick can be taken from his Secret ID it cannot be used by others to transform into Thor (right?). And even when the stick is Mjolnir, Thor can only use it (I know there have been a few others who could, but very rare event.) I would call that OIAID, however Thor has vastly different characteristics, personality, complications from the secret ID so multiform maybe applicable built with a Focus (would OIAID make sense for multiform?)

My favorite conditions to stop regeneration.

 

1) Total reducing the body to atoms and spreading the atoms across planets.

 

2) Convincing the mystical cosmic magical being that target is unworthy to be resurrected.

 

3) Destroying the soul after the body is destroyed (via Transformation, 1 pip of it is enough to do so).

 

4) Bash the head, as long as the physical brain survives, the TK power will resurrect the body, even of it has to incorporate other parts.

 

5) Keep it away from dead bodies beyond itself. If a bit of the regeneration user's body touches a roughly intact corpse, the loose body part will incorporate with it and renews itself using the corpse as raw material.

 I am not sure the top 2 maybe #3 as well would fit the criteria of "reasonable way of preventing resurrection". I suppose it would be ok for a villain though if it fit the tenor and power of the campaign. Really OP if the campaign is not on the interplanetary level or there is no means of dimensional travel for example.  

Also, a problem if there isn't an opponent with transform to do #3. ( not so much for villains since the GM will introduce a villain with transform eventually) 

Any player can do #4 and #5 and after beating the target a few times they may actually be able to determine how to finish the resurrecter for good. Either through experimentation or deduction skill roll.

I was working on a character with regeration with resurrection and to better understand how this works I compared it to a power in the Champions power book called" Immortality Syndrome" pg 379. Which only confused me because it does not make any sense.

Much of the value of the limitation is based on how the GM runs the game.  If there are many instances where I have to react quickly while in my secret ID or I often have to forget activating my armor to go on the offensive then the limitation may be undervalued. On the other hand it is free points if the adventure is always on my terms and I am never faced with having to delay combat to change into costume. 

Since that is all subjective, how about compare it to a character without the limitation or even with their armor always on. Are their potential situations where I would be at a disadvantage because of this limitation? Yes? Then it is a limitation.  What value??? that is harder to know. But my particular character would be out a significant portion of their defense or would need to sacrifice a few phases where a normal character would be acting

Does anybody know if the artists that do the interior sketches have websites where you can order prints.  I really liked some of the 5th edition art and was curious if their were similar works or I could pick up. I tried googling them, but it can be difficult when you are trying to find an artist with a real common name like Greg Smith.  Perhaps some of them never created any websites at least from what I have been able to find. 

I was able to find some stuff for Storn but nearly zilch on the others.

The quick release on the Body armor I wore on my second stint in the Stan had a quick release which was built in for a reason. Pretty nice if you find yourself submerged, say in a Humvee on its roof.  Still the first IBA I wore was quicker to remove than to put on as well, even without a quick release option.  

All in all it may depend on familiarity with the armor as well as if you are being gentle about the procedure.

I don't remember seeing any rules about taking armor off, but usually that would not be something to worry about. If you are captured the enemy presumably has lots of time to peel you. if they are trying remove your armor to kill you, that is a moot point because they already KO'd you and should just continue what they were doing. If it really mattered, you could say it takes 1/2 time to take off as put on, maybe 1/4 time if you don't care about the wearer or the foci. That is just a GM ruling though not anything official to back it up. 

I have lots of questions about unified Power.

1.) Can you Unify powers in Multipower/VPP slots?

 1.a) if yes, then why wouldn't you most of the time? The character sample I have seen don't.

2.) Can powers bought through the same Focus be Unified ( should they be?)

3.) Can linked powers be Unified?

4.) For Unified Power do you need at least 2 powers in the group or 3. The wording seems is a little unclear making it sound like you can add a third power if you already have a group of 2, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

5.) Does it make sense for powers that come from the same special effect not to have UP?  For example, Hydro man quaffs (drains) Fire Man's flame, but since he bought one flame power without the UP, it would need to be drained separately?

It almost seems like Unified Powers replaced the Environmental Control framework from previous editions.  It also seems like a limitation that would be peppered through out a characters list of powers, since many powers usually derive from the same SfX. I am fairly new to playing so maybe it will make sense as I learn more. 

Crusher Bob, these persistent powers just bought alone without the limitations would mean that you have the Armor 24/7 and they would even operate while asleep.

Are you saying that because of this, Steel man who is always armored and life supported does not have an advantage over Armored girl who has to actually put on her armor one leg at a time? Armored girl would be slower to spring into action if her base is attacked in the middle of the night or perhaps have to risk combat without her armor while Steel man would only need to roll out of bed. It may be a moot point if the GM never puts me in that situation but similar situations have occurred in comics and film. For example, in most of the Iron Man films Tony Stark did not access to his full armor, requiring him to use lesser versions of his power or partial bits of his armor as the flew to him.  

I know in Champions there are lots of ways to skin the cat and you can easily cheese on the limitations. For example, I was thinking of throwing in the Real Armor limitation and unified power but it seems like those would be redundant to already having a Focus that takes extra time to activate. I could see Real Armor if I chose other things about the armor to limit it besides taking time to don.

I briefly considered a multi-power for the armor but that seemed more of you can use option A, B, or C and would have been weird for persistent powers ( I suppose they would need to have been bought non persistent.)

So far I have it written up that both are on an IFF, the Resistant Protection (RP) is extra timed, and the LS is linked to the RP. I hope this should cover all of my bases with how the SFX should work. And thank you for your feed back. I have a butt ton of questions on Unified power but will relegate those to another thread.

It sounds like the disadvantage you want is 'only in alternate (hero) ID (-1/4)' (6E1 p 386). The extra time disad is generally for things that take extra time to use, like an attack you have to charge up.

 

If you take 'extra time, only to start' on all of your powers, this 'works' but it's different from wearing a suit of power armor that can't be taken away. Most notably, anything that turns your powers off (like being stunned for non-persistent powers) you would then need to take the time to start up again. If it was 'only in alternate ID', then even if your powers got turned off, then it takes no time to turn them on again.

1. Resistant Protection and Life support are both persistent, so even if Knocked out or stunned they still work. ( but thank you for pointing this out, I had not considered that aspect.)

2. I perceive that there maybe instances where I am in my secret ID or undercover where I can still get to wear the armor under my clothes. That is why it is bought as IIF. Not to far fetched when you may be infiltrating an organization in your non-heroic ID.  Or consider having lunch with your DNPC, and the villains crash through the cafe to take them hostage.  Maybe a bit paranoid to wear a costume under your clothing all the time but it happens often in comics and in the movies. If you take "only in Alternate ID" I doubt that would meet the requirement to be in my non heroic ID and still use the power.

To Millennial Master: Thank you for the rule clarification but would I spend one phase activating my Resistant protection (sfx: Donning the suit) and then have to spend another phase to activate (sfx: donning the suit) the Life support? Or would I spend one phase to don the suit and get both Resistant Protection and Life support? 

I apologize for making this way more complicated, but I am a fan of armor being more realistic

I am building an IIF focus armor that consists of a few powers and I have a few questions:

Resistant protection 6/4:  IIF, extra time: Extra phase,

Extra time represents time to don the suit and thus activate it (being able to instantly wear a costume makes sense for some heroes, but I want to be a bit more realistic since there is little reason my character could do that).

I also want life support Safe environment cold and heat. on this suit

So I was looking at this for the build:

Life support Safe environment intense cold + Intense heat:  IIF, Extra phase

Am I double dipping on the extra phase limitation?  I want it so I take the extra phase to don the armor which gives me the resistant defense and Life support simultaneously. Or would that be an extra phase to don the resistant protection and then an extra phase to don the Life support the way it is written above?

What if instead I Link the Life support to the resistant protection and drop the extra time on the life support would that be better for what I am trying to do?   

Would Unified power be appropriate since something that negates my armor would also negate the Life support? Also, do I need 2 or 3 powers in a unified  group of powers? (I can see the wording as you can add this power to a group of 2 powers or as you need at least 2 powers in a unified group)

Thanks all but 8 point CSLs in a single EC slot is probably the easiest way to go.

Foxie I will look up the compound power since that may be useful in the future, is that a 6th ed thing?

Doc, it is just that the book does not spell out how to calculate the cost of a slot with linked powers really well. But I think that it would be something like this:   (Active points power 1+Active points power 2-EC Pool)= Remaining costs, Real costs of power 1 = Remaining costs/(1+limitations for power 1), Real costs of power 2= Remaining costs/(1+limitations for power2), Total real cost for slot= Real cost of powers 1 and Real points of Power 2

CSLs are allowed in ECs.

mrinku- skills and CSLs can be put into frameworks 

I will be learning 6th Ed real soon

5th edition

I have a character that I am designing but am having issues both on paper and trying to implement in Hero Designer.

He has a few powers relating to the SFX of teleportation so I wanted to put them in an Elemental Control. Makes sense since I am ok with anything which would affect his teleportation, like drains, affecting his entire teleportation ability.

One power I wanted to have was the ability to get bonuses to OCV and DCV because he can set his teleportation SFX to make micro teleports causing him to blink in and out momentarily. The benefit of the power being that he is harder to hit and it grants him a bonus to hit his opponent. I can't simulate this by just creating a power to up his DEX since that would not affect figured characteristics like DCV and OCV. I was thinking of having two powers linked. The first would be 5 levels of 5pt combat skill levels (CSLs) to give him +5 to his DCV with a separate power linked to it which uses 4 level 5pt CSLs to raised his OCV by +4.  

The book says linked powers in an EC must be in the same slot. I am not sure how the math works for that on paper with the limitations. Do you add up the total active cost of both powers first, subtract the EC pool, and then apply the largest limitation amount to this to calculate real cost of the slot? Remember that one power has an additional limitation bonus for being linked while the other does not.

So I tried plugging this EC slot into the Hero Designer program. It would not let me link the powers. Instead it tried to link to powers outside the slot.

A possible solution maybe to use lvl 8 CSLs on one slot instead. Can I take 10 of those and say 5 are for OCV and 5 for DCV or however I like or must all of the CSL's be the same? Would there be any benefit to putting some kind of limitation to make these CSLs have this fixed affect rather than dialing the bonus to favor OCV or DCV based on the opponent or circumstance? 

Psifox would use her TK powers to fly into range and then use her TK to direct the missiles back to the Turkoid Mecha or cause launch doors to not open. Thust destroying the machine with it's own arsenal. A little explosive stuffing. 

^{Where do you figure this guy is going to get Superman's DNA?}

^{Well that depends on the nature of the Agent. But seriously, people shed DNA ( I can only extrapolate that to Kryptonian physiology, but it is probably a bit harder to get).   If I were an Agent , I would check his house/apartment when he is at work. Prime places to check would be the shower drain or bathroom sink.  Kent/superman is well groomed ( of course Kryptonians may have hair that grows to a specific length or grow no facial hair, IDK. He could be as hairless as a ken doll for all that I know).  Check his hair brush.}

^{At work you could shake out his keyboard (you would be amazed what is found there), but work would probably not be as good of a place to check.}

^Massey:  

^{-I do not take my pants off in public, because even if I look around carefully first, there may be a camera or observer that  do not detect.  Superman has been shown on many occasions to change in public}

^{-What is the benefit of a villain connecting Clark to Superman? The same benefits any villains would get from exposing or hunting any hero.  There are attacks on DNPCS and disrupting theirs lives for one. More importantly it gives you initiative, how about attacking him when he is most vulnerable.  It may not matter too much with superman, since attacking his house when he is taking a super dump is only going to buy you so much unless that surprise can be successful and is devastating.  ( does supes even sleep and poo?)}

^{-Why would Lex bother?  Well, he is obsessed with Superman ( at least in the media I have seen) and learning the patterns and habits of your enemy is a pretty smart move.} 

^{-Are you serious about traveling even close to light speed in atmosphere?  He would be releasing Gamma rays from air particles colliding with him as well as generating an expanding sphere of  plasma that too is moving at near light speed. And this assumes that he is not going FTL but a significant percentage of the speed of light. FTL  or near FTL in wide open space is way different. For an example of a baseball being thrown at 90% of the speed of light;    https://fathomingthestars.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/speed-of-light-in-atmo/  I do realize that this is comics, but really.} 

^{-Going real fast makes you invisible?   As long as he is going sub light he can be seen, since light is still reflected from him. The human mind processing the image is another issue, think how an object looks under a strobe light. Cameras could still capture the image and be watched in reduced speed. . Note Fast moving objects, such as airplane turbo props or helicopter rotors can be difficult to see particularly in poor lighting but they are still visible. Also they are loud, much of the associated noise does not come from the roar of the engine but from the leading edge of the prop breaking the sound barrier as the rotor slices through the  air.}

^{-The optics of satellite cameras and long distance. At such a long distance the camera would only need to shift its lens slightly (it is not a whole camera device swiveling into place or the entire spacecraft maneuvering). Think about holding broomstick by one end, a small movement on the held end produces a large movement on the other. Now imagine the broomstick being miles long. If superman has telescopic, as well as x-ray vision (not sure if satellite/spacecraft radiation shielding would block that or not) he may be able to look up and notice through just vision.} 

^{-Hyper vigilance/complete situation awareness: I am not really that convinced he has shown that level of paranoia or situation awareness ( processing everything around him instantaneously).  A good way to disprove the complete situation awareness idea is to demonstrate that superman can be surprised under normal circumstances .i.e. he is not drugged, concussed, or concentrating on multiple tasks.  If in the literature or film he has arrived on scene and was surprised or perhaps overloaded with so much data that he does not immediately become aware of something,  then you may say that he is not always hyper vigiliant, From my limited experience, Superman has always actively had to activate his x-ray vision, it was never on passively all the time.  I find it unlikely that someone has never surprised him.}

 I probably hate it because, while I make a fairly good GM this often translates into being a bad player.  I see a poorly constructed plot device like auto capture coming down the road, I get peeved. Just one trigger among many really ( how about the ultra powerful NPC who treats you like a chump and tells you to go on missions, or you meet in a bar/tavern, or etc...) uuugggggg

Getting captured is not very heroic and it takes participation and control out of your hands as a player. It should be used sparingly, and should never be drawn out. "Oh, my character is still imprisoned this week, why don't you just e-mail me what is being done to me GM I have better things to do than to sit around doing little to nothing."  There should be a way to escape or a variety of ways that the character can reasonably try. 

My Little Pony and Call of Cthullu, nuff said.

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With Superman in particular, there are very easy answers for most of these problems.

 

1) Superman has supersenses.  He can see and process information much faster than a normal human.  Superman can see where all the security cameras are in a given area very quickly.  He doesn't change when there are cameras around.

2) Superman moves far too fast for satellites to track him.  He can also see those satellites with perfect clarity.  If one is tracking him, a quick burst of invisible heat vision can melt it.

3) We don't have phone booths anymore.  Superman changes elsewhere.

 

As far as Clark goes --

 

Clark slouches a lot.  And he wears suits that don't fit right.  He appears absent-minded, bumps into things all the time.  When he meets people for the first time, he stages a "Clark moment".  He'll fumble his papers, chase his hat down the street, spill a glass of water on his pants, get on an elevator that is going up instead of going down, etc.  He does this often enough with people who know him well that he reinforces his image as a lovable dork.  All these things are designed to distract people from the fact that he does kinda look like Superman in the face.

 

Oh yeah, and Superman and Clark have been seen together.  Because Superman has robot duplicates that look just like him.  All he needs is a good solid front page picture of Superman saving Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, clearly showing the two together, and nobody will ever question it.

 

 

Edit:  Oh yeah, you know who makes the best facial recognition software in the world?  Wayne Enterprises.  It's really good stuff.  Not rigged at all.  Honest.

 

*******************************************************************************

 

To address your points:

1.) I am certainly not a factotum on superman abilities, but I was unaware of the fact that he is omniscient as well as all powerful and all good.  I would have just given him a pass if he was changing in areas that he knew where all of the camera were located i.e.. he scouted out the area and is very familiar with it (of course that does not account for newly installed cameras or cell phones. )

2.) Too fast for satellites to track......   well I would say that might be very tough if he wants to stay at speeds conducive to safe atmospheric travel (safe for the Earth and for its people)  and the faster he goes the more heat is generated due to friction which would be a huge infrared beacon.  Destroying satellites?  How does he know that a satellite is looking at him in particular? It is not like the satellite is emitting anything so what is he detecting?  Oh wait  that's right he is omniscient now and knows when people or things are looking at him.  Or maybe he destroys every satellite that passes over head.  Man Google maps will be pissed!

3.) Some places still have a few, but I do understand hey are pretty much an anachronism. They are just the classic example.  If he flies into a shed, abandoned warehouse, or portapotty, I would still be curious as to who walks out.

 

I was actually assuming that Lex Luthor has the resources to create his own facial recognition package, but I would assume that Wayne Enterprise is not the sole provider for this software.  Especially when it does not seem to work on super heroes ( at least all the ones with Secret ID's and with whom Batman knows enough to want to keep their IDs a secret), perhaps curious investigators would use an alternate or even multiple software packages if they keep getting bad results from Wayne software. This applies to all investigators (reporters, private citizens, villians, etc..)

 

Let us assume that the villain gets evidence that Clark may be Superman.  So they send an undercover, highly trained agent to meet up with Clark to feel him out. How good of an actor is he really? I will give him, that he may have been doing the bumbling act for years ( although his attempts have always seemed poorly executed IMHO).  So the agent perhaps collects some shed DNA from the suspected Superman , just in case (perhaps not easy but doable either through regular interaction or by breaking into his office or home while he is away.) He takes it back to the lab, and WTF!!  That guy ain't human!  Oh wait Superman is omniscient so he reads the agent's mind.    (again a power he had never previously exhibited, and I am willing to bet he has been successfully lied to in past adventures.)

 

 

 

Well, technology has changed quite a bit since supes originated.  Everyone has cell phones which act as cameras and video cams. There are street cams and cameras on buildings.  Not to mention the advances in facial recognition technology.  I am sure eye glasses would not meaningfully skew the match between Clark Kent and Superman.  These technology upgrades certainly make keeping a secret identity very difficult.  Even if he started to wear a mask now, the cat is out of the bag since they already have him video taped from past encounters.  At least Mr. Kent is in print media rather than on TV ( not sure if this is still true, since I do not follow the comics.)  

Heck, if I were a villain of vast resources and an obsession with Superman (say Lex Luthor), I would satellite track Superman's movements and have a sat feed of Supes entering a phone booth ( or what have you) and mild manner reporter Clark Kent stepping out. Get enough of this data and even a skeptic will put 2 and 2 together and compare photos.  It would be fairly simple to orchestrate an encounter using hired pawns to draw him out so you can track him.  Heck, even cops gathering evidence at a crime scene could stumble across video of the change quite by accident.

May as well end the charade because no one is going to believe he can maintain his identity.