Armitage

6E2 118 describes a critical hit system in which you inflict maximum damage if you roll less than half what you need to hit. This works fine when combat is run as "roll less than 11 + OCV - DCV", the standard method. e.g. OCV 6 attacking DCV 5 hits on 12- and criticals on 5-. OCV 6 attacking DCV 4 hits on 13- and criticals on 6-. It doesn't work as neatly using the alternate attack roll method many people use, and which was described as standard in Champions Complete. 11 + OCV - 3d6 = highest DCV you hit. Champions Complete p. 160 talks about rolling less than half what you need to hit, like the original, but that would require extra information, since in the alternate method the player doesn't know his opponent's DCV, and doesn't need to tell the GM what he rolled. What seems to work is DCV you hit - the attack roll - 1. i.e. 11 + OCV - 3d6 = DCV you hit. 11 + OCV - (3d6 x 2) - 1 = DCV you critical hit. Old system: OCV 7 hits DCV 5 on a 13- and critical hits on 6-. OCV 12 hits DCV 7 on a 16- and critical hits on 7-. New system: OCV 7 rolling a 6 hits DCV 12 or less (11 + 7 - 6) and critical hits DCV 5 or less (12 - 7). OCV 12 rolling a 7 hits DCV 16 or less (11 + 16 - 7) and critical hits DCV 8 or less (16 - 8). I ran it through a quick spreadsheet and it seems to work for any OCV/DCV combination. (Since the forum search doesn't seem to be working yet, feel free to ignore this thread if this has been discussed before.)

According to The Ultimate Brick, a cubic hex (7 cubic meters, 7000 liters, 1848 gallons) of water has 6 BODY. If you assume -1 BODY per halving, a 55-gallon drum of water would have 1 BODY, not counting the drum, obviously. In the Creating Objects section of the Transform description (6E1 306) it suggests creating 4 liters of water per BODY rolled.

Re: Damaging a Focus Fantasy Hero has specific (optional) rules for armor breakage (5E p. 198, 6E p. 225). It's also in the Hero System Equipment Guide (5E p. 35, 6E p. 236) Armor has BODY equal to three times the PD/ED. The armor takes damage equal to what the wearer takes after PD/ED is applied. The armor is destroyed at 0 BODY, with an option for 2/3 PD/ED at 2/3 BODY and 1/3 PD/ED at 1/3 BODY. The default rule is "For the sake of quick and easy game play, armor generally does not break."

Re: Damaging a Focus

Re: "Must cross intervening space" That was an additional -1/2 Limitation, Can Only Teleport To Places Character Could Normally Go. The other thing to remember about crossing the intervening space is Constant area effect attacks. No teleporting past a mine field or cloud of poison gas.

Re: Delayed Reuse Time It was in 6E Fantasy Hero and the first Advanced Player's Guide as Delayed Use. -1/4 for a power that can't be used in consecutive Phases, and an additional -1/4 for each step down the Time Chart. e.g. -1/2 for 1 Turn between each use, -3/4 for 1 Minute, -1 for 5 Minutes, etc.

Re: Tracking Bugs With regards to the area, I've often thought of it as filling the radius with the Radio equivalent of arrows floating in the air, all pointing toward the source of the Image. You could use a Sight Image to create a series of signs that say "Hey, he's over here!", so why not Radio.

Re: Creepy Pics. It seems to be working now. It reminds me of when I used to work in pesticide registration for New York State. Products would sometimes come across my desk labeled to control mole crickets at golf courses. I thought "What the heck is a mole cricket?" Then I looked it up... In terms of size, they're more "mole grasshopper".

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? Captain Chronos is busy pursuing the malfunctioning Savior Unit, sent from his time, to prevent it from catastrophically altering history. Although, I suppose that if Earth were conquered by her, it might make the devastated, nearly lifeless Earth of his time less likely, and making that change is his other goal. On the other hand, he's helped fight her invasions in the past because he doesn't want her altering the timeline with her own powers.

Re: Creepy Pics. Spoilered for animation.

Re: Creepy Pics. I pulled the picture from someone's post on another forum. According to a reverse image search, it's a scene from a Thai film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives".

Re: Creepy Pics.

Re: Whatever Happened To: I remember it being mentioned that that's the reason why there were pictures of the Corruptors of All from Enemies III in Classic Enemies, with Cryotron being mentioned on the back cover, but there were no statistics for the characters themselves. The Amazing Darkon is another classic character who hasn't appeared since Third Edition, likely because he's a recurring villain in the Flare comic book. At least, he was. As far as anyone knows, he was messing with a time machine and experienced a reality-altering "radiation accident" that transformed him into Lady Darkon. In reality, he was banished into a pocket dimension and replaced by Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night.

Re: Whatever Happened To: I have a lot of 3e items, but not the rules themselves, so I'm not sure which villains appeared in it.

Re: Electric Fence, how many dice of damage? The Electric Fence on 6E1 323 is 1d6 RKA Linked to a Barrier. 6E2 148 has a table of electricity damage based on the amount of current and how well grounded the person encountering it is.

Re: Whatever Happened To: Icicle first appeared in the comic book in 1987. The copyright date on my 4e BBB is 1989. Did Icicle appear in Third Edition? Still being published. There was a lengthy lapse between 1994 and 2004, but they've been publishing fairly steadily (for an independent) since then.

Re: Rules You Didn't Know Until Champions Complete

I don't know if it's the writing of Champions Complete, or the format, or what, but when I read it, I discovered at least two rules that I either didn't know about or had wrong. 1. Followers earn and spend experience points like normal characters. This goes back to at least 4e, but for some reason I always thought that a character improved his Followers by spending his own experience points, at the same 5:1 rate as buying them in the first place. Obviously, I haven't used Followers much. 2. Improvised weapons add to your Strength damage if their PD + BODY is greater than your base damage. This rule was introduced in 6e, but I completely missed it until I read Champions Complete. Previously, the only advantage to hitting someone with a chair, tree, or bus was reach or area effect. Now, there's a good reason for a soldier to butt stroke someone with his rifle (without needing to build the rifle with a separate Hand-to-Hand Attack). Anyone else discover "new" rules when they read Champions Complete?

Re: VPs, charges, triggers & multiforms 6e1 352

Re: The Death of Knowledge Skills: This is also the difference between a Knowledge Skill and a Professional Skill. Knowing something is not the same as knowing how to do something. For anything practical, it would be a Complementary Skill, at best.

Re: IFF Transponders I frequently adapt items from GURPS Ultra-Tech when I need advanced gadgets. This particular device is a bracelet that transmits a coded radio signal. Allied firearms are equipped with a "straight-line radio receiver". If the weapon detects that it's pointed directly at a transmission source, it cannot be fired, as if the safety was engaged. The description of the item does specifically state that it makes the soldiers vulnerable to radio detection and radio-homing weapons. And now I see that the 4th Edition version works completely differently than the 3rd Edition version that I was remembering and describing. The new version uses an IR or UV laser to transmit an encrypted interrogation signal to a potential target. If the target is wearing a properly programmed communication rig, it transmits back an encrypted response that flags the target as "friendly" on the shooters HUD, leaving the firing decision to him. That would just be Detect Friendly Communicator, Sense.

I was thinking about high-tech soldiers wearing IFF transponders. Each one wears a small tag that transmits a coded radio signal. Each of their weapons has a receiver that prevents the weapon from being fired at someone wearing one of the tags. The tag would simply be Images vs. Radio Group, No Range, Set Effect. The receiver would be Radio Perception, Only To Detect IFF Signal. The question becomes how to prevent the gun from firing at a tagged target. I'm thinking a -0 modifier, similar to a making a Focus Personal; you can't accidentally shoot an ally, but an enemy could steal a tag or use one of your allies as an impenetrable shield, and firing into a melee would be more complicated. The potential advantages and drawbacks cancel out.

Re: The Death of Knowledge Skills: As an aside, the computer section of The Ultimate Base has Computer Net Access: KS: Everything 30- (21 Active Points) and Really Good Computer Net Access: KS: Everything 50- (41 Active Points).

Re: Imaginary Friends Update I can't help but notice that the face in the background of the cover art bears a striking resemblance to a DEMON Morbane - black hood with a gem in the middle of the forehead.