Armitage

Re: Alternate Magic Item Creation

I was looking at the rules for magic item creation in Pathfinder. For those not familiar, it's like 3.5 D&D, but you don't spend experience points, you need to make a skill roll, and a bad failure creates a cursed item. Then I saw the write up for Tobias "The Toad" Vandaleur in Champions Villains Volume Two. One of his powers is the ability to create magical items through the use of Transform. This made me wonder if a similar power would be practical in a Heroic-level Fantasy Hero game in which equipment is obtained by spending money, rather than character points. For example: We start with a basic short sword from Fantasy Hero. Short Sword: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (22 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 10 (-1/2) We want to turn it into a Fiery Sword from Enchanted Items. Fiery Sword (Short sword): (Total: 62 Active Cost, 25 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4), Armor Piercing (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 10 (-1/2) (Real Cost: 24) plus +1 OCV (2 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 1) Adding 10 Active Points of powers would add +2 BODY to an object for Transform, for a total of 4 BODY of Transform damage needed. If we make the hypothetical magic item creation ability do 4 BODY of Transform per day, then we get 1 Day per 10 Active Points of powers, which seems like a good period of time. Assuming each type of magic item requires a separate Talent, like D&D/Pathfinder: Craft Magic Arms & Armor: Severe Transform 1d6+1 (standard effect: 4 points) (Normal weapon or armor into magic item, Healed by breaking the item), Improved Results Group (Any item for which the creator has the appropriate spells; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (35 Active Points); OAF Immobile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; Expensive enchantment materials; -3), Damage Over Time (8 damage increments, damage occurs every 1 Day, can be negated by interrupting enchantment work; -3/4), Limited Target (Weapons and armor; -1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1 per 10 Active Points of created item; -1/2), Concentration Applies Throughout (-1/2), Side Effects (Cursed item created if Skill Roll fails by 2 or more; -1/4). Total cost: 5 points. (This Power isn't considered Constant, so I had to add Throughout to Concentration as a custom Limitation) If we assume that this is a +1 Flaming Short Sword in D&D or Pathfinder, it would cost 4,000 gp to enchant. A short sword has 5 BODY, and we would be adding 40 Active Points of abilities, for a total of 13 BODY for a Transform. With this Talent, it would take 7 days to enchant, compared to 8 days in D&D/Pathfinder. A Skill Roll at -6 would be made. If it fails, the gold is wasted. If it fails by 2 or more, a cursed sword is created. Obviously, this is a situation where the GM would make the Skill Roll instead of the player. My first thought is a magical version of Weaponsmith, with each type of magic item being a separate category to be purchased. As written, this Talent couldn't cause more than 32 BODY of Transform. A more powerful magic item creator would buy a larger of number damage increments, allowing more powerful items to be created. A faster creator could increase the damage or buy a smaller increment. A 5 point Talent, a week of work, and 4,000 gp versus 25 experience points. Reasonable? Unbalancing? EDIT: Originally, I had a cursed item being created if the roll was failed by 5 or more, but that's the margin used in Pathfinder. Given the difference in probability between d20 and 3d6, failing by 2 or more might be more comparable.

Re: Encounter Balance Adventurer's Club #3 had a Combat Rating system for 3e/4e. Digital Hero #3 had a similar Effectiveness Rating system for 5e, that could be easily adapted to 6e. Both systems give a character a numerical rating calculated from OCV, DCV, largest attack, movement, defenses, special abilities, etc. A 350 point superhero is estimated to have an Effectiveness Rating of 100 in the 5e system, for example. Both systems conclude that two PCs with a rating of X would be a match for 1 villain with a rating of X + 10. Neither system adjusts for Vulnerabilities or Susceptibilities though. Digital Hero #3 is available from the Hero Store. The article mentions an Excel spreadsheet for Effectiveness Rating calculation on the Free Stuff page, but it's either gone now or was never there. I would suggest contacting the author of the article, but it looks like he hasn't been active on the forums since July 2008. EDIT: The Wayback Machine is your friend.

Re: Limitation Value on Weaponmaster Now that you mention it, I recall that there was a villain somewhere in one of the 4e books who had that Advantage on one of his powers. I remember my GM at the time saying that none of his players could use it with their characters. That would be more efficient than Weaponmaster, and the higher point cost would ensure that it was only applied to lower power spells or that it would mainly be used by more powerful spell casters, like the D&D feat it's based on. The only problem now is that it's going to bother me until I go through my books and find which villain it was who had the Advantage... EDIT: Found it. It was MAVRIC's robot minions in Champions Presents #2. In that book Automatic Full Damage was +2, which is excessive for what it does. Especially since it was on an HKA that also had 1 Charge and Only On Self (a self-destruct system).

Re: Limitation Value on Weaponmaster I was using Weaponmaster because it's built using Combat Skill Levels, so it can add Damage Classes to any ranged attack, not just RKA.

I was tinkering with a version of the Maximize Spell feat from D&D, which gives a wizard a limited ability to have his spells cause maximum damage. I suddenly thought that Weaponmaster might be the way to go with this. e.g. Maximize Spell: Weapon Master: +3d6 (all Ranged Spells); 3 Charges (-1 1/4), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Cannot Increase Damage Above Original Attack's Maximum Damage (-?) If a character has a Flame Bolt spell defined as a 3d6 RKA, this ability would allow him to roll 6d6 for the damage, but he couldn't cause more than 18 BODY - the maximum damage for the original spell. The issue becomes the Limitation bolded in the above example. What would be an appropriate value? My first thought is -1/2 since, if parity is maintained with the power level of the base attack, the resulting damage will be below average for the dice rolled (-3 BODY in the above example). The damage would be equivalent to a 5d6 or 5d6+1 attack, roughly a 20 Active Point reduction in the Weaponmaster.

Re: Slow target power. One of the books, maybe one of the Fantasy Hero Grimoires or UNTIL Superpowers Databases, had a power to make the ground soft (I think) to reduce a target's movement. It was designed as an Area Effect Entangle that Takes No Damage from Attacks with the Limitation Victims Can Move Through Affected Area At 1" Per Phase (-1).

Re: A Thread for Random Videos The business about beer and ancient monuments was mentioned by Daniel Jackson Simon in an episode of Stargate SG-1 Firefly. Laborers were given "liquid bread" to help keep them fed and happy.

Re: Flame manipulation? Your powers sustain it until you let go or use it to damage something.

Re: Silly aliens from Champions 1990

Re: Flame manipulation? Champions Powers is the 6e version. The 6e rules for using Telekinesis on energy first appeared in the Advance Players Guide. Only Affects Fire is a -1 Limitation. Telekinesis can move 1 Damage Class of fire per 5 STR.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Nothing to skip. It's test footage from a Warner Brothers project that was canceled a couple years ago before any real progress was made.

Re: Roll With The Punch: Martial Arts? The Advanced Player's Guide, p. 39, has a section on converting the Optional Combat Maneuvers to Martial Arts Maneuvers. The book suggests 3 points for Roll With A Punch.

Re: My character building technique (How to build Hero System Characters) I've known players who would have complained in the situation I described. By deceiving them from about the existence of magic, I unfairly restricted their character options, preventing them from creating a wizard, faerie, half-demon, magic sword wielder, etc. But then, I've known players who feel that a GM shouldn't create plotlines in advance; Everything that happens in a campaign should be a reaction to what the players do and any prearranged story is railroading.

Re: My character building technique (How to build Hero System Characters) It can also depend on how severe the switch is and how it is implemented. e.g. a Wild Cards-esque setting where all superhumans derive from a common origin, but the players gradually discover over the course of the campaign that the supernatural secretly exists too. Holy #$%&*!! Was that guy a vampire? Don't be ridiculous. He was just an insane superhuman...wasn't he?

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Why fireworks should only be used in open areas.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos

Re: A Thread for Random Videos I just...umm...found...a subtitled version of the full three hour movie. The elaborately costumed and choreographed musical numbers that come out of nowhere add a whole other dimension to the film. (It is Bollywood, after all.)

Re: A Thread for Random Videos I just did some research and it's actually a Tamil film called "Enthiran". The highest-grossing Tamil film and the second highest-grossing Indian film of all time.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Part of "Robot", an Indian scifi-action film, dubbed into Russian for some reason. What if Sid 6.7, Agent Smith, and Mechanon had a love child? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svOlz2ei4Yk

I was thinking about how to do the ability to create potions and scrolls in a D&D-style magic system that uses Power Frameworks, like Killer Shrike's adaptation. Wizards and clerics use a Variable Power Pool; sorcerers and bards use a Multipower. Rather than creating the items as unique powers, like in Fantasy Hero, or simply saying "You create the item", could I work within the system to create Talents for these items? This method assumes that 1st-level spells are 30 Active Points. Each additional level is +20 Active Points, so +1 caster level equates to +1 Power Skill. Requires a Skill Roll can be added to either as desired. Brew Potion: Delayed Effect (+1/4) for up to 70 Active Points of Spells (17 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Day, or more, -4), OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; Expensive ingredients; -2 1/4), 1 Charge (-2), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (0 DCV; -1). Total cost: 2 points to create INT/5, EGO/5, or PRE/5 potions, depending on the ability used to cast spells. x2 potions: 3 points x4 potions: 5 points x8 potions: 7 points x16 potions: 8 points Scribe Scroll: Delayed Effect (+1/4) for up to 190 Active Points of Spells (47 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Day, or more, -4), OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; Expensive spell ink; -2 1/4), 1 Charge (-2), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (0 DCV; -1), Incantations (-1/4), Requires Light To Use (-1/4) Total cost: 4 points to create INT/5, EGO/5, or PRE/5 scrolls, depending on the ability used to cast spells. x2 scrolls: 9 points x4 scrolls: 13 points x8 scrolls: 18 points x16 scrolls: 22 points This will obviously cost less if the character limits the Naked Advantage to the level of his current spell casting ability. It would only cost 1 point to create Ability/5 30 Active Point spells. Once per day, the character can apply Delayed Effect to one of the Powers in his Framework, creating a potion or scroll. Per 6E1 315, this would require GM permission, since it's applying a Naked Advantage to a Framework slot, but it doesn't seem too unbalancing.

Re: Superheroes Sponsored by Corporations (Such as the NFL) The short story anthology Who Can Save Us Now? has the story "The Quick Stop 5®", by Sam Weller. A group of convenience store employees are exposed to an experimental biodiesel that causes them to adopt the properties of the items they were touching at the time of their exposure. They end up becoming a superhero team sponsored by the convenience store chain. Captain Quickie (Vitamin water)-Superhuman strength. Prophylactic Girl (Condoms)-Bouncing and invulnerability to physical impacts. Slushee (Slushee)-Generate and control massive amounts of liquid. Like hydrokinesis, but Slushees. Slim Tim (Beef Jerky)-Stretching and bending. Dip (Chewing Tobacco)-Living mass of tobacco, adhesive tobacco juice projectiles. [ATTACH=CONFIG]37824[/ATTACH] (Prophylactic Girl isn't wearing a hat. That's the top of her head. She wasn't pleased by that part of the mutation.) There was a sixth employee who was smoking a joint when he was exposed and gained the ability to generate marijuana smoke, as well as being permanently high. The company declared him unmarketable and at the end of the story he's doing charity work in hospital cancer wards.

Re: Grand Master of Paek-Tu The most important fact about Paek-Tu...it's been illegal for years. Two Strike maneuvers with the Abort element? No. Just...no. Although these days I suppose you could buy Trigger (Action takes no time) as a Naked Advantage on your Martial Arts Strikes for a significantly higher cost to maintain the original flavor. EDIT: Which I guess would be the Counterpunch and Riposte Strike special abilities on Susano's page. Never mind. EDIT 2: Especially given the name that appears on the front cover of Hero System Martial Arts. (Hangs head in embarrassment).

Re: Spell Resistance I had considered that, but in D&D there are specialized spells that reduce or negate Spell Resistance, usually intended for battling demons and devils. Maybe Inherent as a Naked Advantage with the -0 Limitation Does Not Protect Against Specialized Transmutation Magic, or simply declare it a campaign rule intrinsic to the Spell Resistance rules. EDIT: Now that I think about it, an Inherent Power can't be turned off, except with significant END cost at the GM's option. Spell Resistance can be turned off at will should the character desire to be affected by an ally's spells.

I had been thinking about a way to do D&D-style Spell Resistance in Hero System. i.e. there's a chance that a spell cast on a resistant target will completely fail, depending on the strength of the resistance and the skill of the caster. This method suddenly occurred to me, assuming a magic system that requires a skill roll to cast spells. Spell Resistance: Change Environment (-1 to Power Skill Roll), Area Of Effect (1m Radius; +1/4), Persistent (+1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1), MegaScale (1m = 10,000 km; +2) (16 Active Points); Only Affects Spells Directly Targeting The Character (-2), No Range (-1/2). Total cost: 4 points, each additional -1 adds 4-5 real points. Essentially, anyone casting a spell on the character would need to make a Power Skill roll with a penalty to affect him. The MegaScale Area of Effect is to deal with spells that use MegaScale to hit a target anywhere in the world. Personal Immunity is so the character can cast spells on himself without having to drop the resistance. The "Only Affects..." Limitation is because the power only affects one or two casters performing a specific action, not every spell caster in the world at all times. Some tweaking of the language could also cover the fact that direct-damage conjurations ignore spell resistance. The cost is a little low for the effect. Maybe a -1 Limitation would be better. That would change it to 6 Real Points and 6-7 points per additional -1. Thoughts?