Folded

Re: A powerful cosmetic transform Alternatively, a Transform bought to affect a key might be a good way of describing it as well. Or, The Janitor has his Mighty Ring Of Keys, which always has the right key on it, somewhere, if he can find it. There's also the Keymaker from the Matrix.

Re: A powerful cosmetic transform The Skill Lockpicking is just that, a skill. If I want to represent someone carefully working the tumblers and unlocking a door based on knowledge and ability, then I say, buy the skill. But skills can fail, and not every character concept includes that possibility. With the right justification, I would be perfectly willing to allow a Transform of this type, especially in a genre that does not include widespread knowledge of exactly how locks work. Probably not as a Cosmetic Transform, mind you, but a Transform of some sort. For that matter, you could just buy a KA Only vs. Locks and get a similar effect.

Re: Help with a character concept You could throw a small VPP into the mix to represent the 'Be Prepared' aspect. Not for combat stuff, but being able to say 'Oh yeah, I have one of those on me'. I'm thinking hand tools, medical supplies, a little rope, however far you want to take it.

Re: News: "This man could control the world" (Math / Science stuff) It would be interesting to know over what time span this math works in terms of prediction. Chaos theory (I know, buzzword, but stay with me) is based on the idea that complex systems, such as the weather, are fundamentally unpredictable over long periods of time due to 'extreme sensitivity to initial conditions'. There is a clear definition of what constitutes a sufficiently complex system, and it must be self-referential, where the next state is dependent on the current state. James Glieck has a good book on this. The upshot is that we can predict such a system over a relatively short term, but we lose precision as we get farther from the initial state of the system. It's the reason that we have 10-day forecasts on the news and not 60-day forecasts. So this math that Barabasi has given us can say where you are now, and might be able to predict where you'll be tomorrow, but is in no way going to be able to say where you'll be next year. Psychohistory is a pretty idea, but it fails the math test. No disrespect to Asimov, since a clearly understood theory of chaos was not available to him, but it ain't gonna happen for long term stuff. Short term is up for grabs, but we're measuring in days, possibly weeks on a large enough scale. But being able to control a human network a week or two in advance, which Barbarasi's math might allow us to do, is still pretty scary. As long as someone's at the wheel, society could be fairly 'driveable', on that basis.

Re: Power Armor Characteristic Purchase Also remember that, if the Power Armor is providing defenses, then it is assumed to be hit any time the character is hit and the defenses successfully reduce damage (in cases of partial coverage). So, every time your PA character gets a Blast lobbed at them, the armor may be taking damage as well. It's a semi-optional rule, but one that can be very effective at reining in the PA's abilities, which will degrade over the course of a battle. There are ways around it, but those ways tend to have the result of reducing the number of extra points the PA gets to play with.

Re: The Profession Of Piracy? High DEX and OCV/DCV. Acrobatics, Charm, Reputation, Sword-based Martial Maneuvers. Focused on active defenses, rather than PD/ED. Hunted: various husbands/fathers, Psych Lim: Flexible Morality, Hunted: various cardboard authority figures. Life Support: Immortal (Yellowbeards are never more dangerous than when we're dead!).

Re: Character Class Mottos This one came up recently: Swordsman: "My name is not Inigo Montoya. You did not kill my father. Prepare to die anyway."

Re: No magic? You make good points, and I am going to answer the above question in terms of how I interpret the word magic. Magic has rules of some kind. If you want 'it happens because I decide it does', I call that Cosmic or Divine or Wish-fulfillment powers. Magic obeys some kind of rules. They may be bizarre, counter-intuitive, or arbitrary, but they're there. The ability to make use of magic involves the acquisition of specialized knowledge, and, in some cases, an alteration to the person involved. Sometimes, what is called magic is an example of Clarke's Law. Sometimes it is scientifically explainable, but the people involved do not have scientific terminology. I am thinking here of things like zombi rituals in voodoo, which are based on the chemical action of a particular toxin, rather than supernatural ability. But other times, magic is an access into powers that do not conform to the observable laws of physics. The process can be thought of as re-organizing reality in accordance with the individual's will through the application of a specific set of rules that are defined (at least by the world-creator). A given tradition of magic is a means by which those rules can be applied. If multiple traditions exist, it is necessary to determine whether or not they are variations on a single set of techniques, or whether they represent different actual powers with different rules. In the first case, it is primarily a matter of style and personal understanding. The abilities can, more or less, be directly compared. In the second case, some rules about how the two kinds of power interact is necessary (even if it is to define this as 'randomly'). So, in some universes, there are 'Words of Power', which, when spoken correctly, cause effects to happen. True Names are often a part of these systems (the Earthsea trilogy works this way). In others, complex rituals and material components are necessary. In still others, you pay some price and receive some power in return. In other traditions, your power is defined by your origin (Dragon, Demon, Angel, Son of Zeus, etc). That is how I interpret the word Magic.

Re: Castle Bathory Nice. You gonna do floor plans for the larger structures?

Re: World-building: When what works for the heroes works for everyone? For an interesting study on the kinds of societal changes that might result from just one superpower becoming possible and common, read The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. The power in question is teleportation (called jaunting), and it seriously changes the way the world works. It also happens to be a great story. Oh, and nerve impulses are limited by the speed of electrochemical reactions, which are relatively slow. Anyone whose nerve impulses travel significantly faster than that is not using what we would recognize as an organic nervous system, or they're manipulating their passage through time, either of which would involve a fundamental change in our understanding of biology and physics. For that matter, if nerve impulses are no longer limited by the speed of light, then relativity comes into question, which would cause a few problems in the scientific community as well. I want to stress that science would recover. There is some root capability that the Ancients had and passed down. It is some form of space/time/energy/matter/force manipulation, conscious or otherwise. Science would find out what that was and learn to harness it, or at least understand it, eventually (centuries, maybe). But the short-term effects on that community would be intense.

Re: World-building: When what works for the heroes works for everyone?

Re: Sustained Modes ala "Dragon Age" My mistake, I was under the impression that they had been removed (they're not listed in BR). I'd swear I saw someone complaining about that elsewhere on the board. That simplifies the END/Mana split, then. Multiforms are hardly worth the effort for such a small thing. For the minor Modes, certainly. But some of the stuff in DA represented a significant increase in certain types of power. Especially if the plan is to use the basic idea from DA and expand on it, Multiform might be easier than a complicated Side Effects/Suppress/etc setup.

Re: World-building: When what works for the heroes works for everyone? There's gonna be lots of those smaller talents, assuming any kind of probabilistic distribution. The big ones are out there bashing each other's skulls in, while the majority of the minor supers are going to find that they're really good accountants, or some such (20 INT, Lightning Calculator, Eidetic Memory, etc). I wrote one story about a guy who could transform himself into a heavily muscled creature with claws that could cut through stone. He used this power... as a sculptor. Not everyone with powers, even major ones, is going to think in terms of comic book superheroing or anything similar. As to other, specific effects- DARPA has more or less a blank check to develop predictable super-soldiers/agents based on the special gene-strain. Similarly in other countries. Many smaller countries will suddenly have much more effective troops, both major and minor. Inflate the general level of conflict as seems reasonable. Interesting legal problems. Mental powers especially will cause problems. Can you prove that I wasn't under someone else's control when I committed that crime? Support groups for people who are either a)secretly superpowered or b)have been victimized by supers Incredible numbers of property-damage lawsuits brought against anyone involved in a supers battle. Likewise for personal injury. Talented and Gifted programs take on a whole new meaning. People who are really good at Counter Strike are no longer accused of using bots, but of being super. Physicists worldwide rename the Laws of Physics as the Sort Of General Guidelines That We Think Sometimes Apply Kind Of. Suicide rate among scientists skyrockets. Entirely new categories of porn.

Re: Judice: A world with Nitric Acid instead of Water If they evolved naturally in this environment, they might even be composed (largely) of acid, as we are composed (largely) of water. Not resistant, as such, but making use of its properties directly. I'm not sure what other kinds of physical structures could be present in a nitric solution, as it reacts strongly to carbon-based organics, but I don't know enough chemistry to say whether it's possible/probable or not.

Re: Sustained Modes ala "Dragon Age" Just occurred to me that Multiform might be the solution. Build several versions of the character with different modes, and switch as necessary. That also limits the 'how many at once' issue. Sort of like the multi-mode Power Armor builds out there.

Re: Sustained Modes ala "Dragon Age" Been thinking about this, and have played a lot of Dragon Age. The issue seems to me to be twofold: What is being improved, and how does the 'reserved' Stamina/Mana get handled? What's being improved is usually pretty straightforward. Either straight combat abilities (AID to OCV, DCV, Defenses or HTH/Ranged Damage Levels would pretty much cover it), or Magical ones (Unified Powers on all Magic SFX abilities would be a good start, with an AID that covers all of them at once, maybe?). Some Modes would also carry a penalty (Suppress SPD is the most obvious, but others are certainly possible). Side Effects, probably. The reserve aspect is a little difficult, moreso because DA separates Stamina from Mana, while Hero just has END for all of it. There's no more END reserves, so I'm not sure how to split END into two pools that power different things. But the 'reserve' might work like this. Start with Costs END/Mana only to Activate. Add a Linked Suppress REC, Only to Prevent Return of Reserved END/Mana. Once the Mode is turned off, END/Mana will recover normally. Probably should have Increased END cost on it, as well, since this is supposed to take a noticeable bite out of your available power.

Re: How (un)realistic are Street Samurai? Sorry, but everyone knows that the best clinics are in Chiba City.

Re: Worst Hero Names (of your campaigns) We just started playing a 1st ed AD&D campaign for nostalgia's sake. Two players, two characters each. I named both of mine after players who were not present. Hence 'Bob' the Elven F/MU and Jamie the Halfling Thief. Since they're our two weirdest players, the characters are developing in interesting ways. It will be interesting to see how they respond, the next time they show up.

Re: Transform Anothers OIF So I can target your head with a ranged attack, but not the helmet you're wearing? Not trying to be sarcastic, just trying to understand the logic.

Re: Transform Anothers OIF Related question that occurred to me. What about other powers built specifically to affect Foci? I am thinking primarily of Growth, Shrinking and Density Increase with UAA on them, Only vs. Foci. At first, it was just the thought that multiplying the mass of some agent's fancy little gun might be an effective tactic. Then I wondered what would happen if you shrank someone's power armor while they were wearing it. Obviously too much effect for the points it would cost, since it's essentially insta-death if you follow the logic, but how could you make it workable? Is such an ability even legal by the rules? Could you render someone's Focus Desolid? Not trying to derail, but these seem like relevant questions.

Re: No magic? Actually, I can understand this from a world-creator point of view. Magic is simply a particular method of handwaving. It carries certain flavors and possibilities with it that the OP is clearly not interested in. And what sets Magic apart from High-tech, Mutant or Mentalist effect types is that Magic cannot be clearly defined. There are hundreds of different traditions in the real world alone, much less those you could add from fiction or make up. High-tech is based (ultimately) on the scientific process, though it may not have real-world scientific results. Mutants and Accidents acquire powers inherent to them, but don't represent a whole kind of power. Mentalists can be brought in with a scientific sort of basis. But Magic just sort of leaves everything open. How does the power of a Native American shaman summoning kachina interact with the abilities of Gandalf? It seems to me that this is a perfectly valid thematic choice to make for a world, whether supers are there or not. As a GM, I have given out rules like 'no aliens or time-travelers', and not drawn an eyeblink from my players. And they didn't assume it was because I wanted all of the aliens and time-travelers under my control, it was just part of the campaign setting. Since Hero does bring the kitchen-sink and several other plumbing fixtures to the mix, and since any powerset can be defined along just about any SFX, why worry about it?

Re: Multiform with Cosmetic Variations If I was GMing it, I would look at the utility of the differences. If you just had slightly different looks at different times, but were still largely identifiable as a particular character, I'd call it a +0 Advantage and let it go. If it actually served a purpose that affected gameplay, I'd call it a +1/4 Custom Advantage on the Multiform, and call it good there. If the purpose was for you to imitate other specific characters (PCs or NPCs) with this, then I'd require a Shape Shift of some kind as part of the Multiform's powers. More than likely, for the build you have described, I'd go with option 1, a +0 Advantage.

Re: No magic? That doesn't necessarily mean that you're stripping out character concepts as much as you might think. A tech-based hero who used 'mystical' themes and effects would work just fine. There's a DC villain of some sort who's a time-traveler, and uses that tech to create a stage magician style. Another character with limitations on otherwise inherent powers based on his/her belief that they were 'magic' would work just fine, as well. It can look like magic without actually being magic, is the upshot.

Re: Dehydrated Water? While this is a fascinating possibility, even if we could create an antigravity effect, the mass of whatever was affected would be unchanged. It would make an absolutely AWESOME drive system, and probably make it feasible to run around the solar system without having to worry about consumables much. So, I suppose, that would accomplish the same thing as reducing mass.

Re: Greatest American Hero type character????