Jeff

Generally I'd picture grabbing something telekinetically as about as easy or difficult as grabbing it with your hand - you can just do it at range and without a hand involved. Out of combat, under normal conditions, you don't often miss an object you're trying to pick off a table, although it's not impossible. In combat, with someone struggling or making it difficult for you, you're going to run into problems that way. That gun's pretty mobile in combat, and you've got to be a bit distracted there too, by things like (e.g.) not being a good target for said gun while you're trying to wrest control of it. "Missing" in that case seems entirely plausible, although one might prefer to describe it as failing to get an adequate hold.

If you want to cut down on misses, you might get the Telekinesis as AE - 1 hex and then snag the Accurate mod for it at +1/2 advantage total. Your target will be perpetually DCV 3 in that case. IF you've got a typical OCV, it will mean rare misses. Add in a few levels and rare will become one time in 216 (17-).

Real-world pantheons tend to orient around the things people care about, more than the things that compose the universe. If you'd like to avoid elemental deities, especially when there aren't many of them, here's another breakdown:

Life - including healing, agriculture, fertility, possibly wild flora and fauna

Death - self-explanatory

Nature - earth, air, fire, water, metal, weather, possibly wild flora and fauna

Love - including simple affection, love of all kinds, and social bonds

Zeal - including passion, war, duty

Laughter - including humor of whatever sort, pranks, and maybe alternate perspectives

Luck - self-explanatory

Mind you, if you're looking at pantheons from the point of view of spell providers, you might want to line them up with elements instead, since they're probably easier to use as the basis of spells. You might not get too far with (e.g.) Laughter magic. Then again, maybe some of those are spells without game-mechanical effects at 0 EP cost, but still something a character has to work to get in-game and a source of roleplaying goodness.

Re: Re: Hitting a gun

Originally posted by Geoff Speare

Correct. So you must hit the guy's DCV with a -2 OCV modifier, then do a STR vs. STR roll. I don't think there's a specific rule in FREd for making someone shoot himself (UMA, perhaps), but a STR vs. STR roll would probably be enough for me.

It'd have to be TK that includes Fine Manipulation too, for trigger pulling. STR 40 might be excessive, but it'd certainly get the job done providing sufficient force; someone who can armwrestle that probably doesn't need a gun in the first place.

Originally posted by PhilFleischmann

A slight change of subject: I have a character with flight. The SFX was telekinetically pushing off of a surface. I wanted a limitation "Only within 3" of a Surface." What would the value of this limitation be? If only on a surface is -1/4, then this one should be less, because it is less limiting.

The limitation might not be precisely right for the special effect. The running up walls speedster trick might be something you can't quite manage with a telekinetic push-off. After all, you're presumably pushing off a horizontal surface that can support you - but you're not going to find that 40 stories up a vertical surface. That'd look like a reasonable -1/4 limitation to me.

Also, unless you've got perfect granularity, you're going to have some limititations that are just a little less limiting than others with the same limitation value, like "only within 4" of a surface" and "only within 3" of a surface". You could address the problem with more granular limitation values, but you're never going to cure it entirely. Me, I think I can live with 1/4 increments.

Can Healing be used to cure the Stunning effect on newly Summoned beings, along the lines in the FAQ for using it on normal Stunning? If so, does it just take one die of Healing, since there's no damage to heal?

Also, could Healing be purchased to cure Long Term Endurance lost? If so, how would that work?

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

Given that one of the options for breaking a Focus is that a single attack does double its Defense in Body damage, you could certainly argue that it should have that amount of Body. However, there are times when it's logical for a Focus to lose Powers when any Body damage gets through, such as a complex piece of electronics, so I'd like to keep that option available. OTOH, a simple weapon with one Power, like a sword, should probably have a Body score and not be destroyed until that Body is gone.

At this point, we've basically recreated 3rd edition Focus breakage rules. I think that's a very good thing; that Foci were the only objects in the universe without a BODY total always looked to me to be one of the most bizarre changes to 4th edition, and I was disappointed that wasn't fixed with 5th. Does anyone have any idea about the rationale there?

Dissatisfaction with Focus breakage rules was one of the things that motivated me to go with Vehicles for most powered armor with 4th edition. Another was to give the powered armor characters appropriate motivation to spend points outside the Focus, since you'll only get the 1 to 5 Vehicle cost rate up to 20% of your points spent on it. The rest can go to very appropriate bases, computers, followers, Money, gadget pools, skills, skills, and more skills.

Originally posted by Dauntless

I do have one major beef with the Hero System though that I'm seriously considering correcting for any future games I run. I believe that combat rolls should be opposed skill rolls rather than 11+OCV-DCV. When combat is done the standard way, all the "luck" is in the hands of the attacker. However, the defender is also performing a skill, whether it be a dodge, a block, or any other manuever, so why shouldn't he roll for his skill as well? This way you allow the defender to roll for his luck and it also allows for a more vivid description of what happens during combat. For example, in the normal system, if the attacker just barely hits...does that mean the attack was poorly aimed and it barely hit? Or perhaps both combatants performed extremely well, having adroit movements and well-timed blows...but the attacker just happened to be a little better?

The luck isn't all in the attacker's hands, as the result depends just as much on the defender's DCV as his OCV. How you describe what happens can be attack-side or defense-side driven, or a bit of both. In general, I'd emphasise the luck of it in case of low OCV's hitting or missing low DCV's, or any extreme roll, and the skill/talent of both parties in the case of high OCV's hitting or missing high DCV's.

Going with an opposed skill roll treatment might be tidier in that it'd reduce the number of different mechanics used for character competition in the system. Similarly, STR vs. STR rolls to handle getting out of grabs and the like might be a way to go.

Expanding on the herbal route - If you want to keep magic out of the routine but you don't mind exceptional skill-based abilities, you could let the skilled healer-herbalists buy some Healing with RSR - Healing, a decent amount of extra time, maybe gradual effect, and expendible Foci (herbs, poultices, what have you).

Originally posted by Mr. Negative

On the introduced sub-topic of having an offensive and a defensive power going at the same time within a VPP, the normal problem seems to be that the Offensive and Defensive powers have Real Point costs that, added together, are greater than that allowed by the pool (otherwise, what would the problem be?).

It's a problem? How'd that happen? I mean, honestly - if you've got two powers at the active point limit, and both have -1 limitations, you're using exactly as many real points as the pool will support. Spells are always going to have limitations of some sort, and -1 total is on the low side.

Has anyone tried this solution (or is it even legal)?

 

Buy your defense with Costs End and Uncontrolled. Then, the wizard can "cast" the defense, and allot the END that he thinks he will need to keep it up for the combat. After the END is spent, the defense stays up until it is exhausted, even if the points in the VPP are shifted to something else (right?).

Well, Uncontrolled is a stop-sign advantage, if that causes any concern. If not, then yes, this is exactly one way to get a defense out of a VPP (or a multipower) that survives reallocation. (Others might be an Aid to assorted defenses, or a personally immune Entangle you use on yourself.) You get into a region of greater GM wariness if it's Uncontrolled and 0 END. You're not going that route, but it does bring up a potential practical problem: having a hard time feeding it enough power to start to keep it running through a reasonable combat. Maybe you can, but if so, you're quite possibly leaving you (or your END reserve) so wasted as to make you a dubious factor for a moderately long fight thereafter.

Me, I think you can get a large variety of cantrips going the Multipower route with slots of modest power and considerable limitation coming in at 1 point a piece, either not used in the very same phase you're using one of your big attack powers, or with a reserve a little larger than that required for one of your big attack powers if you insist. Another way is making generous use of basic powers with broad ranges of effect - Telekinesis and EB, for instance - and Variable Advantage and Variable Special Effect to represent a variety of little spells. Or both - powers like that as little MP slots. VPP's are just too awkward for most use for two basic reasons - one, the player isn't getting any limitation value on the pool cost, and two, the GM has to worry about wizards all looking alike with VPP's all around and/or wizards who can pull any power out of their hat.

I like my little cubes. The Cube is your friend. Embrace the Cube!

They're cheap, you've got a lot of them, you can get more, you're going to have them on hand anyway - there's no natural proposal that occurs off the top of my head to banish them from a DC 12 normal damage attack - and I think extreme results should be suitable rare. Embrace the Curve too!

No Turn Mode is a +1/4 advantage from The Ultimate Vehicle. GM's are advised to be wary of players applying it to character's innate movement abilities, but heck, we recommend stop-sign powers with multiple stop-sign advantages for modelling things six times before breakfast....

If you went the Swimming with surface movement only limitation route, I wouldn't worry about the sinking thing. Most speedsters will float like the rest of us, after all. That they're running on water instead of doing a breaststroke when they crank it up to 90+ MPH can reasonably be regarded as a special effect. If, for some reason, you've got a non-buoyant speedster (The Living Bullet?), you've probably already got a Physical Limitation to cover that problem; it needn't be built into the Swimming/Flight/whatever power.

Originally posted by Geoff Speare

I took a middle road -- I kept money in, but generalized it to one set of coins across cultures. As others have said, it's not something that most people want to pay attention to. I used special names, but tried to keep them memorable: crowns, stars, pennies, etc. I was running low-fantasy, where money tends to be more of an issue; if I ran high-fantasy, I'd be tempted to just try the Perk (although, how do you handle finding treasure?).

If characters opt/manage to keep it, the player buys the Money perk. Think of it as a financial radiation accident.

If characters opt to give it away, it's given away and, if it's a suitable decent donation, they're being heroic that way too - although reputations for charity can be dangerous in their own way.

If characters aren't careful, they can lose it in any number of incidents of GM nastiness. Be creative!

For kicks, I cobbled together a list of the folks the Champions are hunting :

11-

Gravitar

Dark Seraph

Temblor

Anubis

Black Paladin

Blowtorch

Firewing

Herculan

Lady Blue

Mechanon

Slug

Utility

Zigzag

8-

Warlord

The War Machine

Each of the other Crowns of Krim

The Ultimates

Ankylosaur

Armadillo

Black Harlequin

Foxbat

Grond

Leech

Mirage

Nebula

Pulsar

Riptide

Tachyon

Tesseract

Zephyr

Major point: I get exhausted just contemplating their patrol schedules.

Minor point: How the heck do Lady Blue and Zigzag (!) get prioritized in with the likes of Mechanon, Firewing and Dark Seraph and ahead of Grond or Warlord? We're fighting to make the world safe from bendy burglars? Is this a covert way to get a break?

Another minor point: It does settle some problems sticking PC's in Millenium City. The Champions can always plausibly be busy elsewhere. Or hospitalized. Or busy hunting Dark Orderly while hosptalized.

Originally posted by Trebuchet

I've wanted to be able to do something like this with my own MA/gymnast, to simulate the bounce off the wall and attack/climb up the alley wall you see so often in kung fu movies. Steve Long basically vetoed the idea as a variation on Leaping, so I partially simulate it with a Teleport like Blue did. Unfortunately, you can't get velocity modifiers for a Teleport, and I wanted something that would allow bouncing around corners.

 

I'd still rather do it as a modified leap, but I've never figured out the mechanic. But I don't think Autofire is the answer. (Clever, though.)

Maybe the thing to do is define it as Flight, with turns allowable only against a surface and a need to land at the end of every phase or two, like Leaping (or Leaping with a little non-combat doubling). Each stretch from one turn point to another would be (at least) one leap. It'd keep the velocity adds, would allow multiple move-by's, and would get you the turning effect you don't get with Leaping. You'd probably want to get some levels with it to reduce turn mode and maybe improved acceleration. GM permitting, you might want to snag no turn mode from UVA (+1/4 advantage) to bounce off in any direction at all.

Can Find Weakness be bought with the following advantages:

Area of Effect? If so, does it have to be bought selective or non-selective?

Armor-Piercing?

AVLD, so that the selected exotic defense applies instead of Lack of Weakness? If so, would it be at the +3/4 level, since Lack of Weakness is already about as common as one of those?

NND?

Penetrating?

No range modifier?

Uncontrolled, as a way to retain previous Find Weakness successes on a target on subsequent occasions?

Usable As Attack, to allow the character with Find Weakness to loan out successful rolls to the recipients? Usable On Others won't do it, but I thought UAA might since the character retains control of the power.

Can Find Weakness be used on Lack of Weakness to make later attempts to use it (presumably on other defenses) easier?

Can Find Weakness be used on IPE defenses?

Originally posted by Snarf

That would be a lot simper and cheaper than a multipower, but I think they could normally choose any limitation. Unless you want to allow the option to set the limitation as x5 endurance costs or extra time, you should talk to the player and arrange some house rules.

Normally there's a GM set range of options for the limitations for Variable Limitation, rather than anything at all. Usually it's a bunch of the effort/difficulty type ones - Concentrate, Extra Time, Gestures/Incantations, Extra END, Activation Roll, that sort of thing, and usually that's a bunch that won't include limited/conditional power limitations, or come down to a choice of two. I just figure it's the best adaptation of existing mechanics, particularly since it won't have the annoying consequence of costing more for being more limited than plain Invisibility, as we get with the multipower approach.

Alternatively, you can look at it as a way of shoring up your estimates of the appropriate limitation value if you just want to view it as a plain limited power limitation - I get the same figure Monolith did. But I think it might be a handy treatment of Variable Limitation for other applications, like someone with a limited range of commands available for Mind Control, or someone who can do one single command (or Mental Illusion, Image, what have you) readily but any other only with (e.g.) increased END costs or activation rolls.

Originally posted by Hugh Neilson

In a fantasy campaign, how often will it be as useful to be invisible to ONE orc, rather than to all the orcs? Only when just one orc is there!

I wouldn't be so sure. Take a bunch of orcs. Be visible to one of them. Don't get too close, don't attack, just be there looking obvious to him and maybe a little threatening. He's going to be reacting to someone no one else can see. Being orcs, I doubt they're going to figure that he's special and is seeing someone invisible to the rest of them. They're going to think he's loony or trying to get them in some subtle fashion. Dissension is sown and probably gets violent. Slink off to a safe distance, watch the havoc, mildly regret you're not playing in a game system in which inciting a fatal riot would get you experience points for each casualty.

Use Variable Limitation, with the available limitations for selection being "only versus target" and "not usable versus target". Figure out an appropriate value for each of those; halve the smaller one and you've got the value for the Variable Limitation. If we assign both of those a -1 value, you'd be looking at a -1/2 limitation.

Have the URL (at least, I'm pretty sure this is the compilation you've got in mind) -

http://theemerged.blogspot.com/HERO425.htm

It was suggested in another thread and another context, but a different approach to take to such fields might be an Entangle with personal immunity, used to generate a field attacks have to bust down before they can start getting to you but that you can shoot through freely and do not hinder your own mobility, courtesy of the personal immunity advantage. Recharging them is a matter of "firing" the Entangle again once it's down, or to reinforce its BODY if it's damaged but not yet destroyed. You can get a directional aspect - shields fore, aft, port, starboard, over and under - getting individual projectors each with 60 degree coverage for a -1 limitation and doubling their number up to a suitable amount for +5 points a doubling.

Originally posted by OddHat

The jokes are not meant as an attack on the idea. They're just jokes. Magic circles and shape / symbol based magic have been around forever. It's a good take on it.

 

And a good excuse for fat wizards.

 

"The sphere is nature's perfect shape, and we must seek perfection..."

-Archmagister Howard the Bald to the graduating class of 1103, shortly before his second heart attack.

If it's a set of implications one would rather avoid, it's not too hard. At the risk of seriousness, I don't think humans get anywhere near as round as trees do with normal obesity, and you might need to get the object very nearly perfectly circular before it makes a practical magical difference. And sheer health might make another difference in effective magical power. It's not easy being round.

Re: Professor X's Temporal Dislocation Power

Originally posted by Mastermind

How would you describe the power that Professor X manifested in X2 where he made everyone freeze except the mutants?

Selective AE Mental Illusions with enough on the effect roll (EGO +30)that the target isn't interacting with the real world anymore. In that case, the targets usually just stand still and aren't aware of what's going on around them - exactly the effect you want. Just what the illusion is isn't that important - I'd figure "nothing out of the ordinary is happening" would do the trick. You'd also want the +10 more to make the victim remember it as real afterward.

You might reasonably hope that the GM would give you a little bonus on the effect roll when the illusion is doing nothing more than feeding them the very world they expect anyway.

Originally posted by OddHat

This would also explain why wizards and witches in this world tend to be big fat people.

Oooh! Oooh! If they violate the various codes of their magical societies, they may be forced to develop washboard abs, thereby losing natural mana collection talent. Personal trainers end up as part of the penal system.

Originally posted by death tribble

It also depends on whether you use the Champions History as written or adapt it for your campaign world.

 

It has a nice theme but would depend on whether you had Destroyer as the one responsible for the battle of Detroit.

 

Anything is possible if you make the logic convincing enough and if it fits what has gone before.

A variation on the idea - albeit an extreme one - might be to replace Dr. Destroyer with Warlord and a U.N. announced manifesto with broad but not public sponsorship of semi-controlled sympathetic revolutionary movements culminating in an alliance of Third World Nations enjoying an economic and technological renaissance under Warlord's thumb. At the very worst, it gets him customers, troop training, and notoriety in the meantime.

Hostile factions after the plan comes together include but needn't be limited to the Eurostar/VIPER/First World governments looking to put things back the way they were; revolutionaries and heroes outside the Establishment interested in keeping the assertive, united, and progressive new Third World and removing the new Alexander from the top of it; and various other villains just looking to move into his spot out of sheer ambition and/or other agendas. Dr. D himself would fit obviously in the third category, though nothing stops him from trying to fake membership in one of the first two.

I doubt it's a never-been-done thing, but it might make a better story to draw out another set of contrasts in addition to being on the other side. For instance, if the team's been bickering, seeing their evil counterparts caring about each other and cooperating - in the midst of being villains still - it might inflict an instructive bit of shame and keep the villains from being too two-dimensionally foul.