Kristopher

And again, you can usually tell why and how. Not so in comics, where the only determining factors in who beats who are A) the needs of the story this month's writer wants to tell, and continuity be damned, and what results in the coolest art this month, continutity be damned. Continuity. That's what I want.

When it comes to number crunching vs role-playing, I prefer the latter, but often find I have to do the former in order to make a character last long enough to bother with. I know it doesn't bother some people, but I can't stand putting gobs of work into the role-playing aspects of a character, only to have him or her taken out.

It gets a little more complicated when whole teams are involved. Additionally, you can usually go back and see why and how it happened in the real world. In comics, that's typically not the case.

I'm trying to find where I said strength was the only determining factor.

It's not real-world realism I'm looking for, just "within-setting realism." Given that there are beings with fantastic superhuman abilties, logically expand from there. If a character has saved the city scores of times, the city should not instantly demand his head the first time a shapeshifter "puts on his face" and robs a freakin bank. I want consistency. If a character can lift a battleship in issue 9, he should be able to easily lift a bus in issue 17. If A and B are a match in a fight, and B and C are a match in a fight, then (barring some logical reason) A and C should be a match in a fight -- C should not take A out in three moves or less.

Sometimes, though, PsychLims represent just the opposite...the character is fighting his impulses. My longest-running Champs character was a demon, the soul of a man wrongly condemned to Hell. The game he was in included the "standard comics element" of an ancient tradition of "sorcerer supremes," who had long summoned him to the mortal realm for various tasks. In dealing with the next-to-last one, he made a comment in jest, "If you're ever killed, *I'll* become a superhero." Unfortunately, the sorcerer *was* killed, and the demon felt that he had given his word. So, he had the PsychLim "Vow to be a "Superhero". He attempted to act in the way that the sorcerer would have acted, instead of taking more expedient, efficient paths. (The sorcerer was an honorable and merciful man who only killed as a last resort.) The only time the demon PC ever tried to kill anyone was when he faced off against another demon, who had conspired to kill the sorcerer -- AND who used to be the man who had wrongly condemned him to hell all those centuries ago.

"Wanna reflect that attack at a dramatically perfect moment, huh? What, no Missile Reflection? OK, gimme a perfect 3. Wow, nice 3. Stop celebrating, you haven't made your hit roll yet...might still fumble and reflect the shot into a nun..."

The Ambidexterity is more for the purpose of reflecting how much she's improved her own body than for raw combat effectiveness.

Well, at least I got 40-some views and one answer... (Thanks, winterhawk.)

There are all sorts of other things you can do with an Autofire. If no one else details them before I get home tonight, I'll do it. But I bet someone else will beat me to it.

I've got a player who wants a biomanipulating character. The disads are on paper, and aren't the question. She's not experienced enough with the system to run a VPP, so that's out. Here's what we have as a 2nd draft. All (well-meaning) comments and observations appreciated. In Progress Val Char Cost 13 STR 3 17 DEX 21 25 CON 30 12 BODY 4 13 INT 3 14 EGO 8 16 PRE 6 18 COM 4 4/19 PD 1 5/20 ED 0 5 SPD 23 11 REC 6 50 END 0 32 STUN 0 6" RUN02" SWIM02 1/2" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 109Cost Power END 80 Biomanipulation: Multipower, 80-point reserve 2u 1) Thick Skin: Armor (10 PD/10 ED) (30 Active Points); Costs Endurance to Activate (-1/4) 3 4u 2) 1000 Faces: Shapeshift (Sight Group; Hearing Group, Imitation, Touch Group, Variety of Shapes: Limited Group of Shapes), Costs END Only To Change Shape (+1/4) (45 Active Points) 4 4u 3) The Weakness: Drain Any 1 Physical Characteristic 3d6, Variable Effect One Power At A Time (+1/4), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Minute) (+1/4) (45 Active Points); Only affects living tissue Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (-1/4) 4 2u 4) The Sickness: Drain Stun 1d6, Uncontrolled (+1/2), Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Delayed Return Rate (5 per Day) (+1 1/2) (45 Active Points); Gradual Effect 6 Hours (-1 1/2), Only affects living tissue Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (-1/4) 4u 5) The Sleep: Transfer 2 1/2d6 (STUN to END), Delayed Return Rate (5 per Minute) (+1/4) (50 Active Points); Only affects living tissue Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (-1/4) 5 4u 6) The Boost: Aid 3d6, Can Add Maximum Of 25 Points, Variable Effect Any 1 Physical Characteristic (+1/4), Delayed Return Rate (5 per Minute) (+1/4) (50 Active Points); Only affects living tissue Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (-1/4) 4u 7) The Cure: Healing 4d6 (max. Healed Points: 24), Variable Effect Any One Characteristic (+1/4) (50 Active Points); Only affects living tissue Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (-1/4) 5 1u 8) The Miracle: Healing 4d6 (max. Healed Points: 24) (Can Heal Limbs) (45 Active Points); Gradual Effect 1 Week (-2), Only affects living tissue Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (-1/4) 4 6 Cat's Eyes: Enhanced Perception (+2 to PER Rolls for All Sense Groups) 5 Resistence to Biomanipulation: Power Defense (5 points) 1 Efficient Respiration: Life Support , Extended Breathing 1 Internal Thermostat: Life Support , Safe in Intense Cold (2 Active Points); Costs Endurance Every Phase (-1/2) 1 1 Internal Thermostat: Life Support , Safe in Intense Heat (2 Active Points); Costs Endurance Every Phase (-1/2) 1 2 Starve a Cold...: Life Support , Immunity: All Disease / Biowarfare (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost 5x END (-2), Extra Time 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Only to Activate Constant or Persistent Power (-3/4), Costs Endurance to Activate (-1/4) 5 2 Once Bitten...: Life Support , Immunity: Poisons / Chemwarfare (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost 5x END (-2), Extra Time 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Only to Activate Constant or Persistent Power (-3/4), Costs Endurance to Activate (-1/4) 5 1 All Night Long: Life Support , Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per week 10 Uniform: Armor (5 PD/5 ED) (15 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) Powers Cost: 134Cost Skill 10 +2 with HTH Combat 3 Animal Handler (Canines, Felines) 12- 3 Breakfall 12- 3 Climbing 12- 0 Concealment 8- 3 Contortionist 12- 0 Conversation 8- 0 Deduction 8- 3 Disguise 12- 3 Mimicry 12- 3 Paramedics 12- 0 Shadowing 8- 0 Stealth 8- 3 KS: One Topic of Your Choice (INT-based) 12- 0 AK: Your Hometown (INT-based) 8- 3 SS: One Science of Your Choice (INT-based) 12- 1 TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, (Everyman) 0 Language: English (idiomatic; Native) 2 Language: Turkish (fluent conversation) 1 Language: Portugese (basic conversation) Skills Cost: 41Cost Talent 9 Ambidexterity (Eliminate Off Hand Penalty entirely) 4 Double Jointed 3 Lightsleep Talents Cost: 16Base Points: 150Experience Required: 150Total Experience Available: 0Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 300

As a sometimes GM and a voracious reader with a good memory, I tend to have a lot of the game world in my head. I know that one of my weaknesses as a player is that I can't set my character up for what I know is going to be a nasty fall, so I typically spend the points for stuff that justifies the character knowing a lot about the setting, etc, so that I'm not abusing OOC knowledge so much when I can't help but act on what I know. This saves up my "benign ignorance" for the things that my character simply could not know.

My concern is that the "willing subject" doesn't have to lower his defenses to allow the Mind Link to work. Heh. It would be quite a bit of cheese to have Mind Link, Usable Against Others, wouldn't it?

OK. I'll have to look at that again when I get home tonight.

IMO, TK is already expensive enough for what it does. IMO.

Test Case: The telekinetic can see something through a sealed window. Can he use his TK on that object?

It's 8? How does that work out?

FRED, pg 265. Under Weapon Elements.

So someone with 20 pts of Mental Defense up and running can still be contacted by a Mind Link, no problem? Huh...I'm not sure I like that.

For some reason, I was under the impression that there was something of an NND relationship between the two.

So take the example of Mental Defense that can't be lowered, and the character in a team that relies on its telepath's big Mind Link for communications?

How often does the "partially indirect" nature of TK come into play, and benefit the character? My first instinct would be -1/2.

If you don't mind taking another un-PC stride, you could have her face of against a team of gay supervillains who just aren't impressed. Or Captain Blase, the man with 60 PRE (Only for Defense).

An interesting topic came up during some character creation here. Is the Always On limit at all appropriate for certain types of defensive powers? Examples: A) Power Defense that can't be dropped to let the team healer fix the character up. Mental Defense that doesn't allow the character to accept a Mind Link from the team mentalist. C) A Force Field that's on all the time, making for some awkward moments. Actually, that brings up another question...can power like Power Defense be consciously "switched off" by the character in the first place?

A "Code vs Killing" that allows a character to hold a victim in place so that the character's teammate can kill him isn't worth any points at all. The character can take the Disad "Prone to Moral Weaseling and Lawyer-like Thought Processes," however. Or maybe that's the character.