incrdbil

Re: Damage Reduction Question Well, it's also because of the quantifiable aspect of FF--you know that x points of force field will only stop x points of damage. DD is a different animal. Put it in a framework, you get a great break on a power that can potentially eliminate damage far in excess of its AP value than most other defenses--and thats why I favor keeping them out of frameworks.

Re: Damage Reduction Question Honestly, iIview the only reason to buy the Dr as costs end is to make it Framework eligible--ie, its a twist to get around rules to give you Dr goodness at half cost. not to mention the big red flag that goes up when you start dealing with DR covering more than one defense. I woudn't let someone get away with a Life Support EC framework (ie variosu elements of Ls in seperate slots) or a DR framework--well, unless it was some type of campaign were DR was a very common defense (hard to imagine that one being easy to run).

Re: Damage Reduction Question There has been a time I wanted to buy a normally non end using power as 'costs 1/2 end', so I just made that a custom limit of -1/4. But back to the original, a hearty thumbs down to DR in an EC, even if bought costs end; and a definite thumbs down to multi slots of armor or forcefield in a framework. (Yes, I wandered the dark paths decades ago). The old standby EC 20/pd/20 ED force field (4 end) 20" flight for 60 points becomes +32 PD 1/2 end 1 end +32 ED 1/2 end 1 end 20" flight for a mere 80 points.

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break?

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? HD does list individual power active points (or hides them if you wish), but I don't think it does a total of all active points. Not an issue for me, as I don't see an AP total being of any use. Some relatively minor abilities with heavy limits could easily cause AP bloat. I'm not sure an AP total would really be of much use for cross comparisons, and I certainly wouldn't bother to tell characters that they now have an overall AP limit to watch in addition to real point limits, then individual power AP limits, and DC limits.

Re: Drizzt & Artemis Entreri Dont forget his darkness spells, the faeire fire spells, the animal empathy stuff from the ranger side. I don't think he retained his levitation abilities or the innate magic resistance.

Re: Hudson City Reviewed on Gaming Report This defines why most 'reviews' on the internet are worthless. When you see the setting book being bashed (though why, other than not having some friendly stories about sex workers am I sure what he is faulting) going in hand with an admission of having never looked at any other Dark Champions product other than rteading the blurbs on the back, you realize you've wasted precious time reading yet another review by someone with no ability or credentials as a reviewer, just another person convinced that saying something doesn't meet their personal tastes makes them a well qualified critic.

Re: Ten Commandments of Game Mastering How about an old style GM hymnal sing-along? Give me that old time GM'ing (to the tune of 'Give me that old time religion') Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing And it’s good enough for me. They knew the rules from cover to cover They knew the rules from cover to cover They knew the rules from cover to cover And it’s good enough for me. Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing And it’s good enough for me. They’d pile up PC bodies. They’d pile up PC bodies. They’d pile up PC bodies. And it’s good enough for me. Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing And it’s good enough for me. They’d kill all the PC’s followers They’d kill all the PC’s followers They’d kill all the PC’s followers And it’s good enough for me. Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing And it’s good enough for me. They’d didn’t put up with PC whining They’d didn’t put up with PC whining They’d didn’t put up with PC whining And it’s good enough for me. Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing And it’s good enough for me. An endless dungeon was our heaven An endless dungeon was our heaven An endless dungeon was our heaven And it’s good enough for me. Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing Give me that old time GM’ing And it’s good enough for me.

Re: Ten Commandments of Game Mastering What about.. "Thou shalt not suffer a munchkin to live or prosper unchecked in thy campaign, for verily shalt his corruption lead thine flock astray" ? Too Old Testement? ::Church of the Old Regular (Fire and Brimstone) GM

Re: I Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd fele obligated to do more than just walk out... to..oh heck, I dont know, burn his books? Brand him with the words "Pathetic player-Killer GM" just to warn all future groups away? It's sad to see someone masquerading as a GM, when they are are more accurately described as a SBCMG. (sadisitc bully compensating for miniscule genitalia)

Re: I Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, looking at the vast savings, that's still quite a few sessions? I'm not sure what the campaign standards are, it seems you could 'trim the fat' of a lot of stats and save her quite a few months of payments

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? Um, how? Assuming the GM actually looks at characters or sets limits, ring guy is going to have prtetty much the same level of powers. What abotu characters with other limitatiosn that grant the same, or close to the same disadvantage level? Are they tearign up the game as well? Limitations. They do, indeed, occasionally limit a player. Oh dear. Well, yes, and when a GM turns off their brain and not paying attention to the campaign or characters, not settign standard attacks and limits, game breaking things will happen with or without Focus limitations being used.

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break?

Re: I Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! Umm, wow. Flag on the play, HIDO and IIF, penalty, loss of character. Of heck, just take the focus and let her play the character with all the disads and no replacement. Tell her one of the pains of Independent is never getting those points back even with a 'radiation' accident.

Re: I Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Because the universal reaction of the Hero gaming community at large begged for me to torture you in punishment for that abomination". Then show him the thread as proof. Now that is a Kodak moment.

Re: I Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, being a siode aggect, and a disadvantage, I'd make sure that the side effect only really damaged things in a way that brought him problems. Ie, he's sued for constantly destroyingthe city, sucking windows out of buildings, hurting countless innocents whenhe runs at noncombat---or managing to blind himself and his teammates with cluds of dust and debris stirred up. Oh heck, let him play, and then constantly screwhim obver in every waqy possible. Gaming is supposed ot be fun for the GM too And there's no better way to learn than the school of hard knocks,

Re: I Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh heck, let him play it. His flight works on an 8-? 10 resistant defenses. Just a few Area Affect killing attacks, (after the AE entange that takes no damage from attacks). Add an armor drain while you are at it. Then ask him about his new character.

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break?

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? I think once a fellow PC ran one for a bit, but IIRC, the bow was magical and couldn't be taken away--more a HIDO summoned artifact.

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? In the 'captured and brought the the deathtrap/lair' scenarios, Both OIGGuy and Mutant girl may be captured, but once she breaks off her power-nullifier, its party time. OIF guy is now just..a guy, and hoping he can stay conscious as MutantGirl covers his @$$ and maybe he finds his stuff. Before the game is over. There's nothing wrong with the GM having OIFguy suffer through the rest of the escape powerless, maybe using his normal id stats to fight an agent or two. This is a minor pint, but just one of many ways that the intricacies of the focus limitation can be brought into a game in a variety of ways.

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? If the players don't blink at the OAF, why is that? Something that can be taken away with a simple move, not to mention TK. I've never had any PC's rely on a OAf as a primary power/defense. Never. I've not seen any PC's who did so more than a game before the error of their ways caught up to them in a hurry. A side item, somethign ok but not essential, maybe. What's especially adversarial about enforcing focus limitations than having villains make any other plot to harm or discomfort heroes?

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break?

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? The strict percentage of time is not the only measure of the disadvantage. 14- Activation roll: sometimes the power works, sometimes it doesn't. Who knows for sure. OIF focus: A intelligent enemy knows where the power comes from, and can take actions to remove/destroy the focus when it suits HIS plan. Big difference right there. Surem the 14- EB might fail a greater percentage of the time, but the focus use can be rendered powerless at a really, inopportune moment. Having you eb fail its activation roll a few times vs agents is annoying. Having your force field belt batteries drained by some trap that Utility has lured you into can realy ruin your day. In the end, the GM has to decide how limiting the way he will play out the disadvntage will be. If the GM feels OIF isn't that much of a limit, he needs to make sure that the restrictions are indeed not that great. Ony 1/2 for an OAF, then there shouldn't be grabs/takeaways that often. If HIDO guy can't have his powers away when captured, what do you do to OIF Man who you only gave a -1/4th disad to when he is captured?

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? I'm not that concered. As Foci go... OAf's--heck of a limit. The Pc's strip them from NPC's with glee, and the same is done to the characters who happen to have them. OIf's, well, if you can't steal them, break them. Power armor guy's been caught in a painful situation with out access to retrieve is focus, or put it on, damage to it. You know what to try and drain, studying the focus may give ytou clues to a weakness or vulnerability it has. A good period without the focus more than balances the annoyance of the 14- activation. IAF--this is the one I really don't allow. Either the enemies never notice it, and rarely is it taken away, basically being a 1/4th HIDO, or once the enemy discovers the source, they always try to take it, and its really more of a limit. Once the cat is out of the bag, the Pc is soon to change the character, going to OIF, having reaped the benefit of IAF and now wanting to avoid the disadvantage. IIF--heck, basically indistinguisable in effects from the HIDO limitation-- sometimes annoying, occasionally notably restrictive, rarey incapacitating.

Re: Alternative Combat Orders for Combat I like Dragonblade's suggestion--it works well with Shadowrun. I'd just stick to dexterity for initiative, to keep die rolls to a minimum. There are soem changes., A character with a significant speed avantage will be hard ot take down--if he's got the last one or two actions, he just takes recoveries, then you have the free post phase recovery. Of course, low speed characters need ot be careful with their last action. A dive for Cover or a Dodge effects their DCV for many, many actions of others. A sped 4 vs a Spd 7 who is stunned on his last action is now subject to three attacks in his stunned condition, instead of the 2 he was subject to before. And the lack of segment pauses can put the low speed character into eternal dodge/stun mode as well.