Farkling

My views on Applications Basic Compensation with Rapid senses should allow for an offset of time requirements built into rolls. If the PER roll you have set up CANNOT be made in less than 10 minutes, the character in question should be allowed to roll in 1 minute...his senses work waaaay faster. If the scenario has no time resttriction, the character should be allowed to notice more in less time. It is VERY hard to guage how much though. But if your character has hypersenses and they are consistently held to the same "speed" of perception as every other character, they WIlL wonder why they spent the points. Comparison:: Rapid costs 10x per multiple, correct? You can purchase +2 or +3 to all PER rolls for the same price. For the price of a x100 sense, you could be buying danger sense and getting more use out of it. There's an equivalent value. Admittedly, I do not think there should be a wide variety of combat effects, but a Rapid Sensed character should be allowed to use his rapid senses IN combat as if he were out of combat. GM:: "PER rolls everyone. You hear a faint whistle on the wind. Oracle, that's an incoming object of at least missile size." Rapid Sight:: Reading Speed. Watching accelerated transmission. Searching an entire room with one PER roll. At the x100-x1000 level you could allow for the character to percieve subliminals in a visual object. Reading the front page of a newspaper in a combat phase. Searching a villain for visible foci in a single combat phase. Watching multiple targets simultaneously. Trailing a target visually and remaining completely cognizant of surroundings. Rapid Hearing:: Listening to speeded tape playback as if it were normal conversation. Listening to a normal playback and picking out background noise (CSI, Sneakers) after one or two passes. (Analyze covers that better, having both would be one pass). Standing in a cocktail party and following multiple conversations. Rapid Smell/Taste:: Well...Wolverine can sort out a ton of odors, but that may be Analyze. I can't think of much for rapid smell that doesn't overlap with Anzalyze. Single phase Anazlye rolls would not be unheard of. Rule of thumb, just allow for 1/10 (100th, 1000th) normal processing time. Rapid Touch:: Read Braille at 10x normal speed? High speed typing? I haven't had extensve thoughts on this yet. Hmmm. Faast and thorough pat downs. Quick analysis of touched objects... Rapid Radio:: x10, rapid search for specific frequencies. Monitoring multiple bands. At x100 you should be able to actively hack cell modems. That shoud be enough to actively penetrate computer networks over direct access, if the login protocols are available. At x1000 I'd allow for actively processing/decoding broadcast information. Rapid Mental:: instant mind reading. High speed telepathic searches and mind scans. x100 should be enough for single phase psychological profiles and city wide searches. In the case of a detect minds power, a single phase should allow for "There are over x people in that building" Rapid Unusual:: Gm's option. Photonics would allow for fiberoptic processing. Analysis of color/structural pictures/media/broadcasts. Nuclear:: Tacking stability of a nuclear pile. Observation of local radiation levels at a glance. Raven's changed his outlook since the last time I played HERO with him. Good job.

We picked up a few DC (and one Indy) starter packs at a closout sale. Currently our miniatures painter is plotting major surgery on a few of them...followed by some paint application. My niece and nephew love the maps...and, like the aforementioned "spatially impaired" GM, I will use them for "off the cuff" battle arrangements. And now I'm off to check out this website...

I think we had a big debate about this months ago..I remember discussing it before. I allow abort to Dispel, and it IS rolled as a Block. It is less abusive than Missile Deflection/Reflection.

I am unfamiliar with the construct Flying Dodge. I have not convinced any of players to purchase a UMA yet...when we want to play high powered or manga/anime martial arts we play Exalted. However, my interpretation of this is that the attacker with the area Effect hits you if you do not move out of the area. The attacker using conventional ranged attacks hits you if his attack roll will successfully connect with the target's adjusted DCV. That's my take on it. No different than a normal Martial Dodge. "He shoots" "I dodge" dice roll OCV 10, DCV 3, rolled an 11...he hit the hex he aimed at. "You're still in the blast radius, you're hit." ALTERNATIVELY, a conventional atack... dice roll OCV 10, DCV 14, rolled an 11 "HE missed completely" The Flying Dodge sounds like it simply adds the Area Effect avoidance..."You flew 6" NE, the blast radius is 5", he missed"

Well, let's see. I guess Hugh has said enough for me. Someone who wants to shield a sense against a Flash attack is going to roll a block against the attack. If successful, I suppose I will need to allow an amount of temporary Flash Defense related to the success of the block roll, AND impose the penalties for voluntarily neutralizing the sense until next action phase. I'm good with that. You need a held action or an abort. Yup. That works for me. 1/2 DCV sounds good. Now I have to work out the amount of defense granted. Allowing a BLOCK to completely stop a ranged attack is counter to the established combat system, so it must therefore grant some amount of temporary defense. 1 to 1 is simply too efficient for those speedsters and martial artists out there. They'd be guranteed at least 4 points versus a standard Energy Projector.

A weak Unluck field would be modelled with the popular Change Enviro. Also the AE, Negative Skill Levels, Used as an attack is valid, though it would hit everyone in the area OR selective target causes the nightmare of rolling to hit everyone. To persist BEYOND the characters immediate area (ie, they are cursed for a certain duration) it would definitely be a Transform adding Unluck dice to the character. . EC:: Causaility Field Change Environment:: "Unlucky Area", Variable Effect, up to -2 PER, -2 OCV/DCV, -2" ground movement Telekinesis (STR 40), No Conscious Control, SFX:: Lucky collapses, falls, slips. Energy Blast (8d6), Indirect, Focus of Oppurtunity. SFX:: falling anvils, glancing shots and other attacks of oppurtunity. Luck, 5d6, AE, Usable by 4 others Suppress (3d6), 0 END, Persistant, AE, Personal Immunity, No Range, Affects All Luck Based Powers linked to Change Environment.

BOSHUDA !! Villain #1:: Drat! He ducked! Villain #2:: Damn! My Plasma Beam hit the Halon Truck! Villain #3:: How the blazes did my lightning bolt ground out on the third rail !! Chorus:: "How could we be so Unlucky!!!" Target Character thinking quietly to himself:: "Gee, awfully lucky of me" Objectively... Luck (5d6); SFX: Opponents are unlucky. I tacked on the AE and Usable by Others to legitamitely cover teammates. Though in our campaing, Cory's decisions on using luck HAVE affected everyone.

Luck (5d6), Area Effect, Usable by X other X is the amount of supporters ytou wish to affect.

Judging by the comics, the Hulk typically dives for cover with his MegaLeap (check out the Mr. Fixit run, or the Hulk vs Thing graphic novel). Guardian (Alpha Flight) dove for cover with his/her MegaMovement also (a nifty Teleport, SFX: Going "at rest" to the Earth's Orbital Velocity. I love Rubber Science) I think you can dive for cover with MegaScale movement, but do not have my book handy. Spidey dives fro cover with swinging if he needs to go further than he can normally jump. I allow Dives with any appropriate movement power...including swinging, leaping and teleport. My speedsters and teleporter were typically built with Movement levels instead of combat levels...and those can be allotted for Dive rolls. I understand also what Metaphysician's question is. It seems counter-intuitive that a character that can cruise at 200mph is restricted to the SAME Dive limits as a character who sprints at 30mph. There is no mechanic for the character with "combat acceleration" to move farther faster when diving for cover. MetaPhysician:: No, I don't like your rules for my normal games. if I ran a high anime / Exalted game, I might use those as house rules for Dive....

ON Aiding Flash Defense Everyone seems to picture DemonSong's Flash as a "thick billowing cloud of tear gas" What if it is simply a mystical and thin acidic vapor that causes the eyes to water, sting, and blur? This necessitates rapid blinking in an attempt to clear the chemicals out of the target's ocular membranes. The smoked lenses obviously protect the eyes by allowing a fluid buildup over the eyee that seals out the vapour. Mystical FD interrupts the magics that hold the vapours before the eyes. Putting your hands in front of your eyes may or may not prevent the vapor effect, depending on whether or not you can create a seal before the vapor gets in. You can have both rulings. NOW...I have a crucial question on the subject of avoiding a flash by shielding the appropriate sense. [b}Will you allow a character WITH Flash Defense to BOOST his Flash Defense by performing the same action?[/b] 1) Single Target Flash attacks:: "I cover my eyes/ears/nose", for a single target effect, what is the absolute avoidance to counting it as a dodge manuever? That characters will complain about "wasting a phase to stop the attack?" then let it hit you. Closing the eyes may be a reflex action, but characters close their eyes briefly ALL THE TIME in response to SFX flashes from EB's and RKA's. Flash attacks are simply strong or long enough to cause sensory overload because reflex time is too "short" to deal with them. Keeping your eyes closed just isn't done in combat... The game mechanic is clearly presented as is. 2) Area Effect Flashes. Characters can dive for cover to avoid them, losing a phase. So, they should be allowed to "cover their eyes/ears/nose" and stay in the area ignoring the effect? I like it as is. Characters that want to "cover their eyes/ears/nose" are literally standing in the area and attempting to ignore the attack. Fine. Buy Flash Defense. it's cheap. Bricks have to pay for the ability to stand and ignore EB's and RKA's, I think that a character should also have to pay for the privilege of ignoring a Flash Attack. Flash Defense is cheap. Cheaper if you allow the limitation of "requires DEX (or PER or Combat Analysis or Power Knowledge) roll to activate" or even "must have prior knowledge of Flash usage" or some such -1/2 limit. I think the breakdown in 5th comes from prior existence of Flash usage. Flash is priced equitably with other powers, both offense and defense. It's a cheap but limited AVLD or Entangle effect. Prior system users are simply not used to thinking that a small Flash attack is dangerous. By the way, House Rule (in 5th also, I believe) is that you cannot Flash a Flashed Target. They cannot percieve the attack...

WooooHooo!!! Someone is putting words in my mouth!! Flame War Flame War !!! No, but seriously. Let's say I purchase FULL invisibility? What allows the character to see me and recognize me? Nothing. There is no book "defense" against Invisibility except enhanced senses beyond the cover capability. Trump Card:: I buy a unique Unusual Sense. What It is the same with Desol, there is no defense beyond the "common special effects." Again; Trump Card:: Affects Desol Power Advantage. It's the same with an EB used against Fully Hardened PD and ED at the Campaign Limit. There is no penetrating combat effect. Trump Card: NND or AVLD Power Advantage For most SFX...aye, there's the rub. So, if I want to be Invisible by nature of a subconscious Telepathy or Mental Illusions effect, I have to buy Telepthy or MI and MAKE it work? I am unable to buy Invisibility, SFX: Psionic Cloak (rock rock rock) ; or +5 DCV, costs END, SFX: Displacer Field? Invisibility blocks PER of the target. Full Invisibility blocks it completely. The basic power description IN NO WAY indicates that EVERYONE will be automatically affected. I do NOT advocate "Invisible to Memory", that IS a Transform attack. "Forget I was ever here" (classic Vampyre line) is a Mind Control effect. Unrecognizability? What's wrong with Invisibility for that? Ye average player cannot break the Vampire "forget command" without Telepathy and a Mind Probe... Invisiblity (Sight, Sound, Smell) - limitation: Invisibility prevents Identification, not targetting. Please note, radio based and unusual senses can identify this character. A character completely immune to identification needs scads of Mental Illusions, to affect ALL senses. This charcter's voice has no identifying feratures, his description is blatantly average, and his scent is so faint it is untraceable. That sounds SO comic book to me. Can Wolverine track him? Possibly, but he'll ne make his PER roll for Tracking scent by at least 10. If it is that big of a gamebreaker, then it can be a -0 limitation. My personal opinion is that If someone tried to make ME buy a flavour power for full price, I'd buy it WITHOUT the flavour limitation, or build a different character.

SomeBody (but I forget who!) posted a really good combat example months ago. I bet you could find it in the archives if you did a search. Try "hero combat example"

PS: Thief uses; Paying Guild Dues on time Accessing Guild records Awareness of whose turf you are on (also a Streetwise thing) Getting support from the guild Knowing where to fence things (also sort of a Streetwise thing) Legends of the local treasures (also a covered by other skills) Casing a place Knowing if the guards may be bribeable. Purchasing thieves equipment Boltholes Taverns to recruit chep muscle Who NOT to rob in town And myriad other uses. Much of what is above overlaps into other skills. PS: Thief AND those skills usually ensures in my game that you only have to roll on one of them. But I play a lot of Exalted, and that has coloured my perceptiuons.

Invisibility works as a model for the same reason as Mental Illusions. It is limited invisibility, after all, I can see the guy, target the guy and shoot the guy...all things invisibility normally helps proterct against. Now, this might sound odd... Invisible (Sight, Sound, Smell), Bright Fringe. Side Effect:: Character can be targetted with no abnormal difficulty, but specific features cannot be identified. Think of it as a Chameleon Invisibility that blends as people, a a character that is a metaphoirical blur. Joe Average. Kind of a concelament in plain sight sort of thing. I'm not messing with the target's MEMORY, I'm messing with his PERception of ME. He remembers seeing me, he simply cannot recall any distinguishing features. No different than the Predator suit chameleon effect, or any other chameleon effect. If his senses operate beyond the normal, then he can spot the "flux in the mophogenetic field" or track my "heartbeat, perspiration, EEG fingerprinting" or my "multidimensional phase variation." Now, Mental Illusions would be required if I effortlesly appeared to be PART of the scene. Invisibility would let me blend in with the VIPER Hit Squad as they fled the scene. MEntal Illusions woul dbe necessary for me to seem to BE A MEMBER of the team. Now, if I coldcock one ot the agents and don his VIPERTech clothes before fleeing with them, my Invisibility Field might help as long as I keep my mouth shut and think quickly.

I think pinecone is on to something here....

There's a "taking damage" rule built into Move-By and Move-Through involving the character doing no knockback, or being unable to penetrate the defence of the object. Break out your book.

It says in one of the books that false memory is a function of Transform, not Mind Control, and this is "sort of" a false memory. Out of Sight, Out of Mind - Invisible to Sight, Soound, Mental Senses, has fringe, (probably bright fringe), affects sentient beings only. SFX:: Character cen be seen, but not be identified. PLUS 6d6 Telepathy, reduced by range, only for conversation. There's also the persistent AE Mental Illusions to appear as someone familiar. Or perhaps, Images or Shape Shift linked with a lack of Control Telepathy. i like the invisibility. Completely removes the need to alter peoples active perception or memories. He's somebody, just not himself...

FlameJet is flying, he will only take damage if he impacts something with BOD+(1/2) DEF > 7. His Plasma Envelope is a 2d6 AP Damage Shield. So Jet actually takes negligible damage from about BOD+(1/2) DEF < 12. His natural PD is 10, and the Plasma Screen does allow for an additional +10 against meltable objects. I don't think Grond is one of those. It will work on walls and such, so he can drop an average of 5d6 normal completely, and up to 10d6 on a lucky day before being dazed. I imagine Grond shrugged off the 7 BODY, 21 STUN Armor Piercing attack. Obviously Grond threw him cause he was HOT though! Someday I'm going to buy that Tunnelling damage shield for this sort of emergency. Jet does need to make a Breakfall roll to hold his orientation, and a Plasma Power roll to fly back to the combat. Lightning:: Grond grabbed him? Lightning's DCV is around 7 when surprised, and about 13 or 14 normally. I think Grond missed. But sometimes lightning taunts people in Spiderman style with Wally West recklessness. If Lightning hits something solid, he's probably paste. 18d6 will leave him with 2 BODY on an average roll, and at GM's option for STUN. (Unless he's really lucky, he does have clinging, so at a good angle he might be able to breakfall vertically) If there is enough space, then he WILL make his Breakfall roll. Picture it as landing and running back around towards Grond.

For heroic level fiction, I use Hit Locations. For supers I'm not sure I like this method. If I shoot someone who has purchased 25 rPD, with a Bazooka round, they are ensured of NO damage. A 4d6 RKA cannot penetrate theur armor, so the STUN multiple is irrelevant.

Going by Golden Age style examples restricts my knowledge base firecely. Let's see... The Human Bomb is a sample tragic Golden Age character who could be a moderate succcess of the program. HE aura or skin converts to concussive force upon exposure to air, so he wears a thick asbestos suit. he is not immune to his own power, but will resurrect some time following the explosion. Hourman's "miraclo" pills were slowly driving him mad, though he was unaware of it. The Avenger had the skin of his face "die" in a chemicla expklosion. I'd say they kept the freaks locked away until they were desperate enough to call upon them. After the war, they were dumped on the piece of rock that the Japanese call "Monster Isle" Wild Cards touches on this too. Croyd Crenson mutates monthly, occasionally into monstrous form, yet always has metahuman STR, DEX, SPD. Golden Boy is mostly invulnerable, doesn't age, has outdated morals, and pretty much no friends. Envoy got away from ther gov and went FAR underground. Black Eagle left the country, permanenetly. Blythe van Rensaeller went mad. Heroes died out with HUAC and the Red Scare. Nobody went public again for years. I think the successes died, or split. how could they be stopped? If the govt thought of that, then likely the govt had to KILL them to prevent them from leaving, "in the issue of national security ma'am."

Dr. A beat me to it. If the perception point is visible, tyhat's a limitation, not Images. Dust Raven...check in either Fantasy or Star Hero...I think Fantasy Hero. Wherever I read it, movign a perception point was also covered.

As stated, the revised Hulk is a super soldier result. Wolverine is part of a super soldier project, but I don't know that he counts. After all, they couldn't duplicate his healing ability to repeat the project...or could they? Could there be a chemical serum that supercharges the human healing system instead of killing the subject? How Nazi superscience. "Yes Fuhrer, we can make more, we require 100 soldiers for each functioning agent, and 1 year" The second Captain America was a psychotic that the serum eventually destroyed. Hmm. Other supersoldier expermiments. Captain Atom from DC was a RESULT of government experiments. Ah. The psychiology of the system should be addressed. The military questing for a supersolder in WW2 lacked "vision", they could only percieve of creating a "better, stronger, faster" soldier that would take orders and could survive things that normal soldiers couldn't. They wanted foot soldiers with the abilities of a tank, and that's what they tried to create. Monsters would be a minor price to pay for an obedient, armored, indestructible soldier. My character Lightning is a "result" of a rogue super soldier experiment. The serum reacted badly with his mutant physiology. his wife and his best friend were killed. He survived, but much changed.

Why even create a Duplicate? If they can't interact with the real world, why not just buy Clairsentience with multiple perception points?

A Transform should not be used to create the snow. That's NOT the power described. That is the special effect of the power. What have we got here? Put out a fire. - I'd allow a snow entangle to extinguish a fire, after all, it can certainly contain it. Area Effect for a large fire. If a 10d6 EB, SFX - Waterblast can extringuish fires, so can the AE Entangle, SFX - Snow. Entertain Children. - The single target Entangle slot OR a small transform. Preserve a Limb. - The GM may not require this. A small Variable Effect transform should be capable of it though. Snow Cones - Again, a single target Entangle slot OR a small transform. Filling the Heromobile with snow - AE Entangle Hasty Crash Pad - Heh. I'm looking at the AE Entangle again... Bank hip deep in snow - AE Entangle Slush left in wake - that's a given. Right under visibility and detectability of poweers" Okay...here are my EC slots:: One small Megascale Change Environment (Falling Snow) One AE Entangle, possibly Megascaled once for a small Area. Possibly not. This Entangle has NO defense...only BODY. This simulates that people can travel through it with enough effort. It also allows fo the "crash pad" effect. One Transform. Broad Group, "Snow Effects" - this will cover the snow cones, the limb, and can even cover a small fire. The AE Entangle can be used on large fires. Other possible power constructs:: Running Drain coupled to the Change Enviro, for the "slightly deep snow, but non-immobilizing snowdrift" AE Suppress - affects all fire simultaneously Dispel EB - only versus fire or water. Instant snow drift. Single Target Entangle - 2 DEF, Large BODY, arctic snowpack.

I like the newspaper method. I put columns in it relevant to their previous game actions also. (When I find the time to make one) Occasioanally I have delivered a lst of "hot internet topics" I also didd the "letters from friends and DNPC's" schtick for one game. The ArchAngel was the worst one, I eventually decided on the Vatican sending a leter of inquiry about his "bloodthirsty nature" Another motivator is to field a group of knowledgable agents into battle, and have these "mooks" temawork the heroes into helplessness. Haul them all off to a DeathTrap. (Maybe seal them in an adamantium walled crate and drop them in the Marianus Trench) If they get out of it, one or two should be motivated into an ongoing search and destroy of the agent group if nothing else. Imagine Batman or Spidey complacently accepting such treatment and returning to the "waiting for the TroubleAlert" Maybe that's why Batman misses so many Justice League shows? "I'm BUSY!"