Farkling

I like the DF model because there are other "things" which should easily detect the immortality. Perhaps even a blood test. I remember Corwyn of Amber telling a doctor something like, "I can take any blood, but mines a real rare type, treat it as AB- if you need to give it to someone else." I've often wondered if that was the blood type least likely to be saved and used in a transfusion according to Corwyn's education... The Highlander models for Mage (and White Wolf in general)also lend themselves to the DF approach, since most of the mystical sources can identify there is something decidedly different about Highlanders. Mageblood is liked by vampyres for richness of flavor, but wereblood is powerful, intoxicating and produces addictive desires along with berserker tendencies. I can't remember if Highlander blood is strange in the movie or TV mythos. In a HERO universe I would want those markers percievable. Maybe not to an average blood test. But I WOULD wan't educated sorcerors, vampires, and even weretypes to find the blood unusual. Maybe DF: Blood of Power would be a more appropriate descriptor, but True Immortal covers that and a few other things.

Personally, I just treat every five points as a doubling in the straight characteristics...so...10 is a normal human, 10-15-20-25-30...25 is 8x, 30 is 16x, so 10x is about 26-27. That grants 10x human reflexes. figured characteristics require different considerations. for 10 times human actions, I picture about 5 or 6 SPD myself...just for feel and ranking. The combat figured characteristics are much closer to point by point for doublings, so human has SPD 2 - we consider 3,4,5,6 for 5 = 8x, and 6 = 16x. So I guess SPD 5 by that reasoning... Flash style refelxes include both SPD and Powers, thus allowing the 100x human speed. You could also consider adding 10x Rapid onto all your senses too. Just my two cents.

I see no reason it is not a Distinctive Feature... It is no more point mongering than Distinctive Feature Mutant, and detectable by the same kind of restriced sub-group. simply Vampyres instead of Radical Anti-Mutant Crusaders. Distinctive Feature: True Immortal It would apply to mystical detectors other than vamps I'm sure. Sorcerors and the like.

Dissertation time !! A 12d6 Normal attack is only marginally less lethal than a 3d6 Killing Attack to normal people. Consider a 3 or 4 rolled on each die: 12d6 N => 12 BODY, 36 STUN to 12 BODY, 48 STUN 4d6 KA => 12 BODY, 24 STUN to 16 BODY, 48 STUN What's the difference to a normal person? Normal - PD 2 takes 10 BODY 34 STUN up to 10 BODY 46 STUN Killing - PD 2 takes 12 BODY 24 STUN up to 16 BODY 48 STUN Both are dead, the question is how many seconds they have to live. Knockback will kill the one hit by the killing damage. Normal - PD 4 ranges 8 BODY 36 STUN up to 8 BODY 44 STUN Killing - PD 4 ranges 12 BODY 24 STUN up to 16 BODY 48 STUN Both are dead. If the normal attack has the knockback damge reduced the victim might live, but will be hospitalized for months healing back to 10 BODY. At human maximum Normal - PD 10 ranges 2 BODY, 26 STUN up to 2 BODY 28 STUN Killing - PD 10 ranges 12 BODY, 24 STUN up to 16 BODY, 48 STUN Ah...now it matters. The SWAT cops and SEALs are just as dead as the average human, instead of getting up within a few minutes. However, te SWAT cops and SEALs wear armor. Especially around metahumans that are utilizing obviously lethal abilities. Lets look again, with their resistant defenses in place. Hmm...how about Resistant Defenses of 3 or 6. Let's look at both bonus armor and simply resistant. Normal PD 10/3 - 2 BODY, 26 STUN to 2 BODY, 38 STUN . PD 13/3 - 0 BODY, 23 STUN to 0 BODY, 35 STUN Killing PD 10/3 - 9 BODY, 14 STUN to 13 BODY, 38 STUN . PD 13/3 - 9 BODY, 11 STUN to 13 BODY, 35 STUN Normal PD 10/6 - 2 BODY, 26 STUN to 2 BODY, 38 STUN . PD 16/6 - 0 BODY, 20 STUN to 0 BODY, 32 STUN Killing PD 10/6 - 6 BODY, 14 STUN to 10 BODY, 38 STUN . PD 16/6 - 6 BODY, 8 STUN to 10 BODY, 32 STUN Hmm....that difference is enough to give a whole new respect to the T-101's shooting prowess... "They'll live." Seriously, if you analyze those numbers, add add in average knockback, the normal attacks won't kill anyone, but the victims will remain unconscious far longer than the survivors of the killing attacks. Anybody remember Wolverine cuting up those guys at the Hellfire Club? They lived...and someone rebuilt them...cyborg survivors of his attacks kind of became a theme in his stories. So, mechaincs demostrate that the only REAL difference in lethality of the killing attacks is in WHO dies waiting for paramedics and WHO dies en route to the hospital. Once we start factoring in resistant defenses from vests and the like, its quite easy to see why the cops would slowly get angry with these heroes...those KA's are quite capable of shredding their armor and killing them on a solid hit. Additionally, the heavily armored humans who get hit once and do NOT get taken down by the STUN lotto will quite likely DIE with the second shot. Personally, I think that is part of the game mechanic for the stun lotto...if you get a bad stun roll or two, you can concievably kill your target by accident with repeated shots. Now against HEROes...it is FAR more likely that targets will simply be blasted unconscious than killed by a normal attack. On a side note; excepting Wolverine, most X-Men and Avengers and FF members pulled their punches steadily, thus the repeated training sessions. They were capable of those full power all out attacks, and trained trained trained to hold back the BODY damage.

About the poor hopping apprentince... The mill I saw in England...(I think it was somewhere between Alconbury and Cambridge...we found it on one of ourt bicycle tours)...that mill had a seperate small trough coming off the top of the water wheel to drip river water onto the blade as it spun. For a more industrial approach to medieval application, you should see if the local library/used bookstores have copies of Leo Frankowski's Crosstime Engineer series. There are some excessively interesting engineering design approaches to medieval costruction materials at ThreeWalls.

Can I site Anita Blake as a Sword n Sorcery hero? Or Harry Dresden? Actually, Michael from Dresden's books was interesting...I really wanted to see him get a story of his own...well, the latest touched on that some.

Forget the complicated stuff... 6" Running = 12 character points. 0 END (+1/2 Advantage) => 12 Points * .5 = 6 pts cost. Active Cost is 12 + 6 = 18. 50 STR at 0 END = 50 pts * .5 = 25 pts. Active Cost = 50+25 = 75 45 DEX with +1 Advantage = 45 * 3 = 135 cp * 1 = 135 pts. Active Cost is 135+135 = 270. 100 END with a +1/2 advantage = 100*.5 = 50 cp * 1/2 = 25 pts.Active = 50 + 25 = 75 AP. Get my drift?

Bloat seems more of a plot device than an actual character... I think he'd be the most expexsive for sure...I'd certainly reread that book if I was considering it. I was particularly fond of the Ace that was Monroe's bodyguard in Card Sharks...he was comfortable with his abilities and had that "detective" aura...

Heh heh heh. Boarding shuttles. 10d6 Suppress versus Force Field...only affects field immediately surounding shuttle craft. And for the hull....1" Tunnelling through DEF 25...Armor Piercing.

EDM:: Move PC to the Matrix When a character arrives in the Matrix, he assumes the mantle of his (350pt) Matrix character. He retains much of his personality, but presentation can be very different, as a Matrix character is able to achieve some wish fulfillment. As a special perk, characters may buy a 15 point Talent, Eidetic Reflexes; which allows for download of certain skills from the operator at contact points. These skills will be downloaded at the 'expert' level of a 14- roll, which cannot be modified by character skill levels or bonuses. There. That should cover it.

200 points seems right to me. Limit the amount of powers a character can have..Tachyon and Tommy are definitely not designed as PC's, and are more apporpriate for actual Champs Campaigns. Restrict Elemental Controls completely Severely Question Multipowers. Don't forget to engineer the "realism" that wildcards has...the only "true blue" super in the game is probably the Turtle, and HE is socially dysfunctional. Samples:: Billy Ray has speed, slightly parahuman strength, and karate...plus his regeneration...and very little else other than attitude and guts. The Harlem Hammer has PD, maybe ED, and STR. Tachyon has an EC or Multipower with Mental Abilities. Shadow has Darkness, and a ranged power transfer Wraith has Desol...perhaps with "Usable against Objects" in a pinch, or an additional desol that affects the real world...and no other powers. Tommy has a Telekinetic Multipower or EC of phenomenal level for the wild cars universe. Tripps (the Multiformer) obviously spent damn near all of his character points on the Multiform. JJ Flash is an EC Flame Projector, Aquarius a mild brick with shape shift (or his own Multiform) and tremendous swimming speeds, the martial artist has metahuman damage absorbtion and an invisibility in darkness, Cosmic Weenie has shape shift and desolid. Croyd Crenson...is a Varaible Power Pool, and a few fixed settings...STR, DEX...PL: Occasional Joker Aspects Brennan has skills, combat training, zen, and a small multipower for his bow. Golden Boy is off the scale too, but doable...PD/ED, STR...and that's about it. No real movement ability. A LOT of skills though...look at his manuevering during the political debates. He's just a rotten detective.

FlameJet:: Whips out cell phone. "Jackson, I've got another woman from the clerical pool with a mystical infection. What the hell is going on at the office? Do we need to relocate again? Or is the damned safe room leaking energy again? I knew we needed to put those things in seperate locations and seperate confinement systems. Call that little geek at Miskatonic University and tell him to come pick these damned things up. I'll build them a new library." Lightning would never have had to chase a wolfman through the park unless it had superspeed...Lightning would be spraying it with molten silver...and be very perturbed when it turned out to be one of the kids from the orphanage...lycanthropy is supposed to require puberty to have set in...

Lightning:: These guys are all pretty true blue, if it was Jake the Rain God though, Lightning would grab him from behind and hold him until the electron instability drained Jake's STUN away...he can't use winds at close range, and Lightning's electron field blunts lightning bolts tremendously. if it was Gralcore...well....he'd point out to the villain that every hostage death will shorten his life expectancy, after all, immortal gargoyles stay mad a REALLY long time... FlameJet:: Melt the idiot to the pavement with a plasma beam and ignore the complaints about the pain. Then he'd turn back to the villain and ask for his list of demands. If reasonable, he'd see if they could be met. If political, see option b. If someone tries to use restraints or power dampers on ole Jet, he'll cut loose with plasma beams on the force wall/building and mentally promise the life insurance payouts for the hostages will be large. He's a believer in the "no terrorists standing" rule himself, AND he has a large (re)construction company.

And don't forget...if this is a SUCCESSFUL tabloid outfit, have them offer a large reward for information leading to the capture of the hero...justifies all those people whipping out cell phones...and supervillains like money too. You can also (if the tabloid is typical "if it bleeds it leads" media), have them publish ANY stories about his actions...even 'false' testimony from crackpots appearing on the TV show. "I'm having Zeroman's love child, he raped me not three months ago after he stopped the robbery in Atlanta" - (woman is actually pregnant, but from a mental ward)

Call the team. Count the socks. If the number is even, charge through the vortex before it collapses. (Rapid Sight, x100) (Overconfidence) (SuperSpeed)

I like that puddle idea...I'm going to abscond with it. Multiform Puddle Reversion...no useful characteristics...fluidic Desol....some defense against things the Desol doesn't shield from...and a big pile of Regeneration... Let's see, we can leave the STUN and END totals at base, or make them real big. Real big may be better, and then apply physical limitations for "Puddle", give the form no REC...and follow that by Susceptible to Existing for a few dice...when the form shifts back, the END and STUN loss come with it and wipe out the main form...hmmmm. I like it. Except it will revert when wiped out...better choice may be to put the rider on the Multiform...character has 1 STUN and 1 END after Multiforming, and perhaps an automatic shift on the puddle form. My players smashed the T-101 during the first gaming session...it's about time GENOCIDE upgraded the opposition.

And on the flip side of that...a trained dog reacts faster than a cat, within the realm his training applies to he will exceed the cat response. I have friends with some very friendly and lovable and well behaved dogs, but as far as it goes the cats ARE more observant, they react faster and process a shade more quickly. And so far as PER and INT rolls go...they have the same number. So what's the complaint that cats are slightly smarter? Are you a dog person? My cat can catch bugs and lizards easily, both critters that easily evade dogs. And as to the DEX...my cat reacts faster and more quickly than I do, even if I am prepared and warned. That is not just raw DCV...and if you remove the DEX, then you need to grant the cat some levels with its claws...or it will never hit the eyes, tails, and wings it is so fond of...no targetting ability. And also it's ability to pull it's punches, which it uses when you play...it knows hurting you is a bad idea for its day. Ability to be trained and learn tricks is NOT to be confused with intelligence. A horse or a congressional committe can be trained to perform some pretty complex tricks, but I still think the dog is a much smarter creature. The cat is psychologically incapbable of following instructions and training...THAT is why those stats are less meaningful. If you Summon a cat, you can remove the pesky limitations and not need to lower any statistics. Additionally, if you use the disadvantages as discounts, what about those creatures with negative costs? I can summon an infinite number of them? Or do I simply get the first 8 to 16 of themfor free, until the Summon begins to cost points? I know, I know, it always costs one point...that's the game interpretation...but so is the write up.

And I lean towards the area Danger Sense still. Even Glass's description sounds like Danger Sense. The rest is all special effects. "If a character makes his danger sense roll by half, he is aware of the source of the danger and may launch an attack against the source" Sounds like what Brucie did in the movie...just needs a little leeway in GM interpretation.

But cats are predatorial combat monsters... Combat Monsters are ALWAYS more expensive in HERO

farik? When was the McGuffin device passed along to you? I had custody of one until about 1990...but haven't needed it since...

And with twists on Lord Liaden's choices as full powers, depending on your gaming style... The souped up version is a full fledged detect range power, or a full fledged gravitic (unusual) sense with tscope and a good PER roll. Wish I had thought of this...it seems to me there would be a Detect in here too...Detect Celestial Bodies, Range, Discriminatory, Megascale...reading the planetary alignments from the ground... Oh...that's a good one. Detect Location on Planet, Sense, Discriminatory.... heh heh heh.... He can't get lost. Navigates the world by innate knowledge instead of maps... Add: KS:: Planetary Locations (14-) ... If you fly or Superleap, you have most of that covered. also STR only for use against restraints/entangles. Or a BODY Drain Damage Shield that only affects restraints and entangles. "modulation of gravity waves in the local area will cause microfractures within any structure closely applied to a large area of my body" Or TK to that effect...actually, 10 STR TK with "whole object" would be a nifty flavor power...he just gravitically "pulls" things to himself. TK without the whole object and with the fine manipulation adder lets him pick locks AND crush small objects with a graivtic anamoly. I like that. A powered version....hmmm....not sure. Probably a small teleport effect with a usable against others advantage. Oh yeah...and the niftiest small portable gravitic power... Clinging, Usable by Others (flavored as you like with END, Range, multiple targets) The character can alter the local gravity field, allowing he and his friends to defy the law of gravity. Edit:: typos and BODY Drain.

If you are a superhero gamer at this time, or a comic reader, I would actualy recommend the Until Database over Conquerors, Killers and Crooks. you may not have a lot of use for the Champions Universe as built, depending on your favorite comc flavor... But everything Monolith said is true.

Spatial Awareness, Gravitic based... "There's am incredibly large cavern below the basement and a firepole behind that bookshelf." Let's see....oddball stuff.... High Range Radio Hearing, (Gravitic Modulation) Mind Link (x people), OIF - Gravitic Modulator. Targets must also have Gravitic Modulators (-1/2). He can pipe gravitic signals to recievers... Clairsentience, Gravitic Sense Group He can "read" the gravity waves in locations at a distance. Baseline Detect Mass, Megascaled.

My cat has climbed up on top of the apartment building and back down with no problem. He also has never gotten stuck in any of the trees... As to 1" leap versus 2" leap, I've seen cats make vertical jumps higher than my head, large dogs only appear to jump that well with a long running start. If the dogs could jump that well, they'd follow the cats up the trees.

xd6, RKA, 1-Hex Area, Reduced Penetration Also buy the Rapid Fire skill so you can shoot it twice.