Watchman-BN

Haven't checked this thread in a while, so didn't notice there were several actually helpful replies. Thanks (especially to Lucius who built out the whole power as an example)! Sean, yes, I am looking for a mechanical way to do it, rather than hand-waive/fiat. I don't know that I'm desperate (!) for it, but that is the general expectation at our table. Triggered additional damage is an option, but (1) uncontrolled powers should have some 'reasonably common and obvious' ways to shut them off (rules!) and ( thinking about it, continuing the victim's pain as they get healed seems excessive. I'm mostly looking for a way to make healing qua healing ineffective against specific targets. mrinku, agreed, special effect is important, I'm just not focusing on it here because I was most interested in the naked mechanics. And yes, a transform seems like the kind of effect. In fact, it might be a linked power in his knife. So, as he's doing HKA damage, he is also doing a cumulative transform into <person with power defense only v. healing>. [sidebar: power defense can apply to aid or healing if the character 'wants them to'. This creates an issue for the Villain using a power-bestowed-by-transform. It also brings to mind a question of whether an unconscious/comatose person can 'want to' use Pow Def.] More likely, I'll link Power Defense, Usable as Attack, Persistent, to the HKA. @BoloofEarth had the idea first, I think. Kudos! It stops the healing from working, and doesn't leave me with any dangling rule questions. Yes, it will get dispelled fairly easily and there's another PC who will do that. If I can think of any reason that won't work, then it's back to Extra-dimensional teleport: only to dimension where healing doesn't work on Psycho-villain's attacks. Hey, it's not quite the same thing as hand-waiving the problem!

Hi all, Has anyone created, or know where I can find, a writeup for the Irish hero Dweomer? He's mentioned as an Archmage candidate, but I can't find a 5E or 6E character sheet and suspect I am overlooking it. Or if there isn't a formal writeup, has anyone created their own? Thanks for any help.

Several good options here, thanks! -Some sort of damage to the victim on a trigger seems like it would work, but it's an awkward mechanic to represent non-healable damage. I do like the idea of "oh my God, the wounds are re-opening" and "if I try to heal him, I might kill him". interesting RP options there. -Power Def, usable against others, only vs. healing seems to work mechanically. Giving it to dozens of victims, more or less permanently, seems problematic. -Transform is probably the best option. Villain transforms victim into injured person with a missing limb. The way to heal it back is....something, based on special effects. Any other ideas? Would a 6e Negation power (triggered) or permanent suppression field (suppress healing) work? That way, the PC could offer some slight healing, especially if they push their power. This might be the equivalent of 'making the patient more comfortable." I'm mostly trying to stop full healing and limb regrowth.

...a psychotic villain who has a compulsion for inflicting pain, but has a total code against killing. I would like to play up the crazy element of this villain by having him harm NPCs in a Joker-esque manner. Further imagine that one of the heroes has healing that can heal limbs on others. That is, there is no harm the villain can inflict that can't be undone by a roll or two from the hero. Is there there a way to buy damage (transform?) that is hardened against healing? Any way to prevent healing from restoring limbs and/or restoring all stun and body, at least, short of GM fiat?

Re: House rules for Comliness - critique, please Here's an interesting scenario to run through this matrix: My campaign has a powered armor hero who has a physical limitation that he shocks people when he makes skin-to-skin contact. For this and other reasons, the character is rarely out of his powered armor. (Yes, this reduces the value of the disad and limits his roleplay options.) The character sheet obviously has a comeliness score, but the character's looks and even his voice--because of a suit voice modulator--are non-factors during almost all interactions. I suppose we could say his armor is "pretty", but that seems...odd. What would you do? Give him a limitation on his COM? And yet, there have been times when the NPC's see him out of his armor and surprised to see that he has lovely eyes and a kind smile, etc. So his char score is a real, vital thing to the character. How I've handled COM Depending on the interaction, I'll add modifiers or dice, or both, and usually also alter the pre-disposition to the NPC. I emphasize COM specifically because I think munchkins de-emphasize it and it is rewarding to see their failed interaction attempts with the alien princess while the pretty boy can succeed with much less effort.

Re: New to Hero Hello friend, and welcome. First suggestion: separate the character creation rules from the combat rules. Trying to build a minmaxed/munchnik/powergamed character, given all the combat rules and character creation options might be the overwhelming part. Its comparable to creating level 40 gestalt characters with elite prestige classes as your first D&D character. Second suggestion: focus on a concept, not the rules. The raison d'etre for Hero is to be your toolkit. Come up with the idea of the character you want to play, then work in to building him/her/it. It is much easier to approach the toolkit with question like "what sorts of skills would my ranger-type character have?" or "how do I represent a cone of frost spell?" Also by having a concept first, you'll more likely have a well rounded character, with skills, perks, abilities and disads. Third suggestion: give yourself and your group room to have fun. Since the rules cover not just magic but super science and powers-beyond-mortal-ken, they can be...complex (yes there are rules for an offhand shot with an unfamiliar weapon in zero G while blinded but using mystical sense on a non-mystical target who is moving at a greater relative velocity to you and partially covered by mismatched armor and a low wall and a semi-reliable protection spell... but you don't have to know those day 1). Give the GM room to hand waive "sounds like a minus 3, if you make your dex roll", and you'll enjoy the journey to those arcane rules. If you think I'm exaggerating, note how many times in the core rules (let alone the FAQ) the authors say a rule is "up to GM discretion". My last suggestion will be more controversial: don't base your first campaign on the standard point totals (e.g. 350 pts for supers). Give your players a few more points to play with (but give them all the SAME points. ). This removes some of the angst of "I want that ability but can't afford it." and the ticky-tack arguments of "Not vs. Trolls is worth a -1/2 limitation, not -1/4!" Yes, you will overpower the Out-of-the-book monsters/villains a bit, but that will be mitigated because you aren't taking advantage of all the half move, held phase, multiple attack, abort to dodge and turn on a forcefield rules.

Re: Suppress CSL I could probably turn this into a question in the rules forum. I think there's a fair argument that CSL's should be susceptible to adjustment powers since they mimic stats/powers which *are* drainable. But, there's plenty of others who can take up that banner if they want to. Ironically, I'm normally the 'letter of the law' rules guy when I read those threads. What I find really interesting is the reaction to the very idea of draining CSL's. Maybe a couple of people came to the thread after being in the "you know you're a bad GM thread" and they had more spleen to vent. Still, I can hardly conceive of players having that reaction. I do realize that experiences and players vary, but someone who would be upset by suppress CSL to the point of leaving a game over it (!) seems like the sort of person who would go nuts at any 'unusual' power, bent rule, or by being put at any disadvantage or situation where they can't just 'bash dat bad guy with my awesome list of powerses'. The list of things must be quite long that a GM "ought not" do "to" those players. (For I've no doubt the 'adventures' are "done to them, and they feel victimized by the villainous GM and react to the scenario as something being inflicted on them rather than a story they're participating in.) So, no transporting to a magical realm where the blaster guy's laser rifle becomes a magic bow and the PoweredArmor character gets a set of plate mail. I paid points for a blaster, dammit! Likewise, no villain using a shrink ray to make all the characters small, to the point where the 5d6RKA is proportionately weaker and barely enough to fend off a hungry cat. How dare you intentionally humilate me! And it seems as if every scenario would play out as a contest between skillful writeups of character sheets (who happen to have a name at the top of the page), not as interactions of real people who happen to have great powers, and the great responsibility to match. So, no, Metaphysician, those aren't my players and that isn't my game. I'm much more aligned with the half-dozen folks who would 'hand-wave' it, house rule it, or use optional rules, in order to not let the mechanics get in the way of an interesting idea. I do take your warning to heart, but it mostly makes me appreciate my guys even more. Of course, if I'm wrong, there will be some folks posting on the Player Finder board soon with the message "looking for a game in Denver without a sumunabtch railroading GM..."

Re: Suppress CSL Well, 3 cheers for consistency. I think this is the 3rd time in a row I've asked for input on how to do something, to get 50% replies saying 'here's how I would do it' and the other 50% saying 'don't do it' (railroad GM, abuse, against the rules, and so forth). So, 3rd time in a row: thanks to those who offered help. You allowed me to clarify in my mind why I was approaching it a certain way. To extend the other side of the conversation a bit (for those who are interested), here's a few observations during my lunchbreak: 1) People don't seem to mind turning heroes into Frogs or Statues and the like (Transform), but removing their CSL's by the same mechanic sets off warning signs?!? Is it really your opinion that players are fine with being frogs or puppets (or cursed with unluck, or pick any example of a transform in or outside the book ), but you temporarily mess with my CSL's and you're a goshdarned railroad GM! ? 2) The same idea applies to Dex/Speed/Ego drain. I can turn the players into gibbering piles of goo with -30 stats. But, if I leave them unscathed, save for missing their CSL's, that screams abuse and railroadiness? The only way I can parse that logic is because the former is explicitly (extensively) covered in the rules and the latter is explicitly forbidden. The defenses are the same (power defense), the mechanic is the same, but the impact to the heroes is much worse for a dex drain, because all their dex based skills are tanked, they go more slowly compared to the villains, and eventually have to make dex rolls to even move. 3)Other methods don't have the right special affect for what I want. To make a Meta (temporarily) more normal: Drain dex: disproportionately affects the bricks and the speedsters/martial artist. Doesn't normalize them in any meaningful way. Change Environment: Penalizes those who don't have CSL's (extra training or skill in combat) as much as those who don't. Negatively affects the cops in the fight and the laser rifle with a targeting scope as much as it does the Metas...unless I complicate things with Selective. Dex Aid, targeted at the villain team, with limitations such that it only provides OCV/DCV in the amount needed to offset the heroes CSL. That's close, but a bookkeeping and mechanics mess, and also makes the villains more difficult to hit even for normals. Negative Levels Very close here (Thanks Tancred!), although I'd want to add a limitation that it can only add Negative levels up to the amount the PC had positive ones. By the time you have a ranged, targeted, relatively long lasting ability to remove CSL's that doesn't otherwise affect a character, you're pretty much talking about a suppress CSL power, though. But, yeah, its in the rules, so that's good. 4) A partial metagame argument: I do understand that you 'can't drain skills because its too efficient.' That puts CSL's in a weird place. They act as a proxy for Dex, which other skills don't do (the most obvious exception is MA damage classes which partially proxy for Str). And, they have a direct, exclusive, non-ambiguous effect on attack roll resolution, which is otherwise the domain of powers (or talents). So they are a combat mechanic, and act more or less like power or stats, but cannot be affected by adjustment powers.

So...imagine I were creating a villain whose shtick was making superheroes more "normal" and less super. Lets further imagine the villain has some adjustment powers of various kinds. What would you do for a suppress of Combat Skill Levels? It is a single 'entry' in the book and, one could argue, a single 'special effect' of being good/practiced at combat (assuming the levels aren't bought through a focus, etc.). One could alternately argue that each kind of CSL (2/3/5/8/penalty) is a different power. Or, one could argue that there are a brazilian 'special effects' for CSL's and so the villain will need to buy variable affect plus variable special effects at the least. My take: While I have some sypmathy with those who would respond "Damn, that's a powerful ability and should be hella expensive", realize I could accomplish the same thing and much more by targeting dex. But, I don't want to make the characters slower and more clumsy (not with this power at least). I want them to be more normal and less great at combat. So, how would you buy such a power? Transform PC to PC-without-CSL's is certainly one option. That seems like overkill if the person has only one three point level, and too powerful for the skill master who still should have some CSL's while facing the villain. Mind Control to make them forget they have the CSL's? Or, would you be ok with Suppress CSL working against all (not bought through foci) CSL's?

Re: Transform on 0 Body things I never did like the XDM solutions. Annoy the Hero: (Total: 72 Active Cost, 56 Real Cost) Cosmetic Transform 1d6 (Memories of PC's name into 'Stinkybutt', Heals back when character shouts, "I am a stinkybutt"), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1), Area Of Effect (128" Radius; +2 3/4) (24 Active Points) (Real Cost: 24) plus Cosmetic Transform 1d6 (Written records of PC's name into written record of name as 'Stinkybutt"), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1), Area Of Effect (128" Radius; +2 3/4) (24 Active Points); Linked (Transform; -1/2) (Real Cost: 16) plus Cosmetic Transform 1d6 (Data/Electronic records of PC's Name to Altered name 'Stinkybutt'), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1), Area Of Effect (128" Radius; +2 3/4) (24 Active Points); Linked (Transform; -1/2) (Real Cost: 16) 6 Endurance Thus, everyone in the world, who doesn't have powerdefense, and the majority of records of any kind would show the new name. Or, just make it penetrating since memories don't have much body, only 1 pip needs to get through... I wouldn't normally allow a 'memory' transform, but since this can be healed back so easily, it fits a Mister Mxyzptlk type mode. And it fits in with other such powers, e.g. giving the character a tail and donkey ears.

Reading through the rulebook about transforms I came upon a question. In a section on transforming things that 'don't really have body' the example of 'writing on a page' was used. So, imagine I have a cosmic trickster type of villain who wants to change a PC's name. Cosmetic Transform: PC's Name to "Stinkybutt", 1d6. I guess this makes sense, in that characters with Power Defense could be said to be 'grounded in the world' and thus more resistant to suddenly being called Stinkybutt. On the other hand, you might have to buy it NND? Defense is having a 8- reputation or +30 XP's? Dunno. The Cosmic Trickster would just about die laughing when all the normals start shouting, "Look up in the sky! It's Stinkybutt!" Or when the UNTIL liason greets the characters with "The world is in jeopardy; Defender and Stinkybutt, we need your help!"

Re: Brainstorming assistance -- SFX Sean, you're dead wrong on the UAA Clinging but the fire/plasma thing makes sense. Rather than change how fire works all around (if I pull a fire character out of a supplement, I don't want to have to remember the limitation), I may just use the UEB discussion on Force Walls and SFX to say "its transparent to energy attacks that don't require a physical presence". It's a similar logic to letting a FW stop an NND defined as a 'poison tipped dart'. Comic, buddy, your post was very, very helpful and shamed me into consulting my UEB. I don't really do the Rep thing on the boards, but can I give you an A+++ would consult on SFX again! rating?

Re: Brainstorming assistance -- SFX Thanks DS and Tonio! The particle shield might just work; it sounds just scientific/justifiable enough to pass the smell test. FWIW, the polarized lens was something I thought of, but I couldn't explain why it would be transparent to a fire blast (for instance). Maybe a polarized particle field becomes a Polaron field. It allows all energy through, but bright light is muted passing through it....

You all are a treasure chest of great ideas, so I'm hoping you can help with this idea that has me a bit stumped. Assume a supers/champions campaign. Assume one of the characters wants a force wall that provides PD and Sight Group Flash Defense, but is transparent to energy. Assume I'm going to allow the power (big assumption). I'd prefer not to 'hand wave' the SFX ("it's cosmi-magi-mutant energy from dimension X...and aliens...with quarks"). So, any reasonable SFX for that build that you can conceive, heroes?

Re: Balancing Duplication Two categories come to mind (pick two from column A and 2 from column B, season to taste): Mechanical -Limit the points of the duplicates -Limit the numbers of duplicates -Be ruthless with combat from the perspective that the player must be ready each phase to explain what all duplicates do; otherwise they just stand there. -Apply find weakness (etc.) to all duplicates if acquired on one. -Require limitations on the duplication like side effects, slow recombine, feedback, etc. Gamecraft Things we have done or I'm planning to do: -EVIL DUPES: some radiation accident creates extra duplicates, and something is wrong with them... the dupes are evil, the dupes slowly replace the good dupes, etc. -SOLO DUPES: some radiation accident creates an extra duplicate who isn't part of "the collective". The dupe isn't evil, but their experiences, knowledge, etc., start to bleed into the psyche of the other dupes. That dupe may get captured, injured, etc. (combine with 'feedback' mechanic above). -DEAD DUPES DON"T COMBINE: don't knock out duplicates, kill or capture them more routinely than you might with other heroes -YOUR BLASTS MEAN NOTHING TO ME: have lots of adventures decided by effectiveness, not battle prowess. The extra points spent on Duplication help in combat, but they don't do squat for perks, skills, etc. that can help win the day. -YOU! STAY BY THE HORSES. YOU! TEND THE FIRE.: come up with uses for the duplicates that make the player/PC important, but don't imbalance combat. Examples include: leave one duplicate with an important NPC to guard her; leave a dupe at the base to monitor communication; have the dupes split up to search for a clue, but only allow one of them to find anything important, etc. -A TEAM OF THEIR OWN: don't allow duplicated and mindlinked characters to be a part of a team mindlink. Or, if they try, make it clear to all players that the extra chatter is incomprehensible to the team (e.g. which dupe is saying "help me, I'm being attacked!"? or all of them thinking it at once??) It surprising how not being mindlinked to the team makes a PC less effective than those who are mindlinked. -SILLINESS: Allow persuasion of one dupe to affect all others (see my pointless thread below)