Christougher

4 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

Impaling: ignores appropriate defense by 1 for each body rolled on the dice per damage class even if not normally counted (such as for Flash or Mind Control). +¼, but +½ for unusual or rare effects.  Hardened Defenses counters this effect.

 

Costing this was tough, because the dice you can get for the cost of the limitation can add up to more effect than the amount Impaled.  And with Armor Piercing now a +¼ advantage, that HALVES defenses.  But half might still be more than your dice of effect, and this guarantees at least some gets through.

Not to say it's a bad idea, but isn't this just a variant of Piercing?  Or using Penetrating to reduce the defense?    

Capped Effect: This limitation limits the maximum impact from a power, relative to the target's abilities.  For a -1/2 limitation, the power's effects apply normally until they reach half the target's ability, then has no additional effect.  Repeated uses of the power do not change the basis for the Capped Effect - it is half of maximum, not half of half.
    (Ex: Speed Limit uses Drain Running 4d6 Capped Effect Half(-1/2) against Anthem (who has 8" Running) for 16 points of effect.  Instead of reducing him to 0" of Running, the Capped Effect can only reduce him to 4" of running.)
    Different levels of Capped Effect can also be taken.  For a (-1/4) limitation the Capped Effect is one quarter of maximum.  For a (-1) limitation the Capped Effect is three quarters of maximum.

Leaky: This -1/4 limitation only applies to defensive powers.  It treats all attacks against it as if they had the Penetrating advantage: The BODY rolled on the attack dice gets through the defense, so the character takes that much effect, plus anything higher than the level of the defense.  If the attack is already Penetrating, the amount penetrated increases by +1 for every die rolled.

29 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I think Ablative deserves a lot of expansion.  Right now its just a simple "gets an activation roll which gets worse" for defenses, but I prefer the idea of it losing power over time although that's more work to keep track of.  And it doesn't have to apply only to defenses.  Your blast could be ablative, getting worse every time its used or when your weapon takes damage.

 

Not being defenses only was in fact one of the reasons for expanding it.

Can't recall how to multi quote at the moment.  The fiction is full of such difficult to heal wounds, but the presence of Aid/Healing/Regen powers versus this advantage needs to be explored.

I suppose expanded versions are allowed as well?  New options on an old standby, Ablative.

Ablative: This limitation covers powers that lose effectiveness, either over time or with repeated damage or use.  The possible effects of Ablation are decreased Activation or Reduction of effect.
    Ablation over Time is a -1/2 limitation if the power ablates every turn, doubled to a -1 limitation if it ablates every phase.  Ablative from Damage is a -1/4 limitation if BODY damage causes ablation, increased to -1 if STUN damage causes ablation.  Ablation with Use is a -1/2 limitation if every successful use causes ablation, or from every unsuccessful use.  This is doubled to a -1 disadvantage if every use (successful or not) causes ablation.
    Ablation by Activation causes the power to acquire a decreasing activation roll with every ablation; if the power Burns Out and cannot be used again until repaired it is an additional -1/2 limitation.  Ablation by Reduction causes the power to lose 1 Damage Class or 5 Active Points with every ablation; each additional loss of power increases the value of Ablative by an additional -1/2 
    Ablative powers may recover by one step per turn, but this halves the value of the Ablation limitation.

    Value    Ablation
    -1/2      over Time (Turn)
     -1         over Time (Phase)
    -1/4       by BODY Damage
     -1         by STUN Damage
    -1/2       successful Use or unsuccessful use
     -1          every Use 

      -           by Activation Roll

    -1/2        Burnout
    -1/2        Additional reduction -1 DC/5 AP

    x1/2        Ablation recovers per Turn

If you're willing to run numbers, how would it work out at 5 AP/2d6 of Dispel? 

11 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

This is assuming someone wants to be king of Florida. I mean, it's Florida.

 

Now if pulling the knife out turned me into Crocodile Dundee, that might entice me.

That's not a knife.  THIS is a knife.

14 hours ago, Bazza said:

Dude, after everything you've posted, you have NO right to this emoji.

16 hours ago, Cygnia said:

All the MCU movies in their VCR dust covers?

Like he said...

4 hours ago, Starlord said:

Two, actually.  Here's your change.  *slice*

On 4/23/2021 at 10:40 AM, Cygnia said:

This one was solved previously.  The Stormtrooper misses, but the redshirt dies anyways.

3 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

Cookies, chips, nachos, a pizza...

I'm on the fence about Hard Light.  What I most want to see in it is the creation of mundane objects, like a chair.  No spoilers please, but is that covered, and how - application of an existing power or a new power? 

On 4/4/2021 at 11:00 AM, Christopher R Taylor said:

I find myself pushing to build many character concepts to the 400 point level; like I have to figure out new stuff for them just to spend enough points.  400+ points feel more like established older characters who have been in the world a long time and have a great deal of experience, filling in gaps, learning to use their powers in new ways, picking up contacts, etc.  If you really want a beginner character (like Superman when he first showed up, for instance) then the point values have to be lower for most character concepts.  If you want a mega character with a huge concept like the Specter or Martian Manhunter, then you need a whale load of beginning points.

There is a great deal of difference between a 300 point character with 100 experience and a 400 point character.

If a character has Duplication and/or Summon (expendable duplicates) in a Multipower, what happens to the additional bodies if the Multipower slot changes to something else?  I checked the rules for Multipower, Summon and Duplication and didn't see a concrete answer.  The Duplication and Summon notes on Adjustment Powers seemed to indicate they would vanish, but an Entangle doesn't vanish if its Multipower slot is switched.  If there are specific rules covering this, please let me know where.

Chris.

If it's the system I'm thinking of, Yes.  Played a convention game where the PCs were Victorian age expies of the Justice League.  Massively entertaining game.  I did like that the rules for breaking a structure were the same rules for hurting a character.  

However, to address the original question of balance:  I have NO idea.  It was probably my first exposure to the system, and I didn't have the rulebook to puzzle that out, or need it to play.

Chris.

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

Geese are unnaturally aggressive.

I'm pretty sure that aggression is perfectly natural.

Recently there was another discussion on Mental Powers, and while this topic touches on that, it's not the same.

Mental powers work until a breakout roll succeeds.

Adjustment powers fade over time.

Damage heals with Recovery (or Regeneration).

Entangles are escaped with applied STR.  

Transforms can end when a condition is met.

Constant powers stop when END isn't paid.

That's six ways to end the effectiveness of an opposing power, each with its own use and circumstances.  Why are they different mechanics - why not use the same one everywhere?  Not to say that any one of these are better than the rest.  Why not give every effect more ways to shut it down?

What options would this open up?  If this could be abused, how would you prevent that?  

Chris.

8 hours ago, Tjack said:

  This is not really a joke, because it actually happened, but it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. 
   Some poor bastid decides to go bungee jumping and have a friend record it. So they go early in the morning and this shmuck is the first one of the day. And I guess somebody must have moved or lowered the crane during the night....not much, just a few feet.

   So Dum-Dum jumps off. (The fact that he jumped off a perfectly good crane is why I call him Dum-Dum) and everything goes to plan...at first.  You can tell he’s thinking,

“This is fantastic!”

“Oh good the bungee is slowing me down now!”

”The ground is getting awfully close!”

The bungee extends all the way to the ground enough to let this guy slap into the ground with his chest and face before bouncing back up.

”OH DEAR GOD THAT HURT!!”  “But I’m alive!” “I’m gonna sue the s#1t outta somebody, but I’m alive! 
As this is happening the bungee has retracted all the way back...and gravity takes over again.

”All right I’m ok and their going to get me loose now....oh no.”

BAM!
This happens FIVE TIMES.

All you can hear on the soundtrack is the crowd screaming and the buddy laughing his ass off.

Were you the dum-dum or the buddy?

I've had similar issues, and some of the conversation hit on my points of concern, but nobody else reached the conclusion I had.

Discussion mentioned a Blast that can inflict a few points of Stun, render the target Stunned or completely Knocked Out.  So why can't mental powers be graded on a similar scale instead of EGO, EGO +10, EGO +20, etc. which generates its own set of discussion.   I'm more partial to EGO levels of effect, describing them like this:

Can't exceed Mental Defense + EGO?  Plink, no effect at all.

Exceed Mental Defense + EGO, you leak a minor effect through - something they wouldn't mind doing anyways.

Exceed Mental Defense + EGO by their EGO, you get a serious effect (the equivalent of Stunning them) - something they are opposed to doing.

Exceed Mental Defense + EGO by double EGO, you get the major effect (the equivalent of a KO) - the things they are violently opposed to, or will die before doing.

We're Starfleet officers.  Weird is part of the job description.

On 2/5/2021 at 2:21 PM, Cancer said:

 

I find myself speculating about which genres would be associated with (a) dental chair, (b) toilet, (c) ejection seat in an aircraft, ....

Rap, rap, and rap.   

Inspired by a post in Funny Pics:

Do you believe in the Bible?

Believe in it?  Hell, man, I've SEEN one!

Two eastern Europeans vacation in the United States.  They look scruffy and rough around the edges, so the bellhop warily asks what he can do for them.  "Me and the Russian would like two rooms please."  The bellhop snidely replies, "It's not 'me an the Russian', use proper grammar."  The customer winces and says, "But every time I say Fukov and I, people attack me."

4 hours ago, archer said:

 

We were throwing hard enough to stick darts in a dartboard rather than throwing as hard as humanly possible.

 

Turns out at that speed, a dart won't even penetrate the skin of your hand and barely stings if the tip hits your hand.

 

That really disillusioned me about the reality of using darts as weapons. 

 

I believe that darts were eventually removed as a weapons type for D&D.

 

To be a little fair, according to one of the D&D books that described weapons, said darts weren't dartboard sized, they were a lot closer to the lawn darts (approx a foot in length) that were eventually banned for people throwing them up in the air and landing on people.