Hugh Neilson

Re: DEX vs. CSLs

Re: Things a wise super hero should NEVER say "What's the worst thing that could happen?" Whether in the game or in real life, you're generally about to find out...

Re: What super hero concepts would you like to see more of? But how are these issues resolved in-game? "Make your Science: Biochemistry roll" is hard to get as excited about as a combat encounter. And it's tough to use good tactics against germs.

Re: Introduction Actually, we're a pretty nice bunch here. I've been involved in some fairly heated discussions, and I'm certainly among the "taxct challenged" , but I can't ever recall seeing a real flame on the game-related boards. Family gaming... well, my wife, my brother and I all game, as does my son's godfather, and a family friend with a child about a year older, so I'm hopeful.

Re: DEX vs. CSLs Bnakagawa sums it up. 3 point levels are either going to apply to Martial Arts or (Martial) Block & Missile Deflect, not both. "Merge" is a clumsy was of saying I don't think Missile Deflect uses Martial Block just because I buy Martial Block, although I'd probably let it for a 1 point "weapon Element" equivalent. But I'm a big softie

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing? I'll start with YMMV... An RPG is a shared storytelling experience. Player input is important. GM input is important. Now, are we really playing the Supers genre if we DON'T have at least one occurence of "Everything I knew about myself is WRONG"? This has been a classic for too many years to just throw away. My players love it when their backgrounds get expanded - it's an opportunity to role play. Often, they leave little hooks to be exploited in just this fashion. Two current examples - the mystic gem powered Brick found the gem, and flagged this as "he's not sure where it came from - GM's option, but he does not presently know". The synthetic man who has no idea who created him (though his first memories, infiltration of a political office to perform an assassination, gives a clue as to why).

Re: DEX vs. CSLs

Re: Introduction Welcome. As a long-time gamer, but a relatively recent Board poster, I'm happy to advise that this is a very friendly group (even if they sometimes may respond with a bit of sarcasm). I've never seen any question go by without some helpful responses. As a father, I'm jealous - my little guy is two, so it will be a while before I'm in your fortunate position. {He sure likes playing with the dice, so I have high hopes...

Re: Active Defense Rolls The d20 system has no active defense roll. Instead, one is assumed to always roll a 10. One optional rule suggested is to have an AC of d20 + modfifiers, rather than 10 + modifiers. To aply the same logic to Hero, simply have the attacker roll 3d6 + OCV, and the defender roll 3d6 plus DCV. If the attacker's roll beats the defender's, he hits. As noted above, however, this just adds one more roll into every attack. It aoso enhancesthe randomness of combat, which you can decide is a good thing, or a bad one.

Re: Things a wise super hero should NEVER say A very heroic Paladin. May he war in Valhalla for eternity!

Re: Too many stats in Hero I've sliced up Zornwil's post above - apologies if that takes it out of context. I agree with everything said above. And yes, like Zornwil (I believe) I have a problem with a player who sells back 5 points of PRE and them plays him as eloquent and persuasive, expecting to offset the drawbacks of his character design CHOICE by role playing the character as something he is not. If your character has a 5 PRE because he is shy, I expect him to be played as shy. If he has a penalty to interaction skills because he is gruff and abrasive (a disadvantage), I expect him to be played as gruff and abrasive. In both cases, the character obtained points for accepting a limitation - now PLAY the limitation. A character's drawbacks are every bit as much a part of the character as his strengths. So make wise tactocal choices - let the 23 PRE act as spokesperson and avoid that role as much as possible. But don't expect you can role play your way to the same advantages as a 23 PRE character when the guy who spent thoise extra 18 points isn't there to negotiate for you. He doesn't get +8 STR and 3 levels in HTH when you're not there in combat! I'll also add one further muddying factor to the water. So far, we're talking about player characters. If Edgar the Simple (PC) can get +3 to his roll (to pick a number out of the air)( by choosing his words with care, how does Igor the Dullard (an NPC of the same point level as Edgar) obtain a similar bonus? He has the same stats. He paid the same points. He is a "major NPC", not a Mook. He should have al the same advantages as Edgar. If Edgar can get a bonus for carefully choosing his words, Igor should be entitled to the same bonus. Now, most of the people I game with will look at the dice and say "A FOUR - wow, Igor really rose above himself and gave an impassioned speech!" But Edgar can also roll a four. PLUS, he can get the added GM largesse of a bonus for PLAYER eloquence. Should the players assess bonuses fore GM eloquence in assessing an NPC's success chances? The simple fact is, by constantly orating in an effort to get those bonuses, the player is not playing his 5 PRE. As Zornwil has said, extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures. For Edgar to reach inside and overcome his shyness - this once - because the chips are down and he'll overcome his fears to help his friends, so be it. If Edgar is able to overcome his shyness every time, it's about time Edgar bought off his disadvantage by putting some xp into presence. Only being limited when it isn't a limitation doesn't strike me as being a limitation at all. [No points for selling back your presence and buying it back "only when alone" either, to use an absurd example]

Re: DEX vs. CSLs

Re: DEX vs. CSLs In a campaign where martial artists have dexes of 23 and 11, I suspect a Brick may have trouble hitting DCV 4 (remember, we changed L to a DEX 11!). It's probably easier to view them as having Dexes of 23 and 35 from a Supers perspective. And "vast superiority" is your opinion, not a generaly accepted fact, as the discussion seems to show. Is DD all around better off? Yes. But LL is the clearly superior melee combatant. As well, our examples assume a Supoers campaign. Try the comparison where one character has a 29 DEX, and the other a 20 plus levels, in an NCM campaign. No question, skill levels are way more valuable once the cost of your stats doubles. Note JMOz' comment about paying 15 extra points to equate what he wants out of +10 DEX to skill levels. Doubkle the cost of the DEX, and the skill levels become clearly superior. Unless you're going to vary the cost of skill levels between NCM and no NCM campoaigns, their cost eficiency will always be superior in an NCM game.

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing?

Re: Too many stats in Hero Example: Player says ",y character brushes his teeth." i say OK requiring no roll. The action the player described was well within his capabilities and thus needed no roll. I believe under the skill section in HERo it goes into not requiring rolls for such things. The two examples i gave were both well within the capabilities of and fairly good examples of IMO a low int low pre character. So no roll was needed to make sure the character said what the player wanted him to say. Hugh's example was not such a case. So a roll weas neded to see if the character had the facts right. His player made a poor choice, he decided to base his action on a speel requiring good recollection of facts. Think of this as the mental equivalent of (to put it in comvat terms so it might be more recognizable here) a player running a balster who has multiple levels oto offset range penalties who chooses to fly up to point blank range with a brick. Now thats not choosing a tact which plays to his strong suit and he will likely fare worse than the guy who chose one which did. (He will likely get ounched.) I think we're on the same page here. We may differ as to the specific bonuses/penalties involved in any given situation, but that's always a subjective judgement call issue. Have to admit I think the combat analogy muddies the water, however. First, combat always requires rolls. Second, although the Blaster has chosen an approach which may not play to his strengths, he has chosen an approach which is well within the character's capabilities. He can fly, and he did. Not a smart maneuver, but one wel within his physical and mental capabilities to undertake. Now, if he had "Fears melee combat" as a disadvantage, I would have a problem with his choice of tactic, and would possibly require a roll. He is now trying to play the character outside its abilities and conception.

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing? My Manphibian (Animal Powers - Amphibian; Heightened CON at least three times,and regeneration) kind of turned me off the random roll concept. He had an outrageous CON which resulted in 5 figures of hit points, and over 100 points of regeneration. What is tis "roll damage to Power" of which you speak?

Re: Penetrating vs. Force Field Based on what you describe above, I'm more and more enamoured of the Flash aproach. I'm not convinved he can't use TK to rip off the entangle - it blocks sight, but he still clearly knows it's there. It also does Stun only, so your concern about killing him is mitigated. Anything that reduces defenses of the Bubble would also help. AP, Penerating, etc. You note he has no other defenses, but your com,ment on attacks has me seeing a 10-12d6 average. So the Wall goes down and he taxes 1 BOD. The next attack is a 12d6 attack which gets average STUN (42) and good BOD (say 17). He's probably got some DEF, say 5, so he takes 37 STUN and 12 BOD. he's not dead, but he'll be racked up for a while. If you really want to torture the player for failure to consider the weaknesses of his character, taking him out of the action for an extended period due to BOD damage, or making him limp along down 8 BOD might be very effective. Actually, I might eve allow such a character in my game. However, the player would need to be aware that, in circumstances where the Wall fails (and these will exist) he's likely looking at being one punched. It's a lot like the guy with 18 DCV - you don't get hit much, but when you do it REALLY hurts.

Re: What character concepts make you cringe? Stock answer: Hero lacks absolute effects. You will need to purchase Cringe Defense, which is about half as expensive as Cringe Attack. Does that help?

Re: Too many stats in Hero You keep commenting on choice. Let's also be aware that our 23 PRE 18 INT PLAYER made a choice to design a 5 INT 5 PRE CHARACTER. If he refuises to differentiate between his own abilities and those of the character, he is not accepting the remifications of that choice. The player who tries the "Get yer bony backside out there and help" approach and whines how "Edgar would never really say that" as he's being hauled of to the dungeon has accepted the consequences of his actions. To your () question, if the question is "Have I encountered such players", yes, absolutely. Do I game with them? No, they tend not to last long when their character's limitations are actually enforced. I do recall, some years back, a player who insisted his 1/2 orc fighter would know precisely how to man a large seacraft because he, the player, had this knowledge. Thuis, he should descriobe what the 1/2 orc does, and it should have the correct results, notwithstanding our 1/2 orc friend had no clue what the correct course of action would be.

Re: Is your voice a "sense"? Well, yes, but not as serious a problem as only giving free powers to some of the players. ie "The Martial Artist can have this benefit for free, but energy projectors have to pay for it." "Is Voice a Sense" is, to me, a different question than "Is Voice a sense". It is not a sense as in dictionary defnition. However, Hero Enhanced Senses do include transmitting. High Range Radio Hearing and Active Sonar, for example, include transmissions as well as receiving. If a maneuver could blind the target, is that less powerful than one which can rob him of his ability to speak? And doesn't "choke hold" already provide that effect, albeit only as long as the attack is maintained? The approach suggested seems a reasonable one for a precision attack. How can someone else do this? Well, they can learn martial arts and a similar maneuver. I would also permit a character to target the throat and receive a similar effect, with a duration similar t that of the martial attack. Yes, you can do it, bit the martial artist pays for a maneuver that allows him to do this without the targetting penalty. Seems reasonable, with no playtesting.

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing?

Re: Penetrating vs. Force Field I believe force walls are porous by default (they can't suffocate someone, theywon't hold water in or out, etc.). I asked Steve about an adder for non-porous, but he couldn't recall such a ruling. Of course, this means that gas attacks (NND's normally) will pass right through them. For my own curiosity, how big is the force wall? 100 AP would normally be 20/20, but that assumes no extra inches to reach all the way around, and full END. 13/13 with +1", 0 END would also be 100 active points, and wouldn't be impossible to breach on a regular basis.

Re: Too many stats in Hero And so, would you give the "good guys" guy a better chance of success (a bonus to his needing value or a better "difficulty" modifier) because of his better choice? Would the "or else" guy get a lower chance? or would you tell them the stats determine the odds and make them roll the same chance? The stats are the same, only the choice made by the player was different. Would it matter if this were the fifth time something like this had occured rather than say the first? The first option ("get off your bony butt", I believe) would probably have seen a beheading. Rolls only take you so far. The second? What has the character given the Queen besides his best efforts at persuading her. There's no non-interaction skill case made. I'd be inclined to give him a bonus just for the nice, in-character role playing but whether that's a bonus to the roll or a bonus xp is open to debate. Regardless, he has a chance at success, which is more than I can say for the first approach. The better question would be how I view the Queen's persona. Is she likely to be swayed by this particular line of argument, or isn't she? If she's a romantic at heart, he's pulled some real strings there. If she's a jaded cynic, he hasn't. So he may get a bonus based on the situation - he may have made the kind of argument the Queen is inclined to hear favourably. But it's not the player's eloquence causing that modifier - it's the Queen's personality interactinjg with the aproach chosen by the character, Did he hear earlier that she's an incurable romantic and use it to his advantage? Good for him - he earned a bonus. Did he just get lucky? Again, good for him. He gets a bonus. And he played it in character. Now what about Mr. Political Dissertation. Does he deserve a bonus for making the perfect argument, notwithstanding that it was completely out of character for his 5 PRE 5 INT character to make that speech, or does he get an XP penalty for poor role playing? Or do you give him both?

Re: Penetrating vs. Force Field I've experimented with FW with two characters in the past. One had a multi with two FW slots - Energy, ransparent to Physical, and Physical, transparent to energy. They were no range - used as a personal shield. He can set the DEF. He has been surprisingly effective in straight up combat. He does failry decent in a mixed fight, but when all your opponents have energy attacks (VIPER), say, he's almost unstoppable. Of course, I left in the fact that someone can get him from behind. He was an NPC experiment, but the group liked him and he eventually joined. The second is a new character with a VPP. I was expecting to use a 12-15 pt force field to bolster his defenses, but I took a shot with a 12/12 personal force wall, and he's done quite nicely. I expect he'll meet someone who easily breaks it eventually, at which time he'll likely start mixing his defensive powers up a bit. He's been carrying a Flash and Flash AVLD combo to attack, which is transparent to his Wall, but he can always take Indirect attacks if the need arises (or swap out to a force field instead). For a lasting wall, I agree limited Entangles work far better.

Re: Too many stats in Hero Not sure what your distinction is. Let's take your example for a spin. Both of your responses are legit for the character in question. Now, let's say Edgar's player replies with: "Prithee, Milady, allow me to extoll upon the virtues of aiding my comrades at arms." He then launches into an extesive geo-political analysis of the likely impact on the Queen's kingdom, based on the PLAYER's knowledge of your hgame world's 250 year history, providing the inescapable conclusion that "Your Majesty, clearly thine aid of my colleagues is the only proper choice. Failure to come to their aid would be tantamount to surrendering thy throne." That doesn't sound like Edgar the Simpler to me. That sounds like a player with a degree in political science. No bonus, and a "poor roleplaying" xp penalty.