Watchdog

Re: Character: Socially Conscious Man!

I think an encounter with Law of Unintended Consequences Man would be enough to make Socially Conscious Man keep his powers to himself.

PC Mystic Mage wants to add a darkness spell to his multipower. He thinks that another PC (brick or martial artist) would benefit the most from personal immunity to the darkness due to the CV penalties of his opponents in HTH combat, and the mage is willing to be affected by the darkness.

Can the personal immunity advantage be bought for a character other than the PC with the actual power?

Thanks for your time.

Re: Civil War in the Champions Universe!

"Okay, cloning Dark Seraph is one thing. But how the @#$% did Defender manage to clone the Crowns of Krim?"

Re: unReality TV

Spread throughout the big combat of two teams (9 PCs against 9 NPCs) were "pre-recorded" interviews with the characters. "So' date=' tell us about your powers. Why do you want to be a hero?"[/quote']

 

 

The "confessionals" are a big part of reality TV. If you have time, conduct (and actually record, if you can) a brief interview with each of them. Then edit them to make them sound as ditzy, mean, slutty, etc. Or take the comments out of context to make them seem like there's more friction between their teammates than there actually is:

 

"The thing that I love about Captain Star is how supportive he is. He's like a brother to me! The only thing that bugs me a little is that he can be just a little bit self righteous."

 

Becomes:

 

"The thing (snip) about Captain Star (snip) that bugs me (snip) is that he can be (snip) self-righteous."

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest

I had to throw my hat into the munchkin build contest:

EB 1d6 Cost: 5 points

Damn, I really suck at this.

Re: QuestionL Would you consider this unfair or rail roading?

Tone of game will play a big role here. How this sort of situation would get resolved by the JLA would be very different from how it would get resolved by the Authority' date=' which would in turn be different from how the X-men would solve it.[/quote']

 

JLA: The rest of the team fight the bad guy and buy Flash the .0001 second he needs to free the DNPCs - as long as Batman says it's okay.

 

X-MEN: Tragic loss of the DNPCs as they waste precious time bemoaning mutant persecution. To prevent this from happening again, Jamie Madrox joins the X-Men and works with Nightcrawler on a "multiball special".

 

AUTHORITY: Two possibilites.

 

A. The Authority show the evil sorceror images of his loved ones about to be killed: "Two can play that game, Voldemort."

 

B. The Authority beat the crap out of the evil sorceror, but fail to save the DNPCs. Then the Engineer and/or Warlock use their amazing powers to travel back in time - not to safeguard their loved ones, but to beat the crap out of the evil sorceror again.

Re: Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store

Read the article' date=' it's actually a youth-help center.[/quote']

 

Prep school for sidekicks?

Re: Power suggestions for a "Perfect" human being

The satirical action series The Destroyer had the practicioners of "Sinanju" - the "sun source" of martial arts attain what could be considered human perfection. Abilities included being pretty much unhittable in melee or ranged combat, sensory powers like being able to tell if someone is carrying a weapon merely by the way they walk and body control like being able to regulate their heartbeat, body temperature, and breathing (life support, simulate death, etc.)

An interesting disadvantage was that while their bodies could reject most poisons, they could not handle most foods that we eat. Remo Williams was once hospitalized after eating a hamburger.

Re: Grond, underpowered pansy?

.Now you can play him like a normal human intellect if you want but I choose to play him as someone with the intellect of a 5 year old [and someone of that age group certainly doesn't grasp everything around him' date= especially when getting injured].

I may be wrong, but you're making it sound like you run Grond almost at a default berserk, attacking PC targets at random. If that's the case, it does support your argument that he can be easily taken out in less than a turn.

But you really don't have to be a genius, or even "normal human intellect" to determine who's hurting you the most. Pain is a very simple concept, and so is determining who's causing the most pain, unless there's invisible power effects involved.

When I was five years old and roughhousing with other kids, I certainly knew who was doing the most damage to me (usually my older sister) and would takes steps to avoid it. You can credit me with being an exceptionally intelligent child if you want to, but...

So if Grond can't evaluate the difference between Nighthawk's getting 2 STUN past his defenses, and Sapphire's 6d6 NND attack, then yes. He's definitely an underpowered pansy. If he has a fully functioning nervous system and the intelligence of a five year old, then not so much, imo. As I said, YMMV.

I think I'm done on this subject. Last word's yours if you want it.

Re: Grond, underpowered pansy?

They're going to be flying.

If they're out of range of his superleap, even they're going to have trouble hitting Grond with the range penalties. And this assumes there's nothing big and heavy he can throw at them. At this point we would have to start stipulating what environment they're fighting in.

And as for him being any type of tactician, I'd just point out that he has less intelligence then most of the animals in the Bestiary and leave it a that. If you've got 2 people tormenting a bear it's not thinking about how it's getting hit. It's thinking the thing in front of it is doing the hitting.

If he has the mental capacity to form a coherent sentence in his quote, he'd have the mental capacity to to determine who was hurting him more - at least in my campaign. It would take more an ineffective PC dancing in front of him to keep him from attacking the PC hitting him with a 6d6 NND stun each phase. YMMV.

Re: Grond, underpowered pansy?

As I said' date=' they only need to keep him from hitting 2-3 times before Sapphire and Defender take him out [and with a 4 dcv he's all but impossible to hit'].

And they're preventing him from attacking Sapphire or Defender first how, exactly? Neither Ironclad nor Nighthawk are going to be able to do much damage to Grond, and while the big lug may not be a tactical genius, he should still be able to go after who hurts him the most.

I'm just saying that if one Champion goes down - and the odds are, they will - your "KO GRond in one turn or less" breakdown goes right out the window.

I think the point of the thread was to complain about why Grond doesn't perform the same way in 5e that he did in 1e-4e. In early editions Grond was a group threat unless you had fire or mental. In 5e he's a pushover who's been surplanted by other villains who he used to be superior to.

I think baseline character inflation may account for this, at least in part. Earlier Champions editions had starting PCs at 200-250 points, depending on the ed.

Re: Grond, underpowered pansy?

If you'd read the entire thread then you'd have noticed that I did a short breakdown for how the Champions [sans mentalist or pyro] would take out Grond in a turn [and most people consider the Champions under built as starting lever characters].

Your breakdown assumed Grond never hit any of them in combat, so imo it left a little to be desired.

There aren't many published characters built on Grond's points who will survive a 5 on 1 assault from a competent team for more than a turn, unless they have high levels of damage reduction.

Whether something is overrated or not depends on your expectations. If one expects Grond to be an even match for an entire team, then I suppose he is overrated.

Re: Grond, underpowered pansy?

Saying that Grond is overrated because he won't last a turn against a party that includes a pyro and a mentalist is like saying that Superman is overrated becuase he won't last a turn against a villain group with Kapitan Kryptonite.

Re: What would your inner geek pick?

First stop: Life support. Funny how so many have hoped for immortality, and now you can get it for the cost of 1d6 of an EB.

For 50 points, I don't need to breathe, eat, or sleep if I don't want to. I have all the safe envrionments, will never age, and am immune to all terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents, poisons and chemical warfare agents. Hey, I might even buy another 20 points worth to counteract any extraterrestrial diseases, poisons, etc., just in case.

Multibillionaire for 15 points? Check.

Lots of PD, ED, and mental defenses, hardened.

Put the rest into a VPP.

Re: Kewlest things about Vibora Bay?

Make sure the PCs get a chance to interact with David Wulatin, the NPC boyfriend of Black Mask. I've always felt that this character had a lot of depth and potential for being the focal point of any adventure.

Re: WWYCD: Don't Say You Didn't Warn You

Watchdog: Would hope whomever' s in charge of the Heinlein estate thinks of my future self as performing an homage, not a copyright infringement.

Re: Teen Champion Cover!

Honestly' date=' I have no idea. I can tell you what I wouldn't like to see, based on what's come before and what's been suggested here. [/quote']

 

Well, that may be why others are saying that you're complaining.

 

You took a shot at some of us when you wrote:

 

PS: I'm not the one complaining endlessly about the Teen Champions cover because it doesn't yank the eyeballs of the MTV generation. That's other people.

 

Mitchell said the cover could have been better, and demonstrated how he thought it could be better. Agree or disagree with him, but at least he knows what he wants.

 

If you can't articulate what you would like to see, I think it's difficult to really contribute in a thread about cover artwork.

 

Btw, the desire to see action and drama in comics and/or animation didn't exactly start with the MTV generation. It's been an essential part of animation for decades. It's why Mickey Mouse is a crewman on a moving vessel in 1928's "Steamboat Willie" instead of working as a tollbooth collector or court stenographer.

 

 

really, with a book, I'm more concerned with the content and quality of the writing, than I am with seeing ACTION!!!! and DRAMA!!!! in the cover art.

 

I don't think anyone here is arguing that the cover art is more important or as important as the content. An arresting cover won't save a bad product. But a cover that doesn't attract attention may never give its content a chance to be seen by potential new customers.

 

A Champions product is not a Champions character. It's not a case of "The more points we put into content, the less points we have to put into cover art."

 

This discussion is about the execution of the concept, not the quality of the artist.

Re: Teen Champion Cover!

Ah, so evidently you think that cautioning against being too faithful to a medium, to the point of emulating its flaws, is "complaining."

 

 

Whatever.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like you've talked a lot more about what you don't like in cover art than what you do like.

You said you didn't like it when the illustrations showed characters fighting other characters when said fight would be a mismatch, which I guess is why you didn't like the BBB cover.

You said you didn't like it when the scene depicted does not in relate to the context of the books.

Mitchell's opinion is that the Teen Champions cover would be better if the character was doing something active. He gave a specific example of how it could be done, while still fitting into the context of the cover design that was acutally chosen.

You never actually addressed this point, either by agreeing or disagreeing with him.

So instead of giving vague warnings about emulating the "flaws" of the current genre, or being "too faithful" to the medium, it might help me understand your position if you could tell us what you would like to see emulated in the cover art. Or give examples of artwork you've seen in other games that "emulated" the genre without being "too faithful" to the medium.

I know you say the cover art isn't that important to you, but without any frame of reference of what you would like to see, it's hard to figure out what you really want.

Re: Ideas and advice for a Captain America Homage

How about that gigantic hat Uncle Sam wears in the poster? Patriotic decor, but as deadly as Oddjob's...

Re: Batgirl: The Animated Series

New Jersey exists in many alternate realities.

Doesn't get much scarier than that.

On what appears to be a typical morning, your PC goes to the bakery and places an order. The cashier looks at the counter display before informing you that they're all out of jelly doughnuts.

WWYCD?

Re: Removal of Brainwashing

If you get a chance, there's an early 80s movie called "Split Image" that may be helpful here. It's about an All-American young guy who gets involved in a cult. His family gets him out, but has to deal with the brainwashing. They bring in a "deprogrammer", played by James Woods (another great performance.)

In game terms, I like most of what Lesothos and Mitchell said - especially the idea of a mental defense with a kind of ablative limitation. I might rule that the mentalist can make only so many attempts per day to break down the barriers, so to speak, if you want a more realistic depiction of "deprogramming".

Re: Teen Champion Cover!

Yeah' date=' that's just what we need, for Champions to try so hard to emmulate the comics genre that it ends up just like the current state of comics. Woopee, wouldn't that be great? [/quote']

 

Okay...so what genre, in your opinion, should the Champions line be trying to emulate?

 

 

I'd rather have that than contrived action scenes that make no sense in the context of the material' date=' such as the infamous "Champions vs Insert Villain(s) Who Would Squash Them Here" artwork that's so common inside certain books. [/quote']

 

But that wasn't what Mitchell was suggesting. He's not saying "This cover would be better if Cantrip was fighting Menton." He's saying that the drawing would be better by making it less static. He explained how they could have conveyed the same theme while adding active elements, like the use of a power. It would still be very much in the context of the material.

 

This is just constructive criticism on his part. His suggestions are at the least valid (and imo, excellent.) And he's not demanding that DOJ hire Alex Ross. His ideas are well within the means of the DOJ artists to convey.

 

Hmmm...Seeker vs Doctor Destroyer, I wonder how that one would go...

 

With due respect, I think you're missing Mitchell's point about drawing new customers to a game and its products.

 

I hadn't played Champions for years when I first saw the BBB on the shelf back in '89. I knew that the villain was Doctor Destroyer, but had no idea who the martial artist was.

 

What was my reaction? "Oh, please. Like any martial artist could take Destroyer on one-on-one?" Of course not. It was "Hey, Champions is back! And that looks cool!"

 

A person looking at Champions material for the first time has no idea whether Seeker could beat Destroyer. But they do know an action-packed fight scene when they see it.

 

Are you really going to try to argue that the BBB cover would have been better if Seeker was sitting at the Homestead computer, sipping coffee, and looking at a picture of Destroyer on the screen?

 

Woopee. Wouldn't that be great?

Re: Ideas for a Black Canary Homage

How about a gun?

INT. THEATER - NIGHT

A PRESENTER walks to the podium and reads from the teleprompter.

PRESENTER: And the nominees for "Least Original Suggestion" are...

NEW ANGLE

WATCHDOG sits in the audience, nervous but hopeful. His fingers are crossed.

WATCHDOG (muttering): Come on, come on...

Re: Your Character's Comic Book

Watchdog was a free market capitalist who would have loved the idea, but would have demanded too much creative control to make it feasible.

He might, however, have settled for a few guest spots in Danger Girl...