braincraft

Re: Final Fantasy XI style Ninja Shadows

+DCV is probably the best way to simulate the 'mirror images' effect, and it's the way I would build a power like this. Don't bother using disadvantaged Dex; you can buy +DCV or other combat skill levels with disadvantages, so long as they're at the 5-point level or above (conveniently, the same level at which DCV levels are applicable against both close-combat and ranged attacks).

I would build it as +X DCV levels, X number of continuing charges (however long the spell lasts if the effect is not expended), with the discontinue condition being defined as AoE attacks, and the disadvantage that the discontinue condition is expanded to any situation in which you are attacked thrice consecutively, or any combination that results in all three duplicates being 'popped'. Call it a -1/4 or -1/2, depending on how common AoE is in your campaign.

Cooldown isn't well-supported in vanilla HERO, but you could probably use some variant of Extra Time for that. If you have two slightly different versions of the spell, try making them multipower slots (if you already have a multipower for other spell abilities, so much the better).

Re: WW2 metahuman emergence.

GODLIKE is exactly this.

Even if you never use it as a game, it might be worth picking up as a quick and dirty WII sourcebook.

Re: Autofire alternative

Alternate ways of simulating autofire:

- Spread an Energy Blast, or allow spreading of RKAs

- Larger attack, with Reduced Penetration

- AoE advantage

- Some combination of the above

Frex, you could simulate a big honkin' minigun with a 6d6K RKA AoE Cone Nonselective No Range Reduced Penetration (I recall Surbrook did this for one of his writeups). You could simulate an autofire blaster with a simple 12d6 EB, with the full DCs simulating concentrated fire and spread dice simulating 'walking' your fire.

Simplicity is the best policy

+1 OCV, +4 vs Range, OAF best arrow, 1 charge. Total real cost: 6 points. Assume that he makes another whenever he has enough downtime to replace his other charges, except that in narrative terms one of those arrows is awesome.

No one will get this reference, but I'm making it anyway

Does he activate it by clicking his back teeth?

Re: Looking for a name for my "fate points"

Just add 'points' to the end of any of these:

Ether

Quantum

Fortune

Destiny

Drama

Plot

Platypus

Nova

Essence

Quintessence

Gnosis

Will

Willpower

Blood

Rage

Junction

Chi

Ki

Qi

Prana

Karma

Good Karma

Bad Karma

Indifferent Karma

Psi

Force

Character

Edge

Magic

Wang Chung

Wild

Talent

Helix

Omega

Alpha

Beta

Delta

Gamma

Power

Setting Conceit

Re: Odd Defense construct

I actually like this. Besides, you could always just use Standard Effect if you're worried about Bulletproof Dude getting punked by Derringer Lad.

Re: Change Environment

Because radius scales exponentially, while other effects scale linearly.

If a power has fifteen points in effect and fifteen points in radius, it's gonna be -3 CV in an 8" radius. If that same power is doubled to thirty points of effect and thirty points of radius, it's going to be -6 CV in a 64" radius. Twice the effect, almost sixty times the area.

Re: Like a Multiform... but not?

This build is good' date=' but I'm still drawn to the Multiform construct since it allows for different Skills/Perks/Talents to be added to the power list without breaking the rules.[/quote']

 

That's a pretty dumb rule, especially since I'm pretty sure there already exist published characters that specifically break it. This is the simplest solution. I mean, look at how elegant it is! It's freakin' tea an' crumpets it is!

Re: Like a Multiform... but not?

So basically, he wants Vixen's powerset.

VPP or Multipower, depending on flexibility. If he wants only a few set forms, put the various power arrays in compound power ultra slots in the multipower pool. If he wants a truly vast number of forms, or if he wants the option of coming up with new ones on the fly, limited variable pool.

Here's an example of a multipower construct (sorry about the formatting, I pulled it off of HD and I'm not in the mood right now to experiment to find the right export format):

50 Totem Spirits: Multipower, 50-point reserve

4u 1) Spirit of the Bear: (Total: 50 Active Cost, 42 Real Cost) Armor (6 PD/6 ED) (Real Cost: 18) plus +20 STR, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (25 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) (Real Cost: 17) plus Density Increase (200 kg mass, +5 STR, +1 PD/ED, -1" KB), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (7 Active Points) (Real Cost: 7) 1

4u 2) Spirit of the Eagle: (Total: 47 Active Cost, 44 Real Cost) Flight 12" (Real Cost: 24) plus +4 versus Range Modifier for Sight Group (Real Cost: 6) plus +4 PER with Sight Group (Real Cost: 8) plus +3 DEX (9 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) (Real Cost: 6) 2

4u 3) Spirit of the Jaguar: (Total: 46 Active Cost, 43 Real Cost) +3 DEX (9 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) (Real Cost: 6) plus Leaping +6" (2"/8" forward, 1"/4" upward) (Real Cost: 6) plus Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6-1 (2d6 w/STR), +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4) (31 Active Points) (Real Cost: 31) 4

4u 4) Spirit of the Snake: (Total: 49 Active Cost, 41 Real Cost) Lightning Reflexes: +6 DEX to act first with All Actions (Real Cost: 9) plus Drain STUN 4d6 (40 Active Points); Gradual Effect (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12); -1/4) (Real Cost: 32) 4

4u 5) Spirit of the Wolf: (Total: 50 Active Cost, 41 Real Cost) Running +6" (6"/12" total) (Real Cost: 12) plus Discriminatory with Normal Smell (Real Cost: 5) plus Tracking with Normal Smell (Real Cost: 5) plus +3 PER with all Sense Groups (Real Cost: 9) plus +3 DEX (9 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) (Real Cost: 6) plus +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Only to make fear-based PRE attacks (-1 1/2), Incantations (-1/4) (Real Cost: 4) 1

The bear totem makes him stronger, tougher, and heavier. The eagle totem gives him flight and incredible vision. The jaguar totem gives him claws and enough leaping to make a good pounce with 'em. The snake totem gives him incredible reflexes and a venom attack. The wolf totem gives him ground speed, enhanced smell and alertness, and a howl attack that causes fear. The wolf, jaguar, and eagle totems also boost agility somewhat.

That should be a rough basis for making your own construct.

Re: lim cost: semi-lockout

This kind of tomfoolery is why I hate ECs and always disallow them. I can't think of any mechanical benefit to the things, other than rewarding players who are good at maths.

The device AIs only exist to provide exposition

Wait, do you mean like when, say, Bardiche switches from staff to scythe mode, or when Fate switches from normal mode to Sonic Mode?

The first is a special effect of switching multipower slots. The second is either an Aid or a multiform variant (the details aren't particularly specified, but I think Aid should work).

Re: Lyrical Nanoha

i know all the story stuff and what not i have watched the entire series. I'm just trying to figure out how to implement the stuff in the hero system such as the cartridges, the AI's, etc.

 

P.S. is their information on how the Magic/Computer System of nanoha function in general so to speak.

Cartridges are a cool special effect that doesn't have any bearing on anything, other than as a measure of how much firepower is being brought to bear.

The AIs never really do anything they aren't specifically told to and never act on their own, so that's another thing that's pretty much a special effect.

She's going to just blast through the walls? Sweet zombie Jesus, NOOOOOO

You could check out the wiki entry; the individual character pages give rather detailed accounts of their various powers.

Also, there are some fanmade Mutants and Masterminds writeups on their forum, if you need some game-related inspiration.

I agree that the cartridges are pretty much a special effect of their END Reserves.

And if you want to see for yourselves why this show is awesome, see Exhibit A.

Re: Daredevil-like senses and PER Mods

Actually, per pg. 373 of 5ER, +20 RMod covers about 5 some-odd miles. So thinking about how often DD's sense extend that far out, I'd cut the mods in half. He can cover the city when he concentrates, but routinely can hear things about up to a block away.

 

Of course, there's been a hundred writers who all have written him differently, so....

I just checked my math, and +40 vs range adds up to over five thousand miles. That's more than the distance between Anchorage and Miami. With an effective +50 roll, the range of your hearing is greater than the circumference of the Earth, meaning your DD-alike can learn Chinese through total immersion without ever leaving his apartment.

Yeah, cutting those mods in half sounds like the least you could do. +10 vs range gives you perfect hearing out to 256 meters, which is not bad at all.

Re: Daredevil-like senses and PER Mods

+40 vs range in addition to his +10 to all senses means this guy can hear whispered conversations in the next state over. Maybe scale back a little? Also, the Concentration limitation should have twice the value, since it's not an instant power.

Re: superuseless superpowers

Okay, the Quiz always really bothered me, because it seems like she'd lose her powers the moment anybody figured out what power she actually had.

Re: Fei Long's Fists of Fury: The Rekka Ken

Levels with Sweep + Rapid Attack. The 'showmanship' thing could be a Psych Lim.

And again, some of this stuff is really specific to a system that has little in common with the system it's being converted to.

Re: Dhalsim's Transcendent Awareness: Zen No Mind

This is one of those abilities that's really specific to the system it's used in. In practice, it gives someone certain advantages in exchange for preventing certain agressive maneuvers.

How about +levels, only when delaying an action, and a bunch of Lightning Reflexes, only to delay an action? Or to simplify it, +Dex, only when delaying.

Re: Grab vs Mentalism

At most I might impose a slight ECV penalty (-1 to -3) for being distracted' date=' depending on the attack being used, the target, and the context of the Grab. YMMV. [/quote']

 

Usually that sort of grab is a special effect of an NND.

Re: Bloodlust (+3 OCV HandtoHand, -3 DCV)

a) Side effects

Multipower

Wwwillllburrrrrr

No one can talk to a horse.

Well, anyone can talk to a horse... it's just that the horse rarely talks back.

Unless, of course, of course, that horse...

Re: Post Hypnotic Command

I retract my earlier post, since upon further investigation it turns out that Delayed Effect doesn't do what I was thinking of either. A power that operates independently of the character needs to be Constant and Uncontrolled (which is, indeed, much more expensive), but that doesn't seem intuitive. If anyone has a better solution, I'd love to hear it.

Re: Post Hypnotic Command

Sure, as long as the high active does not cause problems...maybe buy brainwashing as Cumlative so it takes longer on stubborn minds..?

 

I've often bought it as Mind Controll: Trigger (variable) so I Mind thrall you but it has no effect till you say "See a pink umbrella" then you follow the command given ("Kill the person with the green shoes")...

I don't think Trigger works that way; in this case, it would make the mind controller make the attack with the power at the time the trigger condition was fulfilled, which is kind of useless when the idea is to send the target off on his own.

What you're looking for is the Delayed Effect modifier.

Re: Smart-Swarm-Seeker AI Missiles..?

Take a look at boostable charges, spreading, and partially limited powers.