DoctorItron

Re: Need help hammering out a concept... Additionally, I think a combined No Range and Area Effect power always hits. I don't remember whether that rule is written in the book, an FAQ, or a post from Steve Long.

Re: Need help hammering out a concept... This "psychic phoenix" could justify any psionic, fire, or birdlike power within that Elemental Control. That's too open ended for me. I think it should be limited to just 1 of the 3.

Re: A VIPER Success Glad to hear VIPER is having some success in other universes. My VIPER recently took a major trouncing - they lost their main Asian computer base to the PCs. VIPER was able to destroy the data, but they've temporarily shut down worldwide, as a precaution. In my game, VIPER = Vice, Iniquity, Profit, Extortion, Revenge. Revenge is 1 of their 5 "commandments", so the PCs will be having some trouble in the future.

Re: Need help hammering out a concept... Here's one way to shave some points: Get rid of the Mind Scan. I think that Area Effect telepathy would be an exception to the "you must see the target or have Mind Scan to use a mental power" rule. As a GM, I'd allow Area Effect Telepathy to go through walls and other objects.

Re: Superhero Images

Re: What variation of Champions do you play in? My current campaign, The New Defenders: Rules: 5th ed. Villains: Mix of customized versions of published villains (Teleios, Mechanon, Black Paladin) and my own creations. Setting: Custom. I don't use any of the CU history.

Re: Hero System is Just Alright With Me The only house rule in my current campaign is that we use 1d4 rather than 1d6-1 for the killing attack STUN multiplier. It takes the big 5 away from the STUN lottery. This change reduces the average multiplier a teensy bit, to x2.5 from x2.67. Such a small difference doesn't require any point cost adjustment.

Re: The Greatest American Hero (book). This topic again? Time for another vote for Strike Force, IMO the best RPG supplement ever written. Aaron Allston created a mighty fine book. My favorite part of Strike Force was the GMing section. Great advice for new and experienced GMs alike, and much of the advice is applicable to any RPG, not just Champions.

Re: Superman for President? Okay, I've waited for the flames to clear before posting. Play nice, guys Paragon has been working to protect the President. Drafting him wouldn't increase the President's protection. Drafting him *after* he announces his candidacy would be seen by voters as an attempt to unfairly influence the election. For a real-world comparison, imagine the backlash if Bush forced Kerry back into active military service - if Paragon had to drop his Presidential bid as a result, virtually every one if his supporters would vote for Kerry, and many tentative Bush voters would change to Kerry, too. Bush would guarantee Kerry the election by drafting Paragon. Note that I'm not sure if there are any real-world legal limits to the President's power to recall someone who's been retired for 30 years, but the political backlash would be great enough to make it a moot issue in my game. Paragon is not a single issue candidate. The "vote for me because I have superdefenses" angle is why Paragon decided to run, but he has opinions on all the other issues. I'm not looking to bog my game down with politics, but suffice it to say that his ideas are mainstream enough to give him a shot at the election. Paragon is resistant to mental powers, but he isn't a mentalist and cannot protect others. Paragon fears an America controlled by a villain, and his personal opinion that the best way to prevent that is to get elected. To him, that's the most important issue, but not the only one.

Re: Superman for President?

Re: Superman for President?

Re: Team Vehicle for Review FYI, here's a drawing of a neat-looking aircraft. Copied it off the web months ago. You might find other good superplane pics by searching for "switchblade" or "aurora".

Re: Team Vehicle for Review 655 mph is, IIRC, just below Mach 1. The jet will be slightly faster than commercial jets and military transports, slower than jet fighters.

Re: Team Vehicle for Review DEF? I don't see it anywhere. Machine gun: Needs charges, END battery, or 0 END. Also, is a 1d6 attack really going to do anything useful? It's not like you're flying around gunning down civilians (I hope). Maybe put the weapons into a multipower. That will let you buy a much more effective machine gun. Downside is that only one weapon can be fired at a time.

Re: Multipower/Combat Rules Clarification Force Wall can be used as a physical obstruction. For example, let's say your character has cornered someone. The only way for the opponent to get out is through a single opening. Force Wall can be used to seal that opening.

Re: The Event The only "event" I've GMed has been a 4 week heroes vs. villains adventure. My friend ran the heroes, I ran the villains. IIRC, the villains won because they did a better job cooperating with each other than did the heroes. I'd never do it again - it was too much work coordinating the simultaneous actions of different groups.

Re: Superman for President? Oh, Paragon is an NPC, not a player character. I'm just fishing for ideas to make sure I don't have any gaping holes in my election subplot. One of the players does seem interested in making a new character. I might appoint that character Secretary of Technology or something like that to elegantly retire his old character.

Re: Superman for President?

Re: Superhero Images Yep, Keith "the professional artist who has done some stuff for Hero Games" Curtis

Re: Superman for President?

Re: Escape from Monster Island! I just ran The Defenders through an adventure on Monster Island, hunting down a hidden VIPER nest. I used this site as a reference: http://www.rc2000godzilla.com/godzilla/ogasawara.html No Hero stats, just lots of background compiled from monster movies.

Re: I'm building a playable 350 wizard with no VPP Seems like a fair way to build the character. For an alternative way to do a wand, leave the multipower at 60 points without the reduced END advantage. Redirect the 15 points you spent on: +60 END, OAF wand (30 active points, 15 real) Your way works best if every power is in the multipower. If you put some powers, such as a force field that you almost always use, outside the multipower, then my way lets you use the wand to power things outside the multipower.

Re: Superman for President? Paragon's opposition is Bush and Kerry. Bush's campaign couldn't really try something like this, because he's already praised Paragon too many times. Bush has used the assassination attempts to further his political agenda. If Bush suddenly claimed the assassination attempts were faked, he'd drag himself into the conspiracy. Kerry would have fewer problems claiming Paragon's faked things. However, as there's zero evidence to support such claims, only people who are already firm Kerry believers would give it much credence. Paragon somewhere between Kerry and Bush on most issues. The main wild card in the election is Paragon's "supervillains can't currently be stopped by the Secret Service, so you need a superhero in office" message.

Re: So Viper, huh. The apparent "dragon is ancient" and "superpowers are new" contradiction was easily dealt with. It's more of a "superpowers are new to recorded history". How can I explain this without giving away too much to my players? Maybe the dragon was around in ancient China, during a prior "age of magic". The dragon hibernated when magic faded and woke up a few years ago. She joined or took control of VIPER, which already existed, and formed it into a major threat. Or, maybe the dragon didn't hibernate when magic faded. She stayed around in human form, sans magic powers, and was instrumental in creating VIPER.

Re: Superman for President? It seems like a forgot to mention a few things in my original post: 1) Paragon was born in the United States, so he meets the naturalized citizen requirement. He's not an alien like Superman. 2) As soon as he formally announces his run for office, he gives up the Secret ID. He knows the public wouldn't elect someone who uses an alias. 3) His secret ID has held local political offices. He held a City Council seat (1 of 5 in NYC) when he developed superpowers on Jan 1 2000. 4) As Paragon, he did the standard superhero thing for a while before helping to create PRIMUS. He's familar with Washington DC, but certainly not an insider.