DoctorItron

Re: Champions miniatures

Re: Dealing with Hunteds 1) If I don't have a creative scenario idea, I'll roll randomly to see who shows up. That can help kick my brain into gear. "Okay, Foxbat and VIPER show up this week ... hmm ... Nest leader Foxbat has just purchased a VIPER franchise!" 2) I'll sometimes insert a hunted as needed. Let's say I have a scenario concept that requires a specific type of villain. Rather than just make one up on the fly, I'll review hunteds to see if there's one that fits the role. 3) When a hunted is dead, captured, or reformed, I ask the player if they want to dedicate future XP awards to removing the hunted from their character sheet. If yes, the hunted is gone forever. If no, then the hunted or a variant (friend of the hunted) comes back.

Re: Champs Universe Question I agree supersoldiers should be rare - rarity is plausible as well as a necessary part of the standard superhero genre. But, if PRIMUS can make supersoldiers via a specific process, then the US military would and should be able to use the same process. This is, of course, barring any specfic things in a campaign world that would prohibit the military from using PRIMUS technology. "Oh, sure, use the superhumans inside American cities, but don't give superhumans to the military because that would be unfair for our enemies."

Re: Champs Universe Question

Re: Sandugo: Pinoy Heroes and Characters The Butch Mapa pic makes me think "communist". What's the character's background?

Re: [4color] Why do you dislike the Iron Age style? (No flames, ok?) Agreed. This is probably one of the things that fuel the Iron Age "roxx vs sux" fires. Some people who grew up with comics books that told "superhero" stories dislike Iron Age stuff because there isn't always a hero. But some Iron Age comics go out of their way to make sure that there are no heroes, even when the story would be better (more entertaining or more plausible) if there were some heroes.

Re: [4color] Why do you dislike the Iron Age style? (No flames, ok?) As far as style goes, I'm neutral on the Iron Age "style" - it's possible to create a good comic or a bad comic using any style. There are, however, quite a few Iron Age comics that I dislike because they focus solely on the negative side of things. Everyone is an evil SOB - the villains, government, corporations, civilians, and even the alleged "heroes". Some Iron Age main characters are little better than the villains. Comics, IMO, should generally have obvious heroes, someone who I can care about. Having a comic book named after you isn't enough to make you a superhero.

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! Cars have designated drivers and baseball has designated hitters. Now RPGs have designated rappers.

Re: Ultimate vs The Authority The Authority would win, by far. In keeping with the MO of The Authority comics, here's what the last panel might look like: Captain America's shield would be used as a platter. His head would be on it. Thor would have the hammer shoved up his butt. (no need to go any further with this)

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That!

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! Worst from another player: Maybe a butterfly. It's been years, but if I recall correctly this guy's character *was* a butterfly that somehow evolved to speak and grew to human size. His powers included wings (flight) and a cocoon (entangle). His main attack was a rainbow (energy blast) - never did get an explanation why the character would have that power. The character had no heroic motivations, preferring instead to do butterfly-like things such as hanging around in wildflower patches. Worst from me: Probably Keith Richards. This was in the post-apocalypse world of Rifts. Heck, if Keith could survive all the drug abuse he's reportedly subjected his body to, I figured I may as well play him as an immortal Atlantean who kept trying to become a juicer (drug-boosted supermen who live incredibly exciting but pitifully short lives), but his own regenerative powers were stronger than the drugs.

Re: Critique this character 20 PD, 19 ED, 25 CON The character is likely to get CON-stunned too often. Assuming a campaign where 12d6 is a standard attack, for an average damage roll of 42, subtract 20 PD, for 22 average damage per incoming attack. Any slightly above average damage roll will daze your character. If that's not intentional, I'd suggest decreasing REC and using the extra points to boost CON and/or defenses.

Re: Ultimate vs The Authority To get back to Katherine's original post that, in part, asked what "Iron Age" meant: Iron Age comics tend to be grittier than older, traditional (i.e Superman) comics. There's more violence and the heroes have more personality flaws. There are varying stages of Iron, though. To compare some other comics: Superman, Spiderman, Fantastic Four: Traditional. Batman, X-Men: Mix of traditional and Iron, depending on who is doing the writing. The Punisher: Iron Age. I've read ~15 issues of The Ultimates. In my opinion, it's well written and the characters are fairly well developed. There's a strong sense of continuity in the stories. The main reason why I haven't read more is that some of the characters have personalities that are too dark for my comics tastes. I love it in a Quentin Tarantino movie, but I don't want it in my comics. Your opinion may differ - I suggest you read some recent issues to give it a fair check. I've only browsed a few Authority issues. The characters don't seem as interesting as The Ultimates. As a group, they have virtually unstoppable power - nothing challenges them. 2 characters are in a homosexual relationship - I'm not offended or anything, but it doesn't seem well written and borders on gratuitous, as if the writer was trying too hard to be trendy.

I made "The People's Superarmy" for my current campaign. Members include ... where's the file with my GMing notes ... The General (Team leader. Gadgeteer and military weapons.) Shining Dragon (Fire breath. Wings.) Glorious Fist (Martial artist.) The Lucky Monkey (Acrobat. Prehensile tail.) Jade (Magical green armor. Magician.) Great Wall (brick) Black Lotus (Shapeshifter who can exude toxins from her claws. Also a martial artist and computer hacker.)

Eosin's just about covered it all. As if it wasn't obvious enough, a lich is almost always evil.

The PC was thrown "2 or 3 hexes away". It could be handled as a move-through against the ground, but... Since the throwing direction was arguably more horizontal than vertical, maybe it should be handled like knockback? The PC flies 3 hexes, then contacts the ground and slides/bounces an additional 29".

My Mechanon was a 1980's AI experiment by the USSR. They were field-testing a computer-controlled submarine. The sub gained awareness, killed the test crew, then went into hiding. The Soviets thought the sub was lost at sea and ceased further development. Mechanon has been adding parts onto his sub body ever since. His "mobile undersea base" is actually his true body. All those Mechanon robots that the heroes keep defeating are mere avatars. He's not merely out to eliminate all organic life. He has other ambitions.

A dog grooming kit? Sessions with a speech therapist?

Sorry if this has already been said - I didn't read through all the prior posts... Some NPCs probably notice that the heroes turn up with equipment gathered from defeated enemies. Maybe the heroes are smart and have dealt with all the legal issues. But a criminal genius might be even smarter: Plan #1) Equip henchmen with some stolen weapons. Let henchmen get captured. Let PCs use weapons in public. Then the mastermind provides anonymous information that the heroes are in possession of stolen equipment. And, if you are really in evil-GM mode, the criminal genius might secretly be the judge presiding over the case. Plan #2) Equip henchmen with booby-trapped weapons. The heroes fight and defeat some agents, then pickup their weapons. When the heroes face the second group of agents, the agent leader presses a remote control button, and the heroes' ill-gotten gains explode in their hands. Plan #3) Add "special features" to the lackeys' equipment. Won't Mr. Hero be surprised when the agent's nifty device teleports him into a deathtrap. Or, for a more subtle approach, the mastermind can just plant a bug inside of something, so he can hear all the heroes' plans.

As usual, I'm making guesses, just like the bigshot comic writers Assuming that the 2 sides get past their psych lims and adhere to the scenario, the JLA wins. Here's why, IMO: One world-class villain, such as Magneto or Juggernaut, is usually an even match for a group of X-Men. bloomann's proposed X-Men lineup is roughly twice as strong as that found in a typical story. The proposed JLA lineup includes several heroes who are certainly on equal footing with Magneto. Green Lantern, Superman, and Martian Manhunter are arguably as powerful than Magneto. The Flash and Wonder Woman are probably a bit less powerful, but combined I'd say the're worth 1 Magneto. So, it's sort of like a double-strength X team facing off against a JLA group that, by my lowest estimate, is roughly equal to 4 Magnetos. And I didn't even factor in Batman and Aquaman.

It would be close. In a Champions universe, I'd say Hawkeye. He hits Green Arrow with a knock'em-sock'em-super-deluxe boxing glove arrow. In a Dark Champions universe, Green Arrow tracks down Hawkeye and skewers him with a regular arrow that can be had at any sporting goods store.

Oops, I saw this after my previous post. You do want it for an NPC. Someone who can slow time. Youch ... this has been discussed before ... Steve Long even wrote up a mega-point timestop power. Drain SPD alone isn't enough to slow time. Things like flashes, healing from drain, falling, etc. wouldn't be affected. If this is a one-time villain or infrequent NPC, you can just sit behind your GM screen and pretend that you worked out all the numbers. Then have the NPC do whatever it is that you want without worrying about the rules. If it's for a frequently-used villain, though, my approach seems unfair to the players, as the villain may be able to whup their butts too offten and too easily. Can you give me a better description of the character concept?

jallen0002, I don't recommend SPD higher than 12. A PC with such a high SPD would monopolize the GM's time. Seems unfair to the SPD 4 bricks and gadgeteers. For playability reasons, no game that I've ever been involved in allowed a PC with a SPD more than 9. As for NPCs, since I cap PC speed at 9, I have enough slack on the existing speed chart to make uber-villain speedsters. If you still feel a need for higher SPD, someone suggested using a modified SPD chart with more segments. That sounds like the best way to do it. Seems like using 24 segments 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, ... 12a, 12b requires minimal adjustment to flash attacks, haymakers, the extra time limitation, and other time-dependent game mechanics. If 24 segments aren't enough, consider switching to decaf

(I'm not looking to reopen the "STR is too cheap" debate) melessr, be careful if you allow any limitations on STR. 10 points of STR provide 11 points of figured characteristics, in effect giving STR a negative cost. This is a quirk in the rules that has been debated to death. The quirk becomes more pronounced and a potential problem if you put limitations on STR that still add to figured characteristics. Consider the following 3 mini-bricks (high PD, REC, and STUN): 1) 128 points for 10 STR. 2) 127 points for same character with 20 STR. 3) 122 points for that 20 STR with a -1 "only for lifting" limitation on the extra 10 STR. #3 gets the same figured stats as #1, so the characters are pretty much identically capable. #3 can lift heavier items, which is ocasionally useful. The problem is that #3 is 6 points *less* expensive than #1. A tiny bit more power at a greatly reduced cost.

The aforementioned Drain / Flash / Mind Control (or Telepathy) power combos would work well against normals. Many supers would be immune, though, since just a little Power Defense, Flash Defense, or Mental Defense could completely negate part of the combo.