DoctorItron

If we tried to itemize every way in which Chiun gets in the way, Remo would need whole page just for the Chiun-related disadvantages. Maybe Chiun should just count as a custom disad. Wrap the humiliation he inflicts on Remo, and everything else, into it. Should be worth 30 to 50 points depending on the campaign. I'm GMing a campaign. I occasionally play a Remo-inspired character when we have guest GMs. Got disad points for a Chiun-like master (less homicidal but just as annoying, more like the movie Chiun than the book Chiun) but he has yet to appear...

ShadowBlade: "Impulse is a telekinetic. His girlfriend has mental powers." [roll KS: supervillains] "Their lackeys would have to study to qualify as half-wits. Since none of them know the first thing about robots, this jolly green giant is here for something else." He'd then proceed to slice up the robot, unless any armed Apache helicopters were in the air (Fort Hood is the Army's Apache training center, IIRC). ShadowBlade is an overconfident martial artist, but he's sane enough to realize it's not a good idea to be next to the giant robot while missiles and gatling guns are being fired at it.

Chin is definitely more deadly than Remo. Remo could take Chiun as a Watched and a few Social Limitations (Subject to Orders, for example), but probably not a DNPC.

Try to model the martial arts skills with powers, instead. You can put powers into a Variable Power Pool or other framework without running into any rules issues. The following slots cover most martial maneuvers: 1) Extra STR, 0 END, doesn't add to figured characteristics. Various punches, kicks, grabs, holds, escape moves, etc. 2) Hand Attack, No Normal Defense. Choke hold. 3) Hand Killing Attack. Various bone-breaking maneuvers. Add additional slots to model throws and legsweeps. Don't forget a few skill levels, too (outside of the multipower framework, lest ye break the rules). Assuming it's a superhero game, you could also add desol (special effect being able to dodge every attack) and invisibility (super stealth).

Games Workshop sells (I bought mine one year ago) clear bases. The bases are round and smaller than 25mm so gluing them together for multi-hex figures would be a challenge. Maybe glue one base to each of the dragon's feet? The bases also include a vertical piece for elevating flying figures.

Storn, what does UNITE mean to you? Storn, good choice on the word UNITE. I use the same name in my campaign - never cared for UNTIL. In my game, UNITE stands for United Nations Interdiction Team Elite. What does it mean in your game?

If any of the PCs have a secret ID that involves working with computers, you could have Cybermind do his hacking from that location. The player's secret ID gets kidnapped as the gang takes over the buiding. Make Cybermind as skilled as he needs to be for the adventure. If you make changes to the official writeup, just be consistent and maintain those changes if Cybermind ever shows up again.

That's a good idea, you just gave up too easily. Cybermind hacks into traffic control and gives the city a few hours to deposit the money. The gang is with Cybermind in case the police show up. The PCs use their investigation skills to find the baddies, leading to a climactic battle. Cybermind and the gang could be at their lair, at the gov't office that controls the loop, or even a cyber cafe. Plenty of other options, too, stealing from some classic comic bits. Cybermind can control an area's computer gadgets while the gang protects him from the police. The place could be an amusement park (hostages stuck on rides), factory (welding robots threaten employees), airport control tower (think Die Hard 2), etc. If you want to do a bank robbery with a twist, have Cybermind direct all the ATMs in an area to spit out cash. The gang scoops up the money. Innocents see all this money and try to grab some, too, putting them in harm's way.

Someone probably sells 25mm pieces of plastic. However, you'll then need to glue them together for the multi-hex figures. It might be easier to find plexiglass, lexan, or other clear plastic at a hardware or art supply store and cut your own large bases. This assumes you either don't have many multi-hex minis, or have a scroll saw. I recommend clear plastic so you can see the map underneath the largest figures. Opaque bases will obscure too much of the hex map.

You're an artist. Color yourself, rather than trying to pawn the work off on us

This is an interesting character that can turn into an accounting nightmare if you try to separately account for the main character, the control machine, and the robot. Can the character use all of her abilities (skills and otherwise) through the robot? If yes, then I recommend building only one character. Buy all the human skills as normal, then buy the robot's extra abilities with a generic -1/2 disadvantage that combines aspects of a focus, only in hero ID, leaves physical body behind in a very safe location, etc. The big control machine is a plot device. I think -1/2 feels right because it's also the standard value given to OIF battlesuits. The robot is better than a battlesuit in some ways, and worse in other ways, but they are pretty close. If a lot of skills are not usable through the robot, then Multiform might be an okay way to do this. However, remember that Multiform is arguably too inexpensive. It can let one player create a slew of other forms that overshadow the other PCs. Putting disadvantages on the Multiform reduces the cost even further. There have been numerous discussions of ways in which Multiform is open to abuse and I don't think we need to rehash them.

I mentally replace the "inches" with "hexes". In 15+ years playing Champions, almost every group I've seen used a hex map. Never once had to actually pull out a ruler and measure. I think the rule wording should say "hexes" or "map units", but I'm fine with inches, too. (Does everyone else use a hex map?) Changing to meters or feet would make the measurements character-centric, and would require extra math during combat. Consider this comparison: 1) Player-centric - the measurements are based on a player's viewpoint. An attack range might be expressed as "14 hexes". 2) Character-centric. Attack range is "28 meters". Player has to divide by 2 before checking hex map. I prefer #1. #2 wouldn't be bad, just a tiny bit of extra work.

What!? Someone agrees with me. What sort of "Devil's Advocate" am I when I can't get people to argue with me?

If the AI only activates to perform a set action, such as "fly back to base", consider: The A.I., as previously mentioned. Or, put 0 END and Persistent on the Flight so it stays active when unconscious. Then add Trigger for the Flight to activate and fly back to base. Or, buy extra STUN with a -2 limitation (only to stay "awake" to fly back to base).

Since it only protects from feedback, IMO it should be worth a significant cost reduction. I'm going to try a quick example to help me think this through. I think I'm using reasonable defenses for a 350 pt. game. Let's call the proposed speedster with some defenses that only stop feedback damage character "A". 20 normal PD, 10 extra PD only to stop feedback. Let's say "B" is a brick. He's got 30 PD with no limitations. "A" and "B" have the same protection against move-by and move-through feedback. Incoming attacks, however, will almost always do 10 more STUN to "A" than to "B". That's a pretty big limitation to "A". If we give "A" a -1/4 limitation on the 10 feedback-only PD, he saves 2 points. I don't think that's enough, considering how much more damage "A" takes from every attack. A -1 limitation would save "A" 5 points, which I think goes a long way to balancing things. I might even go as far as a -2 limitation, but I'd rather start at -1 and adjust later if it turns out to be a problem. Conditional defenses like this example, or like the "only protects against fire damage" example that has been frequently discussed, are *much* less effective than defenses that work all the time. A player who accepts such reduced effectiveness should be rewarded with a significant discount on the defense.

Clarification requested Rerednaw, I'm a little confused. I'm not sure if you want the defenses to protect you from all attacks, or only from the "feedback" damage you take when you do a move-by or move-through? If the former (all attacks), then I agree that the limitation should be small, since you'll almost always be moving in combat. A -1/4 limitation sounds right. If the latter (feedback damage only), then I'd go with a -1 limitation, since the defenses won't protect you against attacks.

What is Mechanon's status in your game? Assuming that you use the standard "rebuilds himself in a better body after every defeat" Mechanon: Keep what is written in CKC: Muerte's body and ruined armor were dumped into the ocean. Then add: The body and armor sink, landing on Mechanon's undersea base. Muerte is still alive, but barely. Mechanon plans to nurse Muerte back to health so he can be tortured, interrogated, and used for experiments. Mechanon also reverse-engineers the Muerte armor and adds new features into Mechanon version 8.0. M v8.0 happens to look a lot like the Muerte armor. When Mechanon launches his next grand scheme against organic life, the world assumes that Muerte is back. The PCs confront "Muerte" and make their soliloquy. Then "Muerte" responds and everyone recognizes Mechanon's voice. The PCs defeat Mechanon. Meanwhile, the real Muerte breaks free and takes over Mechanon's undersea base to gain revenge on Scorpia and the world. Maybe Muerte's new armor looks like Mechanon That should keep your PCs on their toes. They'll never know if they're dealing with Muerte or Mechanon. And, of course, the real Mechanon v9.0 gets constructed at one of Mechanon's many other bases.

I think Arthur stated this very well. There's no fair way to establish a fixed point cost for invulnerability. The point cost should be dependent on the maximum possible attack in the campaign. An "invulnerable" cosmic-level superhero can fly through the sun. An "invulnerable" Fantasy Hero character only needs to be able to stop swords, arrows, catapults, etc. The cosmic-level superhero should spend more points on the power, since it stops more damage.

No game system imaginable can do everything. Yeah, we can modify Hero to do invulnerablity. But then how do we deal with the player who wants an "I can instantly kill anything" power"? What happens when a force that can move anything tries to move an immovable object? Hero has a fairly consistent set of rules that are generally predicated on the fact that defenses cost a little less than the attack that they protect against. Determine the maximum possible attack in your game world and make invulnerability cost a little less than that attack.

I want to create a character that, when killed, gets possessed and immediately comes back to life in a semi-demonic form. The demonic form attacks whatever killed the character, then the original character is restored to perfect health. The closest thing I've seen in fiction is the connection between Remo Williams and the Shiva entity from "The Destroyer" book series. Here's one way that I think it can be done. Please let me know if you see any rules gaps, or have a cleaner technique for taking care of the whole thing. 1) Main character buys "extra BODY", only to avoid being killed. It functions as extra negative BODY and doesn't add to any characteristics. For example, assuming a 10 BODY character and 5 points of "extra BODY", the character would be "dead" at -10 BODY, yet remain alive until actually hitting -15. 2) Main character buys Multiform to cover the demonic form. No conscious control, triggered whenever damage spills over to the "extra BODY" (between -10 and -15 BODY) 3) Multiform takes all the demonic powers. Lots of BODY, since damage carries over to the new form. Aid, healing, or regeneration for up to 25 BODY, so that all damage is healed when the multiform gets shifted back to the human form.

WillS, talk to Mark about dropping your SPD to 3 and increasing the active points in your powers. 120 active points might be too high based on Mark's statement of the 60 active point guideline, but I'm sure you can come to a compromise. In my game, I'd encourage you to stick with a SPD 4 and let you go to 80 (???) active points. SPD 3 might be too slow if the other players plan to use the new SPD 6 limit.

Here's the best I could come up with under 100 active points. I think that dispelling twice someone's starting BODY would cause death, but I don't have FREd with me to verify. All-or-Nothing Kill: Dispel 33d6: BODY (99 Active Points); Limited Power (Victim can make CON roll to negate attack; -1) Total Character Cost: 49 If you use the "standard effect" rule, 33d6 dispels 99 character points = 49 BODY points = instant death to anyone with 24 BODY or less. I would *never* allow this in my games.

WonderStuff/Mark, I agree with what you've said. Let me add that the key is for players to have fun. If any player doesn't like their character, let them experiment with changes, and as GM you reserve the right to roll back any changes that prevent other players from having fun. The solution for WillS might be to experiment with a new speedster; SPD might be more important to him than to your other players. My current group has SPDs ranging from 4 to 8. No one's complained yet. But, if the SPD 4 players hinted at boredom, I'd encourage them to increase their SPD, or possibly (in extreme cases only) force the high SPD character to become slower.

I recall an "invulnerability" writeup on the old Hero boards that combined high defenses and Absorption into STUN. I've been playing Champions on and off for 15 years and don't recall many player complaints that the rules wouldn't let them be invulnerable. I have, however, heard players complain that the GM wouldn't let them take unlimited defenses. The other players often have no fun when a teammate can't be damaged by anything.

WillS, in my opinion there really isn't such a drastic difference between SPD 4 and 5. However, if you dislike being the slowest character, I think it's fine to boost your SPD. I've been in gaming groups where I hated having a low SPD. For a while I played nothing but speedsters to deal with the problem. Then I realized that my problem wasn't having a low SPD, but rather it was combat that dragged on forever. That can be caused by players taking too long to make decisions, not knowing the rules well enough for quick combat, or spending an excessive amount of time getting distracted talking about non-game stuff in the middle of combat. Note that I recently (since October) started GM'ing a Champions campaign with new players. Two PCs are SPD 4, two are 5, one is 6, and the speedster is 8. Everyone pays attention during combat and makes quick decisions, so the SPD 4 characters don't spend much time waiting. As for campaign limits, I'm generally capping things at 60 active points. If a player asks for permission to exceed the limit, I'm more likely to allow it if the character has a low SPD.