DoctorItron

Wow, pretty extreme. Is Spiritwalker is a villain? Or is she a hero with a 50 point disad "Wants to kill every government employee" There's a little flaw in the plan. Wouldn't the train engineer hear you telling the bomber to go for it? He'd be a witness and your people *would* get blamed. If you've got no problem with thousands of people dying in a nuclear blast, why would you even bother to save the engineer? He is, after all, part of the White Man's government and deserves to die along with all the other gov't employees in Washington DC.

I agree that the 22d6 move-through *could* be a problem, depending on the opposition and other powers that the PC team has. However, I never said the fact that entangles provide knockback resistance is a house rule; I think it's an official rule. Let me clarify: If an entangle fastens a character to the ground, then the entangle has to be broken before the target can be moved. That is *not* a house rule. If the entangle does *not* fasten the character to the ground, then that means that an entangled target with non-foulable flight (i.e. boot jets rather than wings) can still fly, making him unhittable with a running move-through. A flying move-through, on the other hand... I think the conversation is drifting from "is move-through abusive" to "is move-through combined with other powers abusive". Entangles that take no damage from attacks are powerful. Especially if you're using the optional hit location rules, in which case someone entangles the target and everyone else shoots at the target's head. As for a speedster running around with a large object to make the move-through area effect, remember that the maximum damage that the speedster can inflict is limited to the object's DEX+BODY. Most items that are large enough to inflict massive damage are too bulky and too heavy for a typical speedster to carry.

Derek said it well. The Hero System lets you play non-superhero games without having to learn a new set of rules. I'm in a Stargate-genre game right now using D20 and we're constantly trying to adapt characters because the rules in different books conflict with each other. Wouldn't have that problem if we started with Hero.

I still don't think the 22d6 is unbalancing. For most games. But your game might differ, depending primarily on what type of opposition you plan to throw against the players. The -6 OCV penalty is significant. Large creatures that can be easily hit despite the -6 OCV are going to have knockback resistance, damage resistance, damage shield, etc. The player might hit, but then the player will be unconscious for the rest of the battle. Maybe one of move-through-guy's teammates has an entangle that doesn't take damage from attacks. So what? It depends on the SFX of the entangle. Let's say said entangle is super-glue. Villain gets hit and entangled. Move-through-guy charges said villain and hits for 22d6. As GM, I would rule that the entangle's DEF + BODY acts to the d6 rolls to resist knockback. Move-through-guy knocks out the villain, does no knockback due to the entangle, and knocks himself out. Yes, the above doesn't hold true for all entangle SFX. But then we're no longer talking about a balanced *character*, we're talking about a balanced *team*. Another tactic: villainous martial artists can hold an action, then use a Martial Throw to send move-through-guy flying when he runs past them. To the guy who asked the original question, if you think the 22d6, despite OCV penalties, is still a problem, work out a compromise with the player. Don't forget that any character can boost a 12d6 attack. +4d6 for a haymaker. +2d6 for pushing. For comparison purposes, let's pretend that move-through-guy had 6 levels to offset the move-through penalty. Put those levels to damage, there's another +3d6 (yeah, that's the rule for heroic campaigns, but the superhero bonus of +3 stun comes out close). That's 21d6. You've got to live with the haymaker penalties, but there's no risk of you taking damage from your own attack.

I'd allow it as long as the brick doesn't buy obscene movethrough combat levels. 22d6 is an immense amount of damage, but the -6 OCV penalty will make a successful movethrough a rare event. The character takes half damage if the target is knocked back. If the target isn't knocked back, the character takes the *full* 22d6. Granted, most targets are going to take knockback if hit for 22d6 damage. However, if a target's big enough so that the brick can still hit despite the -6 OCV penalty, then the target might have gobs of knockback resistance. Another thing to consider on a leaping movethrough: In order to get the bonus for 30" of movement, the brick needs to move the full 30" (at least that's how I'd GM it - there's no acceleration and deceleration with a leap). So, if the brick misses, she may very well wind up doing the movethrough on a building, car, or other object on the other side of her target.

Did I read that correctly? A vehicle with duplication, multiform, and summon??? Wow! Weird game balance issues can happen with any 1 of those 3 powers. If you combine all 3 of them, abandon all hope of game balance. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea, but it's an extraordinarily very complex character that stresses the rules. Hero will still do a better job with it than any other system, though. My suggestion is to just fudge the character sheets. What's the concept for the vehicle?

ShadowBlade, the martial artist, would say "10 minutes from DC! I'm in New York. I won't get there in time, so I hope the Washington heroes are up to the job." If ShadowBlade was lucky enough to be on the train, he'd defeat the villain using the same tactics that worked in the museum. Then he'd wonder "How'd this guy get out of jail so quickly? This is the second time this week I stopped him from blowing up civilians."

Rolling separately for each attack might not even things out. Find Weakness can become *more* powerful if each attack is rolled for separately. Consider a character with 5 attacks in a multipower. Find Weakness for all attacks. With separate rolls, the player gets 5 attempts to make the Find Weakness roll, instead of just 1. Sure, it takes 5 actions to do so, but the player will stop trying as soon as one of the rolls succeed. Using Find Weakness with a single roll, as written in 5th edition, only allows a single attempt - failure prevents any further attempts at Find Weakness. In terms of evaluating combat effectiveness, I suggest looking at Find Weakness in the same light as the Armor Piercing advantage. An attack with Find Weakness is very similar to the same attack with an activation roll on Armor Piercing.

(I assume that the villain can trigger the explosion any time he wants. It's too easy if death is the only that that triggers the bomb.) My current character, ShadowBlade, is a martial artist. He'd shift his multipower to invisibility, sneak in, and find a good hiding spot in view of the hostage taker. Then shift the multipower to chi blast (Ego Attack) and blast away with a pushed attack. 7d6 on a push would hopefully CON-stun the villain. A few more Ego Attacks should be enough. Or, if the villain resists the first Ego Attack, then ShadowBlade would close to HTH and use a nerve strike (NND, not versus rigid armor). Other powers that could be helpful in this situation (ShadowBlade doesn't have these powers): 1) Desolidification usable against others. Make the villain desol, then evacuate the hostages. 2) Force Wall or Entangle. Surround the villain to protect the hostages. He can explode, but he won't be taking anyone with him. 3) Use adjustment powers (Drain, Suppress, Transfer) to disable the bomb. 4) Mind Control. Tell the villain to "do nothing". Evacuate the hostages. 5) A good old double-knockback energy blast. Blast the villain out a window, away from the hostages. 6) A big-honkin' killing attack. If the bomb's a focus, shoot it before it has a chance to blow up. 7) if the bomb is triggered by a manual switch, try a Flash vs. the touch sense so the villain can't trigger the bomb. 8) Aid. Let the villain blow up. Then resurrect the hostages. 9) Mental Illusions or Images. Create the illusion that the hostages are still in the room as you evacuate them.

Yamo, very good observation. Ideas like that help to keep Extradimensional Movement from becoming abusive. My guideline for creating Hero powers is to focus on the end-results, not the special effects. That's why I suggest Variable Power Pool for your event-duplication power; VPP can create any end-result desired.

Try a Variable Power Pool to simulate the event. Then buy a bunch of levels to "guarantee" that the VPP always hits. The maximum effect will naturally be limited to the size of the VPP. If Doctor Destroyer just blasted someone with a 30d6 blast, and you want to duplicate that, you're going to need a mighty VPP. Event Duplication VPP (Mimicry Pool) 60 base. 36 control cost 96 real points. 150 active points. No Skill Roll Required (+1) Powers Can Be Changed As A Zero-Phase Action (+1) VPP Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (-1/2) Character Has No Choice Regarding How Powers Change (-1/2) Can Use the Duplicated Power Only Once (-1/2)

"Believing the governor menaced by a madman, the butler produces a concealed weapon!" The butler is wearing a bathrobe. I guess he always lounges around with a pistol. That might explain why the governor's bedroom door is made of steel: protection from the butler.

It seems that we're discussing 3 options, not 2 as some people have assumed: 1) Use a hex map. 2) Use a map or table of floor without hexes. Use a ruler to determine attack range and movement. This is just like a "standard" miniatures wargame. 3) Don't use any map. The GM and players describe everything. I prefer 1 or 2 for important combat scenes. I'll use #3 only when it's a quick and easy combat, such as superheroes against some unpowered thugs.

Not knowing the dynamics of your group, this advice may or may not work... Bring up the topic at the next game session. Let the offending player, GM, and all the other players know how the 10d6 killing attack is hurting your enjoyment of the game. Get their opinions. If the GM and offending player do not want to change things, then your options are: a) Leave things as they are. Quit the game. c) Consider changing your character to the type of game the GM wants to run. If he wants 10d6 killing attacks, so be it. Or, if combats are ending very quickly, build a character with no combat skills so you'll be busy during the rest of the game. Good luck.