Rapier

Re: Hardened Invisibility versus . . . ?

You can add a Sense/Detect that is Invisibility to Detect Invisibility! You can easily, in theory, purchase this more than once.

Re: How Much XP to Award?

A good way to suck up XP if you've found you've gone a bit overboard is to convince the players they need a team vehicle or base!

"Everyone pony up 10xp for the truck!"

Re: 6E Bastard Sword

6E has Reach, which is a funny kind of Stretching. It's got a bunch of Limitations and Advantages on it, but those seem to be 'background' similar to how Talents are built. It just kind of shows us how it was done, because regardless of how much Reach you buy, it only costs 1 pt (whereas if you actually building Reach with Stretching and the Mods does lead to higher costs than 1pt / 1m).

Re: How Much XP to Award?

A lot of it depends on how quickly you foresee the characters developing. Some GMs may only give out XP at the end of a story arc (or upon returning to base). Depending on the arc you could get 20pts, but not have received anything for the past 2 months.

I've got a story (of course, when do I NOT have a story). When I was in uni, we played Champions on Thursday nights and ShadowRun on Saturday afternoons every other week. I was a mage. I positively loved the character and it was a great deal of fun. But mages in ShadowRun (v1), got a bit of the shaft. To get to the really interesting Spells and stuff you had to become a member of a magical circle which costs a BUTTLOAD of XP. If you wanted to bind a focus so that you could use it well, that cost a multiple (x2, x3) of the level...costing BUTTLOADS of XP. So all the Street Samurai and Riggers and the Deckers got new skills about once a month...and I spent an entire semester forced to bank all my points and not changing. IT SUCKED! I found it frustrating to be unable to progress my character's skills beyond his original design.

Because of that I usually award a point or two of XP per night. We play every Thursday (still. Different group but Thursday always seems to be my game night). 1.5 XP (on average) per night means 6xp a month.

6 XP is two skills, +1 OCV or DCV, +1 DC of STR or Blast. That is a fairly quick progression. For a character with an MP, that is at least one fixed slot...if not two.

5xp in a night is WAY, WAY huge and super-fast progression. XP in Hero is more similar to ShadowRun XP than DnD XP. Since there are no XP -> Level transfer, each and every single point of XP can make a direct impact on the characters design and power. Before we broke for the last hiatus, my players had earned between 55 and 59 XP from 11 Jan 07 - 21 Feb 08. Their progression was fairly rapid.

Re: "Bloodied" in HERO

I think I understand what the term means now. Heck, that's just a Limitation or possibly the concept behind a Power build (or maybe some Accidental Change).

Battle Frenzy: +10 STR, Only When < 1/2 STUN.

Berzerker Barrage (yes, from the old Marvel SuperHeroes game): Enraged/Berserk: Only When < 1/2 STUN

Unstoppable: +10 REC, Only When < 1/2 STUN, 4 Charges Lasting 1 Turn.

Can't Keep a Good Man Down: 4d6 AID to STR, CON, END, STUN Simultaneously, Triggered by being < 1/2 STUN

Those are even fairly standard/normal kinds of berserker powers and I tend to use them with a fair bit of frequency.

Re: Healing power beyond re-use limit

Well based off the progression of Decreased Re-Use Duration, I would say +1.75. Each step down the time chart seems to be another +1/4.

Of course at that rate a 2d6 Healing Usable Every Phase is 55 Active Points (and 5 END). Without some SERIOUS Limitations that is still a rather large chuck of change and the END cost is not inconsiderable. I think that it's possible that this might be limited enough that I might allow it in my game.

EDIT: Of course, if you can drop that into an MP that would mitigate a great portion of the cost. But I would imagine this level of healing would be unnecessary in Supers. In Heroic it might be difficult to come up with an MP high enough (if you've got one at all).

Now stack on some Empathic Healing Damage and some Regen and NOW we're talking FUN!

Re: Helmet that blocks mental attacks

+X DMCV (and/or +Y Mental Defense) OIF Helmet (Obvious since everyone seems to know about it).

Leave his natural DMCV at 5 or so and then just purchase a buttload of DMCV (in the Powers tab with those Limitations).

Piece of cake!

Glad to have you around and let us know if you need help!

FYI: Just for clarity's sake:

A Complication is a character trait that makes someone unique (eg claustrophobia, competitive, vulnerable to fire, etc).

A Modifier changes the cost of a power, the modifiers are Advantages and Limitations. An Advantage makes a Power more powerful (or useful) and thus more expensive. A Limitation makes a Power less powerful (or useful) and thus less expensive.

Re: So..what characters from earlier editions have you updated to 6th?

To sidetrack this a bit' date=' when you update the character do you try to be true to the character or do you adjust it for how you play?[/quote']

 

They are totally and completely redesigned as to how we play and what I need from them as an opponent within my game, while keeping a strong eye on keeping true to the character...or at least how I understand/envision that character.

Re: Look Sir ... Droids

I would likely build them as characters. There were a few times when R2 was shot and got Stunned. He wobbled around and make sad-R2-noises for a couple of seconds...which sounds like Stunned to me.

Stunning doesn't necessarily have to be particular to living beings, it could just represent a certain amount of punishment that a droid could take before it's systems get overloaded.

It might even make sense to buy back all the REC and purchase it back with a Limitation that it requires a repair facility. I could see a bunch of fun character design concepts like this that would make playing a droid...interesting!

Re: Champions Powers: Psionic Palsy

I don't have that in front of me, but does it have Variable Effect? I know that Steve lumped some Modifiers together. For instance a +1/2 Variable Effect and a +3.5 Expanded Effect was, in many cases, listed as a +4 All X Powers Simultaneously.

+4 All DEX Powers Simultaneously could very easily include not just DEX, but DEX Skills and OCV/DCV.

Re: So..what characters from earlier editions have you updated to 6th?

My books are on a low shelf that I can't readily get to. I've got to mine them for some heroic level characters and/or concepts. I haven't specifically updated any characters, but I don't normally run a Champions Universe game.

Re: Healing power beyond re-use limit

Are you talking about healing other people or healing yourself?

Are you the GM or the player? If you are the GM, just ignore the rule. That's your option. If you are the player, you should REALLY discuss this with your GM. One of the things nearly guaranteed to piss off the majority of GMs is bring them a character that makes end-runs around and skates the letter and/or intent of the rules.

There is an optional rule to track damage per wound. You would then only be able to heal wounds individually, but in that case I would waive the Only Once Per Turn stipulation.

A AoE Radius Healing Field might be the way to go. You would be the equivalent of a healing zone in an MMO.

I'm not so sure I would normally allow it to go much beyond Once per Turn. That is a LOT of healing and would be so effective that it could very easily make any kind of incoming damage nearly moot. Why bother dodging or even wearing armour when a character can set off a heal every phase?

Re: Armor Wars

Lose the tracks and mount it on some of those repulsors, so that it can fly, and now you're talking!

 

That makes perfect sense - but it also leads to the world of superscience flying tanks, etc, which is what comic writers are struggling to avoid. Who needs Iron Man when the military can field an armoured division with each tank being more powerful than his suit? Any villain the military can't take down is going to be more than a match for the heroes in a fight ...

 

I cheated when I ran supers games - anyone who wanted to play a gadgeteer had to supply me with a reason why the tech couldn't simply be mass-manufactured. The one dissenter (who wanted to play a gadgeteer) folded when I pointed out that if it could be mass manufactured, it would be - and did he want to be faced by hordes of agents wielding the same powers he had? He still played a gadgeteer (and playboy billionaire) but we settled on the rationale that his own gadgets required more finesse and skill to use, and more rare and expensive elements to produce than the more mundane ones he made his fortune with, and so could not be mass-produced.

 

cheers, Mark

That's similar to how I've handled Magic in my campaign. Witches/Warlocks are the subset of mages that deal with talismans and magical items. You can often create a magical item that is superior to a technological one, but the effort required to create it (and the cost of the materials) is so high that it makes mass production impossible. So no magical, flying tanks in my universe!

Re: Looking at characters in Champions 6E

While this would be very campaign specific' date=' it's not uncommon in comics for non-mentalist characters to interact with the Astral Plane, Dreamscapes, and the like. Whether they tagged along with the team mentalist, are being mentally attacked while they sleep, or whatnot, the could very well have to rely on OMCV to fight and possibly INT or EGO instead of STR to cause 'damage'. Again, this would be very campaign specific and I'm sure different people would handle it a multitude of ways in their own campaigns, but it is a fairly common comic book Trope and worth considering.[/quote']

 

Very true. I would like to think that if the characters were going to be spending lots of time in Astral Space, they would have been warned ahead of time and would have built their characters with that in mind. I know I would be slightly perturbed if I had built a mental midget/physical powerhouse and spent all my time hampered because of it.

Re: Learning the Heroes System

I think that if everyone (GM's & Players) got into the habit of considering the HERO Turn as the "default round" of combat with the number of discreet actions defined by the Phases it could speed up combat. This would require everyone to fight the urge to micro-manage every possible Phase level action and get into a Turn-based combat decision flow. Keeping everyone's characters at the same Speed score (unless it is intrinsic to the concept; ie: Speedsters and some Martial Artists) could also help encourage this behavior.

 

Of course, I have yet to game with a group willing to do this...

My group does and is. We matched SPDs on purpose. I do have to say that it certainly does make combats more equal and less confusing. With differing SPDs, it invariably happens that someone takes an action only to find out "OOPS! Phase 4? I thought this was Phase 5. Undo what I just did." Of course, better tracking could alleviate that but it is not uncommon. I also like the way it opens up the possibilities and makes it easier to coordinate. In Champions, you would frequently run into the 'Yes, we can coordinate so I'll just hold onto this action for a couple of phases until you get your chance to go." And it seems that half the time something would occur that would force the holding character to burn the hold.

My campaign is Heroic, so it's easier for everyone to have the same SPD.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Then what happened?

Very small sandwiches.

Re: "Bloodied" in HERO

I've played nothing but Hero and a bit of ShadowRun for the past 15 years. I haven't touch DnD in longer than that, so have no idea what 'Bloodied' means.

When asking how to convert something from another system it's a good idea to let us know what it is you want to convert and how it works.

Re: 5e Naked Advantage

Actually' date=' the naked advantage would be bought outside of the Multipower...[/quote']

 

Generally, a character cannot purchase a naked Power Advantage or Adder that adds to any slot in a Power Framework, but this depends on the nature of the powers and special effects involved and the GM’s judgment regarding game balance, common sense, and dramatic sense.

 

So it is definitely something you should carefully consider, but it seems to live up to the intent of the exception. It is limited enough to not make it overly useful, and it will definitely do exactly what you are looking for.

 

I can think of a couple of alternate interpretations off the top of my head:

 

Count the 'BODY' of the attack (it doesn't do BODY, but count the total as if it did) and reduce it by any Mental DEF. If the BODY - Mental DEF <= 0 the character is aware of the attack. This way, characters without Mental Awareness but Mental DEF would still have an opportunity to know someone is playing with their mind.

 

Similarly Damage Negation for Mental attacks would count as Mental Awareness, or possibly count the remaining BODY and adjudicate as above.

 

Otherwise I kind of dig the build!

Re: 5e Naked Advantage

His mental powers are already in the MP?

Does he have enough points in the Reserve to have both slots active at once?

Otherwise that would do it.

Re: 6e questions - still no move after attack, expensive movement, defense favored, e

I dislike the over-"realism" or Megascale movement. If I fire flames from my hands, I'm not required to have sufficient Energy Defense to be immune to damage from those flames. Even if I self-immolate with a Damage Shield, I am not requried to pay for sufficient defenses to avoid damage from the flames, nor to purchase Life Support to prevent damage from smoke inhalation or the lack of oxygen as the flames surround my head.

 

The character paid for the power, and should be assumed capable of using it. He should not have to buy other prerequisite powers to be able to benefit from Megascale, any more than he should be required to buy prerequisite powers to be allowed to use his Blast, Force Field or Damage Shield.

I can agree with that to a degree. But characters whose primary attack is Move Thru frequently buy up their defenses to avoid the consequences of their attack. If a character has a No Range AoE Radius they are going to be taking damage from their attack. For certain types of attacks, there are penalties.

I haven't had a character that's had MegaScale movement in quite a while. I've always required the character to have enough sense to see at least one phase of movement ahead.

However, I can see throwing that in for free. It's a judgement call.

Re: 6e questions - still no move after attack, expensive movement, defense favored, e

I think I would be afraid that combat would turn into a tail chase. I would be afraid that high rates of movement would become market qualifiers. That without them you could constantly remain just out of range of attacking, while your opponents use hit-and-run tactics to demolish you.

I think that it might also stack the table in favour of the characters with ranged attacks (vs melee). The melee guy MUST close to melee range, while the ranged guy can keep shooting and moving back. That would be a very powerful benefit, just from the Range Penalties alone. If I can attack you at 8m with no penalty and then move back?

I'm not saying that there isn't a way to mitigate these circumstances. Held actions, NCM bursts, teamwork, etc would all do a great deal to even the field. I don't suppose there is much difference. I might even give it a try for a couple of battles and see how it goes. Make the villains fight intelligently and see if I can out-maneuver the PCs through movement.

Re: 6e questions - still no move after attack, expensive movement, defense favored, e

Perhaps better to buy a Martial Manuever or extra Movement on a Trigger.

 

Although Penalty Skill Levels would help.

FYI! Penalty Skill Levels are strictly a no-no for offsetting modifers to OCV/DCV from maneuvers. For this you would need CSLs.

Re: Random Thought: Splitting Speed

Instead of asking 'can you' (since the obvious answer is 'yes, of course') you should be asking 'why would you' or 'what are you trying to accomplish.' Those questions would be more informative. It's hard to answer 'is this desirable' without having some kind of context to formulate an answer.

For example: The neurons in your brain fire faster than your muscles are able to act. So you feel that mentalists should be able to fire off strictly mental attacks faster than they can move. Would this aspect warrant possibly splitting the SPD Characteristic in my campaign into two separate Characteristics (Mental SPD and Physcial SPD)?

Personally, I don't think the effort involved to adjudicate the issues it would create are going to be worth the effort to actually split the Characteristic. Would this mean that Skills like Deduction, which are entirely mental would happen at the Mental SPD instead of the Physical SPD?

Re: Dodging Fireballs

You're assuming the theoretical game world uses something resembling real-world physics.

Why yes I do. That pesky gravity, disappearing like that and flinging us all off our planets of origin.

Re: Dodging Fireballs

Hence' date=' the +1/2 "Affects Area Of Effect".[/quote']

 

Right, but lets go with that idea for a minute. You are standing there with your +1 DCV (Only vs AoEs). I standing in the hex next to you scratching my elbow. You get targeted with an AoE Radius. You are saying that the DCV of the hex is suddenly 4? How does that hex get out of the way of an attack? Lets say that the attack actually does miss this 4 DCV hex. Where does the AoE hit and what happens to me standing next to you? Do I get hit?

 

It just doesn't make sense on a handful of levels, and adds a whole host of special circumstances for you to have to wade through.