Rapier

Re: Charges on a Multipower's Reserve

Points, points, points!!

SHEESH! I'm so sick of everything coming down to points!

I guess that is the nature of the beast, neh?

The SFX of the power must determine how the charges are bought. I can understand maximising a character with a couple of tweaks here and there (I myself tend to buy Characteristics in nice point friendly breaks), but CONCEPT is what is important.

Yes, you can min/max your way into cheesing out a significant number of uses in your multipower by creatively applying limitations, especially in a multipower. But the concept is what determines how the charges are purchased. I would never (well, maybe not never if the concept is tight enough) allow an archer character to purchase charges on his reserve (with arrows in the slots).

It is darn difficult to rationalise how a MP can be charged when you have tangible charges (eg arrows, bullets, etc). Not impossible, but rare.

Re: New To Hero: Character Advancement

Whether some period of training or development is required is up to the GM.

Yeah, I just had a character come back from hiatus. He was off running around the wilderness learning to use his new shapeshift power. His player was running another somebody with a little bit of TK.

This came up on one of the boards. I dug through the FAQs and can't seem to find the answer:

If a character has Shape Shift (sight, touch, hearing) is there a PER roll to see through the shift?

What if, without Imitation/Disguise/Mimicry I try to shift into a specific person (eg Bill Gates)? Obviously the PER roll mods would be huge...but how huge?

Then we began discussing looking like Dan Rather. If I SS into Dan Rather (with the above construct), a Disguise Skill (or Mimicry Skill) roll is needed. In this case the PER roll to determine that I am, in fact, not Dan Rather is a skill vs skill (Disguise vs PER) roll?

If a character has Immitation Shape Shift (sight, touch, hearing), FREd states that a -3 PER roll would disprove/disbelieve (however we want to term it) the Shift. This is because the Imitation adder replaces the Disguise/Mimicry Roll. I think this last bit is what threw me. In the case of imitation you are seeing through the disguise and not the shape shift, neh?

Further, what if I have Imitation SS AND a Disguie or Mimicry? Would the Disguise/Mimicry roll allow a further penalty with the PER roll? Off the cuff I would say that for each point the roll is made by would apply another -1 penalty, and each point the roll is missed by would apply a +1 bonus. Is this reasoning fairly sound with regards to how SS is defined?

Thanks!!

Re: Can't Feel Pain

I'd argue that the 'Cannot be STUNNED' bit isn't really accurate. If I'm understanding the condition properly, they can still be stunned, rattled, KO'd, etc. Frex, hit them with a strong uppercut to the diaphragm and they'll have the wind knocked out of them. That's a purely physical response as the diaphragm muscle is knocked loopy, preventing you from drawing a breath. Will they writhe on the ground in pain from the blow? No, but they're still be stunned.

 

You'd probably be best off representing it as a very high level of Resistance. Effectively, they could be withstand as much torture as they wanted, the main limit (failed roll) being psychological in nature (they don't feel the pain, but they still know that they're being destoyed physically).

 

They Phys. Lim. is definitely a go, however. There are more drawbacks to the condition than there are bonuses.

I can't really decide, but perhaps also some extra CON: Only to Avoid Being Stunned/Feeling Pain?

I've got a couple villains with a Pain NND and the defense is having no nervous system/pain stimuli. Interesting to see that there actually IS such a thing.

Re: Shapeshifting

This house believes that the power 'Shapeshift' is too expensive. Discuss.

 

The basic reason is that it is a power with no direct effect on combat, except for the odd surprise attack bonus.

 

It is a power that has enormous potential to imbalance a game, but that will depend on the role playing: a GM can always rules that a lot of places have pheremonal detectors, and the player can't shift smell. The point is the usefulness of the power is in the application by the player which is not properly quantifyable across games. The power should be a warning or stop power, but cost less to purchase.

 

Compare images: a similar cost and far more application - in fact it could be used as a de facto shapeshift in addition to its other utility.

 

Compare invisibilty: more expensive, but only 10 points in most situations, with massive combat effect and equally great potential to imbalance a game.

 

Shapeshift is basically a SFX you pay for in most cases. You could make the power cheaper and the more difficult to run bits (like imitation) more expensive or more difficult to use (requires physical contact and extra time, for example).

Cost effective arguments are always so "heated." They also always come down to subjective experience. I personally, don't believe that ShapeShift is too expensive.

I also think you are doing yourself, your players and Hero a disservice to try and quantify everything in terms of Combat Effectiveness. If your games are primarily arena combat or somehow center around dishing out the smackdown, then yes, Shapeshift doesn't give you much bang for your buck. Actually, let me stop and apologise for the sentence above. I didn't mean to imply you are some kind of schlub. There is nothing wrong, at all, with running a primarily combat game. My games have quite a bit of roleplaying and sometimes we can go a couple games without any combat.

Shapeshift is a completely separate power from images or anything else. Images can make you look like Dan Rather. However, an observant person (or depending on SFX, a mechanical device like a camera) or anyone with any kind of time to do an examination (say during interaction at a dinner party) can see that you are not, in fact, Dan Rather.

While, a Transform could produce the effect (changing from Male/Female or changing your outward shape to another human), I would not allow it since you are using Transform to duplicate another power (Shapeshift).

Shapeshift would actually allow you to become, outwardly, Dan Rather (depending on how it was purchased, you could even pass a thorough inspection including bloodwork and fingerprints). This is a very powerful ability. I have a character in my current Hero campaign that has Shapeshift and he is always the point man when lurking around warehouses or things (usually in the shape of a guard or scientist etc). He is a VITAL member of the team and has saved the team and made things much easier on a number of occassions.

I guess, I more strictly enforce the intent of the power. I would not allow someone to buy Images (Touch, Hearing, Sight) Self-Only (only to appear as another human). I would demand that they, instead, buy Shapeshift (unless there was a REALLY REALLY good reason why Images was the right power for the concept).

Re: Possession

We gamed all weekend (Fri-Sat and part of Sun). Friday we played Champions and Sat-Sun was Hero. I've had a mini-plot running around in my head for the past few months about some kind of Blood Mage Serial Killer.

Based primarily on this thread, I had a stroke of genius...a true epiphany, if you will (can you tell I'm pleased with myself?). My serial killer had the power I posted above (with a few extra lims/advantages). He possessed a person (a housewife, a phone company guy and an aide for the mayor so far), then used that person to commit his murder. The Hero's closed in pretty close to the last victim (being murdered/sacrificed by the aide). The possessor took control of one of the heroes briefly to make his escape.

I've got to say that the Possession using Transform works beautifully. It's simple, concise and easy...and it does exactly what I wanted.

Oh don't worry, I'm not giving anything away. The heroes have discovered all of this. I was careful not to give anything away. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the help and inspiration. I've been bouncing around waiting to spread the news and had to wait until we had gotten into the plot. THANKS!!

Re: Possession

I completely agree that Transform can be hideously overused/abused/beaten down and kicked to the curb. However, there are certain concepts/effects that to me, scream Transform.

My bellweather is, really, if when defining the power in my head I use the verb "transform" (or sometimes "switch," "change" or "alter"). In this case, I want to actually alter the target so that I have control of their body (KINKY!). To me, that begs for Transform. To do it without Transform would require a vast array of powers (Mind Control, Clairsentience, Mind Link, Desol, etc) that IMO do not really get the effect we are looking for.

Not to poo-poo your theory at all. I completely agree that I have seen LOTS of Transforms in my day that are an end-run around other powers (for instance, I saw one just a week or so ago that was a Transform into a mental slave...I changed it to Mind Control), however, in this case I think Transform is the right power.

Re: New to this Genre

Hi a player in my Group is mooting a game of Dark Champions' date=' I take it it is quite dangerous (I mean F Hero is dangerous with swords??[/quote']

I had similar problems. We'd been playing Champions and occassionally FH for YEARS. We all got tired of saving the world...yet again (YAWN).

 

We decided to make a switch and play a "Buffy Hero" game. Characters are between 150 and 250 points. A single close power effect (sometimes multiple powers but all tightly grouped around a single SFX), NCM, equipment etc. The first few games were rather bloody. People kept losing limbs and bleeding to death. Even between adventures people were looking at SIGNIFICANT periods of time to heal back to full BODY.

 

I posted a bit on the boards here and picked up LOTS of good stuff. Combat Luck is a must. It gives you a bit of natural rDEF which makes a big difference. Also stress that most characters have some sort of martial arts or CSLs. This allows them to concentrate on defensive maneuvers or avoid being hit (after all some big demon with claws or some little spit of a guy comes at you with a sword and all you are wearing is a house coat you had better be dodging). Allow simple limited armour (2 rDEF leather jackets). Fantasy Hero also has a bit in it (a Talent I think) called Fast Healing. It isn't quite Regen, but much juicier than regular healing time.

 

I've also taken the trouble to design a "Healing Room" off the Council chambers. The room has a small Regen with Side Effects (END Drain and an Aging Transform).

 

Once we tweaked the characters a bit and changed our combat methods (straight up heroic characters are not meant to stand there and soak up damage like Champions characters), things settled down a great deal. Things are still fairly bloody...a zombie with a sword still dishes out some damage, but it no longer severs limbs every other turn.

Re: Opinions requested on an application of Side Effects

However' date=' the RSR could also be taken to mean "The Archer glances arund for a suitable surface off which to bounce his attack, however he finds none suitable for his archery. He must either fire a direct shot or select a different action". In this case, the ability to fire directly after a failed roll makes sense.[/quote']

ah! Something I had not considered. I agree with your interpretation. If the RSR on the Indirect is "looking for a bounce point," failing the skill roll simply means he can't find a bounce point and he's got to make a straight on attack. While this is a great effect and one I am probably going to steal, this is not what Derek is looking for.

 

I am rather fond of this little tidbit, Derek. I had not considered a naked Indirect advantage for my archer guy. This is a great construct. It was always bothersome that he couldn't bounce and entangle or such...a fresh pair of eyes, eh?

 

Don't let these guys poo-poo you! I love the RSR with the SE. It describes exactly the effect you are looking for, is without cheese of any sort and is completely by-the-book legal.

Re: So, why is longevity so expensive?

To get full life support back down to 35, I'd use something like the following:

 

Breathing: use the present scale (1 point for each shift up the time chart), but at 5 the character need not breathe at all (at this point, the chart would be 1/5 hours, so the difference would rarely, if ever, see play). "Exotic environment" would be a limitation (eg. need not breathe if underwater would be a -1 limitation, so 3 points). FULL = 5

 

Eating: as is FULL = 3

 

Sleep: as is FULL = 3

 

Longevity: 400 years 1 pt; 1,600 years 2 points; no limit 3 points. FULL = 3

 

Safe environments 1 point each FULL = 5

 

Immunity unchanged, except drop All poisons/chemicals to 8, and All diseases/Biotoxins to 8 FULL = 16

 

Full life support would now cost 35 points, rather than 50. I don't see getting it down to 30 points unless you provie "volume discounts", and I like each area being independent so I'm disinclined to do so.

Yep. The problem (I shouldn't say problem, the difference/escalation in costs) with LS is that there is a lot more in there than there used to be. There just used to be one environmental LS (extreme temp: heat and cold).

While this is all good and everything what do you do with Flamester O'Flannery? He is immune to high temp...but not cold. So do you take a lim on the LS: Heat only? Well, high temp and low temp are actually two different things. So you split them up. So where are before 3pts (or whatever its costs was) got you immune to extreme heat AND cold, 3pts now gets you immune to extreme heat OR cold. IMO, this is a better construct. Just because you are immune to disease, doesn't mean you are immune to posions. I like the granularity, it allows me to better tailor the LS to my needs instead of getting lots of side benefits that stray from the concept or having to load the LS down with hundreds (slight exaggeration ) of limitations.

If you really want to get the cost of LS back down to its old levels, you just need to improve the groupings. Group temperature LS together, group poisons and disease, group other commonalities.

Personally, I don't see the problem with the increased cost of LS. I mean, we did get another 100pts for SuperHero characters. A bump of 5 pts for full LS isnt that big a deal.

Re: So, why is longevity so expensive?

Also, as to "changes", many of us "change" the rules because they were - in our minds - never broken in many respects. Whether it's -1/3" or the use of Shape Shift as it was in 4th, many of us feel that these changes in later editions were for the worse - and in fact, to be quite candid, ill-considered changes made in deference to misunderstandings, rulemakers' personal preferences, and/or simple avoidance of the appearance of standing still (i.e., change for change's sake).

 

Nonetheless, this does not mean I reject where 5th has ended up. Despite my earlier criticisms, I think 5th is another good step forward, and I suppose I have given up on my rejection of everything after 3rd edition.

This is the nature of the beast. Because Steve is writing the rules, what Hero has beomce is Hero as Steve sees it, and plays it. If I was in charge (or you or DustRaven or anyone) people would be unhappy because how I've been playing Hero would end up as rules.

However, even though i disagree with some of the rules and don't like some of the changes made in FREd, I am very, very happy with where the game currently is. FREd is leaps and bounds ahead of the BBB, with a few issues IMO. However, the tweaks/house rules/what-have-you that I use with FREd are much much fewer than we used with the BBB. I have every faith that as time goes on, Hero will get better and better.

The simple fact that technology (eg the Internet) has progressed far enough that we can share or concerns, questions etc with Steve and Co. demands improvement of the game. Back in the day, games were fairly static because most game makers were unaware of players feelings and didn't know problems existed.

Re: Conquerors, Killers and Crooks

Takofanes is #6.

How could they forget Takky? He's probably my favourite. Not to use in a game for heavens sake. But I think he's just an all around fun kind of guy. Who hasn't wanted to take over a dimension or three on a long weekend?

Re: Look, Bob! Another Star!

Holy guaca!! I don't have Star Hero yet...I'm an earthbound kind of guy. But that Sector Generator ROCKS! We have a side campaign of Silent Death and I spent literally months developing star systems...and did it all by hand, and with nowhere near that quality and evenness.

Not only is this utility/proggy thing AWESOME, I'm all but drooling over the sector generation rules in Star Hero (if this is an example). Darn it, just when I had convinced myself I didn't need to buy this book yet.

DAMN YOU ALL!

*grumble grumble couldn't keep it to themselves could they? NOOOOOOO grumble*

Re: Look, Bob! Another Star!

For some odd reason, don't ask me why, I read the title of this thread...and in my head it sounded just like Mary Tyler Moore doing her Laura Petri voice. Shrug.

Re: Fixing Martial Artists

That's exactly my point. It takes GM intervention to equalize bricks and MAs. The rules as written give a huge edge to bricks over MAs' date=' all other things being equal.[/quote']

1) Bricks SHOULD have some combat edge over MAs. That is why they are bricks. Bricks should (archetypically) be able to suck up and dish out vast amounts of damage. MAs should be dodging and leaping around, rarely hit (but boy when they do get hit...man its gotta hurt).

 

2) Isn't that why we sit behind the screen? IMNSHO, Hero's point based system has a way of levelling the field. Can you get a brick with huge OCV/DCV/DEX? Sure...but he's only got the same points as everyone else. This means, that he isn't gonna be as bricky as other bricks and not as MAey as other MAs. The classic Jack-of-all-Trades, Master-of-None.

 

Hero System open-endedness REQUIRES the GM to participate in character creation. In D&D, things are a lot easier. The system is so locked down that it cannot be abused very easily...of course, characters are also railroaded down a particular path and one Warrior is much like another. THAT is the reason I switched to Hero in the first place. I was tired of being able to create a brand new character (interchangeable with any other similar character) in under 5 minutes.

Re: Possession

The question here is what kind of stats he would have against somebody who could affect his real body. Say, if someone had the power to physically enter the MindScape.

 

My advice? DEX=INT, BODY, CON=EGO, STR=PRE, and define the "Mind Scape" as being a dimension where everyone's characteristics are reset this way.

The Ultimate Mentalist (from 4th Ed) has a whole slough of these fun little bits. It's a wealth of fun mentalist facts! There is even a section on dreamscape/astral space/etc that gives you some rules/guidelines on what your physical stats would be in astral space (and its very similar to this). It also give rules/etc on how to perform mental combat (EGO vs EGO, not the EGO Attack/Mind Control type).

You should even be able to lay one up pretty cheap.

Re: Possession

...but it seems a little strange it would be easier to take over the mind of a smart person than a stupid one (in the latter case you would have to increase their INT' date=' which would take more points to transform).[/quote']Why? A mental transform would be vs EGO. INT has nothing to do with it. If you transform a bunny into a rhinocerous you don't need to "buy up" any STR or anything. That is what the Transform does. That is why Major Transform is so darned expensive...its REALLY powerful.

 

On the bunny point, a physical transform would leave you with your own mind (ARG! Four legs? And what am I going to do with these ears!), a mental transform would leave you with your body but give you the mind of a bunny (and wouldn't it be amusing, in some cases, to see if anyone noticed...). If they used a spirit transform...I'm overthinking this again, aren't I?

Yup! The nice thing about Major Transform is that you can define it to do ANYTHING. In this case we are simply defining:

 

(33) Possession: Major Transform 3d6 (Transfer My Mind into the Body of Another, Possessor Making EGO Roll to Return to Body), BOECV (Mental Defense applies; +1) (90 Active Points); Eye Contact Required (-1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Returns to Original Body if Possessed Body is Stunned/Unconscious (-1/4)

 

Youare dumping 30 AP per d6 into this puppy. Depending on your GM there are two side considerations:

 

1) Dual Transform (Mind Swap): Transform Your Mind into Someone's Body and Transfer Someone's Mind into Your Body. Since you are a willing target this is not really much of a brainer...simply tack on a x2 (or even x3) END to represent the casting upon yourself. The issue with this now is that some lumm-lumm is now in possession of your meat. Could lead to problems...or some wonderful roleplaying possibilities. But I don't think this is really what you are looking for. Having someone else have control of your body is a -1/2 (as per 4th Ed's Ultimate Mystic Possession...which I think is a good value for the limitation).

 

2) Lock the Little Creep Away: You stuff the targets EGO (consciousness) into a corner of his mind and lock the door. In this case, I would increase the heal to a -3/4 and make it Target or Possessor can heal with a successful EGO Roll (as a GM I would allow you to make an EGO roll each turn and use your result as a modifier for the target: you make it by 1 he's -1 on his roll, you miss by 3, he's +3 for his roll). Remeber, your body is now a husk. Hope its well hidden.

 

Seriously though, no you wouldn't, but that is because you are using the same brain. In this instance you would be another mind entirely that is made to look and feel like yours and when that mind heals the copy you just goes away. Technically you need telepathy to transfer thoughts back to yourself as transform srpecifically can not be used against yourself.

Again. I believe you are overthinking the construct. The wonderful thing about a Major Transform is that your don't need to worry about too much of this. That is what a Transform does. Are we grabbing some effects that could be similated with powers? Yep. However, the SFX IMHO warrant it. Also, the AP / d6 is already REALLY high. If a GM enforced any kind of AP limits on powers you are only looking at a 2d6 Transform (assuming 60 AP as a typical limit). Considering averages:

 

3.5 per d6, 2d6 per phase = 7 EGO per phase.

Average normal EGO is 10 (which you need to double).

20 / 7 = 3 phases.

 

You are going to blow three entire phases just to achieve a possession. I think you have already paid plenty for the effect you are looking for.

Re: So, why is longevity so expensive?

Our Champions campaign had characters that retired due to old age. While some adventures etc happend within the span of a few weeks, others took place over months (and in one case years).

I've also had a few time-master villains that had NND vs LS: Aging and Aging Transforms. It spawned a rather lengthy mini-plot for the characters to reverse the aging, and one character in particular decided not to accept the risk for reversing the aging and stayed old. He retired shortly after.

I also add some side-benefits to those characters that have been around quite a while. They get bonuses to skill rolls (mostly knowledge based) simply because they have been around a lot longer. They also, on occassion, run into a new contact whose grandfather/father etc knew.

I make regular use of those characters with LS: Aging as plot furtherance devices, and the players seem to greatly enjoy these small side benefits.

Re: Fixing Martial Artists

I really get tired of talking about martial artists like they all fit into a "class" or something.

Some martial artists are normal people who have taken a couple classes at the Y. CAN they buy up to some 12d6 or 14d6 within the rules? Sure, but where's the GM in all this? Why hasn't he stood up and said "Um, NORMAL? A NORMAL has 12d6 in MA?" The GM should never allow a normal to have 12d6 MA. For that matter, whats to stop a normal from purchasing 12d6 EB, Desol, Teleportation, EDM or a Damage Shield? I would hope there would be a GM jumping up and down and flinging his feces like an enraged monkey. Now there's a mental picture, isn't it?

Some martial artists are highly trained normals. Maybe they can break bricks and dent cars. Maybe allow them to top out at 12d6. Again, the GM should be enforcing genre conventions and reasonable powers limits.

Some martial artists are extremely trained supers. They can dent tanks, chew engine blocks and punch through the cranium of your average super-villain. These martial artists should be able to grab 15 or 20d6 in MA. Once again, the GM should be involved and make sure that these MAs have HIGH ENOUGH DCs in MAs.

Martial Artist is an archetype. It means that the character in question has, among other things, a significant number/amount/points placed in/around Martial Arts maneuvers and Martial Arts Effects. It doesn't speak at all of AP limits, Damage Classes or anything else. To think it does is a disservice to Martial Artists, the GM and the player.

I don't think MA is broken. I think it represents exactly what it was supposed to. I have ruled that certain materials make certain attacks against them Penetrating, Reduced Penetration, AP or completely ineffective. But that is all SFX. Besides consider:

MA: I punch the brick wall with my 10d6 Fast Strike.

GM: You dent the wall and do some damage, but don't break through.

MA: WHAT? I did more than enough BODY to break through a brick wall.

GM: Says who? How do you know what the DEF and BODY of that wall is?

MA: Well, it says on page xxx of FREd that a brick wall has...

GM: Whoa! Who says this is a typical brick wall or that all brick walls have that DEF and BODY?

MA: Um. Yeah, ok.

The only problem I foresee is if the GM announces that the party is hemmed in by a 4 DEF, 6 BODY wall. In which case, the GM should be smacked with a hex map.

Re: Non-"adventuring" Metahumans

Damn, I didn't realize questioning the Holy Low Point Values was trolling. . .

 

*sigh*

 

There is also the little problem of whether 75 points represents even a real world Secret Service agent properly, but apparently, *that* isn't important. . .

*Dons his devil's advocate hat*

All righty, Mr Smarty-SS-Guys-Are-Expensive-Pants. Put your SS Agents where your mouth is. Post your typical SS agent.

I'm thinking that 75+75 is right proper amount. Consider also, that your average SS agent is that much more trained than some of the high-end FBI agents, cops or military officers (where they actually recruit a number of their people). One of the great benefits of any single SS agent is the other 100 SS agents he/she can call upon in need. They also have a HUGE infrastructure backing them. But they don't need to pay for any that.

Re: Odd Champions campaigns

We are currently involved in a cross-over. We decided to take a break from Champions about a year ago. I'm using the same campaign setting, but instead of Champions in 2076, its normal heroic character in 1884.

For the setting and time period the characters ARE the superheroes of the day and age. Its quite refreshing and a great deal of fun.

Re: Newbie Seeks Character Creation Help

Animal Forms: I checked the Bestiary' date=' you won't need more than 200 points for any of the forms. A deer is a whopping 42 point creature! I doubt you'll need more than 115 points (for a Diminutive Mammal form, like a Gray Squirrel). [/quote']

She is most likely looking for Super Squirrel and Dynamo Deer...something a little more juicy than your average Bambi.

 

When I've got a character with Multiform, I usually work backwards. I start with the multiforms and then create the main character. There is nothing worse than getting the character all spec'ed out and realizing you need to dump another 4 points into multiform.

Re: Non-"adventuring" Metahumans

I loved the old Champs half-supplement "The Blood" (published with "Dr. McQuark" iirc)' date=' about a family of extradimensional immigrant supers that weren't really heroes nor villains. Thinking about it got me to wondering whether any of you have interesting metahumans in your campaigns that gained great powers but just didn't have any interest in being a super-hero, super-villain, super-spy, or super-politician. Any super-accountants out there?[/quote']

Our Champions campaign has a number of non-hero supers. A number of them I shamelessly borrowed from Wild Cards, but what can you do when you see a good idea? There are evens areas of the Dalls-Fort Worth Megaplex where supers outnumber norms (population wise) to a significant degree.

 

Many are business owners, cops, PIs, entertainment/media icons.

Re: So, why is longevity so expensive?

I'm a little stressed about the general flavour of a lot of the responses. It appears that a number of people are IMO overly concerned with the combat and/or direct effects of LS: Aging. I'm not trying to flame or start some kind of heated verbal fisticuffs, but could I ask that we take a step back and consider these:

1) As a GM, it is my responsibility to tell a story (or perhaps I should say, to set the stage for the characters to act out) in genre fashion. Part and parcel of this responsibility is to use the characters skills, talents, perks and powers. If a character has the ability to turn other Desol, I should create a situation where that power is used (someone just posted a rules question about a UBO Desol character rescuing people trapped inside a bank vault). It is these interactions that bring the players back for more. Characters are more than combat stats. A player gives a character certain powers because they WANT to use them. How can we, as GMs, ignore such pleas from our players? If you have a character with LS: Aging...USE IT!

2) There is a tendency (especially in newer players) to focus all their concept around combat. How many times has a new player presented you with a character without a single KS, AK or language...as if the character dropped out of some Ultimate Fighting Championship in the sky? Characters are more than combat stats (well, unless you are an ArenaBot or something ). Characters were born, grew up, skinned knees, climbed trees, went to school, learned to drive, had their first kiss, read a book. A well rounded character has many, many aspects (represented by Perks, Talents and Skills) that have no relation to combat or day to day life. This does not in any way invalidate the powers. I am very knowledgeable (probably at 14-) in the Bataan Death March (having done quite a bit of research and written a few papers on it). With the exception of this post, the last time I said the words Bataan Death March was 2002, before that...probably 1994. Not all of our character's skills, stats, perks, talents or powers need to come up all the time to be valid. Shouldn't a well rounded character have odds and ends (LS: Aging, KS: Bataan Death March, PS: Beautician, PS: Tax Law) that hardly come up at all? The whole point of background skills, powers, talents and perks is that they are just that...background. We should be rewarding players for developing their characters to such a level that they have dimension, depth and character.

Longevity is primarily a background aspect. At 5 pts, at 10 pts, at 50 pts, its "value" isn't placed so much as combat potential as it is the players ability to complete the character. I love to see characters come over with Bump of Direction, Lightsleep or a Contact at the UN. It shows that the player has thought out his character and spent the time and effort to flesh out the 2d into 3d. Isn't that why we do this in the first place?

Re: No Humans?

I'm pretty sure this has been addressed in another thread' date=' but I can't find it (I'm apparently not searching for the right thing). Has anybody ever played in a fantasy setting without humans, created one without humans, or simply removed the humans from one that already existed? I've entertained the thought of doing human-less D&D before, but never did it (of course, with my group, it wouldn't be missed ... nobody plays humans anyway, if it can be avoided). Did it really change the 'feel' of the game?[/quote']

I haven't totally gotten rid of humans, but we have made humans a minor race. The fantasy campaign I run only has one human character (out of 8). It was no harder, odder to have very few humans as it does have them EVERYWHERE.