3 hours ago, Dreamthief said:

I know that OCV and DCV are used for pretty much everything.

I have no real idea what you mean with that.

Both CV are indeed very important for Combat. I mean that word is literally in their name

But even there, they do not Reign supreme.

SPD and your Ability to abort is relevant.

Defenses and thus the unessesarity of aborting is relevant.

High DCV implies usually low defenses, wich means you can hit them with a Area of Effect attack.

But they do not mater for any skill I know off. And skills can have quite an effect on how combat is resolved as well.

2 hours ago, Pegasus40218 said:

If your game is going to be more role-playing centric with heavy intrigue and espionage, then various skills (mostly based upon PRE and INT) will start coming into play. 

This can even go so far that the cost structure (should) change. The prices in the rules are only for average campaigns.

My favourite example for this is a theoretical Underwater Campaign:

Underwater, swimming is like Flight. Meanwhile in a Underwater Campaign, flight would only be as usefull as swimming is in the average Landlubber Campaign. So the prices for both Movement Powers might fully swap.

1 hour ago, Cancer said:

I get a redirect warning, but I can accept the redirect and access the site.

I get the redirection warning from google. Then the "Access Denied".

The access denied mentions some IP adresses, so it might be geo-locked.

58 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

Maybe God just didn't want you to see it.  He may be embarrassed about the things some people do in his name.

But I thougt god only dislikes the naked singularity?

On 3/5/2019 at 8:08 PM, Steve said:

 

I suppose that could work, but it seems like the benefit of being able to stand off at long range cancels out the hindrance of inverting the range penalty. Range Penalty levels are pretty cheap for a single attack, especially if done through a Focus like Iron Man's armor.  

In that case the existince of PSL on the same sheet increases the Advantage/Decreases the Limitation cost. Up to +2 or -0.

On 3/5/2019 at 4:20 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

Isn't that exactly what it simulates?  The author does not want this character hurt too badly, so no one ever lands a solid hit, despite the lack of any reason that he never gets seriously injured other than pure, blind luck.  That is the cinematic ability we are trying to simulate in-game. 

Personally I see Combat Luck the same way I see Bulletproof Spandex and "Invisible, Persistent Forcefields".

They allows designs like:

and

without Sacrificing combat survivability.

Every other Discussion really just seems you guys overthinking it

I mean why even care what it was originally "intended" to simualte? Even if you can figure out the intention unambigiously (wich is a big if), how it is used in practice seems way more important.

On 3/6/2019 at 5:52 AM, archer said:

In any case, I'd think it'd be more economically viable to liquefy the CO2 for transport and pump it back deep underground into already-existing oil wells (to force more oil to the surface) than it would be to turn CO2 into coal, transport it as coal, then buy a place to bury the coal.

The Liquid/gas approach has the danger of the earth "burping it up again", so to speak. And the earth burping tends to cause earth shattering calamities. Coal is a lot less likely to come back to the surface like that

But even if it fails at CO2 capture and storage, it might still be a viable way of energy storage. Coal and Gas Power Plants do have one huge advantage/important role for energy supply: Quick reaction time to demand peaks.

Nuclear Power Plants can take hours to literal days to set to a higher powerlevel. So their output has to be planned days in advance.

Renewable power is unreliable by nature. One of the big challenges in turning to renewable energy is to compensate for energy demand peaks and valleys. A few coal plants kept as reserve might just do that.

On 3/6/2019 at 3:08 AM, Penthau said:

For instance, even a hard stab with a dagger against rigid armor that stops the body completely wouldn't hurt very much, but a deep wound with the same dagger would hurt a lot. So I thought about how to model that. 

I can not remember if it was HERO, Shadowrun or another System altogether but I once read a rule:
"Every attack does at least as much STUN damage as BODY damage".

You could adapt this to a multiple of the BODY damage done.

On 3/5/2019 at 8:53 AM, Killer Shrike said:

While generally speaking modifiers can be tweaked for certain settings, for the most part you should only do that when you have a really good reason...such as a greater than or less than commonality of certain things in a given setting.  

A whole Bunch of Limitations and Rules only exist in Heroic Games. Real Weapon, STR Minimum, NCM, most of the advanced Damage Options.

So yes, there is a disconnect between "Book value" and "Average Fantasy Campaign". It is just the nature of things.

On 3/6/2019 at 2:06 AM, Lucius said:

Too Big to Hurt:  (Total: 9 Active Cost, 9 Real Cost) Resistant Protection (3 PD/3 ED); Linked (Growth; Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time; Lesser Instant Power can be used in any Phase in which greater Constant Power is in use; -0) (Real Cost: 9)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Not too big to ride a palindromedary

Could you write up a "Too Big to fail" power?

On 3/6/2019 at 3:39 AM, Duke Bushido said:

I disagree with for the simple reason that "simply being size X" can't be Drained or Suppressed.  It can be Transformed, certainly, but there is a lot of story potential for Big Joe, who has come to rely on his great strength and slightly exaggerated reach (older editions) to suddenly be deprived of them.  Same with the Titan, who's super-dense metallic body has granted him a bit of extra defense.

"Unified" deals with that part. And I somewhat doubt "Drain: Growth" is really common enough to worry about this in most games.

2 hours ago, Toxxus said:

 

That was my take as well.  The focus is obvious to anyone who can still perceive you.  Radar Sense, targeted hearing, etc.  But you ARE invisible and that has to cover your clothing and gear or things get ridiculous pretty quickly.

By RAW that is not how it works:
"A Power bought with the Focus Limitation (6E1 376) is governed by the rules for the Obviousness of Foci. Even an Inobvious Power becomes Obvious if it’s generated by an Obvious Focus." 6E1 126

And after that, this rule is in effect:

"Invisibility doesn’t automatically make a character’s attacks or other powers Invisible as well (that requires the Advantage Invisible Power Effects; see 6E1 338). Using a perceivable power can expose an Invisible character’s position"

Note that your clothing does not provide a Power (if it does, treat it like armor). And gear other then armor is not "in use" every segment you wear it. Only when you actually use it.

With the usual Caveats of course: "As always, common sense, dramatic sense, and considerations of game balance should apply."

6 minutes ago, Starlord said:

Texas judge tells jury, defendant is not guilty because 'God told him so'.

I think they did something wrong. I got a Access Denied for that page.

On 2/28/2019 at 5:36 AM, Badger said:

Cancer, the answer is 47. 

 

*watches Cancer lose the rest of his  sanity* 

 

 

On 3/4/2019 at 4:49 AM, Cancer said:

 

I admit that for personal reasons I prefer 37 to 47, but as I said before, it isn't out of the question.  I have tomorrow's exam already printed off, but the final exam isn't too far off and it could be made to happen then.

I think 47 is Star Treks "42". The best explanation I ever read was:
"It is 42, but accounting for Inflation".

I finished watching Season 1 of the 2017 Duck Tales Series.

It captures the charm of the old time nicely, with updated Topics and Animation.

On 3/4/2019 at 11:38 PM, Old Man said:

I would permanently loose this. My Blood Pressure is so low, it has to be measured twice. Once to realize they need to listen really closely to not get invalidly low heartbeat counts

On 3/5/2019 at 11:40 PM, Cygnia said:

I think that is a Full Metal Alchemist Reference. And that one would clearly belongs into the Creepy Pictures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzKi3BoLZ0A

21 hours ago, Cancer said:

I assume Neutral Stupid would be "Creates a ticket for your issue, but cannot get it fixed for you." 

There are just some issues that can not be fixed, short of "burn it down and regrow it from scratch". And that solution tends to take time.

On 2/10/2019 at 11:09 PM, assault said:

And we'll (mostly) pretend it doesn't exist.

 

I've heard rumours that a movie about Venom exists. I don't believe it myself.

Actually I am 90% certain I watched that Venom movie. Twice even.

On 2/11/2019 at 6:36 AM, Iuz the Evil said:

The 3rd season of Young Justice is really fun. Like the Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen as well.

  

The DCAU > DCEU. Some things remain true. 

I long ago formulated a Theory:
"Marvel is better in Movies.

DC is better in Series."

On 2/11/2019 at 11:30 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

Most of the time, you don't actually SEE the bad guy in horror films.  Alien is almost over by the time you get a real, full-body shot of the xenomorph.  That's partly due to budget, and partly due to the fact that its more effective and scary to not quite understand what you're up against.

That is actually a very important part. If you look "Star Trek Voyager: Scropion Part 1", you can notice that they do not show the Antagonist before Minute 30.

This Episode was intentionally made to simualte a Horror Movie. That is why it worked so well.

47 minutes ago, Hermit said:

 

So the Bad Guy is Black Adam after all?
By this time, it is a classical Introduction to the Character. Ever since this DC Showcase:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman/Shazam!:_The_Return_of_Black_Adam

Justice League Action also followed those Footsteps.

What does the Rat say?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25LYVxTUZhM

1 hour ago, Cygnia said:

SHE'S ALIVE~!!!!!

 

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover back up and running after mysterious reset

So...have you tried turning it off and on again?

Because you would be suprised how often it works!

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

 

We went up against a villain once who could tell exactly where you were in a room or building by touching the floor or wall (sense touch), and vy how it vibrated. Once you put your feet on the ground he knew exactly where you were. He was a bitch and a half to fight, as one of ours was an illusionist. However if one of our two flyers made their stealth roll, they could "swim" through a building with him none the wiser. (The other flyer was me, and my flight special effects were noisy).  He took 2x stun from any AOE Explosions (special effects explosions, ordinance, or any attacks that did damage through shockwaves).  When we beat him the third time we met him, one of our more rewarding victories. I never saw the build sheet, but my thinking was it may have been spatial awareness, but it could have been N-Ray vision except it wasn't vision but touch. with special limitations? it was weird. 

That is a case where "Invisibility: Touch Sense Group" would be valid and work.

2 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Typically, you should build invisibility with a weakness or hole in it that spells and effects like this; that is, don't buy invis to all possible sense variations, just ordinary sight, so IR vision for example can see it. 

This whole thread sprang from a thread that was speceific to a Heroic game.

And low level D&D Spells are more on the Heroic Level.

So "Invisibility: Sight Sense Group, Only Affects Normal Sight(-?)" would be highly appropirate.

2 hours ago, JohnBear said:

500cp + 175 disads

Normal Superheroic Characters start at 400 CP.

3 hours ago, JohnBear said:

I can look up a lich (powerful undead wizard - 900 points Turakian Age page 302)

900 points is a serious challenge for Superheroic Characters. Most enemies that are intended to challenge Superhero Groups are built on less points.

There might be some realy cost inefficient stuff in there, but this is still a heaping lot of points.

Either Tukarian Age is intended to go into Superheroic Powerlevels, or you were never supposed to fight the Lich in a open battle. It sounds more like a "Force of Nature" villain that has to be avoided/worked around/defeated via plotdevices.

3 hours ago, JohnBear said:

For example I've got human normal fighters running around with CSLs of +20. And DCVs even higher. There's not a critter in any of the books that could even touch my players. 

Hero is more about total limits then "can buy X". It does not mater if you got the CV's and DC from stat buying, CSL, Martial Arts or any other way - only that you reached the cap is relevant.

2 hours ago, JohnBear said:

As for awards, typical session has characters getting 1-5 with major awards for story plotlines (xp and disads).\

1-5 XP per sessions is a ton of XP. Way beyond what you should be handing out.

2 hours ago, JohnBear said:

We even started using resource points to help in that regard.

APG I 191 has "Resource Points". they cover more then just equipment. And you can hand out resource points instead of XP, to have more granular rewards.

3 hours ago, JohnBear said:

This was just a general observation on what I've seen in the books and what I was wrestling with. But it is something that makes me hesitant to play a fantasy hero game again. mixing major powers like spells purchased with XP and equip is a royal PITA.

Spells in Fantasy are a Problem. However you might have compensated for it by handing out too much XP, rather then looking at how to make it more affordable.

22 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

Probably a Sasquatch. My walking gait at speed resembles Bigfoot footage, and the last pair of shoes I bought were size 15W. 

And another one I did not consider:

On 2/27/2019 at 5:05 AM, Christopher said:

Huh, I did not even consider that as an option (too humanoid I guess?). But in every game I play, my first Character is a dwarf. It is a mater of tradition.

So, for want to be my answer is: Dwarf

 

What would be most fitting us trickier.
I like to stay at home, but am actually very good on feet once I get moving.

I am introverted.

The cold bothers me little

I eat almost exclusively meat.

For encapsulates me would say: The Snow Fox.

Unless there is a mythical creature that fits as well.

Large Feet.

Lives in cooler Climates

Existance outside his cave not fully prooven.

I except for the white fur, I could be a Yeti or Bigfoot.

On 3/2/2019 at 12:56 AM, Starlord said:

I can do the Bessel function in less than 12 parsecs.

So, how slow are you flying?

On 2/28/2019 at 4:47 PM, RDU Neil said:

 

Actually a good example of this in my bi-weekly game last night. Three PCs infiltrated the penthouse of a Milanese mob boss, got into a shoot out with some hired killers... named bad guys. One of the killers was surprised, out of combat, by a PC, who hit with 2 9mm rounds, one in his chest one through his arm... no Combat Luck as it doesn't apply when surprised out of combat. Bad guy was badly wounded but alive, but CON Stunned, so the follow up two shots to the head were, again, no Combat Luck applied (character incapacitated, even temporarily) and bad guy is gone, dropped without getting a chance to act.

In another part of the Penthouse, another bad guy made his Danger Sense roll and was prepared... started blowing holes through the walls with a .460 S&W. None of the characters had body armor, but all named characters have 1 level of Combat Luck. In this fight, the bad guy got one good look at a PC (lots of dodging down hallways, grenades going off, blowing through cheap interior walls going on... took a while for the fight to get face-to-face)... and hit... it was a leg shot, rolled badly... so with CL and 1/2 damage for hit location it ended up being a 2 body damage "nick" rather than blowing the limb off. Later, when the combat got in close, a PC got his 9mm close up and headshotted the big (very big) bad guy, but he had CL, so instead of likely dead and at least CON stunned, it was a bloody crease across the scalp and not enough to CON stun. 

This fight was one of the most cinematic and fun fights, and it worked because we had nominally "unarmored" characters simply not going down with the first lucky hit. Nobody "wanted" to get hit and a decent roll to a dangerous hit location would still be really bad, but the difference in CL vs. non-CL is huge in actual play. 

If you bring combat luck to a fight, you are not unarmored.

Nominal can mean a lot of things, but in this case it clearly means "unarmored in name only".

23 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

This Week in Space News (summary).

 

Could you link the coal thing please?

I thought the best possible efficiency was to put back in all the heat energy it produced in the first place, and that is not that efficient.

On 3/3/2019 at 4:54 PM, mallet said:

Is Steve's answer a change that has been made in the official errata? Because that is not how the Invisibility power is described in 6th Edition rule book. Like others have said the main points in the rules are: 

Not really. Just a interpretation we have not thought about:

On 2/28/2019 at 11:42 PM, Christopher said:

The only way it might make some sense is:

- If you put the Obvious Focus Limitation on any Power, the Power itself becomes Perceivable. Defenses are normally Inobvious IIRC, but if you put them on a Obvious Focus "Armor" it becomes obvious that you got extra defenses.

- technically you aer "using" the Defenses power every second you wear the armor.

- " Invisibility doesn’t automatically make a character’s attacks or other powers Invisible as well (that requires the Advantage Invisible Power Effects; see 6E1 338). Using a perceivable power can expose an Invisible character’s position"

On 3/2/2019 at 6:12 PM, IndianaJoe3 said:

The KA is to provide a mechanical reason for characters (well, players of characters) that would be immune to the EDM to take the attack seriously. Many (if not all) of the PCs would have Combat Luck. If the KA wasn't there, the, "Killing Curse" would be a joke. 

A KA is always taken seriously. No extra EDM is nesseary.

3 hours ago, John Desmarais said:

Don't bother writing it up at all.  

 

Honestly, in the Potter books it's just a plot device.  For one reason or another, it never actually effects the heroes (PCs); and it would inappropriate for one of them to actually use it  - it just hangs out there as the ultimate magical plot threat where if it hits you die.  Other than as a mental exercise, I can't think of a reason to actually stat the thing up. 

The more I read it, the more it sounds like simply a early "Magic Gun".

Any early gun could be:
Dodged.

Penetrated most armor of the time.

Even if the hit was not terminal, treatment for it was limited. So you were likely to die.

The Heroes would not use it, because it is to evil/dishonorable

Usually it would kill nobody important in any story. Dumbledore let himself be shoot and then fell to his death. While Harry jumped into the Bullets path, only to get better.

Maxim 24: "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a big gun."

1 hour ago, Scott Ruggels said:

I'd say that any "Targeting Sense" other than  visual sightgroup, would ignore invisibility. Radar sense, sonar sense, Seismic sense, all can bypass "invisibility".

By Raw Sense Affecting Powers affect a entire Sense Group and any sense you put in that group to get the free Sense Modifiers.

If they affect less, that is actually a limitation on the Power.

Radio Group Sense Affecting Powers would usually affect Radar Sense*.

Hearing Group Sense Affecting Powrs would usually counter Sonar Sense*.

And i have no idea what Sense Group you would put "Seismic" in. I could put it both into Hearing and Touch Groups.

*I asume you put them in the obvious Sense Groups, as you did not define the Sense Group. Wich is kind of the most important part of the whole examples

18 hours ago, Lucius said:

Shouldn't that actually be an Advantage?

Absolutely an Advantage, and a Huge one at that. +1 to +2 I would say.

You ignore "Invisibiltiy: Sight Group" while Maintaining your Sight Group Modifiers.