badger3k

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds

Re: Count vertigo from DC or Vertigo from Marvel

Re: Count vertigo from DC or Vertigo from Marvel The CE only affects those inside it. There isn't a way to make the effect long lasting without another linked effect. Any duration increase would just be for the CE itself and not the effects. Edit - I am not sure if this is really legit, but you could add mobile to the AE and have that give the targets an effect for a short time (it would mean the power "sticks" with them for a bit). Normally, mobile would mean that this power can move (maybe not a bad idea in itself) - the Count could gradually sweep it over an area - but if defined the second way it might stick to the targets for a bit (and maybe increase the advantage over +1).

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds It is easier to drop the skill penalty, but that raises the cost of the power slightly. It does mean that the spell will always be cast in normal conditions, but most games are like that. I had a skill system similar to yours and it wasn't the greatest. I've been tossing around the idea of trying to modify it or dropping it, but I'm not sure. After reading comments here, and doing other reading and thinking, I will probably not be using it, but have the skill as a Knowledge skill (sort of like the spellcraft skill in D&D) - I think you may already have something like that, but I'm not sure. You could also limit the points of spells in a school that can be learned or memorized based on their spell knowledge. For example, let them learn up to (skill rollx5) in active points (if they have a 15-, count that as 15, so they could learn 15x5 = 75 active points in one spell from that school). You could also give them a limit on Real Cost in the same way (say, Rollx2 or 3 in Real Cost, so a 15- could memorize - have in the VPP - no more then 30 or 45 points in that one school at one time). That way, they could still specialize and be better at one particular school, while not having the problems that skill rolls cause. I found one such system on Shrike's site, and it should be easier to understand since you have some of the terminology now. This is the skillx5 system I suggested: http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/magecraftSystem.aspx The only difference is the system described there uses individual spell skills rather than broader categories. Different flavors and different results. Given what you have now, I wouldn't make it an individual spell skill. There are other systems there, but they are a little more complicated to work out, since he breaks spells down into levels based on active point costs and more. (ref: Wizardry System). I'd leave that alone for now until you get some more experience under your belt, but the choice is yours. Just a bit more advice. Hope it helps. IF you don't understand something, let me (and the lurkers) know. If anyone else has advice, jump in.

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds Ok, that sounds good so far. The spell has a -4 to cast, so that has to be considered. A flash of 4d6 is a bit underpowered. At most, this will give you 8 segments to blind someone (it reads normal Body, which is 1=0,2-5=1, 6=2), which is basically one action for a SPD 2 character, or 2-3 for a SPD 3-4 character. I'd up that one to give it more "oomph". The RKA only affects undead or demons, and that's about the same as hitting them with a sword. If demons or undead have a lot of defenses (especially ED), then you might want to raise that as well. The suggested caps are 50-60 active points for powers and 8-9 DC. You have 2 attacks with DCs of 4. They both equal 8, but they are separate attacks, so I wouldn't go that route. Right now, off the top of my head, I'd go with: Corian's Sparkle: (Total: 60 Active Cost, 19 Real Cost) Sight Group Flash 6d6 (30 Active Points); Spell (-1/2), Requires A PwS: Evocation Skill Roll (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus RKA 2d6 (30 Active Points); Only vs Undead or Demonic Creatures (-1), Requires A PwS: Evocation Skill Roll (-1/2), Spell (-1/2), Linked (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Beam (-1/4) (Real Cost: 7) It pumps it up slightly, but not too much. The average roll of this will be 6 segments flashed, which is 1/2 a turn (max is 12 - a full turn), and the damage is like getting hit by a great axe, but maybe a bit more (if ED is lower than PD). A higher Active Cost will fill up the VPP faster, of course, but there's a price for everything. If the average speed is 2-4, you still lose 1/2 your actions, but this is a bit more regular than 4d6. I'm looking more at the effect then what the point cost is, but you have to consider both. Didn't ask, but if you don't have Hero Designer, I'd suggest getting it - it makes all this a lot easier. This is one to watch. I used a similar system but am dumping it - I think. With the spell as written, he has a -4 to his roll for Evocation, so a 12-. Not bad, but not great either. Using my version it would be -6 and a 10-. I allowed my players to get penalty skill levels to reduce the casting penalty, but that can get to where the limitation isn't one. On the other hand, if you have players miscasting their spells a lot, while their fellows are hacking the enemy apart, then you might want to reconsider that system. Sounds OK to me. I haven't used it, but I've seen it suggested. It should give them a fair amount of spells to know. Do you design all the spells or do you let the players make up their own (or at least suggest their own)? This one I don't see as too bad, but then I used a similar one as well. Didn't I post the one I did? My problem was that the player never made the roll, and blew the spell (and her attack). Very frustrating, especially when the fighters have Deadly Blow. . If this one is (literally) blowing the enemy away, then you might lower it down a d6 or 2. If this spell is cast as often as your fighters swing their swords, then maybe the damage should be the same (or slightly better). Why not start with 2d6 and see how that works. It would be easier to cast, drop the END down. How do they pay for casting the spells? I used to use an END reserve that recovered 1/4 every 6 hours. But that ended up with people running out of power. From the way you described it, are they being powered by personal END? Another way of limiting the spells might be Increased END. Make the big guns cost. Have that 4d6, but if it cost 12 END, it might make it more of a "save the day" kind of spell as opposed to an electric sword. This can make an "overpowered" spell be one that feels like it is just right. Like I said, I go with what feels good for the spell as opposed to what the active points are. You do need to consider that (well, the Real Cost - had to look that up). Any of that help? Edit - I try to look an see what the effect of an average roll would be, and compare that to the appropriate defenses. If you see that it either gets stopped or just ignores the defenses as irrelevant, then you might want to raise or lower the spell's power. Except for the big guns. You got to have them in any spell system.

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds Gregg, can you give a sample of a spell that a character might use. How many spells can a caster have in their VPP? In your system, the character buys skill in casting in each specific school - correct? If so, then a character might be better at some of their spells then others - correct? Do they buy individual spells to put in their spellbook? Do they pay for the spells themselves or buy them as part of a skill (1 point = 1 spell), or do they just get a certain amount for free? So far, it seems ok in terms of general setup. I'm just trying to get a feel for it, but I don't see anything bad with what you have. How about posting one spell that your players say is overpowered (maybe that 4d6 RKA lightning bolt?) and one that is underpowered?

Re: Traveller Hero Cool - I didn't know any of this existed until recently. I'm still amazed at the work that people do.

Re: Thundertusk Boar Strike

Re: Questions from a New Hero Don't you just love working on a post for an hour, then having it disappear into the intertubes? No, you can but you don't have to. Damage resistance is different, since it is a power that makes one of your resistances (PD or ED) protected to work vs killing attacks. The power has that requirement. Hardened is an advantage. It modifies an existing power or ability, so it is automatically attached to that power/ability (note that if you buy hardened PD, and buy damage resistance, you have to apply the hardened modifier to the resistance as well). Hardened works by beefing up the resistance to other advantages, which are normally Armor Piercing and Penetrating (Indirect only applies for some defensive powers, so this one may not apply). The way the advantage works is you buy it for a defense (say, resistant PD). It will protect against an Armor Piercing attack. It will also protect against a Penetrating attack. It will not give full protection against an Armor Piercing Penetrating attack (which is pretty powerful) - one level will only protect against whichever one you (a) want at that time, or ( specify when the advantage is applied. It really depends on what rules you want to work with (or if you aren't the DM, then whatever they have set up). If you want it to provide less protection, by stating that one level applies to only one form of advantage (AP, P, I), then you are free to make it that way, but since it is already only a +1/4 modifier, there is no way to get anything for it (less extensive cover means less point cost) since it is at the lowest advantage already. You can buy a defense that is only for a particular attack (like an AP one, if the GM allows), but that's a bit more and I don't want to write it in this post (especially since it may be irrelevant). In most games that I am aware of, Penetrating and AP attacks are not the norm, and Indirect is not used often either. Most defenses are not hardened. Unless you have a lot of those attacks, I'd say limiting it is pretty much useless - but it's still the GM call. Long way to recap: Can, not Have To, but it is still ultimately up to the GM.

Re: Traveller Hero Appreciate the reply. I've just got to play around a bit and see what seems to work. I have some time before I need to worry about running it. I just need to make sure I have enough to keep them busy, especially since I have a few combat monsters who just want to kill/shoot things. A merchant campaign is definitely out (unless it is a viking style pillage campaign, that is)

Re: Thundertusk Boar Strike It's out of the 4e PHB. I've never heard of the other. What is that?

Re: Questions from a New Hero No. You can specify which one will be taken off first...if you want. Otherwise, if she has one level of hardened and gets hit by any of the three, it automatically protects her from that. If she has two levels of hardened and gets hit with an AP and Penetrating attack(s), one level would protect against AP, one against Penetrating. Same if she had three and three attacks hit here. Now, if she was hit with AP and Penetrating attacks, and had only one level of hardened, then it would work for one but not the other. This is where you can specify when you buy the power the order in which it would stop them, but you don't have to. If she had two levels of hardened, and got hit with an AP(2 levels) attack, it would work for both levels, but if she were hit with an AP(3 levels) or an AP(2)+Penetrating, then her defenses would only work for two of those levels (all AP but lets penetrating through, Stops Penetrating and 1 level AP but is affected by one level of AP, etc). 1 level of Hardened stops 1 level of one advantage, at a time. It can stop an AP attack the first strike, and a Penetrating the next, but not both in the same attack. The specifying just makes it easier to keep track and keeps it consistent. Did that help?

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds All my games have one inviolable rule - if I messed up, it will get fixed. I've had to redo characters when we discovered something was broken (not during the session, but afterwards). I trashed my whole system and am trying to work up a new one. Any good system takes time and will have to be tweaked. What are the basic limitations that all spells have to take? ie - spell skill rolls, END reserve, charges, focus, concentration....the whole bit. Why not post it here and we can look at it, take it apart, and make suggestions?

While calling up an older HD file, I got a warning on Str minimums not allowed for CSLs, but only for attack powers. Considering that shields are built with this limitation, what is the official ruling? Are STR Minimums an allowed limitation for defensive CSLs or not?

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds

Re: Traveller Hero I got my books today. Ordered on the 11th, delivered the 14th. Fast work. I was trying to find the full timeline, and the one in the book (and the one found at a link shadowcat posted in '06) have disappeared. It was also from Don McKinney, not Tom as you have in the book, but hopefully that's been taken care of. I'm sure the creators are aware, but I just wanted to provide that info to the group. Now I have to see if I can find that timeline. I have v1, but I'd like to see the newer one. edit - here it is: http://dmckinne.winterwar.org/trav.html

Re: Traveller Hero It looks like it's either 100+50 or 150+50, depending on the type of campaign (free trader, etc). The point cost suggestions are spread around that section (at the front of book one), although I first found it way towards the middle of the book. Given the type of game, would the normal skill maxima be good (it's what I plan to use - after 13- [iIRC] cost is doubled)? I can't recall if I saw that mentioned. I do have to say kudos to you guys. Other then some confusion (in part because I can't read!), I like it - it sparked a renewed interest in running a game. Now all I have to do is wait for my brother to finish his deployment and our group will be all together. Edit - dealing with base points, if you want to run a military campaign, 150+50 is needed. Imperial Marine and Special Forces packages are (69+65) 134 points. Not a lot to build a decent character with 16 points in characteristics, but it could happen. I haven't tried to make one and see what it can work out to.

Re: Count vertigo from DC or Vertigo from Marvel As an aside, while looking for one bit of information (his encounter with Black Canary & Dr Mid-nite (I think that is how he was spelled, it gets confusing)), I ran into a little wrap up of Count Vertigo's life: http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing44/scattershot.shtml & http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing45/scattershot.shtml It's a bit old, but I just wanted to add it in FYI. For my own view, I'd definitely go with AoE Cone, but I'm not sure if I'd go with a Suppress. The comics usually showed the people incapacitated for a while afterwards, so the Drain (or a bit of Uncontrolled, perhaps) is more in line with that.

Re: Questions from a New Hero That's probably not a bad way to do it, but the official uses of it don't make such distinctions (even Defender in News of the World just has the generic "hardened"). It wouldn't be bad to specify which would work first if the campaign uses those advantages fairly often - in fact, if such things are common, I'd make it a requirement to specify the order (just to establish SOP). Those advantages are pretty rare in my games (the most is AP), so it really hasn't come up. Also, some fx might give guidance - for example, magic chainmail hardened might be more resistant to penetrating while being more vulnerable to AP, or the opposite (it might resist the AP, but be affected by penetrating as the links bite into flesh ).

Re: Traveller Hero Just wanted to post that I found them. I really need the hardcopy. Of course, not realizing that I could expand the view under pageview and use the up and down arrow keys to move without going to the next page did make it harder. Now that I can see, it's a bit easier on my eyes (although I do need to get an exam ).

Re: Questions from a New Hero Hardened does not have to be specified when purchased (it says you can, though, not must) (p115 is where this is from). One level can only apply to one of those at a time. If you get hit with an AP attack and have one level of hardened, it applies. If you get hit with an AP Penetrating attack and have one level of hardened, you apply it to whichever one you want, and the other goes through. That's why you can buy multiple levels - to counteract more then one effect at a time, or to counteract multiple levels of an advantage. For references, skimming though some books I can't see any Hardened where it is assigned a specific advantage. The body armor in Dark Champions just lists Hardened, same in Ultimate Energy Projector (that I can see) - I'm pretty certain the advantage is for all. If you want to limit it, maybe lower the advantage to +1/4 or +1/2, depending on how common the attack it defends against is (and how uncommon the others are). Edit - Any limitation that is not actually limiting is not worth anything. Buying high STR, not usable when dead, is not worth any limitation. Buying something with "not usable in space" is not a limitation for a ground-based fantasy game. Buying something that will not work on Wednesdays, while not technically illegal, will be worth nothing unless the game keeps track of days, or a lot of the game takes place on Wednesdays (it could happen). (although, looking at my first example, if the game involves frequent death and turning into undead, the first may be worth something, but that would be a pretty rare case (albeit maybe an interesting game))

Re: My 4e Ranger Ability Thread Bloody internets ate my post! Aargh - anyway, what I had said was I missed the Reduced End. I had worked up several versions, changing them as I tried to get some ground rules together, then forgot about it when I went to the current format. No excuse for sloppiness. I did write up a version of the movement powers with Running instead of teleport, but they do suffer the same limitation as you mentioned. However, I could see some say that these are for the character using them, and if they only use Running, why not use that? That said, I haven't made any changes to my 4e Fighter powers thread yet, since I'm going to rework them to match this format and add some powers. I have a few mechanics issues to work out, though. There are more classes that directly influence the movement on the battlefield, and teleport is a good catch-all, but that is no reason why some can't be limited to ground movement if desired (an attack that might cause an orc to give ground may have no such effect on the hawk attacking your eyes, for example). It all depends on what type of game you want to run.

Re: My 4e Ranger Ability Thread Just realized I forgot to say thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Jedi hdp and lightsaber Really - they're hardened? I knew resistant, but not that. So it is. Good thing it's never come up. Thanks.