Balok

Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers

Re: Super Names Let's resurrect a really old thread! This group consists of members recruited by its leader, Mr. Blue Sky, specifically because their powers or personality lent themselves to taking the name of a song as their "nom de crime." Each of them also has a "surprise power." The Songmen Mr. Blue Sky - powerful mystical air manipulator, typically wears a light blue business suit and a bowler, a good strategist but has many quirks. Surprise power: can corrode metal by forcing it to oxidize. Bat out of Hell - looks somewhat like Man-Bat (from DC Comics) but has a nastier personality and more dangerous claws. Can fly. Surprise power: can breathe fire, short range only and all but immune to fire. Diamond Girl - the team's brick. Strong and tough. Her skin glitters but she is not a "living crystal." Surprise power: can transform victims to diamond-like stone; the effect wears off in about an hour. Eye in the Sky - exactly what it appears to be, an enormous flying eye. Is a demon summoned by Mr. Blue Sky. Can fire a blast. Surprise power: Can use its trailing "nerve" like a whip. Strikes damage opponents, and also weaken and nauseate them. Nowhere Man - invisible, intangible opponent who strikes from surprise and then fades away. Extremely difficult to neutralize. Surprise power: can make other objects intangible/invisible, permitting passage through them - but must solidify himself if he does so. Can dispel the effect at will. The Rubberband Man - stretching and limited shapeshift (can't change his own color). Similar to Mr. Fantastic except far less intelligent. Surprise power: can "snap" himself to create two smaller versions. Difficult to do and difficult to reverse (activation rolls). Snowblind - cold and light powers. Surprise power: Fire and heat attacks work like a transform, essentially melting him. This is not fatal; he exists as a liquid (and can move in that form) until he cools down (the transform wears off). Time in a Bottle - can stop time and duplicate himself (fugue copies). Surprise power: can create fugue copy of an opponent to fight that opponent. Very tiring (extra end) and can't use his other powers while doing so (because he must concentrate to control the fugue copy).

Re: Top 5 Favorite 5E Supplements Hmmmmm... DEMON Dark Champions Fantasy Hero The Ultimate Skill Hudson City I believe DEMON stands head and shoulders above the rest. It turned an organization I always regarded as a joke into a really creepy threat.

Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #3: Area Of Effect And Damage Shield I will say that as a marketing tool, these "Showcase" threads are doing their job on me! I was ambivalent towards 6th Edition in the run-up to its publication, but am becoming more enthusiastic with the "leaks" of information I've been hearing.

Re: Super Names Hey, no pressure! Take care, and we'll see it when we see it.

Re: How to make an ice planet plausible One suggestion that doesn't require terraforming is to assume it had an ecology, once upon a time. And then something happened - some kind of extinction event. This could be something external, like an asteroid, or it could be the result of some natural process, like the one that has caused ice ages on Earth from time to time. This event destroyed whatever civilization was there (if any) long enough ago that no (or few) traces remain. Now, nothing is making oxygen... but nothing is using it, either. Sure, if you stay there long enough or bring in enough colonists without doing something to establish an ecosystem to regenerate the oxygen, you'll eventually have a problem. But for a small, secretive colony it will work. If you need a primitive ecosystem, you can assume the planet cooled slowly and the cyanobacteria gradually evolved "antifreeze" enzymes (there are fish alive now that can be frozen solid and then thawed without ill-effect due to their cells' ability to make such things). So they can still exist even in the cold waters below the ice pack. The oxygen they make bubbles up and escapes to the air through cracks. For energy, they have evolved to live near undersea volcanic vents, and use infrared energy (heat) instead of light to power themselves. Perhaps they digest silicon dioxide (the most common element in an iron-silica body like Earth) and release oxygen. Perhaps they even lay down silicon paths in their enormous, fan-like colony structures through which electrical currents produced by salts and heat trickle...

Re: Super Names I was just about to ask if it was time for a roundup, and I see you already have one planned!

Re: Super Names Mister Twilight Rollerram Stick Figure

Re: Super Names Groups: The Geometry of Fear (empowered by Elder Things) Architect of Flesh, The Codex Maleficent Cold Drake Death Knell Deceiver, The Dreamevil Pustule Skindancer Wrong Angle The Natural Order (they are examplars of natural forces/phenomena. All have similar names: Master of Deserts, Master of Mountains, Master of Oceans, Master of Life, Master of Trees, and so on. Membership changes periodically as the empowering diety, a force of nature, sees the need.)

Re: Super Names Here's a few more: Weird Wizard - comes from a place where different physical laws apply. A powerful wizard, but his spells are rarely straightforward and his goals are murky. He is more dangerous because of those he has created who implement his arcane plans (see below) and as a plot device. Gatekeeper - linked to an unpleasant dimension of horrors, Gatekeeper brings creatures through his body. These are not compelled to obey Gatekeeper and have been turned against him on occasion. They will never attack him, since his death will end their existence on Earth and they like it here. They will defend him if they can. Sound of Silence, The - when his powers manifested he nearly died. He has the power of solipsism, and became increasingly convinced that nothing mattered at all - until he accidently discovered how to project this power onto others for a measure of relief from it. Those affected act without regard for objective reality, their own safety, or that of their teammates. Until the effect fades they are utterly convinced that the world is a dream and irrelevant. His name was inspired by a song he once heard. Eighth Color, The - wields strange magic that is neither black nor white, but is the opposite face of the coin of which black and white are one face. Similar in some ways to Weird Wizard, but more grounded and effective. Loosely inspired by the "Discworld" series. Biohorror - a mad genius who likes to experiment. His favorite experimental subjects are DNPCs... Pressed, he relies on a small arsenal of living technology, most of which is vicious, toxic, irritating, fanged, clawed, or sometimes all of those. Dark Mirror - can transform himself into the opposite of a character he touches in combat. Hard to use because the GM must prepare alternate forms ahead of the session. For example, if he touches a fire projector he becomes an ice wielder. Glass Assassin - His body is more like a folded polyethylene film than actual living tissue. He is not amorphous, exactly, but he lacks bones and has a non-differentiated cell structure that makes injuring him difficult. He is difficult to see if he "unfolds" and remains still, and he can construct razor sharp implements by refolding his own flesh. This is not painless, but he has learned to do it without making noise.

Re: Your PCs might be overpowered if... You might be overpowered if... ... you must rent a front end loader to have a reasonable chance of rolling all your attack dice at once. ... you left the Champions Universe in 2020 after Witchcraft started yammering at you, and didn't return until almost 3000. ... every time you shake the dust from your costume, physicists revise their dark matter estimates upwards ... "We are the Borg. We have analyzed your - a thousand pardons, sir, we did not notice that it was you." ... "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've created. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of " ... David Letterman's "Most powerful characters" was the only Top One list in the history of the show. ... your equipment skews the ATRI curve for everyone else ... some guy named Loser Black keeps calling from Earth and asking if you'll let him play with your five pets

Re: THE ULTIMATE TECHNOLOGY: What Do *You* Want To See? -- Unofficial Sourcebook Proposal For the reasons Steve has already said, I think such a book should stay away from weapons. Good things to cover might then be transportation tech, from crude carts all the way to pan dimensional tech mentioned in Champions 3000. Medical tech, from the first bandages all the way to nanoagents, cellular reconstruction rays, and the like. Fabrication tech, from crude tools through nanofactories, particle synthesis and quantum probability distillation (a way of creating objects by exploiting the quantum probability of their existence as matrices of particles). Such a book might also cover refinements - how tech costs less and gets smaller over time (SJG books touch on this).

Re: Super Names Glad to hear it! Looking forward to the update. Now go deal with that Tarantula guy! Or is he only in City of Villains?

Re: Super Names Spelled 'Korvac', this is the name of a 70's era Marvel villain. Marvel. Annihilus is an inhabitant of an alternate dimension called the Negative Zone, to which the Fantastic Four journey from time to time.

Re: Anyone have Tomb of Horrors?

Re: Hippocratic Oath An important part of the Hippocratic Oath is "First, do no harm". There are two possible interpretations, and physicians over the years have subscribed to both. The first says that the physician will not perform any procedure unless the benefit is certain to outweigh the harm (for example, surgery harms the patient to provide a greater benefit). The second says that a physician, as a healer, is morally obligated never to inflict harm in any situation. That would be at the minimum a Total Committment CVK, and might prevent the character from acting in anything but a supporting role. It would certain prevent him from using a "Heart Flutter" type of power on an opponent. You probably don't want this one, which means your Oath is limited to caregiving situations. As a GM, I'd give you nothing for that, under the rule that "A disadvantage that doesn't adversely affect the character in some manner is not a disadvantage."

Re: A Modern League of Extroardinary Gentlemen The 70's team might benefit from the addition of Bill Bixby's character from "The Magician". Also Frank McBride, from "Switch" (for those situations that need a confidence man). Gadgeteering could be Barney Collier from "Mission: Impossible". For the 90's team, I'd put in Frank Pembleton from "Homicide", mostly cause the character is a favorite of mine. He's a skilled interrogator and detective. For scientific expertise, perhaps Gil Grissom from "CSI". For psychological expertise, perhaps either of the characters from "The Profiler".

Re: Name for villain? The parasite that causes malaria is of the genus Plasmodium. So: Plasm Plasmus Other possibilities: The Needle Blood Needle (from the way the mosquito feeds) Ill-Wind Evil Wind (from the original belief that the disease was caused by "bad air", hence the name "mal aria"). Of course, your players will probably come up with some taunts based on these. Also, the connection is rather obscure... Vector would, I think, be my choice. Especially since it allows the man to expand his modus operandi once he's been defeated once...

Re: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen question Actually, Kuttner's Mutant is generally believed to be the inspiration for the X-Men -- it's mutants are called "baldies" (they lack hair), and have mental powers. Although I don't doubt Lee drew inspiration from a variety of sources. Mutant is hard to find (or, it was when I looked), but an interesting read if you can get your hands on it.

Re: Roundups What about putting the names in a separate file and attaching that to a post. Sure, it lacks the visceral thrill of seeing all those names together, but it might be a way around this problem.

Re: Alignments For simple NPCs, I usually just have a sentence describing their role in a particular situation. I also have some idea what the morale is, in case the players use tactics designed to force surrender. For more complex NPCs (by which I mean NPCs the players are likely to see more than once), then I use a three sentence rule: one sentence describes how they react to those less powerful, another for how they react to peers, and the last for how they react to those more powerful. When necessary, I use INT rolls to see whether they classify someone unknown to them properly. For "classes" (which could be generalized to professions or vocations in games that lack classes), I usually replace an alignment notation with a list of do's and don'ts. For example, paladins don't kill the helpless, they do seek to destroy, or at least thwart, the evil -- and so on. D&Ds alignment scale is really just a shorthand, coarsely granular way of expressing this.

Re: Ultimate Brick -- What Things Weigh This isn't exactly the weights of common objects, but it is the weights of common substances. So when Goldbrick turns that table to gold before he throws it, the GM will know how much heavier it should be: Weights of Common Substances There's also the WebElements periodic table if you want information of pure elements.

Re: Recamended Reading Eddings can be enjoyable, but his protagonists can tend to repetition; they're all basically the same set of characters; all have a kind of sardonic sense of humor, etc. His earlier works, such as the Belgariad, are better than his later stuff. Dave Duncan's "A Man Of His Word" is enjoyable light fantasy, with darker subtexts and a very interesting magic system. I believe this one consists of two three book stories [1] David Farland (aka Dave Wolverton) is working on a series that also has a fascinating magic system. The first book is far superior to the others I've read. The magic system is based on the transfer of attributes; that is, someone can donate their strength; you become twice as strong, roughly, and they become weak. This one is presently three or four books long, and has been declining in quality; it introduces a number of interesting magical concepts, though. [1] I won't call them trilogies, because they're really one story told across three books; whereas I tend to view a triology as three standalone stories that are nevertheless related. Yes, I am a nitpicker, why do you ask?

A friend of mine holds the record for our group: Chef Death: like your Iron Chef, he uses deadly kitchen gadgets, including a squeeze bottle of mustard ... gas. And his tomato based glue allows him to easily "ketchup" to anyone who tries to escape him. (Hey, I didn't make the guy up!) Anhyde: his power to destroy water doesn't sound too bad -- until he does it to a living organism, turning it into a few pounds of chemicals. And, saving the best for last: Weathron, the Weather, er, Food wizard: Weathron was a fairly standard weather using character, until he ran afoul of the aforementioned Chef Death. Somehow, exposure to one of CD's "recipes" corrupted his magic, which is now a mixture of weather and food. He can't make it rain water, but he can make it rain pancakes. And, of course, the effects broke his mind, so he's now insane.

You would need Hero Designer to read this file. Not sure what version.