JeffreyWKramer

Re: No Frameworks?

Re: Possession you define the Transformation to give the target your mental stats, Psych Lims, etc. Mind link with the target? Or transform to self, linked to return to your body, defined as giving you memories of what happened while you were possessing the individual? Depends on the special effect. Demonic possession might heal via prayer, exorcism or holy water. Loa possession via voudoun rituals typically ends when the sun rises (and can only be done by night). A mind-transfer machine might have to be used again to undo the effect, or another Mental Transform might expel the possessor.

Re: No Frameworks? I guess we just see this very differently. I see the Framework rules as written (and I wish they'd change Multipower to more explicitly express the same idea) as a good thing because they actively encourage coherent character concepts, and state that a unified concept - vs. just a hodge-podge of powers - is the expectation.

Re: No Frameworks? Even in the ALIENS films, the star characters do not get killed by a single hit. That's an extremely rare occurrence in any sort of genre fiction. In most superhero comics, people trade punches, psi bolts and energy blasts back and forth for awhile. In martial arts movies, the stars and the main villains kick each other all over the place and get up for more. In westerns and detective movies, only the mooks die from a single shot most of the time. What you are talking about may be somewhat interesting, but it really doesn't represent the genre very much at all. Even you admit ZENITH was very much an exception.

Re: Character For review: Dryad Drop STR from 14 to 13; the extra point there serves no purpose. 26 COM? I guess if you want, but really, what does that even mean in game terms? 23 would be the attractiveness equivalent of genius-level IQ or olympic-level athlete. The Wood/Plant MP is pretty cool. I would save points and rebuild the Force Field 0 END as Armor with the Visible Limitation. You could even save points by putting another Limitation on it that makes it non-persistent, if that's what the player is going for. What does having the Doctorate do for her that justifies charging a Perk for it? It's not like botanists have to be licensed or anything like that, and at her level of skill in her field (denoted by the SS skills), I'd think that alone would indicate high expertise appropriate for the PhD. Being a licensed physician has some potential game effect. I don't see how just having a PhD does, really, other than qualifying one for their job - and that's really not worth charging anyone points for. PS: Botanist doesn't make sense - what does being a professional botanist add beyond what the SS: Botany adds? I'd give her PS: College Instructor or PS: Grant Writing or something like that, since she's also an academic researcher. I personally don't like the Quirk idea very much - I don't see most of those things qualifying as even a one-point Limitation. Characters already get XP for defining and playing a distinct personality for their character, I don't know why they should get initial points for the same purpose. YMMV, of course. Why is being a botanist a Social Limitation? I don't see how being an expert in your field really qualifies, unless you're such a household name that people are constantly showing up at your home, trying to book you for their talk show, etc... and frankly, it's hard to imagine anyone achieving that degree of fame for being a botanist. How many world-class botanists can you name? Hell, how many famous scientists other than Stephen Hawking would you recognize if you saw them on the street? Save that kind of Disad for professional athletes, rock stars and multimilliionnaires. WTF does "Sex Object" mean in this context, and what does it have to do with this character? If it just refers to her being sexy and attractive again, she's getting double points for the same thing, and I think it makes more sense to reflect that as a Distinctive Appearance than a Social Limitation. Same with the "people who are attacted to her fall over her" - that's an Extreme Reaction component to a Distinctive Appearance. Where are her PD and ED? Overall? Interesting character and power-set. You can save a few points as noted above. You might use the points to give her a Change Environment slot to the MP - create plant cover that impedes movement and vision, and gives her something to animate via her TK. Her Disads need to be reconfigured - badly. Even putting aside my philosophical objection to the quirks, I would not let the multiple, overlapping Social Lims and Distinctive Features stand. Give her a susceptibility to weed killer or some Hunteds or something. Anyway, that's my two cents.

Re: No Frameworks?

Re: No Frameworks?

Re: No Frameworks?

Re: No Frameworks? You need to learn to read better. The initial post referred to a superhero campaign, and dropping Frameworks is problematic in a superhero game. If you do a DI game or a Heroic-level Ninja Hero game or a Western Hero game or something like that, the parameters change quite a bit. In fact, frameworks are often disallowed or greatly restricted in Fantasy Hero games because they can be *too* efficient in that setting.

Re: No Frameworks?

Re: No Frameworks? Eliminating frameworks discourages coherent character design and, as Gary noted, makes Characteristics an exceptional value compared to Powers. Generally a poor idea, IMHO.

Re: Reasoning from effect/I think I have finaly done it/GL Bubbles I like this idea and have approved it for use in my campaign. I'd give you some Rep for it, but it won't let me - I've given you rep too recently, apparently. In any case, good job, JmOz!

Re: Next Book?

Re: Next Book? DEMON is fantastic. Since you like the organization, buy it. Other people - if you have any plans whatsoever to use the organization in your campaigns, buy it. On the other hand, THE MYSTIC WORLD fits well into any Champions campaign that even vaguely follows the CU setting. I strongly recommend it on its own merits, and if you don't think you're likely to use DEMON in your games, that would be my pick.

Re: DEMON: Opinions (some spoilers) This book finally showed in the local store where I buy game stuff. I've got some fun, cool reading ahead of me, sounds like.

Re: Skills Help: Entrepreneur? KS: High Finance or Business PS: Entrepreneur Both at pretty good levels Perk: Filthy Rich

Re: Cosmic Level Gaming (e.g. Authority)

Re: How to encourage role playing That's a good start. Wolverine and Batman-clone characters are the worst offenders, often as not. Punisher clones are even worse, of course, but hopefully most GMs simply disallow them as team characters, recognizing that they don't fit the hero-team motif at all.

Re: How to encourage role playing Absolutely. Some GMs don't encourage RP, but some players don't either. Especially those who play narrow-personality, grim-loner characters. As a GM, you can encourage RP by creating opportunities that involve character downtime, DNPC interactions and meeting/interacting with significant NPCs. As a player, you can avoid making characters with limitations like "catatonic outside combat," "asocial jerk" and "Psych Lim - Avoids Communication (VC/Strong)." Instead, make characters who value teamwork, like other people, want friends, and are not so alienated or socially retarded that they can't functionally interact with others outside combat. "Shy" and "poor understanding of modern world" are much better choices for a monster or time-displaced character than "Dependence: Pressure Chamber Hourly or 3d6 Damage" and "elective mute." Marvel's Man-Thing is an interesting concept, but even in the comics, it acts more as a catalyst for stories than as a character, and it is a really crappy inspiration for a PC team member. For those who like moody characters, just remember, please - even Batman and Elric have a few friends or people they genuinely care about.

Re: Cosmic Level Gaming (e.g. Authority) Think "big plots." GRAB going after a big diamond doesn't cut it. Dr. Destroyer trying to disrupt the multiverse so he can cut off all ties between this world and the others - all to better allow him absolute control of this world when he then takes it over - is more like it. This is the time to cut loose with wild plots. Focus on roleplaying. With characters this powerful, fights alone - unless the characters feel a very strong, personal stake in them - become tedious. Make sure the characters are interesting outside combat. Be ready to home-brew a lot of the villains/threats you use. There are some ready-made ones that are good - Dr. Destroyer, Skarn, Tyrannon, the Dragon - but at this power level, the Ultimates barely qualify as speed bumps, Warlord and his crew get pasted inside one turn and even heavy-hitters like Holocaust or Gravitar are going to need to be part of a team of equally-powerful villains in order to present a challenge to the PCs. You can revise some villains, but you reach a point where adding points makes many vilains mutate beyond recognition (Utility at 750 pts makes little sense, really), such that you're often better off making up villains. The villains you make up are more likely to end up being mutant powerhouses, mystic entities or megalomaniac conquerers than thieves, assassins and guys with ray guns. I have posted some high-powered villains in my "Sharing The Wealth" thread. These are villains intended for my New Sentinels campaign, which is a very high-powered one (characters built on 750 points or so). Feel free to check those out, or use them if you like. GALACTIC CHAMPIONS also offers some good villains (and a couple of stinkers, sadly). If you change a few details (mostly background info stuff), people like Slug 3000 can be readily dropped into non-GALACTIC campaigns.

Re: WWYCD: Drug enforcer Well, Malleable Man doesn't think well of drug dealers, but he also doesn't think nailing them to trees is at all called for, so he'd look into it. Solo, he can lurk around pretty well by turning liquid and snaking through sewer grates and such, so he'd try looking around, try to get a sense of what's happening - and intervene in any serious crimes he happened to observe. One of his DNPCs is his sister, a Chicago PD officer, so he would ask her what information she has that might guide him. The problem is, Malleable Man is about as streetwise as Barbara Bush, so he's likely to not get far by himself in this case. He'd thus talk to his teammates, particularly Diomedes, to clue them in on what's happening. Diomedes is the street dude of our crew, and along with Nox (who should be able to PRE-interrogate the heck out of likely sources), they can probably give the investigation some direction.

Re: Please review Evil Witch for Champions game I know you do magic a bit different than most, but it seems to me like as you've described it, this case would be one of the rare ones when "Variable Limitations" would be appropriate to apply to a VPP. Does she absolutely have to take a certain degree of Limitations? If so, it would make sense to apply the Variable Lims Limitation at the appropriate (half the value of Lims she must take, apparently -1/4 in this case) level to the VPP Control Cost. Otherwise, she looks good. I just assume superbeings have DEX and SPD that set them apart from normal humans, myself, so her SPD/DEX doesn't bother me.

Re: suggestions for spy skills? Resistance Talent is good, should he get caught. Computer Programming is a must these days. Even if he's not social, he'll sometimes have to get info. Conversation (for subtle stuff) and Interrogation (when less subtlety is called for) are good.

Re: suggestions for spy skills? For the Bond-style spy, Seduction is of course a natural. For that matter, it fits comic spies such as the Black Widow well.

Re: Doctor Octopus