Lord Liaden

Re: A Thought Experiment: The Buffest Heroes vs Dr Destroyer Good point, but that elemental is only Friendly, so whether it would stick around after taking a facefull of Destroyer Beam is open to GM interpretation.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I have taken public transportation all my life. Never even learned how to drive. Yes, it's not available at a moment's notice, is limited to certain routes, is sometimes crowded and smelly, etc. It also doesn't have to find a parking space, doesn't charge me for gasoline, oil, tires, tuneups, insurance etc., and nobody's bugging me to drive them anywhere. Oh, and all that "good for the environment/reduces traffic congestion" stuff, too.

Re: Question: Must I model everything I own? A dozen posts debating how to game-stat a simple camera. I know it's not the intention, but we're kind of reinforcing Wolfgar's original point.

Re: Game Mechanics of Visibility That's already built into the description of Invisible Power Effects. For half the normal cost of the Advantage (minimum +1/4), you can either hide the Special Effects of the Power but not the source, or the source of the Power but not the Special Effects.

Re: How would you model this?

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish) Considering that there's more than half a dozen interstellar empires in the galaxy during any Hero Universe era yet described, I think that's a safe bet. In fact, from its description in Champions Universe, at the beginning of the 21st Century the huge former domain of the Malvans appears to be pretty much wide-open territory. That region will eventually be divided among other expanding civilizations such as the Ackalians, but in the present day there's more than enough room for a sizeable remnant of the old empire to be preserved by the Vatshu, which would have disappeared by the time these other peoples began to expand.

Re: [Romance] The game mechanics of love? Having looked at Shelley Chrystal Mactyre's excerpts from her Regency HERO project (to be published by Hero Games), I was thinking that her Reputation Points mechanic might be adaptable to these kinds of situations, in terms of how they're earned and what they can be used for.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish) Oh, okay, I think it's sunk in now. In that case, I think there's potential for congruence between your Vatshu and the CU's Malvans. The Malvans once ruled a mighty empire by virtue of their staggeringly advanced technology, but by the early 21st Century had sunk into decadence. Just make them a little less decadent and moribund, so that they still have control of their empire, and I think you'll be good to go. You can keep your Primordeals as a separate race from the Empyreans if you wish, of course, but remember that the first generation of Empyreans left the Earth in search of their creators, the Progenitors (who BTW could be the same as one of your other groups of cosmic entities). They might very well have settled on another planet of this galaxy. In fact, since there are implications that the Progenitors created other "Empyrean" races on other worlds, I once suggested that several of these races might have left on the same journey as Earth's Empyreans, met each other, and settled together on a new world - perhaps one prepared for them by the Progenitors.

Re: A question for the old timers... Hey, don't forget, um, Icecapade, and er, Mr. Big, uhh, and Orchid. (Referencing other Guardians: Icestar, Goliath/Giant, and Rose.)

Re: A question for the old timers... To be fair, Champions first came out in 1981. The Bert Convy look was still pretty stylin' then. I noticed when the Champions comic came out using those Guardians characters, Marksman's hair was noticeably shorter. BTW Marksman was redefined for the New Millennium setting. I quite liked that version of the character - sort of the Captain America-ish elder statesman of the superhero community.

Re: A Thought Experiment: The Buffest Heroes vs Dr Destroyer I have a feeling that once we see the members of the Sentinels, Justice Squadron and Star*Guard in the Champions Universe update book, this scenario will seem more practical.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish) All right, I'll see what more I can come up with. If you want to integrate elements from Galactic Champions into this setting, then you'll want to decide which CU races exist there. Using some of the characters will imply the presence of these races, and their history will have to be adapted in some way. Sovereign implies the Mandaarians or an analogue to them, Slug the Elder Worms, etc. You might consider if any of the races of the CU would fit your definition of your own races. Depending on how you define the Vexx you might be able to use the Elder Worms, the Xenovores, the Nibu Gemani, or any combination of those. Similarly, the Empyreans could stand in for the Primordeals of your setting in terms of power set, requiring little more than cosmetic alteration. The Paragons of Orss resemble both Defender 3000 and the Star*Guard, so either or both of those characters could be used as a template for them. I would recommend "tweaked" versions of Arcane or the Examiner for such cosmic entities as Tauron or Kal Om. Another alternative would be using the character sheet for Mechanon 3000, ignoring his Disadvantages reflecting his enormous size, and making him a more human-scale entity. That would have the advantage of enormous power without the potentially game-breaking flexibility of a huge VPP. I would suggest the possibility of Suriel or Star Dragon NPC villains, or even PC heroes in your campaign. On the NPC front, just because these races are benevolent overall doesn't mean that one of them may not have motives that PC heroes would feel the need to oppose. As for PCs, consider whether you couldn't have immature specimens of these races, without the full power of adults, who would be curious enough about the "lesser" races to want to hang around with them. I'll try to give this more thought and come up with other suggestions. If you wish to post more background info, that might help us help you.

Re: A Thought Experiment: The Buffest Heroes vs Dr Destroyer

Re: Someone check my power build please? Well, you're applying the Naked Advantage to any HKA, which has no Range normally, and if you had bought it for just one HKA it wouldn't be Ranged, so I'd say you'll just have to hang on to those points.

Re: Critique my Villain, KingTone Interesting villain concept, and I like how you've worked in more sinister elements that might emerge later. Good plot potential. I do have to question buying his major offensive abilities OAF. That staff would be easy to take away from him, and once it's gone there's little he could do against most superheroes. Since he's already wearing an OIF suit I would recommend incorporating his attacks into it. I also recommend that he invest in a few Combat Skill Levels. His CV looks rather low.

Re: Question: Must I model everything I own? The way I always run it (and I've seen a lot of other Champs GMs say the same) is that anything that any person in our society can acquire which does not have a significant impact during an adventure, and/or is not taken with the character while adventuring, is free to the character if he can justify being able to acquire it. So, no writeups for breath mints under any circumstances. Apartments or houses are free, unless the hero has modified his domicile in some way that benefits his adventuring activities, e.g. laboratories, commo gear, reinforced walls, disguising very unusual features, etc. Normal, unmodified watches, cellphones, cars and the like are free unless the character frequently takes them with him and uses them on adventures. Flashlights, walkie-talkies, compasses, normal guns and that sort of thing are paid for with points if the character typically brings them along, since they're often useful on adventures. Does that help?

Re: A Thought Experiment: The Buffest Heroes vs Dr Destroyer Well, here's the thing: Dr. D has very high and wide spectrum Defenses, even without having assigned his VPP to augment them. Even though his opponents are built on 700-plus points, in many cases those points have not been sunk into high Damage Class attacks, and even their Defenses are sometimes low. I'm afraid Dr. Ka and Robert Caliburn simply don't have the raw power to do very much to Destroyer. At best they would be a distraction. Ashima and Davos are better in that regard (although not by a lot), but they're weak defensively in a straightup fight. Davos whaling on Dr. D HTH will be toasted by the first Destroyer Beam that hits him, and DD can be extremely accurate with those. Ashima will do better if she can stay at a distance and snipe mentally, although she can only whittle the Doctor down a little at a time. Gyeroy Vedun's personal attacks tend to be the same way, although that Transform of his can sneak in a real suprise for DD if the hero lasts a couple of Turns. GV might also be able to Summon an elemental sufficiently maximized for combat to slug it out with Destroyer, although whether it would be willing to is another matter. Otherwise it's only the Witness, Rashindar and Tetsuronin who have the clout to put any serious hurting on Doc D, but looking at the way their Defenses are set up they'll still have trouble taking more than one or two hits from ol' Albert's main weapons. Their best bet would be to use the other heroes for distraction, try to coordinate their attacks to do as much damage as possible and negate the Doctor's very high DCV by attacking from behind, and do Knockback on the Doctor to make him waste actions getting to his feet (no Knockback Resistance among his base abilities), while letting Gyeroy Vedun and perhaps the Witness throw Transform-type attacks at him... and hope that the more powerful heroes survive long enough to bring him down. Now if Dr. Destroyer knows that he'll be fighting these heroes, and knows what they can do, he'll have configured his VPP to counter the tactics above, and the heroes are in real trouble. Also, DD has a 60 Presence and +6d6 for his Reputation, so if he opens with a Presence Attack almost all of these heroes will at least hesitate and allow him to get the drop on them. OTOH if Destroyer was fighting the 700+ point Champions 3000 from Galactic Champions, especially if they were backed up by Star*Shield, that would likely be a different story. Most of those heroes have massive attacks, and two or three of them have the Defenses to stand up to Destroyer's big guns and still keep coming.

Re: Invulnerability solved Hmm... ingenious thought, but can you apply Personal Immunity to every possible attack Power and/or SFX that could be thrown at you? The examples for Naked Advantage in the rulebook and FAQ allow at most for a tight group of related things.

Re: Crossfire? If you have access to it, I suggest using the rules for Sucker Attacks in the Champions genre book, p. 155. This is just the situation that it's designed to emulate, and it's a free technique for any character. I don't have the Combat Handbook with me, so I don't know if that technique is reprinted there.

Re: Archetype Twists Charm Girl from Champions Worldwide is a little older, but otherwise pretty close.

Re: How would you use Takofanes? I wanna play in your world. All the pretty colors and lights...

Re: Making the math easier It's an interesting premise, and I can see the simplification when working numbers out by hand. However, considering that almost everyone these days works the HERO numbers via either chargen software, spreadsheets (like the ones in Free Stuff), or just using a calculator, I don't see it as filling a pressing need. Just remembering what fractions equate to as percentages lets you go to town.

Re: Mount Up! Buying Mounts in Fantasy HERO! Even if you chose them due to artistic limitations, Phorusrhacoids would make extremely cool (not to mentione terrifying) war mounts. Ever consider adding steel hooks to their wing claws?

Re: How would you use Takofanes? Fair enough. If you did want the "mind" of Takofanes to take over DEMON, you could have the Edomite (DEMON leader) come to believe that the vessel of the mind is the missing fifth member of his Inner Circle. That would give Takofanes a major inroad to DEMON.

Re: Help with a power In case no one has welcomed you since you joined, hoovdog... Welcome! I'm not sure why you would say that your RKA does no Knockback. By default in a superheroic campaign, it does, just a little less on average than a Normal Damage Attack. For the diminishing effect of the sound attack, I'd recommend buying it with the Limitation, "Reduced By Range." That should do just about what you describe. For your Stun-Only attack, assuming your GM won't allow you to have an EB which does no Body but does do Knockback (have you asked?), you could buy it with the Advantages "No Normal Defense" (which normally does no KB) plus "Does Knockback." I hope that helps. If not feel free to post followup questions.