phydaux

Hmmm. I agree that in a supers campaign this would be a -1/2. I mean, nearly every hero PC and literally every villain NPC I make has some AOE. But the "flavor" of a Star Wars campaign doesn't include AOE as much. Except Thermal Detonators. Gotta have Thermal Detonators.

I voted Lex Luthor but the one I actually use is a combo of him and Doom. Billionaire Peter Lord is the CEO of PelCo, a conglomerate of innovative financial, tech, biotech, defense, and industrial companies. He uses his wealth and government connections to bolster his personal reputation, while expanding his business empire by any means necessary. He is also secretly The Horror - A Green Goblin-esque "What if Batman Were Evil" character with a vast rogue's gallery of villains who act on his behalf, usually engaging in industrial sabotage of PelCo competitors.

"Just give me a character sheet and tell me what dice to roll. And what abilities I have. And what spells I have memorized. And what armor & weapons I have. And what equipment I'm carrying. And..."

Been working on a Jedi, and the powers his Lightsaber gives him. One of them is Precognitive Block, bought as Hardened Armor with the special effect that he unconsciously interposes his Lightsaber between himself and any attack, absorbing some of the damage. While thinking it over, I decided that it shouldn't work against AOE attacks. How much of a disadvantage is that? 1/4? 1/2?

From the Champions I-II-III days, an old and retired Crusader. You could even use a retired Marksman as a foil for Crusader, undermining his authority with the PCs behind his back, and placing doubt and mistrust in the PCs minds. After all, when Dark Champions first came out Crusader moved to Hudson City and became the street-level vigilante Dark Crusader. So maybe Crusader has an ulterior motive in gathering and training a crew of young super heroes. Who knows? But that definitely sounds like something the PCs should investigate... On a related note, I had a PC based on Silk Specter II. In her backstory, her mother was a retired hero who was the team mate and occasional lover of both Crusader and Marksman. The mother had the character trained from a young age by her retired ex-hero ex-boyfriends.

And let's not forget a classic from the I-II-III days: "No one could have survived that!"

"Quick! To the Hoverjet!" In fact I wrote a whole introductory adventure for Champions with pregenerated characters that took place over four "episodes" and at the end of each of the first three episodes their was a reveal that the actual menace was really something ELSE that was very imminent and all the way across town. And at each transition point I wouldn't advance the plot until one of the players said, loudly and in character, "Quick! To the Hoverjet!" Because as a Champions GM 90% of your job is to enforce genera.

I tell my fantasy players that magic is a multipower powered by END. And they can NEVER re-engineer it into a VPP. They can just keep buying slots with XP.

Back in the day I had a half-hour long argument with a player who wouldn't stop insisting that AOE was a version of NND, and the NPC's AOE EBs shouldn't effect his character because his character's mask completely covered his ears. The REALLY crazy thing was that there were six players at the table, and initially two other players agreed with him.

" I was already quite sceptic about VPPs" I only allow VERY experienced Hero System players to use a VPP. NOT "very experienced RPG players". I insist the player be a very experienced Hero System player and GM before I will allow then to play a character with a VPP. And even then I insist they show up with a "Spell Book" of various powers pre-built on paper so that they aren't flipping pages or just winging it at the table. slowing the game down. VPPs are awesome in the right hands. But you don't give a machine gun to a chimp.

"Mental Paralysis (Entangle that goes against EGO, not STR)" My gaming group calls that one "The I Win Button." We don't disallow it, but anyone who uses it buys beer & pizza for the whole table next session.

400 points for 6th Ed, but be sure to put a 12 DC/60AP cap on powers, make sure every knows they are expected to spend AT LEAST 60 points in Skills NOT INCLUDING COMBAT SKILL LEVELS, and be sure players are aware of your campaign's CV norms. Also make sure they know they are each expected to have several NPC Contacts.

Nearly all my PCs have Flash Defense and either Low Light, UV or IR. Most PCs also get Extending Breathing. And yes, HIDO / OIHID. Haven't used a Focus since they became breakable back in whatever edition that was.

And secretly enjoy it.

Supergirl had a Supercat There was also a Supermonkey...