phydaux

Say I have a VPP, and one of the limitations is Mental Powers Only.

So you get the usual - Ego Attack, Telekinesis, all the rest.  You can hand wave Flight as "I'm using my telekinesis to lift myself."  All standard stuff.

Would Teleport fit?

I only know of one instance in lit/rpg where Teleport was lumped in with psionic powers - Classic Traveler.  And even back in the 70s I felt it didn't fit.

If you were GM would you allow it?  If you were a player would you try to justify it?

On 8/19/2021 at 11:58 AM, Grailknight said:

Depends on the game edition.  In editions 1st-5th the RAW was 2 meters per hex but that was changed to 1 meter in 6th edition.

This is the answer

Check out the Wearing the Cape series.  C- & D-level supers work in these "support" roles.  

I remember UNTIL from our campaign back in '86.  That was Champions I-II-III days.  Hell, I didn't even have grey hair.

The question should be do we ever have then INTENTIONALLY.  

I ran a version of the old Island of Dr. Destroyer ages ago as a one-off at my FLAGS.  I posted a game report.  Here it is:

Quote

Posted January 23, 2005

Today I ran my Island of Dr. Destroyer one off. I had four players. One picked Defender, another Witchcraft. The other two picked characters I had generated myself - The Archer (Green Arrow rip-off, right down the the Boxing Glove Arrows) and Mind Maiden (Mystic armed with a TK/Telepathy multipower that for some reason also contained Desolid). No one chose any of the Incredibles.

 

The players are heading to the island in a PRIMUS Air Raft. The Archer is the only one with piloting skills. He tried to bring the Air Raft to the island by flying low and avoid the island ground-based radar (and by extension the ground-based Quad-Lasers and Cruise Missiles). He's doing fine, then majorly biffs a roll once the team gets within sight of the island. I rule that he bobbed the Air Raft up too high, so the island defenses picked up the Air Raft on radar. And followed up with a cruise missile. 

 

One 15D6 AOE EB later, Defender and The Archer are at negative STUN and underwater, Witchcraft is under water and at negative 3 BODY and Mind Maiden is Desolid.

 

(I did this mostly to set the mood, and let the team know that The Destroyer isn't one to be trifled with.)

 

Mind Maiden used her TK to pick up her three team mates and then her 0 END flight to head for the nearest possible medical facility - The Island! On the way, The Archer recovered from unconsciousness and did Paramedic on Witchcraft (who by now was at negative 5 BODY). Mind Maiden slipped the team over the barrier cliffs right between two radar stations and the team hid in the jungle.

 

The Archer used his Stealth to move through the jungle and hunt for medical supplies. He found a huge, portable medi-kit on the wall in the Doctor's hanger bay that was jam-packed with drugs the FDA does NOT approve of. A quick skulk back through the jungle, and thanks to the illegal, untested drugs Witchcraft is soon at positive BODY (but not MUCH).

 

The team figures if they can just disable the ground radar and defenses then the Navy and the Air Force can deal with the island. So they head off toward the mountains to assault the island's nuclear reactor containment/cooling tower (if you know the adventure, it's where the ICBM used to be).

 

They enter the reactor's control room, where they find the Doctor and his supervillain henchmen - Armadillo, Pulsar and Green Dragon.

 

Armadillo, Pulsar and Green Dragon attack while The Good Doctor hands back and looks majestic. The Archer blinds Armadillo right off the bat with a Flash Attack, Defender starts trading EBs with Pulsar, and Mind Maiden & Witchcraft gang-tackle Green Dragon with Ego Attacks.

 

Green Dragon doesn't have a chance against Mind Maiden & Witchcraft, and drops first. The Archer hits Pulsar with a Nitro Arrow and knocks him back. Defender follows up with an EB and manages to roll six 6s out of a 10D6 attack, then snake eyes for Knock Back!  The aggregate STUN, plus the Knock Back right INTO a re-enforced concrete wall, puts Pulsar out of the fight.

 

Defender and The Archer next do a combined ED/Shock Arrow attack on the still-blinded Armadillo. He goes down, and Dr. destroyer decided it's time to step in himself. He does his "Gods/Thunderbolts" speech, then drops a 15D6 AOE EB on the team. The EB goes off with the whole team caught in the AOE. Defender and The Archer go down - No BODY taken but WELL into negative STUN. Things are looking grim. 

 

However, all this happens on phase 8, and Mind Maiden & Witchcraft haven't moved this phase yet. Mind Maiden aborts to Desolid while Witchcraft dives for cover. and for Witchcraft the only direction that will take her away from the AOE EB is to dive right toward the nuclear reactor's containment room.

 

By the time Mind Maiden and Witchcraft can move again Dr. Destroyer is just toying with the team. Mind Maiden drops her Desolid and attempts to use her TK to pull her wounded comrades to safety. In her heart, however, she knows things are hopeless. The Doctor aims another AOE EB at the three of them.

 

Witchcraft pulls herself to her full height, squares her shoulders and, with her mind's eye full of 50 other superheroes who will never be forgotten, does what she knows she must do - She prepares herself to die like a hero. Summoning all her strength for one mighty blast of Witchfire, she hurls the bolt right through the window of the containment room, and into the nuclear reactor's coolant pump!

 

The AOE EB and the blast of Witchfire occur at the same time. Mind Maiden drops, Defender and The Archer are tossed around like rag dolls, and Witchcraft is bathed in nuclear waste. She begins taking NND damage every segment. Before she can move again, she joins her team in unconsciousness.

 

Hours later Defender, The Archer and Mind Maiden awake in the sick bay of a US Navy Cruiser. Once the reactor was taken out of commission the Navy was able to get Marines on the island. The Marines found the heroes and pulled them out of the reactor building. Witchcraft was taken by helicopter to an ICU on the mainland, but is expected to make a full recovery.

 

The team's mission was successful, but costly. And once again, the Destroyer has escaped!

d20 has critical hits, Hero has Called Shots.

Quasar - Clearly the technology-based threat is the largest one.  "We've got to intercept that Mech-Turkey before it reaches downtown.  Non-flyers, to the Hoverjet!  The rest of you, form up on me!"  A few kinetic blasts should bring it down.  After all, it can't be tougher than Mechanon.  Can it....?

Shadowhunter - "That asshat Quasar just flew off with all the heavy hitters!  How the hell am I suppose to handle a giant, mutant turkey all on my own?  sigh.. Same way I handle everything ELSE all on my own - Hide in stealth, observe to find weakness, ambush from behind, called shot to the giblets!"  The opening shot would be an HE blast.  Follow that up with a bolo entangle while it's stunned.  Flash attack to blind it while it can't dodge.  Then more high explosives.  Finish it off with knockout gas.  Pick a tail feather as a trophy, because it pisses off the original Shadowhunter SO MUCH.  

Mystica - "Cultists! Feh!  Eat by turkey demon is small price for foolishness!  Mystica would no have been so kind.  And now, gobble-devil, I send you back from where you came.  I send you, and I charge you - Tell the turkey demons.  Tell your story.  Tell them you saw THE WRATH OF MYSTICA!!!!!"  Then the 4d6 RKAs fly until one of them is dead.  Summoning demons, that's kind of a hot button with this one. (She actually has a limited Code Against Mercy, and a Reputation - Slayer of Morbanes.)

On 11/5/2020 at 2:16 AM, wcw43921 said:

I've suggested before that a marksman-type could use a slingshot, the weapon of mischievous little boys everywhere.  Give him various less-than-lethal loads--pepper balls, hard rubber balls, paint for marking a target, flashbangs, etc.--and you're all set.  There's even the perfect name for such a character--The Menace.

Frank Miller likes that, too.  But it was a girl named Carrie.

1 hour ago, Mr. R said:

 

Yeah, but even Green Arrow calls it corny!

So modernize it. 

It's not a boxing glove, it's a tiny airbag with a proximity fuse.  Fire it at a person, and just before impact the airbag deploys, spreading the impact surface area across their entire face and, for game purposes, making the attack do Stun Only.

My personal favorite take on the Trick Arrow Archer is to take everything with Range Based On Strength and say they're thrown weapons - Bolos, flash bangs, gas grenades, etc.

Quasar As a professor of physics at Millennium City University, Quasar recognizes an invitation to paradox when he sees one.  He answers with a polite but firm "No."

Shadowhunter He is actually Shadowhunter II.  He would use this as an opportunity to go back and talk to Shadowhunter I during his prime.  Before he can leave, though, Shadowhunter I wheels himself in on his powerchair.  "Don't bother going.  You were a dumbass then just like you're a dumbass now."  Shadowhunter II decides not to go.  Then can't figure out how Shadowhunter I could know to tell him not to go if he decided not to go.  He travels to Millennium City University and spends an afternoon talking to Quasar about paradoxes.

Mystica She would go back to Russia to before her grandmother died.  She would take to her about what it was like to be the Archmage's apprentice, and ask if they were really lovers.  She would want to talk about magic theory & spell formulae, but instead they would spend the hours cooking kasha & pirog, drinking vodka, and gossiping about what the Archmage was like in bed.  Mystica would come back and spend the next few weeks both happier and sadder than she usually is.

Monster Hunter: Memoirs are three books co-authored by John Ringo, and IMO are the best in the series.  And well separate from his "Everyone is a Chosen One" series, taking place ~20 years before the events in Minster Hunter: International.  So feel free to dive right in without worry of spoilers.

And yeah, 3 & 5 were the best because they WEREN'T about Owen.  

Also, check out Bubba the Monster Hunter by John G. Hartness.  Books 1 & 2 are good.  Book 3 starts to go off the rails, and book 4 is a head first dive into a privy trench.  But 1 & 2 are good.

On 10/21/2020 at 7:44 PM, dmjalund said:

depends on the definition of evil. Can one be truly evil if one is nice to ones mother? how about if they treat hostages with respect?

 

some would say only demons and devils are truly evil.

 

also monsters - especially non-intelligent monsters) are merely following instincts. Does this make them evil?

And Hitler loved his dogs.  

But yeah, it's a -1/4 at best.

Only read about half the OP.   Your player wants a Variable Power Pool. 

A VPP is a power framework that has been a part of the game since around 3rd edition.  IMO you shouldn't let him have one.  Not because it's overpowered (although right/wrong hands it totally is).  Because it's a logistical/rules nightmare that will slow your play sessions to a dead crawl, and suck every last iota of fun out of the room.

As a GM I only allow VERY experienced players to buy a VPP, and even then I make then write out a "spell book" ahead of time with every power they think they might ever possibly need, its limitations, it's active points cost, and it's real cost.  But this doesn't ever happen because, in my experience, it's only lazy players who don't want to bother learning the rules or adhering to genera who ever want to a VPP because it lets them set the rulebook aside and say "Well, my character can do anything, so he does this..."

I had a PC that traced his lineage back to the French Revolution:

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Zoro - Lone Ranger - Green Hornet (Golden Age) - Shadowhunter I (Silver Age, DNPC) - Shadowhunter II (my PC, Bronze Age)

Pencil & paper, same way I did back in 1987.

GOD!  I'm old...

You forgot Island of Dr. Destroyer

Thanks.

Also:

Wearing the Cape (8 books I think)

West Pacific Supers (2 books, I wish there were more)

Super Powereds (4 books plus Bonus Book)

For 6th I give players 400 CP, which includes 50 from Disadds

On 6/1/2020 at 8:42 PM, JmOz said:

I would say -1/2 in my games, but -1/4 in a star wars game (based on explosions not being that common)

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.

On 5/31/2020 at 12:30 PM, Panpiper said:

even after five years of playing, none of the other players still had the first clue how to play Hero System. Over the last few years, I have learned they don't have the first clue how to play D&D either

"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.