Metaphysician

Re: WWYCD: The New Recruit. . .

A team where the majority of characters have Strong or higher Psych. Lims, all pointing the same way, is an opportunity for truly reprehensible excesses.

 

Be poor roleplaying for it to only come out as some sort of feeble, namby-pamby, softie-squishy, touchy-feelie passivism. Heroes who don't kill are no less extreme, brutal, willing to violate another's rights and freedoms, aggressive, capable or competent than heroes who do kill.

 

If a guy in a non-Silver Age supers universe, with all its many alternatives to killing attacks available, seems wedded to the idea of slaughter of unconvicted suspects at the drop of a hat, and he happens to wander into the den of those with equal strength of conviction in the opposite direction and not protect himself adequately, then he's a fool, and brought it on himself, no?

 

This outcome would be his fault, and he'd be an utter hypocrite to cry foul.

 

It's a hell of a thing to kill a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have.

 

But to impose on a man a better conscience than his own? Man, how mean is that?

Might I suggest rereading the original post? I think you may have overlooked some stuff.

Re: What are you playing now?

Currently I'm running:

-Hermes, a high powered nova in an exceedingly alternate Aberrant game ( speedster/supergenius )

-Operator A4, a member of Branch 9, in an Adventure game set in 20s Shanghai ( man of a thousand faces and legacy hero )

-Mirumoto Seiki, a clan daimyo in a Legend of the Five Rings campaign ( epic samurai )

Re: WWYCD: The New Recruit. . .

Hrm.

 

"Look, DA, you don't mind me calling you DA, do you? Anyway, look, I'm fine with your judgement in these situations and all. A long-time admirer. But you gotta understand, while we've been talking, the rest of the team have inserted a device just under your medulla oblongata using their various skills and powers, and if its AI circuitry detects you about to take a sentient life, well.. let's just say you'll find out there's worse things than being dead. Just so you know where they stand on the whole free will and killing people issue."

Isn't this a tad contradictory?

Re: WWYCD: Harem Comedy from Hell

I think Vitus' schtick is that he's a 'superhero'. . . from a Lovecraftian alternate dimension. So, his definition of superheroism, and his attitudes, are a little. . . orthogonal to standard.

Re: Schtick Skill: That Thing You Do

Alternatively, instead of a charge, you could have a large number of skill levels, with some kind of conditional limit.

For example, +10 Overall, Only When DNPC is in Danger, Only for Tasks That Help Get DNPC Out of Danger. Whatever you are normally, you suddenly become an unstoppable force of nature when your love interest is threatened.

Re: WWYCD: Harem Comedy from Hell

The last bit about 'harem comedy law' does seem a bit too 'no win' for my liking though.

To be more specific, its not that there is no way to get them to go away, or behave themselves, or otherwise resolve the situation. Rather, its just that attempts to 'resolve' the situation by simply beating up, arresting, and/or killing the suitors is inevitably certain to go wrong.

Re: Zombie hordes?

Oh - so far I've got this for standard zombie powers:

 

1) Bite of the undead: Major Transform 10d6 (People into Zombies, T'aint no cure), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Difficult To Dispel (x8 Active Points; +3/4), Continuous (+1) (487 Active Points); Extra Time (6 Hours, Change may take up to 6 hours; -3 1/2), No Range (-1/2), Requires a sucessful bite (-1/2)

 

2) Zombifaction: Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat; Longevity: Immortal; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing; Sleeping: Character does not sleep)

and

 

3) Bite!: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 3d6 (3 1/2d6 w/STR)

Of course I'm still in the process of refining things, so these numbers may change up or down some. But that'll pretty much what every zombie comes with.

Seems a little much. Basically, if any PC gets hit in melee *ever*, they are screwed. Also, these zombies pretty much kill an order human with a single attack.

At the very least, I'd suggest changing the Transform limit to "Bite attack must do Body damage", and tone down the Bite attack. If you want to maintain the threat of zombie-fication, include some "super zombies" that have buffer attacks or nastier infection vectors, ala STaST.

Re: WWYCD: The New Recruit. . .

Of course, this also depends on how he does it. Is this a case of "Batman with guns" or a Wolverine sort who has markedly little real choice about whether or not they use lethal ordnance thanks to the fact that that's all they've got that'll make a dent, or are we talking about a Superman sort who has numerous options to make a non-lethal situation but chooses instead to go for the more permanent solution?

I'm assuming that Dark Avenger is more the first type. Whatever powers or skills he has, he's not capable of casually handling any situation nonlethally. If confronted on this matter, his response is basically. . .

"Yes, I could attempt to knock out the hostage-taker. . . and I'd probably succeed. I'm not so arrogant as to think I'll *always* succeed."

"Of course, if I have a speedster or a telekinetic around at the time, then this issue won't come up, yes?"

Re: WWYCD: The New Recruit. . .

Note that, with the exception of one rumored, and by no means certainly true, case ( though if someone would choose to investigate that matter, they certainly can ), Dark Avenger has *not* committed any murders. He's used lethal force, but so far, the applicable law enforcement authorities are satisfied he acted reasonably.

If a character is in a campaign wherein that is not possible, as pretty much any usage of lethal force would draw trial, and likely conviction, then this scenario really isn't applicable ( the 'New Recruit' as described really couldn't exist in the setting ).

Note: this is only applicable for individual characters who have CvK ( Strong ) or better, and/or are members of teams wherein the majority of other members are such. This is also really only applicable in non-Silver Age settings.

One day, your super team encounters Dark Avenger, a superhero in your campaign setting. He wishes to join your team, so that he has comrades in the fight against supervillainy and crime. By reputation, he's a skilled, capable hero, within an ability range to fit in with your team. However, his reputation is also as a hero who doesn't have a problem with using deadly force. He's not reckless or psychotic, and he doesn't go around executing criminals vigilante-style*, but he has no problem dealing with a hostage-taking enemy by simply killing him before he can harm the hostage. However, to date, every usage of lethal force on his part has been judged reasonable by law enforcement authorities.

If confronted on this matter, he shrugs and says that if he's accepted into a team, he's willing to follow the team's rules of engagement, at least when on team time. The whole point of being on a team is to have extra backup and options after all.

WWYCD?

*Well, there is one rumor. . . but there's no solid proof, and it involved a really hideous villain with a genre-excessive body count, so no one has particularly investigated into it to date.

Re: WWYCD: Harem Comedy from Hell

Where's the Celestial who comes to kill you but falls for your inexplicable charms?

He's actually just a delusional mutant, and hasn't shown up in the campaign yet. He's also unlikely to fall for the PC.

Your character is going about his business, when within the space of a week, he/she gains three ( additional, if any already exist ) 'suitors'. . .

-A powerful wizard, with the Shade's personality ( gentleman rogue or female equivalent ), and a Catwoman style interest in your character

-A cult leader with moderate magical power, incredible luck. . . and an almost impossible to change belief that your character is a Demon Lord/Lady, whom he worships

-A dimensional lord ( Skarn or female equivalent ), who would really like your character as his/her consort.

As you might imagine, none of them are exactly going to take 'no, go away' for an answer, none of them will especially get along with any *real* love interests, and none of them will be able to tolerate each other, at all. OTOH, by the coincidental magic of harem comedy law, attempts by anybody involved ( you, them, random outsiders ) to simply eliminate them will be rather prone to failure.

WWYCD?

Re: WWYCD: Halloween From Hell 2007

Well, nowadays, so many angst filled vampires have souls, and so many werewolves seek to control their curse for the greater good, and so many demons were kicked out of hell for being so nice... they might be a superhero team visiting so ya know, you just can't judge.

 

Hah, somebody so needs to do that. . .

Re: Alien Invasion

Good point. OTOH, to be fair, this is not exactly an 'alien invasion' plot, from the GMs perspective. This is more a "make the players think an alien invasion is happening" plot.

Kudos for some cleverness, though.

Re: Alien Invasion

I'd avoid bringing those buggers in; it becomes much harder to explain how the invaders don't steamroll the world, if they've got self-replicating equipment.

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

Another option for fighting Doctor Destroyer: Grab him. You need someone with at least 80 Str ( or equivalent from MA ), preferably better. But, if you can, and can manage to put him into a two limb Grab, you can render half his firepower mostly useless ( I'm thinking grabbing both arms and holding them up and out into the air, like a Y ).

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

By comparison, the Justice Squadron generally have better DCs.

Now, if you throw a team of, say, Diamond, Drifter, Tetsuronin, and Rashindar as the tip of the spear. . .

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

IMO, biggest problem the Sentinels have against Dr D is lack of major punch. You can entirely challenge and beat Dr Destroyer. . . but you first have to be able to inflict nontrivial Stun when you hit, which means you really need at a minimum 15d6 damage. Otherwise, it doesn't matter what your tactics are, or how willing to make sacrifice plays, you just aren't going to do much other than slowly die.

Re: Alien Invasion

Or they want Earth for resources, but not in the raw materials sense, so much as the production sense. Which is to say, they want to conquer the populace, and then put them to work as subjects/slaves.

Which requires not killing the entire populace, and preferably not blowing up everything.

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

Yeah, but really, consider for a second who was sent to take him on last time he appeared in canon. Granted, that was versus his Destruaga II plot, so not just him personally, but the actually superheroes who made a run at him personally were probably a cherry-picked Who's Who of herodom.

Re: No way to win...?

Definitely make sure that it doesn't look like they are being screwed for saving her, though. In particular, make sure she shows some gratitude to those who rescued her.

Honestly, though, this almost sounds like a better PC concept than NPC. . . but maybe its just me.

Re: What Are Your Hero's Most Embarrassing Moments?

Hermes ends up KOed pretty much every single combat. Its just kind of a given. He may get revived almost immediately to continue fighting, he may even win the fight in the end. . . but he hits the floor at least once first.

Re: Anyone try 'Black' Hero Action Points?

I'd be leery of the "on anyone but the player who used it" rule. It could encourage excess Black Hero Point expenditure, since the consequences land on someone else.

Re: Alien Invasion

Yup. Its fun. Takes a bit of getting used to, as the point scale is way different than BESM 2e or SAS, and it has a few editting issues, but overall, its quite nice. I especially like the fact that you can burn EP for extra effort on skill checks *after* making the roll.

Re: Alien Invasion

Meta -

 

I took a look at your wiki. What system are you using? I did not recognize it (though that is not a surprise since I am pretty much only play hero with the occasional foray into MNM). Any particular you are using a system other than hero?

 

Also, what setting are you using? As I glanced through it looks like some references to MC.

I'm using BESM 3e as the system, partly because it covers high end stuff better than Hero, IMO, and partly just because I was a fan of the old SAS system, and BESM 3e is just nice in general.

As for setting, I'm doing homebrew/synthesis, with stuff stolen from everywhere, including Champions, Freedom City, Silver Age Sentinels, Algernon Files, and even one or two things from the World of Darkness.

Feel free to read the character writeups, their backstories are neat.