Wanderer

Re: END Reserve 6e Mind it, you have official stamp of approval on the option to make powers tap both sources of END without any need for such an advantage, whenever it fits with common sense. Typically, it does in most cases, such as mage spells and internalized metahuman powers. Honestly, I'd never call for using such an advantage, except for technolological and magical devices.

Huya Steve, first all allow me to make a shower of compliments for the excellent (as usual) work you put in the 6th ed. Eagerly waiting for the APG. Now a couple questions: From first cursory skim of the rulebook (fullcolor, yay), I've noticed that the Affects Porous Adder is no longer listed for Telekinesis. Does this mean that 6th ed. unmodified TK can affect both solid and liquids as a matter of course, or that the Adder is going to show in APG ? What about gases ? Second, you told in a previous thread, that: Can Dismissable be used for Entagles, too ? Is this Adder going to show in the APG and HD ? Or would I need to add Dismissable to HD by hand ? I think it would be a great thing if it somehow became an official Adder, since I've always felt that the availability of a way for the creator to dispel Entangles (and now Barriers) at will was a proper and necessary expansion to the functionality and concept of this power, especially when the SFX is some sort of energy barrier. Making Barriers need to END to maintain is a rather unsatisfactory patch.

Re: Expanded Shazam power set question Well, creating a deities' list and power word for the Norse pantheon, too, has proved to be less difficult than I thought. Strength of Vidar Invulnerability of Baldur Speed of Hermod Battle Prowess of Tyr Storms of Thor Waters of Aegir Earth of Frigg Fires of Loki Healing of Idunn Forms of Odin "VIBLATTHOF"

Re: Expanded Shazam power set question Thanks to the idea about adding battle prowess (hence Atena or Ares, both coming with a nice "A"), it is possible to complete the Greco-Roman list of gods and power word to my satisfaction, using only gods and not Titans: Strength of Hercules Invulnerability of Achilles Speed of Hermes/Mercury Healing of Apollo/Asclepius Storms of Zeus/Jupiter Fires of Hephaestus/Vulcan Earth of Hades/Pluto Waters of Poseidon/Neptune Forms of Proteus Battle Prowess of Atena/Ares "PHAMNAZHAP"

Re: Expanded Shazam power set question Perhaps (your sense of coolness may vary), but that list shows the kind of fuzzy and questionable-value gifts of power I was specifically trying to avoid. Exacly what does mean "Heart", "Justice", "Courage", and "Champion Spirit" ? They seem rather "meh" and ill-defined, in my impression, not to mean most of them should be qualities that the champion already owns on his own, and part of the reason he's chosen, not part of the empowerment package. Really, what self-respecting god would ever pick a coward as a champion ?

Re: Expanded Shazam power set question Hmm, I've given thought to the issue. On further thought, I've realized it would be extra nice to add shapeshifting to the power set, if possible, and that, also if possible, it would be nicer to use elemental gods to represent energy control, TK, and matter control, rather than "magic" (which would also fit, but I see a bit too fuzzy in definition). I've compiled more or less complete lists for Pantheons: Greco-Roman, Norse, Egyptian, and Celtic, but so far the only one that I've been able to compile in a speakable power word is Greco-Roman (the other pantheons seem to suffer from a distinct death of gods with names that start with vocals): Strength of Hercules Invulnerability of Achilles Speed of Hermes/Mercury Healing of Apollo/Asclepius Storms of Zeus/Jupiter Fires of Hephaestus/Vulcan Earth of Hades/Pluto Waters of Poseidon/NeptuneOceanus Forms of Proteus Battle Prowess of Athena/Ares "PHAMNAZHAP" On second thoughts, I've thought it might be nicer to spare Titans to form an alternate list who channels an anti-champion, with the same powers but an opposite agenda... The idea being that any Pantheon (and their adversaries: the Greek Titans, the Norse Giants) empowers one or an handful of different champions.

After reading the "Trials of Shazam" TPB, I got the idea to use the classical SHAZAM concept (drawing each component of a powerset from a different god, hero, or mythic archetype). Specifically, I wanted to use to redo my most preferred concept, hybrid paragons. So I wanted to create a word and related set of mythic patrons to give the following powers: super-strength, super-speed/flight, super-stamina/invulnerability, energy projection/control, telekinesis/molecular manipulation, and healing/regeneration. The "wisdom" and "courage" part of the original concept can be safely dropped for various reasons. How can this power set be represented from various pantheons (say, Greco-Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Celtic) ? I assume that in mythic terms, energy control, matter manipulation, and TK are best represented by control over the elements (or very loosely elemental magic).

Re: Who homages the Watchmen or those the Watchmen homaged? But again, there would be no need of the aliens fake plan whatsoever, if Manhattan stays and continues to make a Soviet nuclear attack impossible. Hence, no nuclear war, no threat for the world. But it was Ozzy's delusion that the status quo was leading to a nuclear war. In the real world of the setting, the Soviet Union was bound to collapse within a few years anyway, under the weight of its economic inefficiency, rebelliousness of its subjects, and exorbitant military expenditure. Nuclear war as an option was impossible for the Soviets anyway: Manhattan would stop 99.99% of their nukes, and the American second strike + Manhattan's own retaliation would utterly annihilate the Soviet bloc with trivial damages to the rest of the world. It would not be MAD in any way, it would be the Soviets choosing nuclear suicide by cop. Either the Commies accept the collapse of their society or committ suicide, the rest of the world endures, free from the Communist threat forevermore. And anyway, most likely the Soviets choose the rational solution and accept their defeat. Hence, Watchmen's Cold War can only end in an outcome most similar to RL, but better. No nuclear destruction of the world, the Free World triumphant. And Manhattan stays around and keeps providing his miracles, which have already advanced technology and diminished environmental problems considerably. Only a delusional paranoid megalomanic could think the farfetched alien fake scheme with Manhattan's permanent exile would be a better solution. The truth was that Ozzy subconsciously hated the society he lived in, it made him feel alienated and unnecessary, so he conceived a non-existent threat to the world in order to have a justification for his world-conquest scheme. And by the way, why Vietnam statehood would be a bad outcome ?

Re: Who homages the Watchmen or those the Watchmen homaged? Again, Ozzy is no savior. He killed millions just to put a (rather faulty) patch to a problem he had caused himself, harassing Dr. Manhattan until he chose self-exile. He pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war. The world was a lot safer under Jon's watch than in Ozzy's conspiratorial "utopia". Unless one had a real problem with the Communist bloc collapsing under its own inadequacy, rather than being given an artificial lease on life. Me, I would choose the Cold War ending the way it ended IOTL plus having Manhattan around to churn out technological miracles to help with environmental problems, and to be unleashed to wipe out the likes of Osama and Amadinejad in a fortnight if need be, a thousand times rather than having Ozzy as God-King behind a curtain, thank you.

Re: Who homages the Watchmen or those the Watchmen homaged?

Re: Who homages the Watchmen or those the Watchmen homaged? Yep, and the anti-communist realpoliticker in me says, so what ? The reasonable outcome for the continued strategic unbalance between the combined strength of the Western bloc + Dr. Manhattan vs. the Soviet bloc is not MAD nuclear destruction of the world, but economic and political collapse of the Soviet bloc under the weight of their own unsustainable military expenditures, terrible economic inefficiency, and lack of sincere allegiance from their own peoples. The only real threat to that is Manhattan's alienation from humanity, and there are far better ways to deal with it than the idiotic scheme Ozzy conceived, which almost unleashed the nuclear war it purported to avoid, and may still cause it if the truth is revealed. Say the US Government recruits a pool of highly-paid geniuses with interests into theoretical physics, philosophy, and exoteric science, train them in the atemporal perspective Jon lives in, and use them to give quality social interaction to Manhattan, when he's not busy playing world policeman. Also, surround him with attractive, open-minded young women that have a thing for the enigmatic powerful male figure, and do not mind sexual experimentation with theri super-powered boyfriend (he's already weathered switching a GF without snapping, it's a normal part of adjusting to immortality). Even if nothing is done to revert Jon's alienation significantly, at the slow pace it has progressed, in all likelihood the Cold War shall be over with the unconditional surrender of the USSR well before it reached dangerous levels. Since the expected outcome of the Cold War if the pre-Ozzy staus quo goes on, is not MAD, but the collapse of Communism. The USSR is coming into a lose-lose choice between unconditional surrender or suicide by nuclear cop, without any possiblity of inflicting any significant damage to the Western Bloc either way. The only real possiblity of MAD is created by Ozzy's actions. Veidt is a delusional paranoid megalomaniac that unconsciously vents out his frustration and hate for the conservative society which he lives in, by identifying a non-existing danger and then concocting a mass-murdering scheme to collapse it, and substitute with a hippie peacenik "utopia" (with far more significant danger of a nuclear war than before, in the long term) with himself as the enlightened god-king, of course. The political underpinnings of Ozzy's stance are grounded in the positions of the 80s pacifist movement, and are proven wrong and self-destructive in the comic as they were in RL: the threat of nuclear war was not ended by the West choosing some kind of fuzzy peacenik hippie utopia where everyone got in touch with their inner Commie-lover, but by forcing the Communist bloc to face the harsh reality of its own tyrannical, corrupt, and ineffectual nature, and letting it collapse as a result. Ozymandias is a villain that did mass murder in order to prevent a danger that only existed only in his own skewed perception. Maybe he was sincere, but even so, he was no any more heroic or justified than a paranoid schizophrenic that shoots his neighbor because he's persuaded that the neighbor is poisoning him.

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" This is very interesting but only really works for street-level heroes a la Daredevil, or "city protector"-level heroes a la Spiderman. It does not really make sense for nation/world-protector-level heroes like the Avengers or JLA. Far too much media noticeability for them, even if there are several teams and not a few solo heroes of that power level. How would you treat them ?

Re: "Es lebe die Freiheit!"- German Resistance Champions

Re: True Jack Of All Trades Well, about some professionals' job skills in scientific fields, it must be remembered that SS are described as a combination of KS and PS, they give you both the theoretical knowledge base and the practical ability to use it in the field or the laboratory. In other words, buying PS: Physician or PS: Chemist is a redundant waste of points, when SS: Medicine or SS: Chemistry gives you the practical expertise as well. As far as I'm concerned, SS: Medicine (or equivalents) already tell a physician character everything he needs to know about long-term care.

Let's assume one wants to build a Mimic VPP pool for a superhuman that can mimic any power that the character has ever met previously (a la Amazo or Super-Adaptoid). Let's also assume this character is limited to mimic innate powers only, or even just powers that are "integral" to the character: no magic spells, no technological powers, even if they are not technically Foci, only mutant powers, etc. According to UMM, such a power should be built as: Archivable Mimic Pool: Variable Power Pool (Mimicry Pool), 200 base + 120 control cost, Cosmic (+2) (500 Active Points); Powers May Only Be As Powerful As Targets' Powers (-1/2), Requires Successful HTH Attack Roll and Skin Contact to First Acquire A Target's Powers (-1/4), Only To Create Powers Copied From Persons Touched (-1/4). So far, very good. My question about this build is: is it still a meaningful limitation to restrict this to mimicking Innate Powers only (no Foci), or possibly Mutant/Mutate Powers only (no Magical, Divine, Chi, or Technological SFX), if yes, how worth the Limitations ? Looking on how the other Limitations are priced, I'd very tentatively give -1/4 for Innate Only, and -1/2 for Mutant/Mutate Only, but I'm quite uncertain. Since I notice that SL missed to use that kind of Limitation in this version of the Mimic VPP, I wonder if it's still a meaningful one. Some, although by no means all, mimics are unable to mimic Foci powers, and some also unable to copy powers that are Focus-like "external" to the character as SFX, such as magic spells, technology, martial arts, divine blessings, etc. Also, a trivia question: has such a specific power concept (can mimic all the Innate/Mutant/Mutate powers ever encountered) ever been used to build an official 5th Ed. Champions Universe character ???

Re: Mimic Help

Re: Superhero Aging I prefer to let setting time flow like real time, but to assume, whenever SFX makes it barely believable, that superpowers grant effective immortality. The innate powers of mutants and mutates activate the genes of the immortality complex. Sorcerers and martial arts masters do know spells and meditation regimens that stop aging. Scientific geniouses have perfected longevity pills. And so on.

Re: (WWYCD) Wake Up Wanted... Nova: "Groan. Not Reality-twisters Again. I Hate Reality-Twisters. When will you guys learn I'm not going ever to buy being a powerless, spineless whimpy wageslave ?" (said as he gives abusive boss/school bully the beating of his life; for whatever reason, there's always one in such scenarios). (checks if all powers are working; they are; turns on cosmic awareness to verify this is not an illusion) "Great, another parallel dimension or timeline shift we have to escape or reverse, probably on our own. And it's Tuesday. OK, first things first: Find teammates, learn about the timeline and the Pont of Divergence". "Bah. They become the secret masters of the world, have the power to rework reality, and this shit is the best they can do ? Really, give me back the Axis Triumphant timeline anytime. At least Ratzis had a vision, if murderous. But President Bush ? Paris Hilton ? Is that their idea of victory ? Bleargh. Really stupidity is the worst crime. OK, high time to kick some secret master ass and put the world back on track. This timeline really needs a swift mercy killing". Well, Nova already had a "honorable warrior" vigilante mindset, someplace between "normal" and Casual Killer, but rather more close to the latter, and he already had a "loves combat" psych, so he fully shifts to "Honorable Casual Killer who gets hot with combat" attitude and starts a one-superhuman-army resistance, while he searches for his teammates. He kicks some serious supervillain ass, happy as a horny teenager boy at a porn convention. Standard screwed-up alternative timeline, in other words. Been there, done that. Nova is unfazed. "It's time to save the world from itself... again." Heretic. :rolleyes: "Authority" Mark "Ultimates" Millar Rules Forever (even if he's a bloody primadonna who takes forever and a year to finish a story arc).

Re: How would Stronghold imprison your character?

Re: Concepts Killed by 350 An Eternal (sorry, "Empyrean" ) which is good at several of their typical power sets. Or a similar "cosmic" generalist superhuman.

Re: Champions Babies

Re: WWYCD: Tee Vee Comes to Town Nova would liekly end up being Cap. Kirk (similar personality) or American Gladiators. He would persuade the hottest-looking co-star to have sex on camera, so the show gets shifted to the hardcore channel, then stop anyone from ever having sex, so the show gets killed for lack of performance. If this is not enough, he will keep alternate doing the contrary of the cliches of every show they find themselves in, until TV "fires" them all for losing rates, and reality resets to normal.

Re: WWYCD: The Switch. Redemption is redemption. Once he is convinced that it is for real, Nova would congratulate the guy and keep the secret.

Re: Loved at home hated by the world. Nova has already expressed his sincere regret and willingness to make productive reparations for the civilian losses but it's a war out there and sometimes collateral damage happens, no matter how many efforts are done to prevent it. OTOH, he doesn't recognize human laws and the government of that country in his opinion is wasting its time to make silly legal shenanigans that have no value for him. OTOH, he really hopes they are not going to escalate and use force since that would be declaration of war against him and he kindly suggests the people of that country to get ready to elect a new government since there are going to be several state funerals very soon if they do.

Re: Approved by the Comics Code Authority Well, given that Nova is purposefully and proudly as much un-CCA as you can get, he would a) throw up in disgust for being stuck into Pleasantville use his powers to reverse any change was imposed on himself c) track PD down and tell him it was all for naught since he's a thoroughly family-unfriendly cosmic powerhouse so it wouldn't be too hard for him to unnicefy most of the world back on his own and therefore PD might as well set things back the way they are supposed to be d) threaten that if PD even thinks to do some crap of this sort ever again, he's going to stuck the biggest, nastiest Universal Nullifer he can find way up PD's £$%& butt.