Wanderer

Re: Power down day Nova would be worried. As he has a kinda superhuman superiority mentality, most of his self-identity is wrapped around his powers. Also, since he is a psionic mutant that channels stellar energies, his possible depowerment likely bodes something real bad in a cosmic sense. Time to investigate the guy.

Re: That Autograph Isn't Mine! Nova: "Oh, no. Another clone of mine has been released. I guess I'm going to be a triplet identical twins, now. Hopefully I can persuade this one, too, to set up an alternate identity. Oh well, at least having a couple backups isn't too bad in dire straits" Went there, done that.

Re: WWYCD: You have 24 hours to release the innocent. Oh, my. This kind of nefarious miscarriage of justice is the kind of thing that is going to anger Nova a lot, given his anarchist mentality. Will be absolutely hardcore on getting to the ned of this, having all innocent convicts released and rehabilitated (convictions quashed or pardoned) or he'll smash down their prison walls himself (as he has done in the past in similar cases). And after an investigation of the matter is done to see there is no deeper corruption has work, have the PA removed, or he will "remove" them too. As it concerns the Guantanamo situation, not likely, since IMG there would be little need for Gitmo. IMG an international superteam posse uprooted and pretty much exterminated Al-Quaeda a few weeks after 9/11. Nova himself has a standing policy of summary execution for any confirmed surviving operative of Al-Quaeda and similar terrorist organizations who doesn't seem like getting a life sentence soon or is not presently being questioned.

Re: Saint in Blue /Brute with the Badge Nova does not beleive in human laws, and by his own standards, drug use is a victimless crime, i.e. no crime at all. From his POV, he has caught a corrupt cop that is abusing his badge to harass a harmless civilian. He will likely catch the cop, flew up with him very high above the city, then say "Look down. Next time I catch you doing this kind of crap, I'll drop you. And I'll be watching".

Re: The Deconstructing of Wynnie Wonder Nova would first of all investigate whether WW is actually self-aware. If she isn't, he would not interfere, as he deems owners can do what they want with a non self-aware robot and he rather liked the "adult" version of WW much more, anyway :eg. If she is, he would bully the CEO of the corporation into releasing WW from bondage, by any means necessary. He won't endorse slavery and he cares nothing about human property laws. However, since in all likelihood, both personalities are self-aware, he will suggest creating two bodies for the two personalities, or if that is impossible, to set things up so that the two personalities can share the body on an equal time basis. He will suggest the company hires WW as a paid PR employee, if she's willing. After everything is settled, he will likely befriend "adult" WW as a kindred spirit, asking her for a beer to share some talk about respective adventures. Or, if she is sufficiently good-looking, and "functional" in bed, he might actually ask her for a real date.

Re: Death of the Jester Nova is actually rather miffed that the Jester managed to escape death in the first place after he turned his body to a very fine red mist years ago, after the Jester's first murderous rampage. So he would go investigate how he escaped his richly-earned sojorn in a very hot place (clone ? robot ? magical resurrection ?), to make sure the same trick is not being used this time, too. Afterwards, he would publicly congratulate with Joe for his courage and luck, while warning citizens that as a rule, superhuman serial killers are dangerous and it is best to leave this to the professionals, and that he's always ready to be notified when it looks like the justice system is not doing his job to deal away the bastards for good.

Re: Champions Babies Well, Nova has 20 points of PowDef. Does he get hit in full, or partially transformed into a somewhat older child ? Well, he has a Body Transform power, not a Mind one, so in order to cure his teammates, he is now stuck with the burdensome chore of rounding up and being nanny to an handful of superpowered preschoolers, and bring them to a powerful mentalist or magician to have their mental ages reset to adulthood. Not his preferred way of spending an afternoon. Probably grumbling and cursing all the way. He doesn't like little children too much, and he's not that great as a father figure, too much of the eternal adolescent himself. Hehehe. All his powers are inborn, so now his poor teammates are stuck with an impulsive, curious, trouble-loving, arrogant pre-schooler pest with the (thankfully scaled-down) powers of a little Superman/Silver Surfer, whio wasn't the best to keep powers under control even as an adult. Likely running around making dangerous superpowered practical jokes of all kinds. The city is going to have a very bad day, if you ask me.

Re: Defending the Earth: Giant Asteroid Well, Nova is pretty much a slightly powered-down Silver Surfer clone, so I suppose he flies in space and teams up with other cosmic powerhouses to blow up the asteroid or push it away. Standard fare. Next ?

Re: How would Stronghold imprison your character? Well, Nova is pretty much a cosmic powerhouse, so I suppose they keep him in by the same way they captured him in the first place, by exploiting his various Achilles' Heels. Therefore, an underground cell shielded from all stellar emissions, with a mind control harness to keep him in a perpetual state of despair, doubt, or fear (or lacking the technology, simply a visor that obliges him to hear and see an endless rerun of soap-operas, that would be rather despair-inducing, too ). If the latter is ruled to be cruel and unusual, hot sleep.

Re: Mutants and Masterminds Paragons Well, IMO it is definitely useful and worth a look if one plans to play a postmodern "supers as realistic people in realistic world" game. It is built like a toolkit of ideas and option for such a setting and play style, and supports various options for origins of supers (even if the default assumption is kinda psionics) and both low-key play a la Heroes or 4400, or high-powered a la Smallville or Aberrant. Characters and rules are fitted for M&M, of course, but the setting ideas can be transplanted to CHampions without too much difficulty IMO.

Re: Stronghold superhuman classification system

Re: Stronghold superhuman classification system

Re: Stronghold superhuman classification system OK, thank you to both for the assistance. Now I understand the difference better between Orange and Red inmates. As a last sideline consideration, I would only add that given Stronghold's topic, a typical use of it would be to play a group of supervillain PC inmates planning their great escape, and for that goal, a group of Orange hitmen or mercenary badasses who blasted some "pig" in combat looks rather more sympathetic (and hence, better PC material) than a bunch of Red careless dimwits that shooted a gun randomly at a crowd.

Re: Stronghold superhuman classification system Yes, this is rather helpful, thank you a lot. So, if I understood it correctly, "callous disregard for human life" means really severe culpable negligence, bordering on the purposeful, about the easily predictable and likely consequences of your actions endangering other's life. OK maybe now I get it. Legally, it would typically be a less severe case of homicide than planned or felony murder. However, for the purpose of evaluating the violence risk of an inmate, Stronghold personnel ranks callous disregard as more severe than the purposeful killing of a contract assassin or cop killer, since the former is less controlled and predictable and hence more dangerous, more akin to the impulse killing for "fun" of a serial killer, than the rational homicide for a comprehensible gain (money, avoiding arrest) of a hitman or mercenary. Am I correct ?

Hiya, I was reading Stronghold and its nifty classfication system for superhuman prisoners, and while I got most of it, some parts still leave me baffled. Essentially, I fail to get the precise differences between Yellow, Orange, and Red convicts as killing is involved, because I do not get what "callous disregard for human life" really means and how it differentiates from vanilla passionate and planned murder. I assume that somehow it may involve unnecessary/serial/spree killing, murder for fun. But otherwise, I fail to grasp the full boundaries of the term. To make an example, a professional hitman or mercenary killer is told to be an Orange. What about a superhuman criminal that kills cops who try to arrest him and won't quit ? Or one killing people who disobey his orders in serious matters (e.g. a bank teller who refuses to open the vault during a robbery) ? Are they Orange, too ?

Re: Idea: Super Hero "Morality scale" There are some that might argue with good reason that Supes' dedication to his Boy Scout ideal may look rather inhuman and kinda psycho in some aspects. Cfr. when he refused even to try and kill the cosmically-empowered Emperor Joker who was moments away from snuffing out all of Reality. Someone who puts his own moral grandstanding before the salvation of the world is not someone that I'd define well-adjusted or having a trustworthy scale of priorities, from a human PoV. Therefore, he may actually be rather a good example of how "Good" gone too far may warp one away from humanity. Fiat Justitia, Pereat Mundus (let justice be done, the world may perish).

Re: Idea: Super Hero "Morality scale" I cannot give you any specific, direct advice, since I find WW's Morality systems philosophically loathsome and a stumbling block to gameplay and I wouldn't touch them with a lead-lined 10' pole in an NBC suit with protective enchantments. But some time ago I did concoct a nifty quick self-test to reckon a hero's morality, and I assume it might help you get some indirect inspiration for developing some of the stages in your morality scale. check the Heroic Morality Test Hope it may be useful to you.

Re: WWYCD: <Your character>: The Clone Saga!! Nova would be rather blasè about the whole clone situation. Being a shapeshifter, and having been dead and resurrected before thanks to his healing powers, he has a rather openminded view of identity issues. He has considered getting some clones grown and kept in storage against the admittedly unlikely chance of his resurrection powers failing, or activating them to get an extra help at protecting the Earth, but lacking the expertise himself, and not being the planning type of guy, he hasn't implemented these ideas so far. Therefore, he would be torn between waking his "twin" immediately, and hammering out a deal about splitting out hero duties, or keeping him on cold ice as a last-ditch safeguard against final death or long-term imprisonment. The only thing that would really bother Nova, is the possibility of a master villain having viable genetic samples of him, and hence the means to unleash an army of brainwashed cosmic powerhouse clones on the Earth. No good.

Re: Reborn Into History Nova: "Lady, I'm already immortal, I subscribe to no law of god or man but my own, and my powers are fated to evolve in godhood in due time. As such, I'm quite reluctant to fetter my destiny to a pantheon of old, however I'm willing to do whatever I can to help you bind the Darkness, short of eternal committment. Is there any way I can help you to recover your siblings, or could I fulfill your need for completeness on a temporary basis ?"

Re: WWYCD: Out of cash Not much credible for Nova, since his wealth comes from his cosmic transmutation powers. The world's economy should suddently turn rather strange, for gems and gold churned out of waste to lose all purchasing power. Anyway, in a pinch he could always sell out some slots of his healing powers, but given his noblesse oblige code of honor, he would see it as a mercenary, distasteful, dire-need recourse. Being an oversexed, hedonist, high-COM shapeshifter, it's most likely that he would rather sell some racy photos to magazines. One of the advantages of being a shapeshifter, is that you can pose as both genders in turn, double paycheck.

Re: Good Luck, Superchuck Nova: "Argh, another turn at managing the Super-Harem. Is it Monday already ?!" Seriously, given how much he is dedicated at sleeping... err, spreading love around, this might mean serious trouble for the world, or a wonderful source of plenty novice superheroines, depending on how much well-adjusted most of his casual partners turn out. I suddenly picture the cover for a miniseries: Nova: The Bedding Initiative. Can we say Dynamo Nth ??

Re: Membership Package for World-Class Superheroes This is my basic package for an Avengers/Ultimates/JLA-like group, in an Iron/Modern age setting: 3 Criminology 11- 2 KS: Criminal Law and Procedure 11- 2 KS: The Superhuman World 11- 2 KS: World Politics 11- 3 Tactics 11- 3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers 5 Fringe Benefit: Law Enforcement/Military Rank 5 Fringe Benefit: Security Clearance 5 Money: Well Off 15 Optional: Contact: Your Nation's Government (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Contact has useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact), Organization Contact (x3) (15 Active Points) 8- -10 Hunted: Your Nation's Government 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) -20 Social Limitation: Subject to Orders (Very Frequently, Major)

Re: How likely would your character kill? I agree so enthusiastically that I shower rep on you. As for the main topic, I generally despise extreme pacifism and strong CvK, so I won't ever use either for ongoing characters (the very most I can come close to, is either a moderate "Prefers not to kill", or a strong "Won't Murder", meaning cold-blooded, planned killing; as it concerns my characters, those who deserve killing will get it, especially in combat). OTOH, I'm rather fond to use Honorable and/or Protects the Innocents as the hallmark "heroic" Disadvs, so my characters typically have a "noble warrior" streak and won't indulge in casual or gratuitous killing. Even so, when confronted for irredeamable evil, clear and serious menaces to themselves, their friends, companions, loved ones, innocents, civilization, the biosphere, mankind, etc. or any "war" situation where the opponents know what they are doing, are using lethal force, and disregard the opportunity to surrender, they will be glad to kill with no grief or remorse. Live by the gun, die by the plasma blast.

Re: Build your own amalgam superhuman For the good that it brought to him (cfr. the beating within an inch of his life that he took from an outraged Thor, one of the most satisfying comic book issues to read in my entire life ). Anyway, the most Tony & Reed could pull from that was a high-end brick, the Thunder powers and Mjolnir were lost on them, and had to be duplicated by technological means (not to mention the Odinforce, the mastery of the Runes, or the Earth powers). That's precisely what I would wish to avoid with this character concept. No cybernetics or robotics (except maybe for being a nano-based self-repairing T-1000-like construct which flawlessly mimics life), no maintainance whatsoever, and not too much rubber science. I wish for a purely biological (or possibly, nano-based) amalgam that can allow for storylines like it is ready to use 100% of its power without further technological assistance the moment it awakens from its vat, or it can be dropped to be raised as a seemingly normal kid in an unsuspecting normal family (either adopted or by implanting the embryo during fertlity treatments).

Re: Build your own amalgam superhuman I guess this comes from the different historic roots of the DC universe. Marvel universe first developed the concept of mutants, blessed Stan Lee's soul, so many more of their luminaries have innate powers.