Fedifensor

Re: Champions fans on COH, read up!

Why aren't any of the CoH fans of champions playing on the...

 

CHAMPION server?

Because Virtue was designated as the Unofficial Roleplay Server, so I went there.

Granted, roleplaying is sometimes hard to find regardless of the server. But I seem to have a bit more luck on Virtue than elsewhere. Now if I only had a schedule that would let me play for longer stretches instead of logging on for a half-hour and soloing the whole time...

Re: Stretching Power: Need Suggestions

I don't know if I'd allow any power I've seen in Mucha Lucha. The bowling-ball charactre may be effective in some circusmatnces' date=' but he;s just asking to be kiced out of the way and sent into orbit?[/quote']

 

Try a more superheroic source - Rubberband Man from Static Shock. He uses the bowling ball maneuver a lot, though it's usually against one target instead of several.

 

He also has the nifty move of stretching to block a doorway as a villain charges him, so the villain ends up being thrown backwards from his own momentum.

Re: What are the limits of superhero martial arts?

Personally, after seeing the Hulk thrown by a normal agent in an Avengers comic, I tend to ignore the weight limits if the player gives a good explaination ("I used his own momentum against him").

Re: Special Ammo

Or you could buy a Naked Advantage outside the Multipower, like this:

AoE (One Hex) on Entangle (adds to Entangle in Multipower), OAF, 2 charges.

So, if for example you had a 3d6, 3 DEF Entangle in the multipower, the above power would cost you 4 points. Also remember that if you use a charge to make it AoE, you still have to use a charge from the main Entangle as well (so make sure to have more charges of the main Entangle than you have for the AoE.

Saw this question on the 5th Edition Rules Questions forum, where Steve said that a Mental Attack using normal CV versus CV might not be a limitation at all - it depends on the campaign.

So, for a standard superheroic campaign (such as the Champions Universe), do you think a mental attack using OCV versus DCV would be a limitation? My campaign currently uses a -1/2 limitation for this. This includes normal range penalties that a ECV attack avoids, but does not include Visible or Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (each is an added -1/4 limitation, as per the rules).

I'm working on a group of agents who get more powerful when adjacent to each other. I've come up with two powers for them, and I want to make sure the stacking of UBO powers is legal.

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Shielding Link: Force Field (+2 PD/+2 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people at once; (+1) (10 Active Points); Must Remain Adjacent To Another Link Member (-1/2)

Basically, the power of the agents' FF increases by 2 PD and 2 ED for every adjacent agent. The power is negated as soon as the agent leaves the link (moves more than a hex away from another link member).

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Energy Link: Energy Blast +1d6, Usable By Other (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Ranged (+1/2) (11 Active Points); Must Remain Adjacent To Another Link Member (-1/2). Defined as adding to the agent's 7d6 EB - individuals without that specific 7d6 EB cannot benefit from the UBO.

Each agent has a 7d6 EB by default. The agent can either use this power to increase that to an 8d6 EB, or loan that +1d6 to the agent leading the link. This allows the leader to throw very powerful energy blasts if he has enough agents backing him up. Heroes can disrupt this by using knockback or other means to disrupt the link.

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I searched the FAQ for Usable By Others, and didn't find anything to dispute the stacking of UBO powers. Is it legal by the rules?

Re: Killing Charachters/Villians in your games. Do you do it?

That's really clever! I think that's the best rationalization for death traps I have ever heard. If you do not mind my asking' date=' is the idea original with you, or were you inspired by someone else?[/quote']

It's original to me...though deathtraps have often been a way for the GM to get the villain away from the hero, as well as an alternative to just killing the goody-two shoes.

 

Though I have things set up to make supertypes careful about killing each other, in practice they don't detonate. Hiroshima was an exception because his cells basically stored up atomic power. While a few others have similar powers, most supers aren't unstable like that. Eventually (in 5 or 10 game years), the world will figure this out, and the tone changes dramatically. In practice, though, I've set things up like this to keep the lethality down.

Re: Momentum Shift

It's basically the manipulation of kinetic energy - all of the character's powers involve the addition or subtraction of velocity. Here's his current writeup:

Terminal Velocity

Total Character Cost: 400

Disadvantage Points: 150

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 50

Total Experience Available: 50

Experience Unspent: 0

Re: Villains, Vandals, and Vermin: Who should be in it?

She is a 3 hit villain. The extra 6-8 defense does nothing for her. 42 ? 28 = 14 * 3 = 42. On the third hit she falls. She?s a good fight but no real advantage.

There's no shame in being a 3-hit villain when you fight 2-hit heroes (Defender, Nighthawk, Sapphire, Witchcraft). She'll stun Nighthawk or Witchcraft with her standard attack, making the disparity even worse.

Sure, unless he is fighting a brick, a hero with flight, or someone with martial throw.

Flight trumps all ground characters, so that's a bit of a straw man. Bracing with STR or using a martial throw only works when you have an action - and Thunderbolt has a 27 DEX. Chances are he'll go first - he will against any of the Champions.

It?s called spreading 1d6 to hit an area?s 3 dcv.

Sorry. The spreading rules don't let you sacrifice 1 DC to get a +1/2 advantage on your power. It's +1 OCV per 1 DC sacrificed, which is a lot of lost dice to have a decent chance of hitting a 19 DCV. You may be thinking of sacrificing 1 DC to get a normal attack roll to hit everyone in a hex.

 

The point was to list heroes which can be beaten by 350 point heroes, as you think there are not enough of them.

Still don't. CKC was the first compendium of Champions supervillains for 5E - I would have liked to see a larger focus on the starting character.

 

He is not tougher than any other 14d6 character, especially a starting brick.

Not the point. The point is that Bulldozer was comic relief in 4E. Heck, female characters could usually one-shot him. He's a lot less comic relief than he used to be.

 

Outside of the 6 master villains in the book none of the villains are untouchable by a standard superhero team. That is a far cry from your 30 untouchable.

Try taking Firewing down with the Champions. Or Holocaust. Or Shrinker (you won't even find her). And many of the villains that are touchable by a standard superhero team have groups of their own. They're better one-on-one, and their teams are at least as large as the 5-man iconic hero group.

 

I'm not saying the product is unusable. But I believe that novice GM's are better served with writeups that stay close to the campaign guidelines, while experienced GM's generally create their own villains, or rewrite published ones to fit their campaign.

Re: Momentum Shift

Well, there is one more thing...what would you use as the defense against this power? Having momentum/kinetic energy powers is probably one defense, but not broad enough on its own.

Re: Momentum Shift

From the FAQ:

Q: Can using Position Shift change the direction/vector in which a character moves?

A: That depends on the type of movement involved.

For uncontrolled movement - falling or being thrown, for example - Position Shift has no effect. It changes the way the character faces, but not the direction in which he moves.

For controlled movement - such as the use of Movement Powers - Position Shift can change the direction of movement. For example, if a character has Flight 10" and moves at full velocity eastward, but after he flies 5" someone hits him with a Teleportation Usable As Attack power with Position Shift and changes him so that he faces north, he'll flying the remaining 5" north (unless he has some way to avoid doing so). The GM has the final decision regarding what effect Position Shift has on a moving character.

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Because it's a bit nebulous, I made sure to take both Position Shift and No Relative Velocity - the logic being that if I can both reduce a target's velocity to 0 and shift their facing, I should be able to change the direction of their momentum.

Another slot in the same Multipower has a 40 STR Telekinesis, for those times the villain needs to add velocity to a target at rest (via Grab and Throw).

Re: Villains, Vandals, and Vermin: Who should be in it?

An average 350-point hero, or an average 350-point hero built on the guidelines Steve has set (12d6 attack, 5 SPD, 20 Defenses for a typical character)? Several of the villains you mention are built on 350 points, but many have a significant advantage in power level.

Case in point - Lady Blue. 12d6 attack meets the standards above, as does her 5 SPD. But she's got 26/28 defenses. That's a significant advantage over a typical character built under the 5E standard superhero guidelines.

Or Thunderbolt. He has standard 20/20 Defenses, and on the surface his attacks are pretty wimpy. But with an 8 SPD and 16d6 Move-Throughs, he can really tear apart a 350-point CU superhero.

Or Hornet. A 19 DCV character is basically unhittable (using standard guidelines) unless your character is fortunate enough to have AoE/Explosion attacks. Which basically means that AoE characters will paste him, and everyone else will lose.

You've also listed some supervillains that aren't designed to be the equivalent of a standard superhero. Brainchild runs from superheroes. Likewise, Cybermind is pretty much useless in a fight (unless one of the superheroes is a robot), and his psych lims back this up.

What's scary is that Bulldozer is a serious challenge for superheroes created under the standard guidelines, and he's always been meant to be a joke. With 24/24 Defenses, a 30 CON, and 70 STUN, he has a lot of staying power.

The problem I have with the CKC Villains is that many have cool concepts that just don't work out well in actual play. Shrinker is the worst offender - 5E turned her from an interesting opponent into a nearly unstoppable villain that you'll never see (quite literally, with Affects Real World and Transdimensional attacks).

Maybe a third of the characters in the book can give a 350-point hero a decent fight in one-on-one combat, without either trouncing the hero or being stopped into the ground easily. Perhaps another third can be fought by a team of heroes (unfortunately, some are in their own team). The rest are untouchable without raising the campaign guidelines, or just have such odd power writeups that they're unsuitable for the game.

Re: Villains, Vandals, and Vermin: Who should be in it?

I'd like to see more villains that 350-point heroes have a prayer of defeating.

Re: Momentum Shift

It's 72 Active Points - the copy/paste from HD2 didn't get it for some reason. A good portion of the active cost is getting enough mass to affect objects that could be lifted with a 40 STR. If it could only affect human mass, it would be 47 Active Points. Of course, then the vigilante couldn't change the momentum of the car about to run him over.

The villain (actually an extreme vigilante named Terminal Velocity) has it in a 75 point multipower. However, with the -1 limitation, it would be 36 real points if outside the multipower.

While working on a supervillain with control over velocity, I was thinking about creating a power akin to a villain in the old comic DP7. Basically, the ability to instantly shift a target's velocity to a different direction - something that can be very dangerous for speedsters.

After a bit of work, here's the slightly unorthodox solution. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Momentum Shift: Teleportation 1", No Relative Velocity, Position Shift, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Ranged (+1/2), Usable As Attack (x64 maximum weight per inanimate target; +2 1/2) (72 Active Points); Only To Change Direction/Amount Of Momentum (-1)

Re: Upon Further Review: The Champions

It's a good thing that Mechanon can't read their character sheets to know exactly what to do.

Or make the 11- Reputation roll for Ironclad, to get a good measure of his publically-displayed powers.

Re: Upon Further Review: The Champions

One thing to add - Ironclad is significantly tougher than any of the other Champions. In fact, he seems to exceed the guidelines for a 'by the book' Champions campaign with 350-point characters. 12d6 main attack PLUS Find Weakness (effectively a 12d6 AP attack if he makes the roll), 5 SPD, 25/28 Defenses - a potent combo. He even has enough Leaping to tag most fliers. If he fights smart, he'll always be the last one standing of the group. His only weakness is a 7 DCV, and his 4 levels in HTH combat can compensate when fighting melee opponents.

Any hope the Champions have against Mechanon relies on Ironclad. In fact, the ideal strategy has Mechanon open up with an 18d6 EB + 4d6 STR Drain on the metal guy, while putting its Overall Levels in DCV. Average damage will stun Ironclad, knock him back 4" (which means Ironclad spends a half-phase to stand) and drain him 14 STR. That effectively puts Ironclad out of the fight until phase 5, since he won't be able to stand, move next to Mechanon, and pull off a grab in segment 3. By segment 5, Mechanon will have two more actions (on 2 and 4) to do many nasty things to Ironclad's teammates. With an 11 DCV, the chances of enough of the team hitting Mechanon to stun it are extremely low.

Re: Upon Further Review: The Champions

Anyone who thinks Mechanon can't handle the Champions needs to reread the rules on spreading an attack (FRED page 251). Mechanon can fill three hexes with his EB and still do 15d6 - enough to stun any member of the Champions except Ironclad. He also has an AoE Flash attack that will blind everyone except Ironclad (noticing a theme, here?) for half a turn. Once Mechanon starts stunning and blinding foes, they're easy prey for his big guns - the Disintegrator Beam and Meson Bolt.

Mechanon's OCV is high enough to hit any member of the Champions easily without using his Overall Levels. While I concede he wouldn't start with the Overall Levels in DCV because of his Overconfidence, he'll switch to DCV once his foes take him below half STUN. When that happens, none of the Champions will hit on better than a 10-. In fact, Nighthawk and Sapphire only hit on 8 or less.

I was rather surprised that this version of Mechanon doesn't leverage his advantages - Smoke Projectors (Darkness with continuing charges) to take advantage of his numerous Enhanced Senses, or Tear Gas Projectors (continuous NND) which he's immune to because of Life Support. Even without such accessories, he's still deadly to the Champions as written.

Re: Upon Further Review: The Champions

Mechanon hunts half the team on an 8-, and a single 18d6 EB will knock out any member of the team except Ironclad. Heck, Mechanon could spread the EB by 4 dice and stun half the team in a single shot. With a 15 OCV using its levels (Mechanon is overconfident, so DCV isn't an issue), hitting isn't a problem.

Likewise, Ironclad is hunted by Firewing on an 8-, and Firewing has a stronger EB than Mechanon (20d6). Firewing also has stronger defenses than Mechanon. The first time Firewing comes up, the Champions are toast.

Mechassassin may not be in the same league, but Nightwing better pray that he doesn't get caught in a dark alley with him. Nightwing is definately being hosed on his disads, because Mechassassin is definately more powerful than Nightwing, not As Powerful as indicated in Nightwing's disads.

Unless the Champions get a serious rewrite, similar to the one the previous team received in the 4th edition Champions Universe, they're no match for their Hunteds.

Re: Anime based games, have you done one?

I played in a short-lived Anime High School game back in college. My PC was Breeze, the son of the North Wind (an exchange student, of course). Martial arts and some minor wind powers. It was fun, but the GM couldn't sustain it for more than a few sessions.

Re: Review: The Ultimate Brick

I've had time for a quick read and it looks decent, but it seems they really shortchanged optional throwing rules. The comment, "GM's who want to use these rules should consider creating a Long-Range Throw Combat Maneuver." sums it up for me. How hard would it have been to go ahead and include such a maneuver, saving the GM some work? The page count is lighter than The Ultimate Martial Artist by 50 pages for the same price - the space was definately available.

A total of 2 pages on throwing is not enough for something so integral to bricks in comics. What's even worse is that the "realistic throwing" rules don't include the effect of air friction...not very realistic if you ask me.

The thing I'm most likely to use out of The Ultimate Brick is the Increased Damage Differentation rule - it finally gives a reason to buy a STR that doesn't have a value ending in 0, 3, 5, or 8.

From what I've read so far, I can't really rate the product higher than a 6. Sure, some of the power writeups are new and different, but it's certainly not a required suppliment for a Champions GM. The Ultimate Martial Arts proved far more useful when creating supervillains.

Re: Looking for NEW words of transformation: (SHAZAM, Thunder! Thunder!...)

Let's not forget...

Captain...CAVEEEEMAN!

Re: Killing Charachters/Villians in your games. Do you do it?

What hasn't yet been mentioned in this thread is: what does a GM do if the game is clearly defined as superheroic and the PCs are built to be superheroic yet one Player (or more) have their hero(s) kill without remorse.

I have the villain blow up in a retributive strike.

Seriously, though, I would hopefully know the player's tendencies in advance, and warn them of possible consequences. If they do it anyway, law enforcement will react as they would against anyone else. The hero might get away with it once because of their reputation as a hero. After that...it's vigilante time.

How about when a PC unloads his/her heaviest attack on a villain that PC never fought before' date=' knowing what the power can do, but not knowing what the other guy's defense are? Do you GMs just shrug it off as heavy-handed tactics?[/quote']

In my game world, anyone willing to put on a costume and use superpowers to commit crimes is expecting to get attacked with powers that could be lethal to a normal person. That said, I do have some expectations of the heroes:

 

* That they confirm the target has superpowers, and not just some person trying to commit suicide by proxy.

* That an attempt is made to communicate with the target, unless an innocent would be at immediate risk if they don't attack.

* That the target moves first. Not necessarily fires first...but if they are raising a weapon or preparing an energy blast, the superhero is within his or her right to fire.

* That the initial attack not exceed 12d6 normal damage, and in no case should be killing damage. Yes, 12d6 will hospitalize or kill a normal person. If you've followed the other steps, you're probably justified in using that level of force.

 

Obviously, the above are guidelines. If someone is crackling with energy and threatening to kill everyone in the area, then it's probably safe to fire first. But for the most part heroes can stay out of trouble by following them.

 

It also helps to have KS: The Superhuman World, preferably higher than an 11-. Identifying the villain will give characters a rough idea as to what level of punishment they can take.

Re: New powers help

An old favorite of mine is to carry a pebble in one's pocket' date=' throw it at a target, and have it grow to boulder-size in mid-air. (For humor value, substitute an anvil, safe, or grand piano.)[/quote']

 

Pretty much what I was thinking. Either a EB or EB, one-hex AoE (versus PD). Probably uses recoverable charges, based on the fact that the character has to prep items in advance. Limited range as well, since you can't throw a pebble as far as you can shoot a gun.

Re: Power help?

Just remember that the only things that will hit Mosquito Man in game are AoE attacks and Mental Powers. Furthermore, with a -18 to opponent's PER rolls, mentalists will have a tough time finding him. You may want to read the section in Champions about the Artful Dodger (page 138) before allowing this character into your game. Basically, he's either untouchable...or dead.