Mister E

Re: DEX: and the Marvel Universe

I see this thread is still going, so I dropped back in to browse...

 

 

 

Here is something that I simply do not grasp at all: why do people (Mister E, Agent X, and probably other alphabetically named persons) insist on setting the stats of published characters (like Spider-Man) as if no points have been spent on any skills? That makes no sense. It's just wonky. If you want a high roll, you buy up the roll. That's how Hero works. Characters do not have to have stats in the stratosphere in order to have good rolls, especially when the result is patently absurd (such as giving even relatively normal people well-beyond human-level stats).

 

I don't know if it's a style of play, or if some people just skimmed that part of the book and don't realize that you can buy up skills (and skill levels), or what, but it's really quite goofy.

I'm positive that Spider-Man has at least +1...2...3... or even more levels in Acrobatics.

It is my opinion, however, that the second that Peter Parker was bit by the radio-active spider, and completed his mutation, he became on par the best acrobats in the history of the human race, even without Skill Levels. And in order to figure what kind of DEX that would require, I performed the above experiment.

Re: Brick v. Powered Armor Hypothetical

This is a quote from 5e, page 188:

"..., someone taking one Turn out of combat can take an Inaccessible Focus away from a character. An Inaccessible Focus cannot be removed from a character who is struggling or resisting."

Also, pages 189-190:

"When a Breakable Focus is hit by an attack, each attack which penetrates the DEF of the Focus destroys one of the Powers bought through the Focus. The Amount of BODY done is unimportant - one Power is destroyed whether the attack did 1 BODY or 15. The GM should determine which Power is destroyed; usually it will be the largest one in the Focus or one chosen randomly... ...For this purpose, a Multipower counts as one Power (with Active Points equal to the value of its reserve, +1 point for each slot)..."

Ankylosaur's Grenade Launcher Multipower (his tail), is definately the largest Power attached to the power armor Focus... (75 point reserve +7 slots = 82) Anklylosaur's power armor has 22 PD/ED Armor, so that is its DEF. If you attacked the villain's armor, while he was unconscious, and did any BODY at all, you could say you ripped that tail off.

If you could for one attack, convert your STR into a Killing Attack, (with the special effect that you walked over to Ankylosaur, turned him over, grabbed his tail, planted your foot on his butt, and yanked), you would have a 4d6 HKA. (Yes, this normally would be a Power Stunt for STR, but with the fight basically over, I don't see the problem) If you then converted any CSL's you have in HTH over to doing BODY damage, instead of improving your chance to hit, and then used a Haymaker...I think would have a pretty good chance of doing enough BODY.

4d6 HKA averages 4 x 3.5 = 14 BODY... 14 BODY x 1.5 (for the Haymaker) = 21 BODY... add to that the extra BODY from converting your CSL's in HTH... and you are pretty much there. Luck will be the desiding factor though.

One point I'm not sure about, is whether to add the extra BODY from the CSL's before, or after, multiplying from the Haymaker. If you could add them before... then it's practically a sinch. 14 + 1 (from 2 CSL's) = 15... 15 x 1.5 = 22.5 BODY... but still a matter of luck.

Comment: They sure made Ankylosaur's Armor tough to bust up. If it only had a 20 DEF, it would be much easier.

Re: How to build this power

I really like DocSamson's Transdimentional solution. I think I prefer it to the Bodyjacking power, on pages 151-152 of "USPDB".

Re: Low-Energy State Effects

What sort of effects could you get from having a stabilized low-energy state? Granted' date=' I'm thinking of a yin/negative chi thing really - okay, I've got martial arts, and Ranma 1/2 especially, on the brain; sue me - but I wondered what y'all thought.[/quote']This is a beautiful concept for a special effect. I'm not familiar with Ranma 1/2, (I saw an episode once, but that's it), but I do have a visual image in my mind for what you are describing. Yin, as a force, is supposed to be cool and calm; it is that which completes, what the yang started. Equating that on a physical manifestation level... empowering a hero with the force of the yin... could be a lot of fun. It's like taking spirituality, and converting to physics. What do you do? Where do you start?

 

I'd check out the Ice/Cold and the Kinetic sections in the USDB, first. Any power that has the effect of stilling matter/momentum/or energy, would probably work well.

 

An idea: The ability to shut down machines, and electronics, with a light touch, would be properly thematic.

Re: Person of Steel, Significant Other of Tissue paper

Yeah' date=' the [i']'Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex' [/i] essay is a funny read... and I am NOT going to point out again who wrote it.

Re: The Hero curse

Another common symptom of the Hero Curse, is when all other game systems start looking like cr@p to you. I swear, I could never run another d20 campaign... not for all the tea in China.

... the power-ramping of the feats and prestege classes?...

[gags]

...level based characters with totally unbalanced classes?...

[pukes in waste-paper basket next to computer]

... no, it's HERO or nothing, for me.

Re: Person of Steel, Significant Other of Tissue paper

In the new Ultimate Fantastic Four, Reed Richards asked Ben Grim about his new digestive processes, and Thing was like, "Don't Ask. You really don't wanna know."

And I was like, "Please tell me!" But, I got no answer...

Re: Low-Energy State Effects

Change Environment: (-)Temperature Levels.

Knockback Resistance.

Missile Deflection.

Desolidification.

Re: DEX: and the Marvel Universe

Since Captain America seems like such a perfect base line for determining combat ability, in relation to attributes and training...

...Has Captain America ever been in combat with Spider-Man? And if so, was Spidey fighting back, or just trying to Dodge everything?

And the big question: did Cap ever connect on Spider-Man with any of his attacks?

Can anyone shed some light on any of these questions?

Re: Help building a power please

The Hydra, in the Bestiary page 87, uses Duplication. This was my first gut choice.

"Let Me Lend You A Hand", from USDB page 39, (as has been mentioned), uses Summoning, and seems pretty eligant except that there are no write-ups for the limbs.

... and there is "Mechanon's Head", in the Champions genre book page 203-206, which is built with Duplication.

Do you have an idea of what the limbs will function like? How they will be built?

Re: Default Waterproof Computers?

Taking the -1/4 Limitation "Real Equipment" is a fine solution. I just think it is unnecessary. Though, I will admit, even though I'm not that big a fan of the "Real Weapon" Limitation, it does serve its purpose.

If "Real Equipment" was taken for computers... what about Automatons and Vehicles... a zombie (or clay golem) probably doesn't require as much (or any) maintenance, when compared to a robot. Yet I wouldn't suggest that this be represented with a Limitation, though you could if you wanted to. "Magic Carpet" vs. "Motorcycle" would be another example, using vehicles.

At some point in creating a game, you just need to stop trying to explain every nuance of detail with rules, (which is possible with a system this well crafted), and let the SFX's, and the GM's common sense, fill in the blanks.

When it comes to the arguement between "Talking Swords" vs. "iMacs"... and taking the Disadvantage "Dependence: Air"... well... I say season to taste. For my money, "less is more."

Re: How useful would Ultimate Martial Arts for other Campaigns be?

My UMA is pretty worn out, and I've only played Champion and Fantasy games with it. To be honest, I think a lot of the material in the UMA could have been in the Core Rulebook.

Ninja Hero does make a snazzy appendix to the UMA (most of what I find is useful in Ninja Hero, are the sections on Skills, Perks, Talents, Powers, Advantages, Limitations, and Disadvantages, which is all just a continuation of material provided in the UMA); but I was disappointed with it, as a genre book. I think it's worse than the Champions genre book (which is still pretty good). Star Hero, and especially Fantasy Hero, are in classes all their own...

My players, and I, have high hopes (and expectations) for Pulp Hero.

To finish: UMA is worth picking up, for just about any compaign... and is practically a must, if planning to use HERO as a generic system, for more than one type of game.

Re: Entangle Abuse

Would Tunneling allow a villain to ignore the Entangle?

Re: Person of Steel, Significant Other of Tissue paper

Two words: kryptonite condom.

Re: The Tru-Superhu-man Show...

I imagine, in a campaign like this, all of the heroes would be super campy, in an Adam West kind of way...

1)always expecting supervillains to make grand monologues, giving the heroes more time to plan escapes...

2)believing that every stupid plan the hero comes up with, no matter how hair-brained, will work... (like reflecting sunlight from belt-buckles to burn through ropes)

3)thinking that there is a kind of formulaic honor-code that all villains follow...

and basically being totally ignorant of real danger.

Re: Would you allow <blank> in your game?

Yes... niches/schticks are important, for superteams, and shouldn't be tread on, if you can help it...

Peter Parker is a 'total-package' hero... Strength, Speed, Dexterity, Intelligence, Psionics, Gadgets, Hot girlfriends... he's going to irk the other players at the gaming table.

"How many hunted disads did you take!?!.... Sheesh..."

Re: Entangle Abuse

What a turtler...

If the player is having fun with it, why not. It's a pretty creative use of the power, and I bet he didn't think about it, until the situation presented itself, in game. If he continued to use the power like this in every combat, I would add the active point cost of his Entangle, divided by five, to his total Defensive X... to determine whether or not the character was grossly unbalanced. And if that seemed to be the case, take action from there. Lots of characters, early on in a campaign, get a little tweaking at my table.

This is one of the potentially shady uses of the Personal Immunity advantage. Definatily not my play style... unless I was also protecting an innoscent bystander, or a weakened PC.

I give the player props for improvisation.

Re: Would you allow <blank> in your game?

I think the mechanical Web Shooters fits with the whole "spiders as craftsmen" schtick.

Re: Would you allow <blank> in your game?

Would you allow Spider-man in your game?

 

Not me. Right about the time I saw...

 

45 STR

35 DEX

8 SPD

 

I would have started hitting the player with ReFred...HARD!!! Talk about a munchkined build...

10 DC's

10 OCV

5 SPD

total 25

I don't enforce the Rule of X strictly, but I do check it for balance purposes, and make changes so no one pulls too far away from the pack... everyone in my game likes to be able to threaten each other.

Your guy has a minimum of:

9 DC's

12 OCV

8 SPD

Total 29

This is a little over the top for me... and would create too many competition issues with the other players. If this character compensated by having a very low DEF, it would be lop-sided, but acceptable. The SPD is definately, the source of the biggest problem. If the SPD was dropped to 5, and the character had a below average DEF, I'd let it slide.

Now, if all of the characters in your campaign tend to clump up around the 350 pt guideline maximums... which yields an Offensive X of 37... this character would be handicapped.

Re: Okay, how do racial package deals work?

I like to consider the bonuses to stats from racial packages, to be Power versions of the stats, rather than just normal stats... that way they ignore Characteristic Maximums...because they are bought as Powers.

So... if elves have +2 to their DEX, then a player could buy up to 22 DEX without having to pay double for the 2 beyond 20.

This can be a major advantage, when every character point counts. Normal human's just wouldn't be able to do this, because they have no justification for buying stats as Powers.

Re: Summoner

I suppose you could go with a single Duplicate who has a Multiform with lots of muliple forms....

Re: Summoner

This seems kind of silly to me, but if you wanted to simulate a summoned creature attacking in the round it is summoned (and thus, bypassing the "orientation" limitation of using the Duplication power), you could Link an attack (like EB, or what ever) to the Casting of the Duplication power.

Maybe I missed this explanation before... but couldn't you just use the Summoning power, make the creature slavishly loyal, and let the player control it's actions?

Also... how active can the summoner be while the Summoned being is out fighting... If he has to hang back and concentrate... you could build the power as a Multiform, similar to the Astral-Projection or Cyber-Space Decking... where you leave your body behind.

Another idea, would be to build the Celestial beings as followers, that follow the hero around using Invisibility, and Desolification, and no Effects Physical World powers. That way, if they wanted to attack, all they would have to do is turn off the Invis and Desolid as a free action, and cut loose. If there was a limitation on their Invis and Desolid powers that stated that the only way they could turn them of, is if the hero maintained summoning them... then they would only be able to be out, one at a time.

Re: Summoner

What about a Multipower with three Duplication powers in it, so you could only use one at a time?

Re: DEX: and the Marvel Universe

Okay, I have an observation.

Say I give Spider-Man a 40 Dex, and Acrobatics, with no skill levels, (just so I can gage the super-ness of his raw Dexterity). His skill level in Acrobatics would be 17-, which is considered Highly Skilled, making Spider-Man "one of the very best in the world," at the skill.

Now, am I wrong in imagining that Spider-Man's untrained potential for Acrobatics should be far better than what I have just described? 17- is crazy good, sure, but wouldn't 18- to 19- Extremely Skilled, be more accurate? Even at this level, he is only, "pushing the envelope of what the skill can do"...

Personally, my belief is that Spider-Man, without the extra training of added Skill Levels in Acrobatics, has at least a 20- Skill Roll, which (quote), "amazes even other skilled practitioners." Spider-Man should not have to have +3 Skill Levels in Acrobatics, to fall into this zone of ability.

To have a 20- Skill Roll, would require Spider-Man to have a DEX of at least 53, which is sky-high compaired to what most of you have proposed. This would mean that Captain America, if given a DEX of 30, would need +8 CSL's to hit him often, (that is, if he could ignore Spider-Man's spidy-sense)... and with anything less, would probably miss. This seems pretty accurate to me. I would also say that Spider-Man would not be a playable character, for most campaigns, having a base CV of 18, which puts him in the Cosmically Powerful catagory. This also seems accurate, when you consider how few beings, in the entire Marvel Universe, can nail Spider-Man, without an AoE attack, or by catching him by surprise, (which is ridiculously rare). Recall that even Firelord had a hard time hitting him (though I imagine Spider-Man was using Martial Dodge, or something).

Having popular superheroes from comics, not be playable, as Champions characters, is nothing new. Is it not possible that most of you are deflating Spider-Man to make him playable?

Any comments?

Re: Summoner

You could also just consider "summoning" to be a special effect of his powers. Like, for instance, an Indirect EB that has the special effect of being a Fire Imp, named Ignatio Flatus, that he quickly summons and dismisses.