Steve

Re: Rethinking Growth DI and Shrinking Shrinking also allows the notion of the "grow-through" attack, which is something to keep aware of. With DI, Shrinking and a bit of STR added into a grow-through attack, it seems like it would make for a heck of an alpha strike. Sneak up behind enemy while shrunk and then POW!

Re: Most Powerful 350 in CKC Well, as fun a name as that is for a villain team, I think a few of the members would not take to being called EVIL. Although Morningstar would be just fine with Champions of Evil, Hummingbird wouldn't. Something more like the Fearsome Five might be a little more acceptable to them.

Re: Most Powerful 350 in CKC

Re: Higher Point Characters in FH/Heroic setting The last few posts reminds me about a really old PC of a friend of mine, run with 1st Edition Fantasy Hero and the Talislanta world: Kierkan Assante, the Doomed Flamebowman of Talislanta. Although the other players quickly nicknamed him Beercan. As for the doomed part, he had an artifact-level magic bow with an unspecified number of charges, but when he ran out, he'd die. He was essentially shooting little pieces of his soul.

This is a notion that White Wolf's World of Darkness used, that all these supernatural things exist, but they are not noticed by normal people for one reason or another. How would you replicate an effect such that normal people can go on about their lives, but those aware of this "Invisible World" can affect it and be affected by it? I suppose it would be easiest with a genre effect built into the campaign, worth no points. Perhaps this invisiblity can be overcome by some sort of Detect? And any person with Powers would have that Detect as a freebie, since the original Invisiblity is a freebie? Has anyone every played this sort of campaign? You could do supernatural/mystic sorts this way, but mentalist or aliens could also seem a good background.

Re: THE ULTIMATE SPEEDSTER -- What Do *You* Want To See? Actually, the notion of SPD (only to do more actions in a given phase) seems like an interesting idea. I'm not sure how well that would work in play though. Some ideas on an "All Speedsters" campaign would be interesting as well.

Re: Higher Point Characters in FH/Heroic setting I'm actually amazed at the number of points concepts can suck up with all the options available, such as when you throw super-skills and Perks into the mix. Even without going wild on DCs, Defenses, CVs and the like, I've still seen characters take as many as a 1000 points to do right. Of course, anyone can just pour points into a concept to get it to work. It's when I can take a limited number of points and craft something fun that I feel a certain sense of accomplishment.

Re: sitting I am reminded of martial arts movies I have seen, where the hero is sitting on the ground or in a chair and is able to fight pretty well by doing acrobatic moves and dodges, returning to a seated position at the end. A -2 DCV seems about right, rather than a 1/2 DCV Prone modifier, but it can be negated by a successful Acrobatics roll.

Re: Slasher Movies It does have a certain something to the image, doesn't it?

Re: Experience Points I am only able to run twice a month, so I just find it easier to give out 1-3 per session. Three points would be a session where everyone had a fantastic time at the table and that person was RPing great.

Re: Statting out a Gamemaster Ooohhh... TMI

Re: Science Familiarity Chart? Well, if you did it like the language tree, then you can get quite a savings on points, depending on how similar two sciences are. Mathematics and Calculus would have great similarities. But someone who knew Chemistry would not have as many similarities to work with in how well they could learn (or know) something like Computer Science. I suppose an argument could be made for something similar on Area Knowledges, but that's another story.

How would you design someone who was a gamemaster, if you were building one in Hero rules? What skills and abilities would they have? Here's my thoughts on it: Quick on his mental feet: +3 INT Impressive speaker: +3 PRE Encyclopedic rules knowledge: KS: Game System Rules Able to portray any NPC: Acting Master storyteller: Oratory What else might be good? Any Talents that would be interesting?

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers How about someone who literally never gets tired? STR and natural movement powers (Running, Leaping, Swimming) are all bought as 0 END, and they also have Life Support: No Need For Sleep.

Re: DC Art Findinga Thread And an urban hero?

Re: DC Art Findinga Thread A little Elektra to add to the thread.

You've seen the plot before, from the Scream series to old classics like Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street: the slasher movie. Using the clique write-ups in Teen Champions, you can populate your own slasher series. But how would you tweak them to be more like teens in the slasher genre? What about adults, like parents or the police? Who would you populate a slasher movie with? And what sort of abilities would you give the slasher? For more supernatural types, Damage Reduction, Regeneration, and a vanishing Teleport are pretty standard, but what else would be good? How about those more mortal slashers?

Re: Who is the most noble or 'good' hero in the CU? I'm going to say Defender is a solid front-runner. If you read the various campaign supplements (Champions, Terran Empire, Champions 3000) and the Hero Universe timeline document, it seems the Harmon line is filled with heroes.

Re: Lost in a crowd Another way to approach this might be a combination of skill and power. The character could have Concealment at normal levels, but they also have extra levels in Concealment that are limited in that they require a crowd to work. After all, if you can take a bonus to Lockpicking through a Focus, then why not limit a bonus to Concealment by requiring a crowd? The notion of Invisible Power Effects suggests to me the idea of taking it on the Concealment skill as well, which seems like a cool effect. You just kind of step into the crowd and... vanish. You can do it as a power build, but a little creativity with Skills can do neat things as well.

Re: Vulcan Nerve Pinch It could also be a genre thing that even though it can be written up as a Nerve Strike/Choke Hold, it can't be done successfully by anyone with less than a 20 STR. If you did it as a power, I guess you could also include that as a limitation on the power. Maybe it could also be a regular Nerve Strike/Choke Hold, but the character can also buy extra Hand Attack NND dice that are built with a 20 STR minimum? If they take a Limitation that they only add to Nerve Strike/Choke Hold martial arts attacks, I'm guessing they would be about 3-4 points per die, which is reasonable in Heroic terms. Combined with the surprise attack doubling, that takes down a normal pretty quick.

Re: The First Hurdle: Creating a *gulp* Magic System The argument against using Delayed Effect that KS puts forth is pretty much why I suggested having it as an invisible (and free) part of the magic system Thia is putting together. No recosting of spells will ever be required, since it is effectively a +0 Advantage under the system. There is still the issue of a characteristic controlling the number of spells available, but a flat number would fix that easily enough, like 2 or 3. The mechanics simply act to control the number of higher-powered spells by means of a metagame effect, one that imports the concepts of Delayed Effect and maximum number of spells per day without actually costing it into the numbers. As the spellcaster grows more powerful, their lower-powered spells become easier to cast, and can be cast more often. The Talent I suggested simply controls the maximum Active Points a character can throw around in a spell. It could just as easily be costed at 1/2 the Active Points, 1/3, or whatever divider the GM feels is fair and reflects the ease and power of magic in his campaign. You could also use a straight VPP as well, or a modified VPP structure like KS suggests. I personally feel that a Talent approach combined with an Endurance Reserve allows for better magical flexibility, since I personally dislike the wargaming aspects of a more D&D/Jack Vance style fixed spell list. However, that's just this GM's opinion.

Re: The First Hurdle: Creating a *gulp* Magic System

Re: The First Hurdle: Creating a *gulp* Magic System Well, with Delayed Effect as an assumption (free to all) of the magic system, it is actually built in that a limited number of spells can be hurled. By requiring 1 Charge and Delayed Effect on all spells, you simulate the 'fire and forget' nature of D&D magic, which is itself based on ideas from some of Jack Vance's stories. The question then becomes, how much do you want your spellcasters to pay for casting magic? With INT/5 as the limit (which gives some build flexibility), that spellcaster can cast 3-5 spells per day (assuming a 15-25 INT range for a Heroic-level character). Still using the Delayed Effect model and suggestions from Fantasy Hero, let's say a 15 INT spellcaster can 'prepare' twice that number of spells (6), but only 'release' 3 spells. If you add in my notion of spell categories (which is also based on ideas from Fantasy Hero), this 15 INT spellcaster can cast 3 of his most powerful spells, 6 of his next category down (-15 Active Points below most powerful spells known), and 12 of any category below that (-30 Active Points and below). That's 21 spells, assuming a 45 Active Point limit. Is that too much magic? It all depends on the campaign. If the Active Point limit is 60, then you are up to 33 spells. Now let's look at Real Points. Assuming 3 spells at 45 Active Points, 6 at 30 Active Points, and 12 at 15 Active Points, and each spell has Gestures, Incantations and 1 Charge at a minimum (-2 1/2 in Limitations), that works out to 13x3 Real Points, 9x6 Real Points and 4*12 Real Points (141 Real Points total). Assuming a VPP built something like what KS suggests, I am getting a number around 169 points (say about 2 control points for every 10 in the pool). Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but that's a heck of an expenditure for being able to cast 21 spells in a given day! I think an easier method would be to just take a Talent like I suggested many posts back. 45 Points for being able to cast a 45 Active Point spell, no VPP control cost involved. It's just a Magic Talent. Built into the magic system assumptions is that each spell is built with Delayed Effect (limiting the total number of spells per day) and 1 Charge per memorization. By means of this built-in magic system structure, the spellcaster can memorize 3 spells of 31-45 Active Points, 6 spells of 16-30 Active Points, and 12 spells of 15 or less Active Points. Since 1 Charge is built into each spell, you don't need to worry about an END Reserve. As the spellcaster gets more powerful, he can add more points to the Talent. At 60 points, the categories shift up one for our 15 INT spellcaster: 3 60 Active Point spells, 6 45 Active Point spells, 12 30 Active Point spells, and 12 15 Active Point spells. Can spells become more powerful, or are they fixed? That's another magic system choice. How many spells can be wielded at once? I'd say the same INT/5 limit. To start up another spell, a currently running spell would have to be cancelled. For a 150 point character, 30 points on magic ability seems reasonable (20% of available points). Since you aren't using RSR, magic is reliable, and the limits on spellcasting are built into the magic system itself (using a Delayed Effect construction).

Re: Chronicles of Gor And he should be repped again for his honesty.

Re: Transhuman Space HERO? Kazei 5 would give you a lot of information on bioroids and cybershells in Hero System terms. I recommend it as an aid in converting things.