Vanderbilt_Grad

I’m all with the too much documentary & too little science complaints. The soft arts also got *way* too little coverage. I also would have liked to have seen them talk about the history of the marital arts and the differences between styles more. As it was this show was mostly flash. I love the martial arts but found the show to be only so-so. I need to see if I can catch the old BBC documentary “Way of the Warrior.†I have the book & it is one of my favorites. I’ve heard much better things about Way of the Warrior than what I saw in XMA.

Good background. Good skill selection. Good perks. Dex is a bit high & Ego is a bit low IMO, but overall stats are fine. Cool that she caries a pistol. The only complaint I have is the VPP. Why in God’s green Earth does every friggin mage have to have a huge VPP? That was one of the things I loved best about the Ultimate Supermage; it got away from VPP mages. Nothing personal … I’m just sick of seeing mage = VPP.

Re: Try this I personally find this construct problematic as well. First off it's expensive. 150 active points (a lot for defense) and 100 real as written. Seconsly, a roll of 6d6 for Absorption would average 21, so it would be pretty rare for the character to have much less than 20 points of Armor. Given that I'm not sure that the 'Based on Absorption Roll' is really a hinderance in this build ... I personally wouldn't allow this limitation unless the armor were less. Third, the effects are still staggering. Average of 35 rPD & rED on top of the characters normal PD & ED will yeald normal defenses that are likely over 40 each. A 12d6 blast averages only 42 stun. So with this build you would take 2 stun and the absorption would heal quite a bit. Grond's 24d6 attack above would probably stun & take down the PC since it averages 84 stun, but this construct is still pretty nasty. In genearl for absorbers with linked defenses IMO balance is best gotten by only having PD or ED if you have high absorption ... or by keeping it low if you have both.

Some other issues: 1. All the powers in the EC must cost end. Thus the Damaged Reduction & Armor can't go in. 2. Linked to Armor is not a disadvantage since the Armor is always on. Only if the Armor costs end or had some other disadvantage would the linked work. The general idea isn't bad but this is 'too powerful' for most games IMO. BNakagawa hit the nail on the head. Being able to shurg off 24d6 attacks is more than a bit too much. Just look at the active points of defenses on this build. You have over 218 active points between the damage resistance and the armor.

I wouldn't go below 175. 200 or even 225 would be fine IMO. Other folks here have it right. If you restrict points too much you just end up with PC's that have too few skills. I just built a couple of 100 point NPCs 'skilled normals.' I could barely get everything to fit skill & stat wise even without powers for two of them.

The 52 Points came from a brain fart. My mind wandered back to 4th ed where Var Advanatage was = to advantage cost + 1. So Var Advantage + 3/4 was +1 3/4. Believe me I felt silly once I spotted that mistake. Oh and Hi SD.

What makes cats hard to catch is their extra movement and small size. If a cat has room to run & places to hide then they are hard to get. I'm not sure that they deserve extra DVC levels.

IMO just by two linked blasts ... one just normal Area & the other with Area Selective.

Think about taking the attack power out of the EC and adding those points to your 36 to make a MPP with several different kinds of attaks. EB EB Area Effect EB NND (vs Flash Defense) Flash RKA With this kind of setup if your main EB fails you have other options.

That looks really good. You hit the nail on the head about movement powers. Running or Flight with only in contact with a surface seem reasonable given that 'mum' was a speedster.

I've been impressed with a *lot* of the artwork here, but, Solomon, those few you posted are just awesome. Thanks to everyone for sharing.

Unluck is a mechanic … and one that isn’t really designed to be useable on others. What we were suggesting is other ways to get the same effect using different mechanics. IMO Change Environment defined correctly could do pretty much everything covered in your examples with the possible exception of the ex-lover. It can even give penalties to hit making it pretty much the perfect choice IMO for making others suffer bad luck. The DCV levels, armor, defense maneuver, etc. can easily cover the “Your opponent starts to stab you in the back but slips on a banana peel someone dropped yesterday. He misses you but doesn’t fall.†kind of things. It’s all a matter of special effect and good descriptions by the GM.

IMO there are many ways you could do this but the easiest are: Armor & DCV levels with the special effect of "PC got lucky" Change Environment with Trigger.

A couple of ideas Maybe the spell is partially shaped by her unconscious fears and desires (either at the time of casting or a permanent link). The house will offer her the opportunity to learn about herself and grow as both a person and a mage. Who created the spell? Perhaps they put in ‘back doors’ so to speak that would give them control of the house should they need it. Or it could have other unintended effects, for instance if the spell is created by lizard like race it might be constantly warm. If the spell draws upon a particular being or plane for power then it might reflect that. Perhaps there was *already* something special about the house. It could have been haunted, an old Native American sacred spot, or some such … this existing anomaly interfered with her spell somewhat producing some unexpected results. Have fun!

I have to agree! The Ultimate Super Mage is one of the very few e-books I've ever bought and by far the best. It is however 4th ed and it sounds like at least two 5th ed books will eventually be published that will take its place. If magic is your thing or you want to GM a world with magic then get it! Otherwise you might want to wait for the new stuff.

Wow, I can’t believe that it took me so long to find this topic! Well that would be because I haven’t managed to find a good roleplaying group in something like a decade. However were I playing a superhero game a SA based Hero game would be one of my top two choices. Aberrant would be up there too. Both of these do something for me that many other settings don’t … they make an honest attempt to integrate heroes into the ‘real world’ and don’t try to pigeonhole the superbeings into the black & white world that I saw in the comics of my youth. 1) Yes. On the one hand I liked them *much* better than the 4th ed Champions … but on the other I felt like they were a little generic. 2) Yes but not in the main text of the book. I agree with Storn that layout and artwork could do a lot here. I don’t want tons of NPC stuff right in the middle of the book text the way it is now. Break out the NPCs better. Have the main text in one column and have the NPC stats, info, etc. in a graphically different one on the other. That way I can keep reading or be able to quickly get the NPC info I want. The other alternatives are to put the NPC stuff all in one section or in sidebars. These are workable too. 3) Yes. 4) Yes. I also agree with comments that the writing needs to be tightened up. Detail is SA’s blessing and its curse. The detail is interesting, useful, and ultimately one of the things that really set SA apart from other supplements … however that detail makes for a *lot* of reading and a lot of effort on the part of the consumer. On stat inflation … one of the things I loved the most about SA when I first read it was that the stats seemed so much more reasonable than those of other published Hero products. SA even felt a bit “low powered†but everything was balanced. I loved that aspect of the game. As the supplements were published it seemed like ‘power creep’ was occurring. Stats got higher & powers got more ‘ump.’ I used to be on the SA boards and I’ve heard some of talk about how the developers didn’t really intend for SA to be “low powered†… that we just hadn’t gotten to see all the material. Honestly at the time I was disappointed. Today though I seem to be dealing with it better. My suggestion is to be more consistent. If you are going to have variable power levels make that clear from the first book then be consistent throughout. 350 points is a great power level for many of the ‘sample’ NPCs in the first book, especially quickstart campaigns, but show more examples of power spread that we will be seeing in future supplements. I also think that you guys did yourself a disservice by using different writers for the core setting book and the enemies book. I felt like I was reading about two different worlds after finishing one and then the other. On another note I suggest taking a page out of Aberrant’s playbook. Do more stuff about having superbeings changes the world. It’s not logically consistent to have super-intelligent heroes and not have the SA tech curve be a little ahead of the real world and in the hands of joe average on the street. It doesn’t make sense that super-presence types will not have affected politics and legal proceedings. It doesn’t make sense that most people with superpowers will have drifted into crime and crime fighting. Give examples of superbeings with real jobs and no desire to get into ‘power brawls.’ Talk briefly about what the Army, FBI, UN, etc. are doing in response to super powers and superbeings. The main focus can still be on hero teams but I like having a logical world for them to operate in. Well that’s enough for now. I’m glad to see that SA will be back bigger and better than ever. Good luck!