The Souljourner

Re: House Rule Question: STUN From Impotent KA's

Personally, I think it's hard enough to do damage in Hero as it is. Superman and Thing can bounce bullets off their chests 'cause they have 40+ rPD. If your guys want to be able to do that, spend the points on it. Why limit the effectiveness of bullets, anyway? Most of them are like 1-2d6, most of the time that'll plink off any reasonably armored brick anyway, maybe doing a tiny amount of stun.

Also, there's no gradation... it's full or half. The guy with the 5 rPD flak vest takes 5 stun from a 5 body x3 multiple KA, or 13 stun from a 6 body x3 multiple KA. That's a big jump for an attack that only did a little more real damage.

-Nate

Re: How should a Super-Power Suppression Field affect characteristics?

I usually hate it when people do that. Why would Iron Man have a higher DEX in his armour? How does it increase the speed with which he thinks' date=' the precision with which he estimates distances, his sense of balance and his tactile sensitivity?[/quote']

 

How? Computers, my friend. Computers. Estimating distance? Do you really think Ironman doesn't have a HUD that shows exactly how far it is to the guy he's aiming at? You think there aren't gyro stabilizers in there? He probably has radar analyzing incoming objects and nudging the suit in the right direction to dodge them.

 

Modern computers can do pretty much all that and more..... and this is a comic book computer, I'm sure it could do even more.

 

-Nate

Re: Lego Guy - ideas and power questions

A lot would depend on if his powers are just "I'm made of Legos" or if it's "I can use my Legos to turn myself into just about anything". If the former' date=' limited powers, but still can do various tricks. If the latter, then if he assembles as a Lego dragon, he can fly and breathe fire, if he makes a big lego sword it will cut people instead of just bashing them, etc. If the latter, then a VPP or a VSFX multipower might be in order.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I haven't quite decided on that yet. I have a feeling the latter might be too powerful, 'cause you can make pretty much anything out of legos

 

I like the vulnerability to fire, though

 

-Nate

I have a character concept of a superhero made of Lego Bricks who can shapechange into various and sundry shapes.

I want him to be able to turn into a helicopter and fly with other members inside him, etc. Would you make this via flight, usable by others, or would you just handwave it as him "carrying" the rest of the guys (like Superman probably doesn't need usable by others to carry Lois)?

I'm thinking that his natural form would be of a human sized Lego Minifig, complete with yellow head and all.

Power Ideas:

Shapechange (duh)

Forcewall, no range (straightforward, build a wall out of bricks)

Regeneration (restrainable, maybe OAF?) (picks up the bricks people have knocked out of him)

Movement Multipower, linked, Shapechange

- Flight, turn mode, takeoff & landing, usable as gliding (when a plane)

- Flight, no restrictions (when a helicopter)

- Running, only on flat surfaces (when a car/)

- Swimming (when a boat)

Maybe life support (since he's not really a living being).

Other ideas?

-Nate

Re: How to block the "unblockable" punch?

You Call That Unblockable?: Force Wall (17 PD)' date=' Hardened (+1/4), Transparent to ED Attacks (+1/2) (74 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Self Only (-1/2), Instant (-1/2), Restrainable (-1/2)[/quote']

 

Do you really need "Transparent to ED Attacks"? I thought by definition, any Forcewall that doesn't have a defense appropriate to the attack was transparent to that attack?

 

Still, this is definitely my choice for blocking unblockable things. Depending on how dependable you want it to be, it might need a skill roll too.

 

I block it with my chest!8d6 Physical EB damage sheild(+1/2)

which comes out to 60 active points, and fits well within most Superhero level campaign limits.

 

Damage shield requires the power to be continuous already... that's why most people say damage shield is overpriced... you have to add +1 for continuous and then +1/2 for damage shield, which, if you keep to campaign limits, generally means your damage shield does such little damage that it won't affect most people who hit it. For example, a 4d6 EB damage shield costs 60 points, but will only do 4 body and 14 stun on average... that'll bounce off all but the most lightly armored foes.

 

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

which is what keeps bringing me back to cost relating to the amount of power you are snatching. "How close you have to be" (inches of teleport) is not IMo a good thing to hang the price of this ability on' date=' if "effectiveness ~ cost" is your goal.[/quote']

 

It all comes down to the focus limitation. You get savings proportional to how much the power with the focus costs.

 

Would you require higher strength to snatch a focus used by a 500 point power than a 50 point power? How much the power costs doesn't affect how difficult it is to take away the focus. And that's the whole reason why an OAF for a 500 point power saves you twice as much as it does for a 250 point power... 'cause you're losing a power twice as big when someone takes your focus.

 

Please look at the build I posted earlier. It's a 75 point power. I made a simialr build from telekinesis that used 80 strength. Even bricks in my campaign would have trouble resisting that... and I didn't even try to get fancy with it. Hell, a strong martial artist guy (30 strength) with a martial disarm can get 55 strength on a disarm.

 

-Nate

Re: How abusive is this?

What other people have said - take a disadvantage. Such character-wide problems are exactly what disadvantages are for.

Plus, intense magnetic fields are so uncommon that I probably wouldn't give you any cost break anyway. At least with the disadvantage, you'd get some points for it.

-Nate

Re: The Night of the 1001 Character Pics…

I'm getting invalid links for the male heroes too.

Re: Movement power as an attack

Extra Dimensional Movement should be TIGHTLY controlled by the GM. In my games, I tell people that EDM can only be used to move between existing dimensions I have constructed. There's no "dimension where x thing is true but everything else is the same". If you have EDM it better be for a very good reason (and probably apply to a vehicle except under very specific circumstances) EDM UAA... yikes. I pretty much just wouldn't allow it. It's too disruptive.

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

The Teleport removes the opponent's ability to use STR to prevent the focus being taken away' date=' so it does make it easier.[/quote']

 

Easier? My power costs 75 points.

 

Telekinesis (80 STR), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (150 Active Points); Only For Disarming (-1) 75 real points.

 

Heck, a 4 point martial manuever gives you +25 strength to disarm, so maybe "only for disarming" should be an even greater limitation, I dunno.

 

And how many people are really going to resist an 80 strength disarm? Maybe the enemy bricks? And how often do they use OAFs?

 

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

"Any BOECV powers that are modified by defenses (such as Energy Blast or Drain) can apply either to their standard defense, or to the character's Mental Defense, at the attacker's option." - 5re, p253.

 

So, a EB+BOECV that still affects PD will pass though a PD Force Wall because it operates on Line-Of-Sight. Unless I'm missing something.

Line of Sight just means there's no maximum range, i.e. you can hit anything you can see. It doesn't change the fact that a transparent aluminum wall still blocks the power. The only way to get around intervening barriers is with indirect. (obviously with the caveats of force walls without appropriate defenses blah blah)

Whether or not you "aim" with Ego or Dex is irrelevant. Whether or not the target dodges with Ego or Dex is irrelevant. The power is blocked by PD, the Force Wall has PD, therefore the Force Wall blocks the power.

(which, by the way, is why I chose indirect. Force Walls shouldn't be able to stop teleportation powers (unless bought with that advantage).

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

Why did you add Indirect' date=' and only at the +¼ level?[/quote']

 

I took indirect because I didn't feel that a teleport power should be able to be blocked by intervening barriers between myself and the target. The +1/4 level is enough to get around pesky barriers, and no other level is really needed - it doesn't matter which direction my teleport power "originates" from when it hits the target, it's not doing knockback or anything.

 

-Nate

Re: based on ego

I don't feel I'm "imposing my vision" on a character' date=' just because I won't let him do something that is a bit beyond his character's actual ability.[/quote']

 

That's the thing... you don't define the character's "actual ability", he does. If he has defined his control of vibration to be so good that he can effectively cause explosions... well, wow, that's cool. Who are you to say that's beyond the character's ability? It's not like he's asking for multiform because he can vibrate into different shapes. This is a logical extension of his stated ability. Just because it seems "harder" to create a fireball through vibration powers than through fire powers, doesn't mean he should have to pay more.

 

And that brings me to the second point. You're penalizing someone because of their special effects. Game mechanics and special effects are specifically separate in hero. A 6d6 AOE EB costs 60 points regardless of whether it's a fireball, holy smiting, or some guy vibrating molecules really quickly. You should never penalize someone purely for their choice of special effect. If the nuances of creating the power includes limitations, that's fine. Maybe the vibration guy can't do it in a vacuum, and the fire guy can't do it under water. Makes sense. But you shouldn't ever say "that's too hard for you to do, so you'll have to pay more".

 

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

Further:

 

The attack won't work on robots, aliens, etc. unless you buy the expanded classes of minds advantages to ego attacks.

 

You sure you want to buy BOECV on this attack ?

 

It kind of complicates things...

I don't have my book with me so I can't check, but I didn't think BOECV required choosing a class of mind. Am I wrong? If I am, how do BOECV things work on things without minds?

-Nate

Re: New Player freaks the heck out of me.

I had one player who had built a power suit character who bought everything with OIF(Power Suit). We discussed what would happen when he lost that focus' date=' and when all was said and done, he decided he didn't want to be so helpless and made some revisions. He's much happier with what he has now, even though it was slightly fewer "toys" in the end.[/quote']

 

Heh, I made power suit character and she actually started the campaign with her suit having been stolen. And yes, without the suit, she's not much of a super - she's an 18 year old college frehsman with 30 intelligence and a bunch of great science and knowledge skills, and pretty much normal stats besides. I was totally fine by it - that's what happens to super suit people, their suit gets stolen.

 

-Nate

Re: New Player freaks the heck out of me.

This is what I would tell anyone who wanted to take Independant -

Limitations *must* come up in the game as a limiting factor, otherwise they are not limiting and thus not worth any points. The defining limiting factor of Independant is that you can lose the points permanently. Thus, by definition, when you take Independant, you are *guaranteed* to lose those points permanently, sometime in the campaign.... and you can bet it's not going to be after the last big boss fight of the campaign.

My advice to anyone taking independant on anything bigger than like 10 points: Don't. Take a universal focus instead. It's almost exactly the same thing in-game, but you'll never permanently lose it.

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

IMO it would be completely wrong to let a Teleport UAA remove anything other than an Accessible Focus. It's a game balance issue. You can't teleport Tony Stark out of the Iron Man suit' date=' or the Lantern Ring off of Hal Jordan's(?) hand.[/quote']

 

Ha! I was going to give this *exact* example in my next post. I agree completely. For game balance issues, I wouldn't allow it to remove inaccessible foci.

 

 

Definitely include range penalties too.

Agreed' date=' unless the character also buys it with Ranged [b']and[/b] BOECV!

 

*cough* hmm.. yes, well... see, I couldn't wrap my head around the teleporter guy needing to have a high dex to teleport stuff... seemed much more like he could just look at something and move it... so umm.. yeah, he's giving all his offensive uses of TP BOECV. Now granted, this increases the cost even more... here's my build:

 

Teleportation 10", Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Ranged (+1/2), Usable As Attack (+1), Based On EGO Combat Value (+1) (75 Active Points)

 

I kinda want position shift too, but that bumps it to 94 points (!).

 

-Nate

Re: Costing extra END

How 'bout doing this as a Drain' date=' but instead of taking away active points, it adds on the Increased END Limitation. Sort of like taking away real points. For example, if a 60 point power was Drained down to 40, it would still be a 12d6 EB, only now it costs 2x END. If you Drain it down to 30, it's 3x END, etc. Wierd, I'll admit, but it might work.[/quote']

 

Brilliant! I love it. I was trying to figure out how to do this, I was thinking something along the lines of an inverse UAA Naked Advantage, but this is so much simpler. I may have to yoink this for a character in the future

 

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

I can certainly see how TP:UAA could be horribly abusive and disruptive. However, since this is my character and I...

1.) Don't want to ruin my GMs plots

2.) Don't want to make the rest of the PCs feel useless

and (perhaps most importantly)

3.) Don't want to have the power taken away from me

.... I think I can keep its use restricted to a reasonable level not much beyond that of fancy telekinesis.

That's the thing... a lot of things can be abusive if you try to abuse them. If you don't, it's no big deal.

Really, I just want the guy to be able to TP sodas out of the fridge from the couch

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

That'll keep somebody from buying 1" TP' date=' UAA, and "tele-pantsing" Doctor Destroyer[/quote']

 

*rofl* Oh man, that's just too funny

 

Really great discussion here guys. I think I'm of the "no STR check, which is potentially abusive, but in most cases not a big deal" camp.

 

I think I would definitely restrict it only to accessible foci and similar "grabbable" items. No teleporting Green Lantern's ring away or Iron Man's armor. That keeps it from breaking things too much. Anyone relying too heavily on an OAF deserves what they get anyway (and it's usually just mooks).

 

Should probably have a targeting penalty based on size of the object.

 

I guess it's a matter of "try it out, and if it's too abusive, either the GM or PC can limit it".

 

-Nate

I have Ranged Teleport Usable as an Attack. I want to teleport a mook's gun out of his hands. How does that work? Am I grabbing with my teleport? If so, what strength do I use?

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

I'd allow you to perform a standard Grab maneuver on a weapon or item with UAA Teleport. Maybe even at range if the UAA TP had the Ranged Advantage. I'd use the Base Points of the Teleport to calculate the amount of Str to use for the Grab (like Ranged Disarms in UMA use the DCs of the attack' date=' I'd say each 3" of TP equates to 5 Str). Not a lot different from doing it with TK or Stretching, I'd say.[/quote']

 

Ahh, that's what I was looking for. That's a cool idea.

 

-Nate

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"...

Just wondering, because isn't there usually an opposed strength check when you try to take something away from someone who's holding it? Using teleport, obviously strength wouldn't generally apply, but wouldn't that make it too powerful?

-Nate

How do you do this? It's kinda like grabbing a focus, except with teleportation: UAA.

-Nate

Re: based on ego

BOECV is there probably precisely *because* AVLD: MD is crap. Just don't take AVLD: MD.

For the original poster - it's already been said, you get to attack someone based on their Ego instead of Dex, and most people have worse Ego than Dex. Plus, you're the one choosing to buy this advantage, which means *you* probably have better Ego than Dex. Plus you get no range modifier and Line of Sight range, both of which are good advantages on their own.

-Nate