BoneDaddy

Re: a VPP for bricks. The naked variable advantage bumps up against the campaign AP limit. A VPP allows me to work around the limit without breaking it. The thing about strength tricks is that it doesn't have to be a fixed repertoire, like a martial art. A super strong guy doesn't have to learn how to bash through walls or lift city buses, or even how to write messages in stone with his finger (neat trick!) he just can, because he's really strong.

Re: "No Lock Can Hold Me" Power I like what you have. It probably requires all her concentration to pick a good lock - you could add a limitation. To help out your friends, how about - the advantage "usable by others" modified by more extra time and a concentration limitation. It could keep the cost reasonable. I think bumped up lock picking skills are an essential part of this package, and the time constraints could add dramatic tension. I've considered a super burglar, and I wonder if a group of supers could take him down...

Re: You never had a character with ____ Powers? I'm actually making my first brick. It's harder than it looks.

Re: a VPP for bricks. Right! This is what I was after - not a "cheat," so much as a way to have 50 AP of raw strength with which to slap, or 50 AP of autofire penetrating jackhammer attack, or a fastball pitch with a wrecking ball. Being able to add much more strength to stop that powerful locomotive fits the genre, but doesn't break the game (I think?).

Here's my problem - I'm creating a Brick, and he's a plain and simple brick - he's really strong. That's it. Not made of cement, not from planet Vesuvious, doesn't weigh nine tons, only 6'6" tall, ordinary heroic guy who happens to be extremely strong. I was working on a bag of brick tricks - novel powers derived from a guy being terribly strong. The problem is I can't have everything that I want (cry for me!) Here's my solution - A VPP based on powers with a Strength based special effect. Sounds OK, but what about the various permutations of the strength characteristic itself? If I want to put his strength characteristic into the VPP, is that so wrong? It would allow me to use his strength for attack purposes with whatever advantages that I could want while remaining cleanly below the AP max for the campaign. It would allow me to use a lot more strength for other superheroic purposes (lifting an airplane, etc.) The drawbacks - Strength adds into a lot of figured characteristics. My figured characteristics could fluctuate wildly. I could fudge things to add more stun as needed, just by adjusting my VPP. Of course, by adding the appropriate limitations the VPP could be segregated from the figured characteristics. Whaddya think, herodome assembled? Is it a good idea, a great idea, or a terrible idea? From a mathematical perspective, I can do it for about the same price as a multipower and a seperated strength characteristic.

Re: Too many stats in Hero As I see it, the manifold stats make sense. Consider the following examples: 1) Lou Ferigno could kick Lance Armstrong's behind, but he couldn't catch him. 2) Bruce Lee could have whipped 'em both, but he still couldn't have kept up with Armstrong or lifted Ferigno 3) Einstein could think circles around Charles Bronson, but wouldn't hold up as well under torture. 4) Neither Bronson nor Einstein could hold a crowd like Bill Clinton (hate him if you want to - the man has Presence), who is neither tough nor ingenius.

Re: Alternative to Aid? Help me to understand - in charge of what? What do you do next?

Re: Alternative to Aid? I think you mean "usable by others." While it isn't technically illegal, I'm against it. As an attack, a little extra Ego never hurt anyone, I don't think.

Re: Ultimate Brick -- What Things Weigh The following link should explain all. Just scroll past the Live at the Hollywood Bowl pictures http://www.neilinnes.org/galleri/pythgal.htm all will be revealed.

Re: Team Archetpes The Elementals - Usually a four team (hermetic), sometimes a five team (eastern), the characters analog with the traditional elements of either system. Consider the Fantastic Four - The Human Torch and the Thing fit the fire and earth archetypes like nobody's business. Mr. Fantastic can absorb and flow, stretch around obstacles, and create - he's water. Sue turns invisible and creates invisible force fields - the air element. The five teams replace earth with metal, and add wood.

Re: THE ULTIMATE BRICK -- What Do *You* Want To See? I believe its in the chapter on characteristics, the page after the strength table, under the section on "Throwing Things," below the table. I don't have the book with me, so I'm going from notoriously inaccurate memory. It's slipped in as an optional rule. I think it could be referred to as "dicta".

Re: Ultimate Brick -- What Things Weigh Fechez la vache!

Re: THE ULTIMATE BRICK -- What Do *You* Want To See? This rule in fact exists. For each 1d6 of damage sacrificed, a thrower can gain an additional inch of distance. With a running throw, a 50 Str brick could throw someone 42" (just over 250 feet), and not hurt them a bit. In the alternative, I guess they could just throw them straight up one quarter as high, and let gravity worry about the damage...

Re: Powers that damage the environment... I think there are a lot of special effects that don't damamge the surrounding environment, and some that do. If your EB is a thrown brick, the bank robbery is averted and everyone goes home happy except for the concussed baddy. If your EB is a gout of superheated plasma, things could go badly. I think it depends on what you want to do with your SFX. If you want it to have a negative side effect, expect it to. Further, expect to develop a reputation as "collateral damage man." The mayor isunlikely to give you keys to the city any time soon if you set things on fire wherever you go, or shatter windows with every attack.

Re: Pacifist Fu

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What do you need to mote again and again and again? A: Lets not insult my intelligence.

Re: Answers & Questions

Mysterio. How few points can you build him on? He's not smart, fast, strong, or tough. He's a stunt man who stole a lot of props from the Universal lot and tormented the heck out of Peter Parker back in the day. Taught Petey a thing or two about his spider-senses.

Re: Please help me write this character I think this is a good idea. Magic has better flavor when it looks like magic.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Could one of you pinheads negatively review this post for me? I want to see what happens. I couldn't bear to do it to anyone else just out of curiosity, so I offer myself up as an experiment. All in the interests of science, of course. EDIT - three of you have already been very helpful. Thanks? 2d EDIT - Five now. Please stop. This is like taping a kick-me sign to my own back.

Re: More Powerful Than a Locomotive!

Thrakazog's new avatar makes me think of Eddie Grant, rockin down to Electric Avenue.

Try down in the NGD boards - there's some smart folks lurking around down there.

Tactics, Analyze, Find Weakness, and a Presence Attack using Oratory. Psych Lim. - Overconfident.

The joy of floating your heroes and their wards on an antique floating target can't be overestimated. Wouldn't the Poseiden adventure be better with a supervillain added into the mix, and a crew of heroes stuck inside with a crew they feel responsible for? Dig out the BBB and resurrect The Maine - give him a hundred more points and buy off those activation rolls. Sink 'em, or try to anyway. Having a public, weak home base that is surrounded by an environment deadly to the crew has bad idea written all over it. All great stories start with a bad idea.