Black Rose

Re: The "Akira Effect"; defining Side Effects for Kazei 5 esper weapons Based on your third flavor text chunk, I'd say that innocent bystanders have a chance of catching some pain, too. All the nearby debris is whipping around, fragile and semi-fragile objects are being destroyed - thus becoming the aforementioned debris; some of this is going to hit people. Now, I have no idea how to work that in, but I think it should be pointed out. They may not get hurt by the Side Effect itself, but secondary and tertiary effects should be fair game on everybody and everything.

Re: Megascale Knockback and Casual Damage For a somewhat... different... POV, how would you simulate the comedy anime effect of a girl punching or malleting a guy into LEO? It never kills the victim, and really only seems to serve as a way to put them out of commission or make them go away for a period of time (usually hours, but sometimes only minutes). I had thought of a Double Knockback attack with Megascale on the Knockback to simulate launching them into the sky. I figured on only using the actual KB dice rolled to determine damage, not total distance traveled. The latter would turn what is supposed to be a funny schtick into the Fine!Red!Mist!-o'-matic, and that's not what I'm looking for.

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

Re: Setting Concept: The Power of Lineage What about learning of descent from another ancestor? Does this offer access to new abilities? Here's what I mean: PC knows she's descended from both Abius Cedius, an all-but-legendary diplomat, and Efiam Gehian, who, through prayer, kept the Green Rot from bringing famine to the region 400 years ago. As a result, she has some impressive PRE skill rolls (and a couple super skills related to solving political problems) and is a powerful priestess of the Harvest Maiden. However, research by her younger brother, DNPC, who is studying to replace their great uncle as Clan Archivist, reveals that they are both related, through a collateral line, Ijian Kail, who succumbed to the Greater Darkness in 1328 AC and led the Mist Revolts with horrific armies of undead. Does this mean she will manifest necromancer powers, or simply could? And does it mean she should be weaker against the seductions of the Greater Darkness? After all, her ancestor was....

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help Thanks to wonderful threads like this one, I'm making a slight amendment to one of my House Rules above. I was trying to figure out how to let the PCs get banged around without a) killing them, or giving them inhuman regeneration abilities. Here goes.... Instead of making Killing Attacks really rare, which nerfed at least one of the core character type ideas I had (Chinese Amazon Hidden Weapons Master), not to mention making people running around with katana and jien look silly (might as well fight with a stick, it does the same damage), I'm going to do this instead: aside from actual armor (which will be built with "Real Armor" and "Real Mass"), all Defensive Techniques which specifically make PD/ED Resistant have "Does Not Stop All BODY, -0" as a required Limitation. This means that all successful Killing Attacks will cause at least 1 BODY damage. However, all wounds will be tracked seperately, since five minutes and a successful Paramedics roll will reduce all wounds by 1 BODY; if PS: Traditional Healer is rolled instead, with KS: Traditional Healing as a complementary roll, all wounds will be reduced by 1 BODY plus an additional BODY for every two by which the PS roll is made. Ex: Takeda was ambushed on the way home from school by Kumiko's ninja; he managed to evade most of the shuriken, but was still hit three times for 2, 4, and 1 BODY respectively. He made his way to Iwara-sensei's clinic, where he was patched back up. Iwara-sensei made her KS: Traditional Healing roll by two, adding +1 to her PS: Traditional Healer roll, which she made by two as well, for a total of three. Takeda's injuries are each reduced by two, leaving him with one 2 BODY wound. Fortunately, Takeda knows the Napping Phoenix technique, so he'll be good as new tomorrow, when Kumiko's ninja plan to use net guns.... Any thoughts?

Re: Let's talk about Combat Luck Sweet baby Jeebus, I think you guys just solved one of my Martial Arts campaign problems. I'd been trying to figure out how to make the PCs (and by extension, major NPCs) able to get hurt, but still spring back from it fairly quick. This is going to work nicely. Thank you HERO System!!!!

Re: Something I just noticed and dislike about multipowers Realizing this is going to make me sound like a goob, but.... I was going to say this. Really. Okay, maybe not this exactly. I mean, mine would have rambled more, and not been nearly so understandable. But I really was going to say something like this, with the focus on the Base Points, and having to bring the Real cost in under the pool cap. I REALLY LIKE this Framework idea, Doc. Dead serious, I think it should be in 6th. The potential "danger" of an overpowered slot is balanced by a ton of Disads ready to cripple it. You'd have to keep an eye on it, but no more than any other Multipower, and less than a VPP, I think.

Re: What would your character buy? Lung cancer and liver damage?

Re: What would your character buy? Penumbra - while not on a superteam, is on reasonably good terms with several groups. Owing to some less-than-ethical dealings in his origin, he's got money - and a while back, he got his hands on a nice pile of green from a drug cartel. Problem is, like me, he's terrible about getting people stuff. He'd go one of three routes with the prezzies: some sort of gift certificate for someplace they'd like jewelry of some kind - nice watch for guys, bracelets or earrings for girls his personal favorite - FOOD! Either take them out or make them something fattening Like I said, Pen's not very original when it comes to presents.

Re: Rules For Picking A Superhero Name I think that, unless you're playing a very special sort of game - or living a very special sort of life - you should avoid anyone with the word Sodomizer in their nom de guerre.

Re: Final Sanity Rules

Re: Revising Skill Levels Somewhere on the almighty InterWeb I found a "let's consolidate all the CSLs and SLs into one unified group" page. What I saw there worked for me, since all it really did was put the info in one place. The only actual change, IIRC, was that 3 pt Levels (allowing +1 with three related skills) were opened to allow combat and non-combat to mix. This might sound like it could get out of hand (and silly), but if you only allow what you already would (specific MA maneuvers, single weapons, etc.) I don't think it would be overpowered. Besides, in a way, CSLs and SLs are the same thing, just pointed in slightly different directions. Bringing them together only makes sense. And since PSLs are nothing more than CSLs with a "only for 'natural' penalties; -1/2" limitation added on, you could slide them in, too. Ah, well, maybe in 6th....

Re: New Adder Idea for Psych Limitations Okay, so yamamura says: and ghost-angel points out that: Let's look at that. Now, a SocLim would work - it covers negative social reactions from others - but what about Reputation? Now, I realize that Rep only affects people who have some reason to know about it, but 5er (my term for Hero 5th Revised) does say in the Disadvantage Summary that "Reputation: Character is known for some negative quality" and that certainly covers the "people in your culture find your actions weird or disgusting" element. And, since Reps don't affect people until they're known, your afflicted PC could interact with others just fine... until they do the wrong thing. Now, since you don't want this to completely take over a PC's writeup, I'd recommend one of two things; either only allow the 8- roll, since most people aren't going to know (or care) that deeply about this one element in someone's personality; the extreme slot can be used for people whose psychological issues make them immediately cringworthy (Hannibal Lecter, Jack the Ripper, Barney, etc) Use the system for Positive Rep, only make the values negative; you won't get a lot of points for it, but then, you weren't supposed to in the first place. Ooh, I like this. It's granulated enough for me to be able to play with it, but not so bad as to make a big deal. In case anyone cares, I'd go for option 2.

Re: WWYCD: You the Jury

Re: Movie Heroes Ah, I can hear the mellow tones of "Lesbian Seagull" now.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

Re: Something I just noticed and dislike about multipowers Well, for starters, the "guy who paid 60 points for a 12d6 EB" doesn't have to use a Focus have to spend triple END have to count Charges have to concern himself with light levels (or time) have to make like a Wizard (and worry about not pulling off the roll) Now it would be smart for "guy who paid 60 points for a 12d6 EB" to convert that in some way to a Multipower (find a good -1/2 limitation; possibly Act 15- and ET - full phase to change) and add in the RKA, Entangle and Flash; frankly, the rest are just icing powers*. *Which I know was the point

Re: END feedback I was working on something very like this a few months ago; the SFX was a "cloud" of life force (END) surrounding the PC, which would be reduced in the process of diffusing attacks. I went with "costs 1 END per attack affected (-1/4)" myself, though I had similar limitations on both Damage Reduction and Armor, so I don't know if it was quite so horrible (I'd lose 2 END from the Damage Reduction and 1 from the Armor). Since the END pool was somewhat difficult to recharge, I felt it was a reasonable limitation.

Re: Not Quite another Killing Attack Thread I say minions, myself. As in, a fine red mist of minions.

Re: Chronicles of Gor As much as I try to be tolerant and curious about alternate lifestyles, there's something about that "lifestyle" that smells of "Woo hoo! I got me a couple co-dependent women to treat like crap!" Which is odd, since I certainly don't think that of BDSM.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Oh no, I'm sure a young man with his level of maturity must be at least 11.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Yeah, I was wondering at that myself. OTOH, I've seen a lot of anime with 14-15 year-old magicians, combat pilots, gunfighters, ghost-busters, and so on, so didn't think too much about it. Speaking as a former drooling ecchi anime fanboy, when I was younger (pre-25), I would have had absolutely no problem with this. Then again, I wouldn't have a problem with it now, if there were good story hooks to be had; I'm thinking of the secretary from Phantom Quest Corp.

Re: Quick rules Questions ... Well, I knew you couldn't do more than double it. What I meant was that I thought you had to figure your STR as if you had bought the Advantage with the value of STR you had. OK, I'm making no sense, lemme try an example. You have 40 STR, and you buy an Autofire (5x) 2d6 HA, which is worth 7.5 AP/DC, or 15 AP total. If you wish to add STR to this attack, you can't add more than will double the dice in the base power have to add a value of STR that has been "prorated" for the value of the power's DC (7.5 pts/DC) This really means nothing when you have STR to equal or exceed the powers DC; you're going to be able to double it no matter what, though you have to pay END on the actual amount of STR you use. But it's a factor when you don't have enough STR to do the job. Another example. You have 20 STR, and you buy an Autofire (5x) 4d6 HA, which is worth 7.5 AP/DC, or 30 AP total. Since you have to match the DC value (7.5 AP/DC), you only have enough for 2 DC (20/7.5 = 2 2/3) with some left over. In other words, I thought you had to consider the modified Active Point total when calculating how many DCs you could add from STR. Granted, I got this idea from how HERO handles weapons, so I may have missed another way elsewhere.

Re: Economics 101: Character Building in a Point-Based System Not saying you do this - in fact, I'm guessing you don't, based on how you described wanting "designs for the long haul" - but some GMs out there don't give clear ideas to their prospective players as to what they can expect in the campaign. If I go into a 4-Color Supers game knowing it has power levels "like the Justice League animated series", I'm expecting quite a bit of high-end combat, and maybe the occasional slice-of-life bits here and there. If the GM says "think Kim Possible" I'm going to go low-end Supers, several "hobby skills", Contacts and Favors, and weird personality quirks out the wazoo. If all I get is "250+150, 80 AP cap, lots of movement, so be prepared" and a bunch of stories about the last campaign in this world - and the mighty battles thereof - I'm going to maximize my combat skills, add Flight (and probably T'port), and throw 15-20 pts toward "personality". Frankly, I won't have any reason tot hink I'll need more.

Re: Quick rules Questions ... Almost, but not quite. Depending on the value of the Advantage, the amount of STR you would have to use varies. Assuming +3/4 in Advantages, you would have to use 20*1.75 = 35 AP worth of STR, or 35 STR. In other words, the STR must be prorated (I think I'm using that word right). That makes the most sense to me, though it could be a simple goof. Oh, and no problem. Happy to help.