Black Rose

... to lift yourself? Now, before you start laughing, when I say "lift yourself", I mean lift yourself without having to worry about that nasty leverage thing. For those of you who say X-Men (and really, who among us hasn't?) when Mistique starts climbing up a wall-mounted pipe with her body parallel to the ground, she is showing off what I mean. How much Strength do you need to lift your body in all-but-complete defiance of gravity and inertia? Now personally, I was thinking "enough Casual STR to lift your weight" but I'm not sure if that works. Alternately, I suppose I could go for some kind of Flight, only to allow for body suspension". Again, not really sure. I'm working on this for two characters I'm converting (from an anime) and modding slightly: one is frighteningly strong, and needs to be able to "leap" 1 1/2" using only one arm, with another person sitting on his back; the other is a superbly-trained gymnast who hasn't actually shown this ability in the source material, but with some of the mods, it seems reasonable. Help please?

Re: Penalty Skill Levels for noncombat skills? Or at least shared it equally with Combat.

Re: Champions Universe: Through the 'Ages'

Re: Points or $ Well, as far as discouraging PCs from toting around every weapon they've come across this week, consider that they do weigh an awful lot. And, depending on how you're running things, they really aren't worth the trouble. Ex: "Let's see, eleven used bandit's axes.... I'll give you twenty silver lances for the lot, and that's cause I like you." "Twenty?! Thren's Teeth, each one's worth eight!" "Perhaps new, but these are used, and I have to make sure each one will hold up under use, not to mention storage... goodness, I must really like you to go through all this trouble." Frankly, it's a waste of time to carry too many weapons around, at least ones you're not using yourself. And if they want to commission a new weapon, let 'em. It's a good way to cut down on their excess cash (if they have any). My way of dealing with surplus gear is to do this: have a "generic" version of whatever they are going to buy (swords, tents, shirts, etc.). They can get this for cash, and it'll hold up about as well as the real thing (it's considered OAF and Independent as far as damage and loseability). Now, if you get a particularly nice version of something, you can pay for the extras (Nifty-Wifty Broadsword has an additional +1 OCV, a finely-crafted basket hilt that gives another +1 to Blocks, Disarms and Binds, and looks damned impressive (+1d6 to PRE attacks when used). Add up the bennies, and charge them for that (the base broadsword comes "free").

Re: Penalty Skill Levels for noncombat skills? In response to the comments by CourtFool, I give you MarkDoc's opinion. Pay close attention to "Defining relative skill levels" - it makes a llot of sense to me. If you take 11- as being a basic "I can get a job* doing this" not necessarily "I kick ass at this" or even "I'm damned good at this", I think it works a lot better. Remember, this is the "don't need to make a roll" level of things; only if the situation is adverse, or needed materials are lacking, do you have to make a roll. * Substitute "I can perform routine tasks involving this skill assuming standard conditions"

Re: Package deal - no deal? That seems pretty reasonable. I was less than comfortable with the "disads in the Package Deal don't count except to reduce the Package Deal cost", due to "balance" issues, but this makes a lot of sense.

Re: Women! Is it sad that I wanted to read the trainwreck that was the Gender in Writing mega-thread, but for some reason it grew so large that my computer literally couldn't seem to access the pages after about five or so?

Re: Women! For those who like such things, one of the story arcs in Fred Perry's Gold Digger involves a representative of a race of hyper-intelligent canines (and his specially-bred human pet) using a hi-tech, jet-shaped time machine to alter history (specifically the invention of the dog whistle, but later the removal of the Digger sisters from existance). Always nice to see someone who appreciates the classics.

How would y'all (Herodom Assembled) produce this effect: Numbing. I want to be able to numb the skin with a touch (not all of it, just the area touched), and with repeated contact numb the muscles. Now for the muscle numbing, I plan to use an Entangle, but the skin numbing has some interesting effects I want. With a touch, I can take the pain from an injury -- not heal it, just make it not hurt. So, to sum up: remove pain with a touch remove all sensation from an "area" (probably using Hit Locations or some such) paralyse muscles (again, mostly focusing on limbs and such) How do you think I should do it?

Re: Mirror Vision I could be misreading his post, but I got the idea that yamamura was asking about psychometry, not for what could be reflected in a mirror, but what was reflected in a mirror on site at the time of the event.

I'm working on a technique for a character. The flavour text goes like this: Through the use of shiatsu massage, a person's ch'i flows can be realigned to be more in harmony with their physical and spiritual selves. This helps remove the barriers to good health, filling the body with ch'i at even higher levels than before. Now what I'm looking for in gamespeak is a superskill that doubles the REC of the subject, enables them to Regen 1 BODY per day, and adds some of the low-level Life Supports (reduced sleep, reduced breathing, stuff like that). Not too hard on my own, though I'd like to see if anyone has any ideas on cheap effects of improved health. Now is the other part, the one that's been giving me grief: By maintaining physical contact with the subject while manipulating specific ch'i clusters, one can "force" the subject's body to draw ch'i at an accelerated rate, replenishing their energy levels and restoring damaged tissue far quicker than normal; the subject will usually find their fat stores have been seriously depleted and they have become ravenously hungry. Those knowledgable in ch'i techniques from the left-hand path of tantra can "hijack" the excess energy, letting their victim recover fully while "skimming the cream from the top," as it were. I'm looking for a way to make someone take a Recovery every available Phase, and then a way to steal all the excess END (and possibly STUN) to store away for use later. The best I've been able to come up with myself was an END Reserve with multiple Recoveries, one limited to the NCM Recovery times four (NCM Speed) and set to dole out 1/4 the total at Phases 3, 6, 9 and 12. I know you guys have to have something better than that.

Re: Starting from 8's in Primary Characteristics Gods, I wish I'd stuck to the workouts I was getting in High School. I had some serious definition in my legs (got a gf 'cause of them) and was really starting to get some tapering in my chest and abs. If I'd not gone and worked for KFC, I might still have some of it. Damned greasy food.....

Re: Analyze Enhancer? For the most part I agree with this, but frankly, skills are the one place I tend to flake out when I create characters. I know what I want them to know, but sometimes it seems hard to convey that with the skills as done in Hero. Sometimes I almost wish for a Fudgesque skill system that I could plug in. I'd describe the skill set and not worry too much if I missed a specific single skill. Ex: I'm working on a character who is a trained ninja. She has a cover as a geisha. Now, part of me would love to simply say KS: Geisha 12-, PS: Geisha 13- and be done with it. But there are so many little bits that I'm not sure those skills cover. She can play the koto and the reed flute; does she need those skills? What about the cha no yu (tea ceremony)? Dancing? Singing? I suppose I could give her a higher skill, say PS Geisha 16- and let it cover the penalties for trying to pull such skills out of her tush, but frankly, she's not that good a geisha; 12- was actually kind of pushing it. Yet another in a loooooooong series of reasong I'm looking forward to The Ultimate Skill.

Re: New Anime character help Depending on its role beyond looking like a plushie for merchandising, I'd say either dump some points into INT and related skills (advisor role) or into PRE, only for attack (uber-cute mascot role).

Re: The Ultimate Mystic:A Subjective Review I haven't read the 5th Ed Ultimate Mystic, though I did lightly read through the playtest document. It seemed like an updated (for 5th Ed) version of The Ultimate Supermage, which I liked, but already own. I disagree. I think the spells listed were good for their purpose; to give a feel for the "styles" of magic. I do think there should have been a bit more of that, but primarily for the sake of getting into the feel of the magic style, not so much to reinvent the USPD. This is what Arcane Adversaries is for. Frankly, as was so smoothly stated in CKC and USPD, it doesn't take a whole lot of work to shift a special effect around. Change some skills, rename some powers, twist some disads, and virtually any writeup can become something very different I'll be picking it up regardless. I'm addicted to getting DoJ's stuff, I liked the 4th Ed version, and I'd prefer a copy that wasn't a printout. I'm really looking forward to Vibora Bay, though, which is saying something since I usually can't stand setting books.

Re: Liquid Glass Assassin from the Past.... The thought that came to mind immediately was sonics. NOT to shatter - the thing's liquid glass, after all - but perhaps to act as a SPD Drain, or an Entangle, as the resonance begins to build up and interferes in the motions of the body.

Re: High Cost Package Deals... I'd reduce the Faster: +3 DEX to a +1 and give some Lightning Reflexes instead. It'd be faster, and get the next OCV/DCV notch up from 10 DEX, but wouldn't be too obnoxious.

Re: Interesting little idea for discussion.

Re: A high powered campaign Keep the campaign parameters at a "reasonable" level -- if you're using this many points, you're probably planning to be better than the common run. That means you must first define the common run. Once you have an idea of what the average town guard, soldier, orc-like thingie, and scrub are capable of, along with what a King's Guard, elite warrior, trollkin-like thingie, and... well, uberscrub, I guess... then your players know where they want to rate next to them. If I wanted a swordsman who was comparable to a King's Guard in skill, but very effective at sweeping aside hordes of scrubs and suchlike, it's good to know what I need to be able to slaughter casually. Likewise, have a good idea of what the world is like, and just why the PCs are the folks for the job. Try to get them to spend points on noncombat areas -- KS and PSs, Favors, Contacts, and don't forget the Reputation.

Re: Edna "E." Mode! A couple of minor nits: Drains are naturally Cumulative, so no need for that advantage. Also, how many people you see running around with Hardened Mental Defence in that world?. So.... Overwhelming Conversationalist: (Total: 60 Active Cost, 40 Real Cost) Drain EGO 1d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), BOECV (Mental Defense applies; +1) (30 Active Points); Requires A Conversation Roll (-1/2) (Real Cost: 20) plus Drain PRE 1d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), BOECV (Mental Defense applies; +1) (30 Active Points); Requires A Conversation Roll (-1/2) (Real Cost: 20)

In trying to come up with some ground rule info for a cinematic/anime martial arts game I'm working on, I've found myself stumped by the effect of paralyzing a limb. If you don't know what I mean, I'm looking for the "I deftly hit a couple of pressure points, or punch the right spot, or do something, and your arm is now useless". Now, I know that some would consider this a very potent ability, and it is, but the effect I'm trying to produce only paralyzes the limb for a little bit. Sure, nailing your right leg and arm for a Turn or two could be lethal in anything resembling a real-world situation, but the setting is pretty non-lethal for the most (only the Big Bads would ever actually kill anyone -- everyone else prefers to beat the crap outta you and leave you humiliated). Now, for purposes of paralyzing the legs (GS: Suppressing Running and Leaping) this power works (credit to Mike Surbrook, from whom I stole this writeup), provided you assume "Characteristics" means Running, Leaping, and anything else you can do with your legs: Point Blockage: Suppress Characteristic 5d6, any one characteristic at a time (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; anyone with Point Blockage or a Similar Power can reverse the process; +1/2), Invisible to Hearing, and Sight Groups (+3/4) (62 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Only versus Humans/Target Must Have Reachable Pressure Points (-1/2), Can Be Cured by Chinese Healing (-1/4) (27 Real Points) One or two good hits and your target is going nowhere. But it does nothing to hamper the arms. I suppose you could get Baroque, up the Advantage to "All Powers Simultaneously, +2" and define "Characteristics" as anything involving your arms. Seems a bit hand-wavy to me, but it could work; I'd want others to agree with it before I'd feel comfortable using it like that. I do recognise that Suppress Fire Powers 5d6, all fire powers simultaneously hits anything that has a fire SFX, no matter what the power writeup, but having an "Arms" SFX seems cheesy to me. Any thoughts, HEROdom Assembled?

Re: Does Hero System "break" at higher levels, and if so, at what level? In re: Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z/Dragon Ball GT/Dragon Ball Kumquat If you are a believer in the "every additional DC equals x2 effect" than it's actually pretty easy to get much better than your foes. Just go up one more DC. I really feel that settings such as Dragon Ball work well when you go for high defences and low CON and STUN. Not dangerously low or anything, but not much more than 30 max (for CON) or 75 max (for STUN). This means any attacks that actually get through will matter. Keep your defences high and they rarely get through.

Re: Adding value to COM Granted, this would require actually giving Comeliness some sort of in-game effect, but I would recommend creating "Comeliness-Talents". For those of you who've gone to Killer Shrike's Fantasy Her site, you've probably seen the Packages he has made to simulate and improve on the offerings from WotC. One of the (many) nice touches KS added was taking the "name all abilities" idea to the next level. Each bonus to Primary and Secondary Characteristics is named; Hardy or Tireless for CON, Sharp or Clever for INT, you get the idea. Simply take this to Comeliness; every point of Comeliness has to be "defined". Once you realize that Clever!Techie!Girl has +6 COM (defined as "Girls Wearing Glasses Are Hot") +4 COM (defined as "Small And Curvy") and -5 COM (defined as "Babbling Technogeek") you can determine just how much Comeliness actually affects a given person. A person who doesn't think glasses are attractive and dislikes blather might see Clever!Techie!Girl as having a COM of 9 -- her +6 bonus doesn't take effect, but the +4 bonus and the -5 penalty does. OTOH, someone who likes people who can hold their own in a conversation about gravitic converters, digs girls with glasses, but likes the supermodel look would react to a Comeliness of.... I just realized something to make this work even better. Sorry for the babble above. Instead of any penalties at all, every point of Comeliness is linked to a descriptor, which can be anything you like, even something as bland as Healthy Body. Now, when someone deals with them, their total Comeliness is determined by whether they would have a positive or negative reaction to the descriptor. Man, that was rambling. -shakes head- Hoepfully it makes more sense to y'all now. Again, it does sort of require Comeliness having some sort of usefulness.

Re: Specialized Defenses - "Only vs Z" Damage Reduction I think the "Desolid only vs. Z SFX" construct can be made to work, but you have to do some prep first. Make a list of the more frequent SFX in your campaign (you'll note that Champions has done this); this should absolutely include the SFX all the PCs and their Hunteds use. Give each SFX a frequency rating (Very Common/Common/Uncommon/Very Uncommon). Any that are Very Common should probably be disallowed, or perhaps arrange with the GM to have a Naked Advantage: Affects Physical World for up to (highest Active Point power total). Any that are Common would get a -0, maybe -1/4 depending on the total number of valid SFX in your campaign. Uncommon gets -1/4 to -1/2, and Very Uncommon gets -1/2 to -1. Now, if your GM allows this (this whole thing requires that the GM allow it, so it seems kind of silly to say it now), you have Desolid; 0 END (+1/2), Persistant (+1/2) [80 Active Points] Only vs. Z SFX (variable). This will act as a 100% Damage Reduction power against the aforementioned SFX.

Re: Is there such a thing as TOO evil? No no no! We want him to live long. At least the 23 years before he's eligible for parole. Granted, I also want his fellow inmates to know what he did, and act as they see fit. I just want him to survive it. Every. Single. Time.