Haven Walkur

Re: TV to rpg Yes, Bodie (William Bodine) and Doyle (Ray Doyle) were like a slightly later, more realistic and English version of Starsky and Hutch. Wonderful, wonderful programme! And Crowley, Bodie and Doyle's boss at CI5, brought in all the gravitas of that actor's many dramatic roles. But much as I loved the programme, I don't think The Professionals would make an effective rpg. It's too real-world realistic...and that 'real world' is very dated. On the other hand, if you wanted to play a police procedural rpg set in the 1980s, The Professionals would be your setting. And if you wanted a police procedural set in the 1970s, you'd want The Sweeney

Re: TV to rpg

Re: TV to rpg Rep for you, Dr. D! I thought I was the only one who remembered The Champions. Now what about The Persuaders...? Anyone remember that one? [Late 1960s-70s show featuring millionaires Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) and Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) globetrotting, crimebusting and generally getting in trouble...and looking oh-so-good while they did it. ;-) ] The Persuaders would make a grand (if rather campy) rpg, as would The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (of course, back when I was watching them, it never occurred to me that they were "campy", or even that they were intended to be.)

Re: Help with naming a spider themed character. I thought this was a startlingly attractive pic...it's a Cobalt Blue Bird-Eating Tarantula, and it doesn't look real at all, more like something out of fantasy. It might be an ideal model for your magical Ur-spider character.

Hello, gamer-folk: I'm trying to build a PC who was subjected to advanced prion "therapy", and became a type of undead as a result. She is now animated by the prions which have converted all her body's systems into highly-durable prion-based "tissues", and are carrying out metabolic functions (of a sort), based on protein synthesis and transformation (from normal proteins into prions). The problem is, with only 250 points to work with, the 39 points required to buy the various Life Support powers needed by any undead worth the name is a crippling expense. These are the LS powers I feel she has to have: Unnatural Existence: Life Support - Diminished sleep [3]; Does not breathe [10]; Immunity, all terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents [10]; Immunity, all terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents [10]; Safe in high radiation [2]; Safe in intense heat/cold [4] This power set would be an ideal candidate for an Elemental Control, but it's disqualified, since none of the powers cost END. So, can anybody suggest a workable way to reduce the cost on this set of powers? It's the two Immunities and the Does Not Breathe that are the big point-hogs....

Re: What would your sidekick be named? Haven Crawlur? Haven Toddlur? Staggurz?

Re: Storn Art from idea to Full Picture Year 6 Sagittarius Member of a Zodiac-based villain team, Sagittarius is a true tupilaq – a zombie-like undead creature made by stitching together parts of animal and human corpses and animating the entire assemblage. Despite her origins, she is sentient and free-willed -- but utterly vicious. In this case, the torso of an athletic Black woman was grafted onto the front shoulders of a palomino pony, and secured with large X-shaped stitches in red twine. A second pair of arms – those of a white woman – were attached just below the torso’s original ones. Sagittarius’ lips have been sewn closed with more X-shapes stitches of red, and her white-skinned arms heavily tattooed with occult symbols. There are some ragged patches of decayed/withered flesh apparent along the pony’s flanks and right hind leg, and the hoof on that leg is cracked and discoloured. There’s also a semi-circular patch of dead gray skin above Sagittarius’ right eye and down over her temple on that side. The hair on her head and tail is arranged in a multitude of tiny tight braids, with colourful beads and little silver charms from a charm bracelet worked through them. Sagittarius – born Dyanna Durbin of Queens, New York – died in a drive-by shooting, and was “harvested” from the city morgue by a necromancer calling herself Marie Laveau. Laveau used Dyanna’s corpse to create a true tupilaq, an undead servant with the strength and speed of a horse and the dexterity of a human. However, after the animation process was complete, an enemy of Laveau’s managed to gain access to the newly-made tupilaq, and in his attempt to wrest control away from Laveau, he ended up “awakening” the tupilaq, freeing it from Laveau’s control and restoring Dyanna’s free will...though her body was beyond salvaging. After the defeat of Laveau, Sagittarius claimed her books and grimoires. She is now a powerful self-taught necromancer, and finds that the dark magic suits her increasingly dark temperament. Trapped in a mute and twisted -- though physically powerful -- undead form, Sagittarius soothes and distracts herself with the pain and terror of others, particularly savouring the agony caused by her black and curséd arrows.

Re: Storn Art from idea to Full Picture Year 6 Random thoughts from idle dreams gone by.... Pisces Member of a Zodiac-based villain team. A monstrous non-human fish-creature, Pisces looks like the primitive fish known as the coelacanth...well, like two coelacanths, actually. The larger part of Pisces' body resembles a massive coelacanth about 6' long, with a perpetually gaping mouth. The smaller part looks like a smaller coelacanth (about 4') sticking out of the larger fish's mouth. Pisces can retract the smaller "fish-body" into the larger one until only its jaws protrude, or extend the smaller body out of the larger one until only the tail is still inside. The two "fish-bodies" are really just two body parts, and cannot separate completely. Both of Pisces' "fish-bodies" are thick, bulky and malformed-looking. Their asymmetrical, ragged shapes appear half-finished. Both bodies have disturbingly sentient eyes (metallic gold in colour), mouths full of hooked teeth and the famous lobe-shaped fins. The scales are hexagonal and have an ugly, scabby appearance, peeling up/off in some places to reveal smooth tissue of an incredibly delicate periwinkle blue colour. Pisces is an aquatic being and a world-cracking telepath and telekinetic. On land, it travels around inside a large sphere of ocean water that it maintains telekinetically. It communicates telepathically, and its thoughts are cold, dark and ravenous. When something appeals to Pisces' bizarre sense of humour, it "laughs" by blowing bubbles from both mouths.

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread Aaaand ditto!

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States I may be a little prejudiced, but I think the Bagnell Catfish figure looks absolutely unbelievable! He's one elegant monster/hero, and the detail work on his skin is astonishing -- as it is on the costumes of all the other figures. This artist has amazing talent...and kudos to whoever managed to place the image of Mt. Rushmore on the eponymous hero's chest. Stunning.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Ooh, the Chalice ReVamp #2 looks really good. Feels a lot...tighter and cleaner, if that makes any sense. Thank-you for all your work, Fedifensor. But please, let's get rid of the "Rock 'n' Roll" Reputation completely. I don't want it for Ali, and unless the GM has reasons for wanting her to have it, she doesn't need it. She's actually moving to Thebes to take a position as a music teacher at the Thebes School of Dance and Art in Waxhaw, not as a performer.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Surprisingly tough question. The Conjure Man can always attract more followers if he loses the current coven. So it's the MAN who's essential to the Hunted...without his influence, the Mountain Occult would dry up and blow away. That said, though, Obeah's coven and connections are what make up the NCI part of the Hunted. I suppose the coven is a convenience for Obeah the Man; they're not necessary to him, but his NCI would suffer if he lost them -- so even though MOST of the power is in "Obeah Fortunatis, the Conjure Man," he is MORE powerful with his coven than without them. Him + his coven = more powerful (but him - his coven = still bad news for Ali) Change away! I picked them as a Hunted because they were one of the listed villain groups of your universe, and the elemental theme sounded like a good match for an element-powered PC. But you may re-invest those points into any Hunted you like. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know. I originally had two Multipowers; turning one of them into an EC (Only In Hero ID) was Fedifensor's inspiration. I'm not very familiar with EC as a build because I usually don't use it (yeah, I'm a Multipower kinda girl). Perhaps I could speak to Fed about dropping the OIHID? Originally, the Susceptibility/Vulnerability Limitations just applied to Chalice when she was in her Waterform, but I didn't take the OIHID because A] Chalice's waterform isn't her hero ID, just the special effect of one of her powers, and B] since she can turn it on and off as a zero phase action, it doesn't seem like much of a change.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Aaaaiiieee, caught! Yes, yes, I admit it...I recycle characters! Oh the shame.... Hello again, Zed. The names haven't been changed to protect the guilty, but some of the build and a lot of the background have. Ali's a lot more "together" in this version; her personality and motivations feel a lot more cohesive/coherent. I'm looking forward to playing this version of her if she gets picked for the game.

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States Well done on the Catfish, especially the "Spit" multipowers. Very good build, especially because I couldn't build a Champions character to save my life. Best of all, though, was the quote from the Arkansas Traveller about the Catfish; I really liked that. Wonderful characterisation for both AT and BC -- and even the Chicago Chief! There were two small things that struck me by their absence: 1] On the DF: Stinky, you left out what it is that BC stinks of -- which is, of course, fish...and 2] You left off BC's quote, which gives a little glimpse of his misanthropy (or maybe that's only towards Yankees). As the creator of the Bagnell Catfish, I'd like to see both those "bits" slipped back in, if you could or would or don't otherwise mind. Oh, and I salute your past efforts -- and your continuing efforts! -- as the Father of the USA50 project, without which none of this would have happened/ be happening. I love the Project. Thou rockest, Egyptoid.

Re: Watchmen: A GM's tale...or why we set campaign limits Rule of X? Explain please.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Wow, the new write-up looks good, Fedifensor -- and you work FAST! I do have one or two questions about specific changes, but they'll have to wait until I've had some sleep. But for now, many thanks and thou art a studde. And I'm delighted you liked the character pic. Fábrica de Heròis may be a bit limited, but it's always a pleasure to play with

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Hello, Fedifensor. Thanks for getting back to me so fast. (And yes, this is the trimmed version. I'm sorry...there just seemed to be an awful lot to explain.) About the character build problems: 1] EB I can certainly trim down the EB. I misunderstood what you and Zac meant by the listed stats being for the "average hero". I thought that meant PCs could go a bit over/under the "average" values. 2] Skill rolls. Back on Page 6 of the thread, Zac said, "Maximum roll on most skills should be 15- (with levels), exceptions for a 16- will be given for honed character concepts. That said, I will deny “Requires a Skill Roll” -1/4 limitation with a high skill level (the max roll for this limitation is 14-)." I didn't read that as "Don't take RSR as a Disad", I read it as "Don't put a really high skill roll on your RSR Disad and expect it to count at full value". As a player, I'm not wild about RSR as a Disad, either, but I needed to trim the point costs for Chalice's powers, and that was one of the least offensive Disads available. Any recommendations as to different ways of doing that would be gratefully accepted! 3] Side effects. Admittedly, I needed the points, but I also really liked the idea of Chalice not being entirely in control of her powers -- it is the elemental force of water, after all -- and running the risk of causing damage when the power surges through her. Dr. Anomaly (the friend who helped me with the build -- I couldn't build a Champions PC by myself to save my life) thought that "Minor" would be a low enough number of points of effect to make the Disad. not too onerous. I don't mind it coming up a lot in game, unless it's going to be a problem for the GM or for the game to have it happening. 4] The two Multipowers. Basically, the idea was Chalice could use things like Darkness Was Upon the Deep or Slippery When Wet and still have her energy blasts available for use...hence, two Multipowers. Why not do the Multipower and EC route? Umm...it didn't occur to me. :-o I don't use ECs very often because they're more expensive than Multipowers, and I'm not as familiar with 'em. However, that arrangement does sound like a good idea -- if I can afford it. (Hmm, it's not like Chalice's powers aren't closely related enough thematically to fit in an EC.) ;-) 5] Combat Luck. Why CL instead of Armour? Just habit. I can certainly change that. 6] Lots of starting powers. Well, most of them are more role-playing powers -- ways to ward off opponents or make them less effective -- than earth-cracking combat powers. And Ali did have a couple of years of experience using her powers to "settle scores" when she was younger. I can "suspend" some of her powers and buy 'em back later, but I'd like to talk to you or Zac more about which powers and why before actually doing it. 7] Distinctive Features. I'm not sure I understand the criticism; I took two DFs, but I took them both at Easily Concealed. By "don't stack", do you mean I can't have two DF Disads at the same level? Does one of them not count if I do that? The DFs were minor character background details, but I thought the tattoos and third eyelids were different enough to require two different Disads...even though they're both individually easy to conceal (long sleeves in one case, sunglasses in the other). Once again, thanks for getting back to me so quickly -- and thank-you very much for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate them a lot.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Alice Gaudete Mattheson; "Ali" Chalice Character Pic (designed in Fábrica de Heròis) Ali ties her conspicuous mane of black hair back out of the way in her Secret ID.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central And here's the "fluff" for Chalice...and this is the edited and trimmed version. :-o Alice Gaudete Mattheson; "Ali" Chalice Appearance: Ali's 5'8, lean and fit-looking, even though she takes lousy care of herself. She's rarely seen without her sunglasses, or a cigarette in her hand. She has fair skin, hooded gray eyes and a long shaggy pelt of black hair, usually worn loose; she's a good-looking lady. When she blinks, there's a quick iridescent glisten from the nictitating membranes on her eyes -- her "third eyelids". Her tattoos -- dark leafy vines winding around both her arms from wrist to shoulder -- are visible when she wears anything less than full sleeves. Like a cat, Ali goes from extremes of physical activity to apparent boneless relaxation and back again very quickly. She often appears half-asleep when relaxed, even when she's actually quite alert...it's those hooded eyes, what the poets used to call "slumbrous." Background: Alice "Gaudete" Mattheson was born February 2nd, in Cumberland Gap, Maryland, to Joseph and Sally Joy Mattheson. She was raised in Cumberland Gap, a town of 13,000, where her father was the town's pharmacist. As a college man, Joseph was treated as the town’s authority on all things scientific, and that kind of deference suited this controlling man very well. Joseph was never pleased when someone argued with him; he felt it showed a lack of respect. That didn’t happen often, though, as someone “failing” to give Joseph the proper respect was guaranteed to bring on an ugly display of temper. So people in town generally did what Joseph said...and they took care never to contradict him and his “learning”. Sally Joy, who had grown up an unwanted and uneducated daughter of a West Virginia mining family, was grateful to Joseph for taking her away from the pits of Millersburg. She regarded her husband as “just about as perfect a man as God ever made”; strong and able, respected, wealthy (from her perspective, anyway), God-fearing and smart. Sally Joy regarded Joseph and his learning with admiration just short of awe, and whatever he said was what she thought. Joseph's temper was no secret to his wife, even though it was never directed at her. Sally Joy's obvious, unquestioning respect for him spared her even Joseph’s worst outbursts. Alice wasn't so fortunate. Alice was too much like her father to meekly accept his authority, the way her mother had. With her strong will and violent temper, Alice was clashing with her father even before she could talk. She was a strong-minded and stubborn child, and her determination to go her own way led to her constantly defying her father -- which Joseph found intolerable. He would frequently lash out at his daughter with harsh words or the back of his hand, and, as Alice got older, his heirloom walking stick. To keep Alice out of her father’s way, Sally Joy made up a “special room” for her, and as a child, Alice spent many hours in there singing along with the radio or singing songs from her father’s mountain gospel records. Sometimes Sally Joy would sing to her daughter, though Joseph didn’t much like her “indulging” Alice. By the time she started school, Alice was displaying an obvious gift for music. When Alice was twelve, Sally Joy was hit and killed by a runaway car. Soon after the funeral, Joseph’s widowed mother -- Renata Mattheson -- moved to Cumberland Gap to help care for Alice. Renata proudly called herself ‘Appalachian mountain folk,’ and she brought her traditions and superstitions into Joseph’s “science-minded” house, creating a new and explosive source of tension. “Nanna Rena” was a grim and demanding woman, and unimpressed with Joseph’s unruly daughter. Now with two implacable disciplinarians on the scene – and often contradicting each other – Alice spent as much time as possible out of the house. On most school days, she had musical activities after class...but aside from that, Alice never really thought of school as a refuge. She was a generally impatient and distractable student, though she liked English and anything to do with music. Outside school, Alice roamed around with a gang of friends and caused trouble, getting in fights, smoking cigarettes, playing loud music. Alice was usually the ringleader...but sometimes she just felt like ditching her cronies and hiking up into the hills by herself. She’d lose herself wandering about, singing to the trees and the startled wildlife, making up songs and returning home hours or days later, to face her father’s fury. Ali learned from bitter experience that things were worse for her if Joseph came out and caught her before she could get home...but either way, she was going to get a hiding. And the worse things got, the more Alice wanted to be away.... It was by the streams in the deep woods that something responded to Alice’s voice. February 2nd, her 15th birthday, and out by Cauldron Spring, something stirred and came to her...something vast and elemental, something cold and bright and timeless as running water rose and flooded into – or out of – Alice, opening a wellspring deep inside her. Bewildered, exhilarated and half-panicked by the strange sensations, Alice bolted, racing headlong through the dripping woods -- until she missed her footing on the crumbling ridge above the spring, and plunged into the rippling water.... Local legend had it that Cauldron Spring was bottomless, but Alice never could remember one way or the other – except in her dreams. In her dreams, Alice was certain the spring was bottomless...and she was pretty sure she’d drowned down there, under fathoms of cold clear water. But when she clambered up out of the spring and back onto the ridge a day and a half later, she was breathing just fine...but the water...somehow it came with her. It was February 4th, two days after her birthday, when Alice crawled up out of the spring. Two days during the season of Imbolg. And it was on that day her father died. Joseph had closed the pharmacy early that afternoon and come out looking for Alice. He’d told Renata that morning that he’d had enough of his daughter’s ingratitude and disrespect, that he meant to have things out with her once and for all this time. But in the misty afternoon, Joseph had missed his path and stumbled into a flooded sinkhole...where he drowned in three feet of water. So the town constable said, so the county coroner said, and Ali wasn’t about to disagree. She wasn’t really sure herself.... Whether from suspicion and fear, resentment or grief, Nanna Rena didn’t have much to say to Alice after that. The two of them avoided each other, moving around the house warily, and Ali spent a lot of time brooding, ignoring her friends, skipping school. And eventually she wandered back out to Cauldron Spring, feeling as if she should have known all along she’d end up back there.... For a long time, Alice sat watching the bubbling water and thinking things over. Then finally, she leaned forward and ducked her head under the water, her black hair billowing like smoke in the Cauldron Spring...and yes, she could still breathe. She could still breathe water. And she could do a lot more with the water now than just breathe it. Alice spent a lot of time beside the spring that year, and the year flowed past in a haze of discovery and waking dreams until Alice herself wasn’t sure if she were awake or asleep, if she’d been awake or asleep the whole time. But the idea...that didn’t come as a sudden inspiration, bursting out of the mist. No, it came as a gradual realisation, building, cumulative, a ‘what if’ that turned slowly into a ‘when.’ I can call the Water now...so what if I use it? What if I can make bastards like my dad stop now? What if I beat them up the way he beat me, what if I stood up to them all and made them stop? What then? What if I settled the score? When do I settle the score? “When” turned out to be the week after Christmas. And who...it was someone from school, not even a friend of hers, a red-haired guy called Chad Bridger whose dad would come home from the bar in the evenings and start pounding on him. Chad was always coming in to school with bruises on his face; one time he came in with his hand in a cast, said he’d got it caught under the car. Alice decided to make her first try at settling scores. She made a mask out of blue cardboard, stuck it on her face with Superglue and stuffed her hair up under a dark blue knit cap. There was an old blue overcoat of her father’s that Nanna Rena judged too ratty for Goodwill still hanging in the back bedroom closet; Alice took that too. Masked and bundled up, she went looking for Chad Bridger’s dad – and when she caught him coming back to his car outside the Dew Drop Inn, she told him to keep his hands off Chad. “You don’t ever want to lay a hand on him again,” Alice said – and then she showed him why. She damn near drowned Chad Bridger’s dad there, miles from the river, with jets of sparkling water from her hands that filled his nose, his mouth, and kept him from getting a breath. “From now on you start treating him fair, or next time I won’t stop the water.” Alice left Chad Bridger Senior lying on his side in the parking lot, soaking wet, choking and puking with tears and snot running down his face. It had been a lot easier than she’d expected, and it had felt...well, it’d felt right. Felt like a relief. Fair’s fair, Alice thought; fair’s fair, Mr. Bridger, you just remember that...’cause somebody bigger than you might just decide to hit you back. Alice got away with it. Not only that, but she got away with settling two more scores in her sophomore year of high school, and three more as a junior. A mother who liked using her lighter a little too well for her toddler’s health, a big brother who shouldn’t have been getting his thrills in his kid sister’s bed. A couple of low-lifes who liked breaking into old people’s houses and beating them bloody before taking off with anything they thought they could pawn. A deputy constable taking money off the skinny albino guy at the grocery store every month.... When Alice showed up to settle his score, the deputy had tried to make a fight of it – and Alice ended up hurting him pretty bad, worse than she’d meant to. She’d swept him off his feet with a water-torrent that ended up slamming him right into the stone wall of the old brewery. Broke his collarbone, his arm and his jaw, all on the left side, and smacked his head a good one. Deputy Sunderlinn was at Cumberland County Trauma Centre in a coma for about five weeks, and when he woke up, Alice was about glad enough to cry. She’d been thinking a lot about about fairness while the deputy was in that coma, thinking about justice and revenge and about where the lines were. And Alice had come to the conclusion that if she weren’t careful, she’d end up like her father, who went beating up people who in no wise had it coming. Playing fair was all that was going to keep her from becoming like Joseph; settling scores but only paying back an eye for an eye, and no more ’n that. She couldn’t afford to slip and go too far; she couldn’t let things get unfair again, not even on accident...not anything, not ever. Better to make a habit of fairness. Let the punishment fit the crime, and no more ’n that. She graduated from high school at 18, without fanfare. A music scholarship took her to the Berklee College of Music in Baltimore, where she studied vocal arts and songwriting...and learned something about Baltimore and the kinds of abuses it sheltered. But Alice didn’t see any reason to stop settling scores; yes, she’d have to be more careful, do a lot more preparation than she used to do, but the bastards were still bastards and her feelings hadn’t changed. Alice became a lot more sophisticated in the next four years. She toned down her hill-country accent. She started calling herself “Ali” ’stead of “Alice”. She got together a real costume, all in shades of blue, and she gave herself a fighting name: Chalice. She had her first run-ins with gangs, real urban gangs ’stead of the small town wanna-bes of Cumberland County, and brushed up against organised crime and institutionalised corruption, the sort that everyone knows about but no-one mentions. And she settled some scores, but by her third year at Berklee, she was beginning to feel like she was only nibbling around the edges of something too big for her to get her teeth into directly. Disillusioned, distracted, Ali got involved with The Hills Have Eyes, a college band that had been around for most of her time at Berklee. She was the group’s singer/songwriter. In Alice’s senior year, the band acquired a new lead guitarist – Robert “Bobbid” Davis -- and changed its name to Mercy Brown, evolving into more of a thinking man’s metal band. Ali didn’t settle any scores her senior year at Berklee. Instead, she turned her attention graduating a semester early with her BFA, and going full time with Mercy Brown. The band thrived. Throughout Ali's twenties, Mercy Brown enjoyed success and modest renown, particularly on college campuses. Throughout Alice's twenties, the band enjoyed success and moderate renown, particularly on college campus. They were sometimes described as that “almost superstar East Coast metal group” – but by Ali’s 30th birthday, Mercy Brown was getting ready to drop the “almost”. Things were finally happening. The band had signed with Volcano Entertainment, released their first major label album – Watching and Waiting for You – toured nationwide in support of it and contributed three songs to the new superhero movie Nightwing. The buzz was loud and strong. It was like a dream finally coming true for the five band members.... And then Jim Townsend, a drunk driver with three prior DWI arrests and a suspended license, hit and killed Bobbid on the street in Fell’s Point, Baltimore...and that dream ended. But Ali felt almost as if she'd woken up to what she ought to be doing.... Ali marked her 30th birthday by “putting on the blues” and settling the score with Townsend. He wouldn’t ever walk again, but at least he was still alive. And then Ali applied for a job teaching music at the School of Dance and Art in Thebes, Tennesee, a city she picked because it was a long way from Baltimore (and Cumberland Gap)...close to the Father of Rivers...and studded with neighbourhoods where scores had been wanting settling for a great many years. And Chalice moved to Thebes. Character Considerations What does your character do BEST? Confounding attackers/defending the party. Chalice has powers that can make groups or individuals trying to attack the party less effective, either because they’re dropping their weapons and falling over, or because they just can’t see the party as Chalice leads them away under cover of fog and mist. She can also help the other PCs on attack or defense (she’s very durable). What is your character just 'really good' at doing? Responding to situations. Chalice has a enough variety in her powers and effects that she’s probably got something that will have at least some effect in a given situation. What niche/archetype could your character fill on the team? Jack of all trades, master of none. Chalice can do something of most things, though the other PCs may be better at specific things. She has some ranged attacks, others may have better ranged attacks. She has some resistant defenses, others may have stronger resistant defenses. But Chalice has ranged attacks and resistant defenses and lots of other odd powers.... What is your character's most important relationship, and why? Her father Joseph, despite his death. Ali is struggling to understand and control the part of her that is like her father; her drive, her strong will and her ugly temper are things she saw from him all her life. She wants to prove to herself that she’s different from Joseph, and she does that by adhering unwaveringly to her own code of fairness. A second important relationship, though one that Ali is unaware of, is with her father’s brother Laurence, who heads a sizable cult of black magic as the self-described conjure man Obeah Fortunatis. Some of Laurence’s followers are local Cumberland County people, small-town rural, but many are part of the network of urban professionals he built up during his years in New York City, working as a highly successful motivational speaker. As a result, Laurence is an influential man on several levels; he has followers among the common people of the Appalachians, and influential friends in the Big City. Laurence is an intelligent, crafty and amoral man. He’s charming, very convincing and has an incredible force of personality. Whether he actually has any powers or not, he knows his material well and puts on an excellent show, and his followers are convinced of his ability to “shape the world in accordance with his desires,” and both admire and fear him. Some years ago, Laurence -- as Obeah Fortunatis -- announced that the female singer with the popular metal band Mercy Brown had been born on Imbolc, and was destined to command “vast magikal power” upon her mystical majority. Therefore, at a date announced in prophecy and revelation, Fortunatis would make Alice Gaudete Mattheson his wife -- and then spill her blood in sacrifice to the Dark Courts, increasing his powers a hundred-fold. The Mountain Occult, Laurence’s cult, have been watching Ali ever since, waiting for “The Day”.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Alrighty, then {sob}All my beautiful formatting...gone....{sob} Alice Gaudete Mattheson; “Ali” Chalice CHARACTERISTICS Val Char Base Points Roll 13 STR 10 03 12- 23 DEX 10 39 14- 30 CON 10 40 15- 16 BOD 10 12 12- 13 INT 10 03 12- 14 EGO 10 08 12- 18 PRE 10 08 13- 16 COM 10 03 12- 10 PD 3 07 - 10 ED 6 04 - 05 SPD 3.3 17 - 10 REC 9 02 - OCV: 8 58 END 60 -01 DCV: 8 50 STN 38 12 ECV: 5 6" Running 6 0 6" 10" Swimming 2 8 10" - NCM 5 x4 NCM 2 1/2"/1" Leaping 3 0 2 1/2" TALENTS 12 Slippery Character: Combat Luck (6 PD/6 ED) 2 Water Baby: Environmental Movement (no penalties on wet/slippery footing or in water) 5 Child of the Waves: Life Support (Expanded Breathing: Breathe Water) 3 Life Support: No Need to Drink; Usable By Other [+1/4] 1 Safe Environment: High Pressure 2 Safe Environment: Intense Cold POWERS 30 Flood; Water Attacks Multipower: 61-point reserve (61 ACT); all slots RSR: Water Mastery [-1/2]; Side Effects, Minor (Personal and Environmental) [-1/2] 3u 1) Wellspring: Energy Blast 12d6; (ACT 61) Notes: A straightforward water blast, powerful & damaging END 6 3u 2) Swept Away: Energy Blast 7d6, Double Knockback [+3/4]; (ACT 61) Notes: A less damaging but higher volume water surge END 6 3u 3) Just Like Suffocating: Energy Blast 4d6, Continuous [+1], No Normal Defense (Appropriate LS, Rigid Face Cover, [+1]); (ACT 60) Notes: A continuous jet of water to the nose and mouth. Multiple applications can be maintained against the same or different targets, but this is very tiring. END 6 3u 4) Wash It Away: Dispell 16d6; any one fire power at a time [+1/4]; (ACT 58) Notes: Extinguishes fires, regardless of source. Generally more effective for environmental fire suppression than as a combat power END 6 3u 5) Skipping Stones: Missile Deflection, Any Ranged Attack (20), Reflect At Any Target (+30); (ACT 50) Notes: Chalice can “skip” ranged attacks off her body as if they had deflected off shallow water, leaving misty ripples and water droplets in the air around her END 0 30 Playing In the Rain; Environmental Water Effects Multipower: 61-point reserve (61 ACT); all slots RSR: Water Mastery [-1/2]; Side Effects, Minor (Personal and Environmental) [-1/2] 3u 1) Water Rights: Telekinesis STR 34; Affects Porous [+10]; Only Affects Water [-1/2]; (ACT 61) Notes: Allows Chalice to put anyone below the high tide mark, if there’s water nearby END 6 2u 2) Written On the Waves: Telekinesis STR 10; Affects Porous [+10], Fine Manipulation [+10], Reduced Endurance (0 END [+1/2]), Only Affects Water [-1/2]; (ACT 52) Notes: Chalice’s favourite power, this one is usually just for fun END 0 2u 3) Forecast Calls for Rain: Change Environment 16" radius, -3 to Sight Group PER checks, Personal Immunity (+1/4); (ACT 39) Notes: Heavy showers dramatically reduce visibility END 4 2u 4) Slippery When Wet: Change Environment (4" radius); -1 DCV, -1 OCV, -2 to DEX checks; Personal Immunity [+1/4]; (ACT 41) Notes: Causes water to condense from the air on all surfaces in the area END 4 2u 5) Darkness Was Upon The Deep: Darkness to Sight Group (2" radius); Personal Immunity [+1/4], Reduced Endurance (0 END [+1/2]); (ACT 35) Notes: Area fills with heavy wet fog; can be maintained and extended over time END 0 3u 6) Hushing: Tunnelling 12" through DEF 12; (60 ACT) Notes: Allows Chalice to rapidly blast her way through everything from sand and gravel to concrete and stone END 6 3u 7) Erosion: Tunnelling 1" through DEF 19; (59 ACT) Notes: Much slower version of #6 above, this power allows Chalice to ‘wear away’ even more durable materials like reinforced concrete and metal/stone composites END 6 24 Waterform: +15PD / +15 ED; Visible [-1/4]; (30 ACT) Notes: Chalice becomes a standing wave of constantly rippling water with a vaguely humanoid/feminine shape; in this form she shares some of the durability of water END 3 3 Hard Water: Damage Resistance on 5 PD/ 5 ED; Linked to Waterform [-1/2]; (5 ACT) Notes: Chalice’s Waterform gains some of water’s passive resistance, flowing aside from BODY-damaging attacks END - SKILLS Name Cost Acting 8- 0 AK: Thebes, Tennesee 0 Climbing 8- 0 Concealment 8- 0 Conversation 13- 3 Deduction 12- 3 KS: Appalachian folklore 12- 3 KS: Music 12- 3 Language: English (idiomatic) (4 Active Points) 0 Paramedics 12- 3 Persuasion 13- 3 Power: Water Control (CON) 14- 1 [3pts for15- / 14- is 2CP back] *PS: Singer (PRE) 15- 5 *PS: Songwriter (PRE) 14- 4 Shadowing 8- 0 Streetwise 13- 3 Stealth 8- 0 Survival 12- TemperateWoodland, Temperate Riverine 3 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles 0 WF: Clubs, Fist-Loads, Thrown Rocks, Unarmed Combat 0 WF: Small Arms 2 DISADVANTAGES 05 Distinctive features: Third eyelid (nictitating membranes on eyes) [Easily Concealed, Noticed & Recognized, Detectable By Sight] 05 Distinctive features: Tattoos (dark vines wrapped around both arms) [Easily Concealed, Noticed & Recognized, Detectable by Sight] 15 Enraged: and the Office Boy Kicks the Cat; when someone more powerful metes out blatantly unfair punishment to someone less powerful, in front of her [uncommon; Go 14-, Recover 11-] 20 Hunted: Wicked uncle; the Reverend Laurence Mattheson (aka Obeah Fortunatis, the Conjure Man) [More powerful, Harshly punish, NCI, Appears 8-] 10 Hunted: Elemental Force [More powerful, Watching, NCI, Appears 8-] 15 Psychological Limitation: A Second Chance; Code vs Killing [Common, Strong] 10 Psychological Limitation: Don't Let Them See You Cry; needs to prove by word or deed that she's "tougher than the situation" [Common, Moderate] 15 Psychological Limitation: Settling Scores; driven to use her abilities to physically punish those who abuse others weaker than them or in their power [Common, Strong] 10 Psychological Limitation: Don’t slip; tries to be scrupulously fair in all her dealings [Common, Moderate] 05 Reputation: That Satanist heavy metal singer [Recognised 8-] 15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity; Alice Gaudete Mattheson [Frequently, Major] 10 Social Limitation: Harmful Secret; Ali is responsible for her father’s death [Occasionally, Major] 10 Susceptibility: Very Hot Dry Environment (Only in Waterform) [uncommon, 1d6/Turn] 05 Vulnerability: Fire Attacks (Only in Waterform) [uncommon, 11/2x STUN] 150 CP

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Hello again, Zac: Yes, I'm still here and still interested in the game. Chalice's build is finished, pending your approval, and I'm just cleaning up/paring down her background. (I tend to waaay over-write, and since I'm mindful that you don't want a novel, I'm trimming as brutally as I can.) Since the "crunch" is done, you can have it now (before I'm done with the "fluff") if you'd like. Just let me know. I have two questions for you re: the Catalyst (Thebes) online game. First, does the Thebes School of Dance and Art in Waxhaw, Thebes, offer a music program? If not, what about the local universities/colleges? (I'm hoping to put my character's music background to work.) [sorry, that's *two* questions posing as one; alright, then, I have *three* questions for you.] And second, should I post Chalice on this thread, or can I email her to you? Can you read WP 10? (I like the way WP handles formatting, since I'm the one who doesn't have .hdc) [And I've done it again with the extra question. {sigh}*Four*questions for you, Zac, but that's all. ;-) ]

In Champions, how do you increase a PC's Non-Combat Multiplier on the inches of Swimming? Someone said something about the PC "getting one x2 NCM for free"...? I'm lost.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central I don't have .hdc capability, but I will resubmit Chalice for conversion to .hdc as soon as I can. At present, she's still a rag-tag mass of incomplete powers, dating back to an earlier game with extensive GM involvement in PC construction. But her central concept is Energy Projector (Water); she's a mistress of the Elemental Water, with a highly-flexible power set for attack, defense and environmental/generalised water manipulations. Oh, and I'm going to need to insert another 50 points of Disads. "Drop dead date" -- I like that. It's an elegant way of expressing the terminal cut-off point....

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Chalice -- Alice "Ali" Mattheson, former singer with heavy metal band Mercy Brown, and currently mistress of the elemental waters. Chalice is a water elementalist who can generate and project water...as well as playing a number of little tricks with the wet stuff. I'd like to submit Chalice for consideration for the Catalyst campaign...but I'm still struggling to get her into a submission-ready form. This PC was built for a different game -- and built with a lot of GM input -- and I'm still tinkering with the power set, trying to work out what we did back then, and why. I don't think she'll be ready to submit until next Wednesday. If that's too late to have the character considered, please just let me know. Chalice has an Offensive and a Defensive Multipower of water effects; not just attacks and defenses, but some environmental effects too, like darkness vs normal vision ("fog"), and change environment to create wet/slippery conditions ("slippery when wet"). However, there's something strange going on with the builds of the two Multipowers, and also with Chalice's Armour/Damage Reduction powers; I'm still trying to puzzle out the write-ups. Plus there are powers Chalice has and I don't know why, AND there are ones she doesn't have, and I don't know why not.... Chalice should be a Jack of all trades, master of none; she should be able to do something of most things, though the other PCs are going to be a lot better at specific things. So with any luck, when I'm finished with her she'll be a versatile and useful character -- and hopefully a good addition to the group. Appearance: Ali's 5'8, lean and fit-looking, even though she takes lousy care of herself. She's rarely seen without her sunglasses, or a cigarette in her hand. She has fair skin, hooded gray eyes and a long shaggy pelt of black hair, usually worn loose; she's a good-looking lady. When she blinks, there's a quick iridescent glisten from the nictitating membranes on her eyes -- her "third eyelids". Her tattoos -- dark leafy vines winding around both her arms from wrist to shoulder -- are visible when she wears anything less than full sleeves. Like a cat, Ali goes from extremes of physical activity to apparent boneless relaxation and back again very quickly. She often appears half-asleep when relaxed, even when she's actually quite alert...it's those hooded eyes, what the poets used to call "slumbrous." Disadvantages 5 Distinctive features: third eyelid (nictitating membranes on eyes) [Easily Concealed, Noticed and Recognized, Detectable By Sight] 5 Distinctive features: tattoos (dark vines wrapped around both arms) [Easily Concealed, Noticed & Recognized, Detectable by Sight] 20 Hunted: uncle, the Reverend Laurence Mattheson (aka Obeah Fortunatis, the Conjure Man); [More powerful, Harshly punish, NCI, Appears 8-] 15 Psychological Limitation: Cult of Toughness; always wants to prove by word or deed that she's "tougher than thou". [Common, Strong] 15 Psychological Limitation: Code vs Killing [Common, Strong] 10 Psychological Limitation: Superstitious [Common, Moderate] 5 Reputation: That satanist heavy metal singer [8-] 15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity, Alice Mattheson [Frequently, Major] 10 Social Limitation: Harmful Secret [Occasionally, Major] – there’s a death in her past Personality: Ali’s strong-willed and strong-minded, and she’s turned that strength to recreating herself as a “tough customer,” too tough to be emotionally hurt by any of the things people do...or have done. Ali is tough, though not as tough as she thinks she is, and perhaps not in the ways she thinks; her toughness is an ability to endure things and carry on regardless, rather than making her “untouchable.” She constantly struggles not to be “like her father,” whom she regards as the font of all evils. Ali tries, mostly successfully these days, to control her stubbornness and impatience, and most of all, her temper. She has a hatred of unfairness, especially unfair blame and unfair punishment; she had it literally beaten into her by her father and grandparents. Ali still has a problem with authority in general. She’s a loyal friend and does her best to be a bad enemy. Music in all its forms is her passion, but especially vocal music. She loves to sing, and sings a lot; she has a vocal range like Geddy Lee in his early days with “Rush”, and the power of “Motorhead’s” Lemmy. Despite being quick-witted and educated, Ali is very superstitious; perhaps that’s what makes her secretly a Romantic. She really does want to save the world, and damn the cost to her.