Allandrel

Just finished the sixth Honor Harrington book by David Weber. This time he cut back the scale of operations substantially, with only limited engagements. Character development was a bit short, with subplots plumping the book out. I'll probably continue the series, but not for a while. Patrick J McGraw

Well, I've spent the last week or so getting a fair amount of work done. Expect to see another character posted every two to three days. Regarding point ranges: I’m building Cyclops as a Standard Superheroic character. For my Ultimate Universe, Legendary Primary Characteristics go from 18-25, with 26+ as superhuman. CYCLOPS (Scott Summers) CHARACTERISTICS STR 15 (Roll 12-; Lift 200 kg; 3d6 damage) – 5 points DEX 15 (Roll 12-; OCV: 5; DCV: 5) – 15 points CON 15 (Roll 12-) – 10 points BODY 15 (Roll 12-) – 10 points INT 13 (Roll 12-, PER Roll 13-) - 3 points EGO 15 (Roll 12-, ECV: 5), - 10 points PRE 13 (Roll 12-, PRE Attack: 3d6) – 3 points COM 14 (Roll 12-) – 2 points PD 6 (Total 14 PD, 8 rPD) – 3 points ED 6 (Total 14 ED, 8 rPD) – 3 points SPD 4 (Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12) – 15 points REC 7 – 2 points END 30 – 0 points STUN 32 – 1 point Total Characteristic Points: 80 points. Running: 8†Leaping: 3†Swimming: 3†POWERS Optic Blast: Elemental Control, base pool of 25 points (25 Active Points), Limited Power: Will not affect Ruby Quartz (-0), Variable Disadvantage(-1/2)*. Pool Cost: 17 points. 1) Concussive Blast: Energy Blast 12d6, Double Knockback (+3/4), Persistent (+1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2) (180 Active Points: 25 pool +155 remaining); Reduced by Range (-1/4), Limited Power: Will not affect ruby quartz (-0), Variable Disadvantage (-1/2). Total cost: 89 points. 2) Focused Blast: Ranged Killing Attack 4d6, Persistent (+1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2) (135 Active Points: 25 pool +110 remaining); Reduced by Range (-1/4), Limited Power: Will not affect ruby quartz (-0), Variable Disadvantage (-1/2), Beam (-1/4). Total Cost: 55 points. 3) Intercepting Blast: Missile Deflection (all ranged attacks), Missile Deflection At Range (+1), Persistent (+1/2) (50 Active Points: 25 pool +25 remaining); Limited Power: Will not affect ruby quartz (-0), Variable Disadvantage (-1/2). Total Cost: 17 points. X-Men Uniform: Armor 16 (8 rPD, 8 rED) (24 Active Points); Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2). Total cost: 12 points. Athletic: Running +2†(4 Active Points). Total cost: 4 points. Athletic: Swimming +1†(1 Active Point). Total cost: 1 point. Perceptive: Enhanced Perception +1 to PER Roll with all Sense Groups (3 Active Points). Total cost: 3 points * Cyclops’ Variable Disadvantages must be chosen from the following options: 1) OAF (Visor)(-1); 2) OAF (Glasses)(-1), Restrainable (-1/4); 3) Side Effect: Blind (-1). Whenever deprived of a Focus, Cyclops must immediately switch to option #3 until he reacquires a Focus. He usually keeps a spare pair of glasses on his person at all times, and spare visors and glasses are stored in all X-Men vehicles. Option #2 has a greater value than the Variable Limitation requires; this is why Cyclops generally doesn’t wear his glasses into combat. Option #3 proved a tough cookie. I finally decided that the flexible nature of Side Effect worked best. I based the value of the Side Effect on the fact that the Side Effect is constant and directly hinders using the power. Total Powers cost: 198 points. SKILLS +2 with Optic Blast (6 points) +2 vs. Range with Optic Blast (4 points) Climbing 12- (3 points) Combat Driving 12- (3 points) Combat Piloting 12- (3 points) Deduction 12- (3 points) Demolitions 12- (3 points) Electronics 12- (3 points) KS: Mutant Affairs 11- (2 points) KS: Mutant Powers 11- (2 points) Martial Arts: Defensive Strike, M. Dodge, M. Strike (13 points) Mechanics 12- (3 points) Navigation: Air 12- (2 points) Paramedics 12- (3 points) Survival: Temperate/Subtropical 12- (2 points) Systems Operation 12- (3 points) Tactics 12- (3 points) Teamwork 12- (3 points) TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, Small Planes, Combat Aircraft, Small Motorized Boats (4 points) PERKS Contact: Toad 8- (Has access to the Brotherhood)(2 points) Reputation: Mutant Super Hero 11- (Known to the general public)(2 points) Total Skill & Perk cost: 72 points Total Cost: 350 points DISADVANTAGES Distinctive Feature: Mutant (Concealable, Major Reaction, Detectable only by Genetic scans or tests) (5 points) Hunted: Hellfire Club 8- (More Pow, NCI, Cyclops has Public Identity, Watched) (15 points) Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. 11- (More Pow, NCI, Cyclops has Public Identity, Watched) (20 points) Hunted: Sinister 8-* (More Pow, NCI, Cyclops has Public Identity, Capture) (25 points) Psychological Limitation: Code vs. Killing (Common, Total) (20 points) Psychological Limitation: In Love with Marvel Girl (Common, Strong) (15 points) Reputation: Former Terrorist 8- (Extreme) (10 points) Rivalry: Wolverine (Romantic Rival, Wolverine is More Powerful, Cyclops seeks to outdo Wolverine, Wolverine is Aware of Rivalry) (10 points) Social Limitation: Mutant (Frequently, Major) (15 points) Social Limitation: Public Identity (Frequently, Major) (15 points) *Sinister has only been briefly mentioned in the Ultimate Universe, and no connection to Cyclops has been established. But since Sinister will be one of the main villains in my campaign (one of the PCs will be Cable), I went ahead and included this in Cyclops' writeup. Total Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Total Points: 350

I'm rather confused by the Multiform power. Is it intended to build characters who have several similarly-powered forms, or characters who transform into a more powerful creature (superheroes like Captain Marvel and the Hulk)? The Multiform description says that "A character's forms are built on the same base points as the true form," so this seems to indicate that Multiform are effectively limited to the character's basic power level, while the "true form" will be substantially weaker (having paid for the Multiform power). Is this correct? Following that, how would one build a character who transforms into somebody much more powerful? Is this what OIHID is for? Patrick J McGraw

I would figure Colossus for Multiform. Patrick J McGraw

Yep. The inability to finish a project marks them as amateurs (in the pejorative sense) just as much as bad grammar. Some people say that I'm prejudiced against fanfiction, but since my opinion is based on pat experience I would call it a learned opinion. Fanfiction writers, in my experience, lack the ability to be real writers. Heck, I've got plenty of ideas for comic book stories I'd like to do. But the only way anyone's seeing them is when I get them produced and published. Patrick J McGraw

It's not my only criterion, but it's one of the early ones. There is no excuse for a writer using poor grammar. Personal proofreading won't find everything, of course, but if you proffread something and still get one or more grammatical errors in every paragraph, you need to go back and re-learn grammar before you start writing again. Technical quality is very important, if someone wants their work to look like anything other than amatuer hackwork. Furthermore, bad grammar interferes with the writer's ideas and their presentation. Errors distract the reader from what the author is trying to say. To be taken seriously, an artist needs to understand and properly use the tools of his medium - and in a writer's case this includes grammar. Patrick J McGraw

Video games are very different from RPG because, while you interact with them, they are more like movies: you don't control the plot. You might be in the story, but you don't control it. This was one of the reasons why I decided not to run a Champions game in a setting I had developed - I realized that there was a particular story I wanted to tell, and the PCs would essentially be spectators to it. It would make for a really good comic book, but a bad RPG campaign. Regarding Baldur's Gate: DA II; I've heard that it is essentially just like the first game, only more so. This true? If so, I'll definitely pick it up, the first DA game was about the most fun I've ever had hitting things and making them die for eight hours. Patrick J McGraw

Really? Because I've yet to see a piece of fanfiction that isn't full of grammatical errors. Patrick J McGraw

Waittaminute - 186 DC Heroes Attribute Points? That's ridiculous. Beings on the power level of the Endless top out at 40-50 in their best abilities. Patrick J McGraw

Isn't "fantastic fanfiction author" an oxymoron? Patrick J McGraw

I brought this up with some friends, and the only one who has read the Authority besides me fell back on the old "the JLA will be trying to subdue the Authority, the Authority will be trying to kill the JLA, the Authority has the edge" trope. He still doesn't seem to understand that makes the Authority no different from any of the other villains that the JLA has trounced. Having read quite a bit of the Authority and the JLA, I definitely give the win to the JLA. The Authority can deal out a lot of damage, but aren't so good at soaking it up - look at how often Apollo gets almost killed, and he's one of the toughest members of the team. The JLA, on the other hand, excels at both dishing out and taking damage. Furthermore, they study their opponents, make plans, and operate as a team - something the Authority very rarely bothers to do, usually being confident in their ability to kill anything with one blow. The thing is, half the JLA are so powerful that they could take out the Authority individually. Superman's displays of power dwarf anything that Apollo has done (yes, even post-Crisis Superman). Martian Manhunter one of the most powerful telepaths in any setting, and the Authority has proven weak against telepathy.Whatever speed advantages the Auroity has pale in comparsion to the JLA's speedsters - yes, I know the Midnighter is superhumanly fast, but his speed enhancements are insignificant compared to what the Flash (or even Superman) can do. And the Green Lantern's VPP may be in a similar range to the engineer's but he's much more creative about using it - and he usually uses it to enchance his teammates, rather than fight on his own. And there's the Authority's main weakness. They don't operate as a very good team. The Authority's weaknesses are also much more exploitable, and the JLA excels at exploiting weaknesses - that's what they have Batman for, after all. The Authority have raw power, but the JLA has more, along with smarts and teamwork. Patrick J McGraw

The writeup they have is Persistent and Always On, with OAF applied to Always On (not kidding). My dissatisfaction with that writeup was partly what led me here. Patrick J McGraw

According to the much-maligned Official Handbook of the Marvel universe, Cyclops does tricks by focusing his eyes. No Consious Control wouldn't apply. He can choose whether or not to use the beams by closing his eyes. The beams would be Reduced END (O END), in my opinion. That would be kind of like Spider-Man getting an unstable molecule costume from the FF and no longer needing to engage in tailoring every Thursday afternoon. Like I said, I definitely see the nature of his power more as an EC than a Multipower. Patrick J McGraw

Cap does kill enemy combatants when he feels it necessary, so his Code vs. Killing would not be Total. Regarding the shield/knockback issue: Cap doesn't take knockback if he blocks an attack with his shield. It absorbs kinectic energy. Also, Cap can land on his shield after falling from any height and not take damage. Patrick J McGraw

Thanks for the feedback. I do see now that the claws are clearly the visual effect of his HKA, and so don't qualify for a power. For the costume issue, the UU doesn't have many supers, and like I said, and X-Men uniform is likely to be recognized. But the arguments that it doesn't qualiy as a DF make a lot of sense. Looks like it'll be covered by Social Limitations. Should the mteal skeleton also qualify as a Physical Limitation? It doesn't seem to add any appreciable weight to Wolverine, but it does make him extra vulnerable to magnetic power - not exactly an uncommon concern for an X-Man. Patrick J McGraw

Thing is, the Ultimate Universe features a lot of public awareness of the human-mutant issue, and the X-Men are very public. So an X-Men uniform doesn't say "I'm a superhero," but "I'm a mutant, and according to lots of sources I want to wipe out your entire species." Bit of a difference between that membership in a basketball team. As for the claws, I see your point. They're just the visual effect of his power, and that's part of a power, not cause for a separate Distinctive Feature. Patrick J McGraw

That's the special effect of his Missile Deflection. The game effect of Missile Deflection is "stops ranged attacks," which is what destroying the incoming attacks does. It has happened a number of times. There have even been instances where he blocked a sustained blast with one of his own, holding an attack at bay while his teammates took another angle of attack. While we haven't seen Ultimate Cyclops do this, everything he have seen indicates that his power is unchanged. Actually, Cyclops and Havok have different special effects for their EBs. They are immune to each other's powers because they are brothers - the section of Personal Immunity notes that it sometimes applies to siblings as well. I don't really see how. All of the different ways he hits things can be replicated with maneuvers like Spread Attack and Rapid Fire. Patrick J McGraw

I'm a bit confused as to how to apply multiple distinctive features, as the entry is rather vague on whetehr or not characters can have them. To make the example easier, I'll look at Wolverine (the Ultimate Universe version): Mutant: Concealable, extreme reaction, only detected by unusual senses (gene scan, tissue sample examination) Claws: Easily concealed, major reaction, detected by commonly-used senses. Metal Skeleton: Not concealable, always noticed, only detectable by unusual senses (metal detector, x-ray). X-Men Uniform: Easily concealed, major reaction, detectable by commonly-used senses. From what I understand, Mutant and Metal Skeleton cause no problems, as they don't overlap senses. But Claws and the Uniform both involve Sight, and both also indicate Wolverine's mutant status. So should he only have one? Should they be worth less, since they overlap with mutant? Patrick J McGraw

One very amusing possibility with such a matchup occured to me: the Midnighter vs. Plastic Man. There's one opponent Midnighter would not be able to predict. Patrick J McGraw

Both powers involve him doing the same thing: pushing his button and zapping something. He only does one thing at a time, but a Multipower would require him to shift power between zapping things and zapping things. Since rearranging Active Points in a Multipower is a zero-phase action, a multipower eye beam would prevent Cyclops from being able to abort to a deflection because he spent his last phase attacking, or to limit the power of his beams so that he could deflect attacks before his next phase. His power doesn't work that way. I'll stick with an Elemental Control. Patrick J McGraw

That's what I'll probably go with. Infrequently, Fully Impairing. Rage wrote: Variable Limitation sounds good, since that will avoid things like Restrainable partially bought off with IIF, etc. Cyclops' visor is an OAf, though, as someone can grab it and yank it off his head with a simple attack (as Nightcrawler did in #7). Uncontrolled also seems to apply to "fire and forget" powers, not to constant streams of energy. Patrick J McGraw

Standard Opening: I’m preparing to run a game set in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. I’ve been roleplaying for ten years, but I’m new to the Hero System. To help prepare for my game, and more importantly to help learn the ins and outs of the system, I’m statting up the entire Ultimate Universe. What I’m looking for here is feedback and suggestions on how to get the effects I want using the Hero system, rather than precisely replicating the abilities of the characters (though I’d like to do that, too). (In addition, whenever I lack information about a character’s abilities, I’m going to fall back on the assumption that they’re pretty much the same as their Marvel Universe counterpart.) I’ve already gone over Spider-Man, and was going to do the Green Goblin next. But he’s got some complicated Multiform stuff that I’d rather hold off on. Since the main thing I’m focusing on right now is Power Modifiers, I thought I’d look at a guy who is just loaded with them: the X-Men’s Cyclops. Cyclop’s mundane abilities are very straightforward. Good (but not exceptional) characteristics, lots of skills. The main area of interest is his powers. Cyclops’ optic blasts present an interesting challenge. As a power, it’s easy enough to place. He does two things with the blast: hits things to damage them, and deflects incoming attacks. Thus we have the Energy Blast Power and the Missile Deflection power. Since they are both uses of the same power, and would be equally affected by Adjustment powers like Drain, we’re probably looking at a two-power Elemental Control. So here’s the traits we’re looking to represent, starting with the easy ones: 1. Beam Power: Judging from the beams effectiveness against various targets, we’re looking at 12-14d6 here. It loses power with range, so Reduced By Range is appropriate. Cyclops can widen the beam at the cost of diminished power. The combat rules for “spreading an attack†represent this perfectly, so we don’t need a Modifier. 2. Cyclops’ flesh absorbs the beams with no effect. The Personal Immunity advantage in action. 3. Persistent eyebeams. The only thing that turns them off (short of a Drain or Suppress) is being absorbed by Cyclops’ flesh (i.e. closing his eyes) or being reflected by ruby quartz. The Champions book suggests Reduced Endurance (No END), Persistent, and Always On, with Always On partially bought off with OAF (visor). This seems a bit incomplete, as it doesn’t cover the effects of losing his visor. Cyclops can still turn the beam off at will, but at the cost of being blinded. And if he gains another Targeting Sense (such as through a telepathic link), he can still use his blast to fair effect. In addition, if he is unable to operate the visor, his can’t use his power at all. To open his visor, Cyclops needs to either press the button on it (or raise his glasses), requiring a free hand – the Restrainable Limitation in action. However… his combat uniform has button for his visor on his gloves, which would require restraining his fingers, not just his arms. So what we have is a power that Cyclops can usually use, but certain circumstances can prevent it. How to we represent this? Restrainable seems a bit too broad, since his gloves let him get around Grabs or Entangles that would normally Restrain a power. On the other hand, his fingers could be restrained (hard enough to do that I wouldn’t qualify it for a Limitation), or his gloves could be removed (an IIF, except that he doesn’t need the gloves to use his power, just to avoid being Restrained). I still don’t know what to do about the blindness factor. Possibly a Physical Limitation. 4. How much of this would also apply to Missile Deflection? Its use is restricted in all the same ways as the Energy Blast – should it have all the same Modifiers except for those like Reduced by Range, Reduced END, and such that don’t apply to a Missile Deflection. Anyway, feedback and suggestions are welcome. Patrick J McGraw

Ultimate Spider-Man Here's the final write-up (apologies for format problems, I lack skills) SPIDER-MAN Val Char Cost Roll Notes 41 STR 31 17- Lift 7,200 kg; 8d6 33 DEX 69 16- OCV: 11/DCV: 11 20 CON 20 13- 16 BODY 12 12- 23 INT 13 14- PER Roll 14- 13 EGO 6 12- ECV: 4 8 PRE -2 10- PRE Attack: 2d6 12 COM 1 11- 12 PD 4 Total: 12 PD (2 rPD) 8 ED 4 Total: 8 ED (2 rED) 6 SPD 17 Phases: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 12 REC 6 50 END 5 47 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 186 Movement: Running: 10â€/20†Leaping: 13â€/26†Swinging: 16â€/32†Cost END Powers 150 - Webshooters: Multipower, 100-point reserve; 50 Boostable Charges (no chance of burnout, +1 ¼)(225 Active Points); all OIF (-1/2) 11f 0 1) Webs: Entangle 10d6 (100 Active Points); Nonresistant DEF (-1/4), OIF (-1/2) 2u 0 2) Web in Your Eyes!: Sight Group Flash 8d6 (40 Active Points); Does Not Work Against Desolidified Characters (-1/4), OIF (-1/2), Does Not Work Against Transparent Barriers (-1/4) 1u 2 3) Webswinging: Swinging 16†(16 Active Points); Costs END (-1/2), OIF (-1/2) 2u 0 4) Yoink!: Stretching 10†(50 Active Points); Always Direct (-1/4), No Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), Cannot Do Damage (Grab only, -1/2), Limited Body Parts (Weblines, -1/4), OIF (-1/2) 4 0 Jumping: Leaping +5†5 0 Quick Healer: Healing 1d6 (Regeneration; 1 BODY per 6 hours), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2), Persistent (+1/2)(20 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), Extra Time (6 hours, -2 ¼) 8 1 Sprint: Running +4†20 0 Spastic Dodge: Missile Deflection (all Ranged attacks) 2 0 Tough: Damage Resistance 4 (2 rPD, 2 rED) 13 2 Trampopoline!: Leaping +20†(20 Active Points), Linked (to Entangle when creating horizontal walls, -1/2) 23 0 Wall-Crawling: Clinging (STR 80) Perks 1 Reputation: Hero +1, known to the residents of New York City, 11- Talents 30 Spider-Sense: Danger Sense 17 (out of combat, any danger) 4 Flexible: Contortionist Skills 6 +2 OCV with Webshooters 5 +1 with Science skills 3 Scientist 3 Acrobatics 16- 0 Acting 8- 3 Breakfall 16- 0 Climbing 8- 3 Computer Programming 14- 0 Concealment 8- 3 Contortionist 16- -1 Conversation (no everyman familiarity) 0 Deduction 8- 3 Electronics 14- 7 Inventor 16- 2 CK: New York City 11- 0 Paramedics 8- -1 Persuasion (no everyman familiarity) 0 PS: Photography 11- 2 SS: Biochemistry 15- 1 SS: Biology 12- 1 SS: Biophysics 12- 2 SS: Chemistry 15- 2 SS: Inorganic Chemistry 15- 2 SS: Organic Chemistry 15- 2 SS: Physics 15- 5 Shadowing 15- 0 Stealth 8- -1 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles (no everyman familiarity) Total Powers & Skill Cost: 328 Total Cost: 514 354+ Disadvantages 10 DNPC: Mary Jane Watson (girlfriend) 8- (Normal) 15 Hunted: Green Goblin 8- (As Pow, NCI, Enslave) 10 Hunted: Kingpin 8- (Less Pow, NCI, Kill) 15 Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. 11- (More Pow, NCI, Watched) 20 Psychological Limitation: Code Versus Killing (Common, Total) 20 Psychological Limitation: Novice Hero (Very Common, Strong) 20 Psychological Limitation: Protective of Innocents (Very Commong, Strong) 15 Reputation: Masked Menace, 14- 15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Peter Parker) (Frequently, Major) 20 Unluck 4d6 Total Disadvantage Points: 160 Next up: the Green Goblin! Patrick J McGraw

I like this. I'll be sure to include it in the final writeup. I follow all the Ultimate titles except for Ultimate Adventures. Ultimate Six has been very interesting. I'm looking forward to see how it resolves. Patrick J McGraw

Re: Re: New to the system, running an Ultimate Marvel Game I am trying to build a faithful rendition, so I'm not too worried about optimizing my points. As for being taken out by normals with guns... that's just what happens in Volume 5. Spider-Man is very hard to hit, but he still gets the crap beaten out of him every other issue or so. I don't plan on him fighting anybody but my writeups of other Ultimate characters, or my PCs (who will have a much lower point base anyway). Patrick J McGraw