megaplayboy

Re: Code VS Killing Poll Not to derail, but how do character's PCs with the CVK #1 feel about the bad guys they catch being tried, sentenced and executed? It always amazed me that no psychiatrist would ever find the Joker competent to stand trial--he appears to be "legally sane" by the definition of most court systems...I think that would be a very interesting storyline(Joker is found sane this time around, sentenced to death...150 issues later, he gets put to death).

Re: Code VS Killing Poll I played one vigilante PC whose attitude toward killing was smack in the middle between Batman and the Punisher. He'd try to gather evidence against the criminal, to put them in prison first. If they seemed to find a way to "get out of jail free", he'd give them a warning. If they ignored the warning and re-offended, he'd do greivous bodily harm in the process of bringing them in. If they still found a loophole after that, he'd give them a "final warning". One more offense, and it'd be their last. Generally he was dealing with big-time drug dealers, hitmen, crime lords, etc. He'd only play the JJE(judge/jury/executioner) role as a last resort. Otherwise the context for his use of lethal force would be last resort self-defense and last resort defense of innocents. I'm not sure that approach(principled vigilantism) is covered in the choices above.

Re: I just can't get into Cosmic Level play uh, really it's all make-believe and roleplay--you're playing Zeus instead of Theseus, that's all Actually the writeups in the book look very different from each other, and if anything tend to stray a way from straight "power gaming". But there's not as much difference as people think between 10 or 20 or 30+ dice--sure, you have a bigger impact on the environment, and the distance between your PC and "normal human" is bigger, but the stage you're acting on tends to be bigger, your enemies are equally capable, and you still have to deal with your DNPCs, your psych lims, etc. What frustrates me is players who are into campaigns that are just starting out, and lose interest a year or three later because "things have gotten too powerful". It's like an addiction to playing "newbies", and an aversion to playing characters that might be a)knowledgeable about how to use their powers, and b)mature and responsible in handling their social interactions and dealing with gritty situations.

Re: Actung! Panzer! IIRC, some of the Tigers and King Tigers carried a close quarters mortar or grenade launcher of some sort, which served the same purpose as the canister rounds on American tanks.

Re: Cosmic character for review

Re: Miscellaneous char questions

Re: Miscellaneous char questions I'd go with a Vulnerability, and maybe a limitation on some powers(to reflect, for example, that an entangle using XD energy might be harder to escape). Generally, high-level characters are slightly more interesting with a weakness that makes them more dependent on their teammates.

Re: GGU NPCs For Review I see the mental powers are cumulative, but there's no multiple on the cum? Is it an intentionally weak effect? Wouldn't get more than one level on most normals...

Re: Stackable SPEED penalty skill levels with block would probably work, too--I think those'd probably run a point apiece(since +1 OCV with block costs two points). They would apply towards the penalties for successive blocks, and allow the character to get more mileage out of the same abort maneuver.

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... This being the political season--most recently I finished "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank, an insightful look into changing voting patterns in the midwest and the reasons behind it. I picked up the 9/11 report and am making my way through it.

Re: What's the most useless supplement you'd actually like to see? The Big Book of Comeliness --an exhaustive look at the least expensive, least used stat in the Hero system, discussing benchmarks, how to use it, optional COM-based skills, and a couple representative writeups, maybe even some "comeliness" tricks. Should be a solid 32 page supplement.

Re: Cool Names for a Superman Tribute Character? Paragon Paragirl/Paragal Kid Paragon Overman Overgirl Overman, Jr. Olympian Olympia Special Olympian

Re: penalties and bonuses for Seduction skill rolls well, of course, PCs are supposed to be largely immune to the mechanical effects of PRE skills(while expected to conform in surface reaction, the decision is still theirs). Another thing would just be assigning hefty penalties to the PCs seduction attempts, since their behavior would engender hostility.

Re: penalties and bonuses for Seduction skill rolls My assumption is that if you even have the skill at 8-, you are still better than average at befriending people and getting dates. Looking at the real world, clearly there are people who are extremely effective at meeting people, getting dates, and even getting people to do things they would normally never even contemplate. I think most guys know at least one guy in high school, college or beyond who was ridiculously effective at meeting and dating women, and left other guys scratching their heads. So my thoughts are, at 8 or less, you kind of have a knack for making friends and getting dates, but it's pretty low key. At 11 or 12 or less, you're the life of the party, and the local pick-up artist--and you will probably have one or two wild tales to tell before settling down. At 14 or 15 or less, you're a major "player", and many members of the opposite sex may wake up wondering how the heck they got there(but possibly not minding too much). At 16 or 17 or less, this is James Bond/James T. Kirk territory--your black book works as a backup phone book, and another book could be filled with tales of your wilder experiences. At 18 or 19 or less, this is Don Juan/Casanova level--the extraordinary becomes routine, and the impossible becomes possible. Watch out for angry men with shotguns! At the 20+ level, this is "megaplayboy" territory(heh)--it's very close to being a superpower at this point. One of my pet peeves is GMs who don't seem to care what the dice say, if the player doesn't roleplay the skill to their satisfaction, they don't succeed. The reason why I disagree with this: I don't actually have to know martial to play a martial artist. I don't have to know how to program computers to play a programmer. I don't have to pantomime lifting a tank while playing a brick. So why should I have to be as smart or charming as my character is supposed to be? Not everyone's a great roleplayer. If you have the skill, that should trump bad acting on your part. Otherwise, every social interaction is "won" by the better roleplayer(in the subjective judgment of the GM). I agree that PCs shouldn't be forced to conform to the results of successful PRE skill rolls on them--but they should react appropriately(even if they decide otherwise) when such skills are used successfully.

Here's a deceptively simple question: What would be the "base time" and difficulty level for the following seduction-based social interactions? 1. striking up a conversation and getting a phone number for a future date 2. .....and getting a firm committment to a date in the very near future 3. .....and getting them to accompany you on a date NOW(dinner, dancing, etc.) 4. ....and getting them to come back to your apartment/hotel room immediately 5. ....and their cute friend too My take is that the base period should be some time between 5 minutes and an hour, and that "rush" attempts would incur a penalty, while taking more time would give a bonus to success. I think the first instance is an incredibly easy and routine use of seduction, and should probably be a +3-+5 type of roll, depending on other circumstances. The second is still pretty straight-forward, and probably a 0 to +2 type of roll. The third is moderately challenging, probably a straight roll or a -1 at most. The 4th is tougher, but not ridiculously so--I'd say -2 or -3 in most instances. The last situation is likely extremely difficult, but not really what I'd consider an "impossible skill roll", so I'd put the difficulty at maybe -5 or -6, and each "target" gets to make a roll, of course. The reason I'm asking for feedback is because I have a PC with the skill, and I need some ballpark idea of how effective he is with the skill. He's a compulsive womanizer, and likely to use the skill a lot. But if every NPC can just shrug off/blow off his charms, it will be a)frustrating, and b)out-of-concept for the character.

Re: A look at Damage Reduction well, an alternative might be buying a defense with the limitation "permeable", which means that the defense treats all attacks as though they were penetrating. You could take this on only part of the character's defenses, so that attacks below a certain threshold would still not do damage, but those above it would do just a few points of stun, until they were big enough. So you could have a bad guy with 15-20 DEF, then an extra 20-40 def with the permeable limitation(-1/2?).

Re: Extra CON only to prevent CON Stunning no figureds, no CON rolls--I like the -1 lim, because it comports with the 1pt per pt of defense principle--what you're buying is "stun defense", in effect. Plus the math is easier than a -3/4

Re: 6v1 Even Fight The alternative to Damage reduction is to give the villain defenses set at about 3.25 times the campaign DCs(25 for an 8d6 level game, 32 for a 10d6 level game, 38 for a 12d6 level game, etc), plus a CON about 10-20 points higher than the team brick's CON, and STUN about 50% above the base figured stat(so if the base STUN is 60, pump it up to 90). That will give you a long fight where generally the PCs are nickel and diming the MV, and where big attacks can get decent stun through, but where it is impossible to stun the villain without teamwork. Flash defense or enhanced senses, plus the ability to get out of an entangle quickly are must-have traits for solo villains who take on hero teams. Otherwise they'll fall in a half turn or less, the moment they're immobilized or have their DCv lowered.

Re: What do you call "Four Color"?

Re: Spiderman Vs. Firelord There's no evidence from his previous appearances that, with respect to physical toughness , Firelord rates any higher than a mid-level Marvel brick--like the Rhino, or She-Hulk. Spiderman can hurt those people in a fight. Therefore, Spiderman is capable of hurting Firelord in a fight. Firelord isn't as fast as the Surfer, and has been fairly readily hit by a number of Marvel heroes significantly slower than Spidey. Therefore, Spidey is capable of hitting Firelord. It's already been explained why Firelord didn't go all out and incinerate a city block while fighting him. If he can hit him, and hurt him, then going all out against an unfocused Firelord has a decent chance of actually dropping him. It's an "outlier", as they say, but not completely inconsistent with previous representations of both characters.

Re: Spiderman Vs. Firelord A few points: 1. except for Morg, all heralds after the Silver Surfer are distinctively weaker than Norrin Radd; in fact Firelord was given a hard time by a few different non-cosmic heroes. Pyreus Kril is not as physically strong or tough, nor as fast as the Surfer. 2. Calling Spiderman a "street level hero" is about as accurate as calling Batman a "common vigilante"--Spidey is the best of the best, combat-wise, at that level, and has humiliated stronger opponents before. Keep in mind the Rhino is as strong as the Thing, and heavily armored everywhere but his face, and Spidey routinely hands his butt to him. 3.IMHO, the fight is stretching things a bit, but not completely implausible.

Re: SUPER product endorsements? Who's doing the "male enhancement" ads? Mr. Fantastic? Giant Man? Unus the Untouchable could promote his own brand of prophylactics

Re: Galactic Champions

Re: Galactic Champions That's easy--guys like Spiderman or Batman don't really want to hurt thugs, so they pull their punches or even lower the number of dice they are throwing. Against higher level opponents they use everything in their bag of tricks, push their strongest attacks, and use their tactical skills to the utmost.

Re: Galactic Champions My only real disappointment(aside from no Malvan Ultradreadnought writeup--sigh) was that there wasn't more material devoted to general issues involving the highest level Hero System campaigns. I'd like to suggest a new feature in Digital Hero: Megascale Hero. Basically it would have tips for running high level games, troubleshooting the kinds of problems that might pop up, writeups for high end and "plot device" type powers, and writeups for either iconic CU NPCs or for non-CU characters. I think it would be nice to see more attention paid to the potential "epic level hero" genre, if you will.