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the last campaign I played and ran in went from 250-500+ points over 4 years. Currently we are looking at a starter game of 275 points, and an "iconic" campaign with no point limits defined yet. Holding my breath until Galactic Champions comes out--waiting to see people with expressions like:eek:

"Our city is named after its founder, Louis Campaigne, a great French-American. No one could ever remember the 'e' at the end, though, so we dropped it."

To illustrate what I was asking about, if I have 2 negative CSLs with breakout rolls, and I use mind control, can I say that the targeting roll and attack action for the negative levels is the same as the targeting roll and attack action for the mind control(i.e., when I hit with mind control, the negative levels automatically 'hit' as well)? Is it necessary to take any additional power modifiers to do this?

Three-part question: Can you buy negative skill levels for mental powers in order to reduce someone's roll to break out of a mental power? How much would that cost? If you have to make an attack roll, is a second attack roll(and attack action) necessary, or can it be defined as essentially being the same attack as the mental power?

Black Enchantress from Coriolis Effect. The 7 Horsemen--scary. Herr Doktor from GAC 1st ed. Viperia--if she had heroic psych lims, she'd be a perfect low-level Galactic Champions PC

I think a good rule of thumb is that "superhuman" stats start at about 35+ for physical stats, and 60+ for non-physical stats. That is, anyone with a physical stat of 35+ or a non-physical stat of 60+ is indisputably superhuman. The rationale? In FRED, a skill roll of 21- is considered a "superhuman" level. To get that level with purely stat based rolls requires a 60 INT or PRE, for example. For physical stats, the equivalent is a +12 to OCV, which requires a 35 DEX. So I think the guidelines in the Champions genre book and in Champions Universe are a good delineation of the difference between legendary and superhuman. Remember, INT is a measure of perceptual speed, memory, and quick thinking and insight in real time. It is not a measure of knowledge or "IQ". I like the original proposition stated some time ago--stats above 20 are one in a million, and possibly only 1 in a thousand for the non-physical stats. Mental stats over 30 are definitely 1 in a million for humans, though.

A compromise solution for heroic level games would be to set the maxima levels lower for physical stats. You could set them at 15, and to get a 20 STR would cost 15 points, a 25 STR would cost 25 points, and a 30 STR(maximum legendary human STR in the Hero Universe) would cost 35 points. A 20 STR in the 2/1 system would cost 20 points, and a 30 would cost 60 points! I'm not sure a 30 STR would ever be worth 60 points, even with the figureds(+10 STUN, +4 REC, +4 PD) thrown in. It seems to me the maximum "savings" in the existing system is no greater than 10 points. Hey, 5 points of INT gets you at least 8 points of benefits-- +1 to all perception rolls(3 points) +1 to all INT-based rolls(5 points) +1 to memory rolls so maybe INT and PRE should cost 2/1 as well

Well, it seems like the Malvans and Varanyi are both essentially superhuman. The Varanyi have some high-level psis among them, and there may be some Malvans near Firewing's level.

I have a hankering to run an "Avenger League Z" game at a con shortly after GC is finally released:D

well, another issue that's not dealt with is simple experience progression. For example, if you start with a 350 point group, and run once a month, averaging about 30xp per year, in 5 years that group will average 500 points, and in 10, 650. For a group meeting twice a week, averaging 50-60 xp per year, that group will average 600-650 points after 5 years, and 850-950 points after 10. For a weekly game group, averaging 100 xp per year(40 weekends at 2.5 xp each), the numbers are astronomical. 850 point PCs after 5 years, and 1350+ after 10. Most of the weaker characters are only weak for the 1st 150 xp or so. Most characters at 600+ points are no longer weak, and unless no one wants a successful campaign lasting longer than a few years, high powered characters are a fact of life which Hero gamers (and Hero Games) cannot afford to ignore.

That's a writer decision and has little to do with the relative power of the characters:) If Mon-El had as much personality as Cosmic Boy, the lesser-powered characters would be completely overshadowed in the story by the more capable ones. Ditto for Thor on the Avengers, Supes (to a lesser extent) on the JLA, etc.

My point is that most players in a LSH game would rather not play the low-level members. Ditto for an Avengers or JLA-type set-up. "LSH? Cool! I wanna play Mon-El?" "Nope, sorry, can't do that...too powerful." "Ah, man...how about Timber Wolf? Wildfire? Supergirl? Brainiac?" "no, no, no, and maybe...just tone down the force field, and don't give him too many skills or make his gadget pool too big." "man, this sucks." "Ineffectual Lass is still available!" "F#$@ off."

Yeah, point taken, but honestly--who wants to play the LAME members of the Legion(except in a light comedy game)? Matter-Eater Lad? Duo Damsel? Dream Girl? Light Lass? Bouncing Boy? Meanwhile, on the same team: Supergirl Superboy Brainiac 5(add up everything he can do and he's well beyond 350) UltraBoy Colossal Boy WildFire Mon-El Blok TimberWolf Saturn Girl(lately) I don't characterize any of the high-end teams in the comics by their weakest members. That's disingenuous, IMHO, and simply an attempt to divert the discussion from an honest question: "Why CAN'T we play a game with characters as powerful and capable as the most powerful and capable heroes in the comics?"

well, speaking of teams: LSH Guardians of the Galaxy Adam Warlock and The Infinity Watch Green Lantern Corps high end versions of the JLA and Avengers the short-lived "Thor Corps", and the ad hoc team which took on Tyrant The New Gods The Eternals(also illustrated/created by Kirby, IIRC) The "core 4" Defenders Shi-ar Imperial Guard are all examples of high powered superteams. They're not as common as the mid-level teams in the comics, but they're certainly not uncommon. I think that there exists in the Hero gaming community some antipathy towards high-level campaigns. Usually this boils down into 3 basic complaints/concerns: 1. high level characters are more separated from humanity, and thus a lot of roleplaying interactions are constrained. 2. unless characters are narrowly defined, everyone can do everything, and people tweak the system to remove a great deal of challenge from the game. 3. A smaller range of stories available for high level campaigns--since you're not going to go after street crime, for example. 4. association with powergaming and munchkinism. Generally I think many of these concerns are unfounded, but I still think a bias definitely exists, at least I have found that in my experience. I hope that this book will address those concerns, to ease the burden for prospective GMs. I don't want to expect too much from this book, but it looks like it will be the only release to address high-level campaigns, so it's important to me that it say something.

The rules state that a roll of 3 always succeeds. So if I roll a 3 to hit and the other guy rolls a "3" to block, or a similar thing happens in an opposed skill contest, what happens? Is this one of those "GM discretion" things?

I'm starting up a high level game, either before or when Galactic Champions arrives, and I'm trying to think up the basic epic villain archetypes. So far: 1. Dimensional Conqueror/Terror from Beyond--kind of the top of the food chain. This is actually a type of villain that is highly successful, and our lowly dimension is the only one that seems to frustrate their ambitions again and again. 2. Supernatural Evil Power--a slight variation on 1, generally your demonic types fall into this category. 3. Alien overlord--a powerful alien emperor who wants to build an intergalactic bypass in the space the planet currently occupies. 4. inscrutable cosmic entity--your basic potentially threatening quasi-omnipotent being. 5. Evil deity 6. brilliant criminal mastermind--a villain whose primary ability is staying two steps ahead of the heroes. 7. arrogant worldbeater--see Zerstoiten, Albert. 8. ruthless nihilist--e.g., Thanos, Mechanon, etc. 9. Chauvinistic supremacist--e.g., Magneto 10. evil timelord 11. elitist mega bully--e.g. Vegeta, Champion from Elders of the Universe 12. cosmic game player--a variant of 4. if anyone else can think of any classic epic villain "types", feel free to post 'em:D

I suspect that any further support for Galactic Champions will depend on how hot the sales are and how much interest is expressed here on the boards in further product. I for one want to know if a typical cosmic hero can dismantle a Terran Empire Battleship:D

I think there's no question the 50 INT guy would be able to perceive things on the battlefield much more clearly IF he can overcome his arrogant preconceptions("There's no way they can foil this plan!"). So, a 20 EGO villain with a total committment lim needs an 8- to snap out of it and do what he needs to do to salvage his plan. Maybe less if it's blatantly obvious. I'd give him a small bonus to his ego roll if he makes the per roll by a lot.

Interesting character concept. The only question I have is regarding the legality of representing duplication this way. Perhaps buying duplication linked to the transform? The reason why I ask this is that normally, according to FRED, you can't really use transform to give a target more points that they have to begin with, except perhaps for a limited period of time.

Can a follower have followers? For example, an Emperor has a staff of generals, and the generals essentially have their armies as followers? The generals are loyal to the Emperor and their followers are loyal to them? I know this is rife for abuse, but if you have to deduct points from one to pay for the other, why not?

Kid Miracleman--Shazam as sociopath--wiped out half of London in evil wicked nasty ways in MM#14. Loki--1st Avengers foe, relies on his wits to bedevil his brother. The Maestro--the evil hulk from the future. Ultron Dr. Doom Red Skull--no other ex-Nazis need apply. Kingpin--even Batman would have a hard time bringing him down. Majin Vegeta--purely obsessed with defeating his rival, Goku. Brolly--not much personality, but the perfect unstoppable menace--would vaporize Doomsday in seconds. Catwoman--the one you don't mind watching slink away with her stolen booty:D

Is it possible to use the cumulative advantage with summon? e.g., opening a gate for a demonic invasion--x number of demons come through per phase, up to the cumulative limit...

I was in a game where the mentalist grandaughter of an ex-Nazi was possessed by his spirit, which took over her body periodically. He had occasional partial relapses, and was a bit on the anti-hero side, but eventually became undeniably heroic. What was really odd was that he was on the same team with a texan construction/demolition foreman/ex military man who transformed into a 12 foot, 6 ton Iron golem with a glowing Star of David on his forehead... yep, that was pretty much a Defenders type non-team team...

I'm not sure wind resistance is a major factor vis a vis' comic book physics:D BUT, you could simply halve distance for unbalanced, and halve it again for non-aerodynamic objects...that way there's a limit to how far you can throw bulky objects...

well, the distance you can throw an object is dependent on the velocity you impart to it. increasing distance by two times requires 4x as much strength. So, if I can throw a football 50 yards, and someone 100x stronger could throw it 500 yards...then to throw a 70 ton tank 500 yards...hmm..if 60 STR = 5 yards, then it would take 100x the velocity to travel 500 yards, so 10,000 times the strength to throw it 5 yards; about 125 STR! So the 130 STR of the enraged hulk in the gametrader writeup seems about right to me:D