Mike W

Re: Your PC's might be underpowered if... the local beat cops are packing more firepower.

Re: Moving from D&D - rules issues UMA stretched that a bit as a way to build things like weapon katas/flourishes.

Re: Moving from D&D - rules issues The whole point is that we're trying to come up with something that does damage anyone who tries to get by I thought. And you can always put limits on it. Martial artist counterstrikes can be built as damage shields(see Ultimate Martial Artist), so I would argue for variant of that.

Re: Moving from D&D - rules issues OK, first, I never got much into D&D 3rd. It had some things I liked but the initial AoO rules were awful. So were the stacking rules. Ugh. Bad memories. So I never go to the part where they reduced the turn to six seconds instead of 1 minute. Still, I think my initial point still stands that things move faster in HERO. Also, I would argue that AoO should only go to people who are experienced in combat. After all, you aren't whacking people with sticks so much as swords. It takes serious training to be effective against more than one person. Most of us here know how to pick up a stick(say a baseball bat) and use it to effectively beat someone's brains in who charges at us with no intent other than to run by us(of course, we're civil enough not to do it), but if two people charge, can we get both of them or are we too slow? You have to factor in not just how long it takes to swing the weapon but how long it takes to react to the second person, how long it takes to recover your swing, possibly how long it takes to pull the weapon free of the first body, that's a lot more time than it may first sound like. I'd be more inclined to limit AoO to people who are combat seasoned and then build it as a specific maneuver/power(maybe a damage shield with a one hex radius). So you can, if you choose, guard this door and take one swing at anyone who goes by, or you can concentrate on one foe, but not both.

Re: Moving from D&D - rules issues For me, both the ease of moving by people and the attack of opportunity rules were rationalized by the difference in turn length. In D&D one round is 1 minute and there are presumed to be a bunch of feints, parries and the like that aren't played out on the dice, so you have a lot of time in that round to react to someone doing something. In HERO, you have a 12 second turn, so you have about 2-3 seconds between actions. Hence, "attacks of opportunity" generally are based on your speed. If you have a high speed, you can divert an attack, if not, hey, you've got two seconds so you can attack the guy in front of you or the guy running by you but not both.

Re: Power Defense I generally don't have a problem with power defense. I don't use a lot of adjustment powers anyway and anything that is mental gets bought as a mental power(so a mentalist trying to do an EGO drain buys it Based on ECV) and since the power is now defined as a Mental attack, power defense no longer works, even though it's a drain effect(at least that's how it works in my campaign). Having something be "blanket" from the others is ok because it generally works the same in comic universes. It doesn't matter who is trying to do it, rearranging the molecules in Iron Man's suit is almost impossible(note I said ALMOST, since Molecule Man actually did it).

Re: Need help with a Group name. Interesting. The group I GM'ed in college named themselves Aegis. Names I've used for groups, for one reason or another: Guardians, Wildstrike, Factor X, DeathWatch come to mind.

Re: Power Design Question I think Ghost Angel has a good build for it.

Re: Starting Character Limits (DCs etc.)? Agreed. I tend to balance DC and DEF so that you're doing about 12 damage per hit. That drops most characters in 4-5 hits and keeps fights pretty balanced.

Re: Starting Character Limits (DCs etc.)? 25 DEF is really low for a campaign where 14D6 attacks are allowed. One hit would just about CON stun someone. That's going to make for quick fights and put a premium on getting the first shot in.

Re: Starting Character Limits (DCs etc.)? "Rule of Four" means that each major stat has 4 levels or stats. So SPD range is 4 pts(e.g. 3-6), DC range is 4(e.g. 8-11), Skill Levels have a range of 4(e.g. 11-14) and so on. Do the same for DEF(based off of DCs, in the above example, it would be 16-26). Generally gauge non-attack powers on the DC scale but keep in mind that some of them are probably more expensive than their costs indicate. CVs get calculated off base DEX so if you have a range of 6-9 on CVs then DEX generally falls in the 17-28 range.

Re: Starting Character Limits (DCs etc.)? DEF - take the average damage of an average attack and subtract 12. That should be the average defenses. (So if 10D6 is average, that's 35 STUN, so 23 DEF)At 12 points per hit, most characters will go down with four or five hits, which gives you decently long fights without dragging on for six hours. As for DCs, set a DC cap and then stick to it. If players have adjustment powers or combat maneuvers, make sure anything they can do more than once a combat falls within the limit. Even if it isn't something you would expect them to do more than once, make sure there are enough limitations/penalties to keep it that way. For example, Human Torch has a Nova Blast that does hideous amounts of damage, but in Champs you would build it with lots of Increased END Cost so that he would have to use up almost all of his ENd to use the power. It's really powerful, but it's a one shot deal. For Combat Maneuvers like Move Through(or Martial Arts) make sure that anything they have a decent chance of hitting with regularly falls within the normal range. And remember to enforce the CV penalty on Move Through, that's usually what keeps people from using it often. For adjustment powers, like Aid, it should require a lot of effort to build up an attack that significantly exceeds the maximum or maintain it for a long time. And count HA as part of the main attack for DC purposes so a character with 40 STR and +6HA has a 14D6 attack. As a general rule, I enforce a "Rule of Four" in my campaign that has worked well. It basically says that for any important stat in the campaign, everything should be within a magnitude of 4. 4 DCs, 4 CVs(and don't lose control of CSLs to circumvent it), 4 SPD, 4 levels of skill(so 11-14, generally) and so on. For DEF, calculate the steps based on the DC range, generally, about 3-4 points per step) Remember that an advantage of even 3 magnitudes is HUGE, 4 is overwhelming in a given category, so it should be rare character who is at or near the top of every range and a rare ability that falls outside of the normal range. For skills, remember that once you get to around 14-, you're essentially just buying against penalties.

Re: Hero like Box (obscure Alpha Flight hero)? Multiform often includes a radical shift in personality and knowledge - like a werewolf or the traditional Hulk. The Hulk is a super strong, near invulnerable creature. Banner is a highly intelligent but somewhat mousy scientist. And never shall the twain meet. It also makes keeping a secret ID tricky if you don't have full control over when you change.

Re: How do I build?

Re: Hero like Box (obscure Alpha Flight hero)? I think I would buy everything OIHID and not as a Multiform if for no other reason than that you could theoretically steal the robot body when he wasn't in it and then he wouldn't have his powers until he built another one. It's hard to call it a true focus if it isn't subject to damage and is virtually impossible to remove, even after combat.

Re: Personal Immunity: How to... Special effect definitely comes into play at times, and this is one I think.

Re: Personal Immunity: How to... Just thinking out loud but... Can you apply Selective(from AOE) to the power? Even if it wasn't originally meant for this, it seems like a very similar circumstance.

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

Re: CHAR: Batman Well, not bad, though the build is a higher power level than my campaign(he really doesn't need that much DEX), but the biggest quibble I would have is his PRE. He doesn't need 35. For offense, Batman doesn't scare good costumes, for other guys, he gets huge bonuses. His standard "leap out of the shadows and surpise someone" move gets him at least +7D6 which is enough to turn most people to Jell-o with a 20 PRE. You might buy him a bit more PRE with -1, only for DEF, but that's about it. It also helps balance the fact that Bruce Wayne doesn't have a 35 PRE. I'd also drop several of his DCs and give him Find Weakness instead. Technically, Bruce should severely hospitalize every normal thug he hits with that package. And he just doesn't do that in the comics(and I dont' see a need for him to be pulling his punches constantly).

Re: CHAR: Batman Well, not bad, though the build is a higher power level than my campaign(he really doesn't need that much DEX), but the biggest quibble I would have is his PRE. He doesn't need 35. For offense, Batman doesn't scare good costumes, for other guys, he gets huge bonuses. His standard "leap out of the shadows and surpise someone" move gets him at least +7D6 which is enough to turn most people to Jell-o with a 20 PRE. You might buy him a bit more PRE with -1, only for DEF, but that's about it. It also helps balance the fact that Bruce Wayne doesn't have a 35 PRE. I'd also drop several of his DCs and give him Find Weakness instead. Technically, Bruce should severely hospitalize every normal thug he hits with that package. And he just doesn't do that in the comics(and I dont' see a need for him to be pulling his punches constantly).

Re: Double Knockback too pricey? I've always thought Double KB was overpriced, but I left it as it was because I don't want to see it a lot.

Re: question for gm Not everyone will end up with the same point totals anyway, once the campaign gets going. Some players get an extra point during the session, some players make more sessions, and so on. I don't think the point totals should be a factor in the decisions, especially since points are not equal to power(we tend to think that way, but at the same time, not all 400 point characters are built as well or as effective as the next 400 point character).

Re: question for gm I don't give out points for new Disads you acquire in the campaign. It's part of roleplaying. Of course, I also give out free perks for roleplaying too(like free Contacts).

Re: How to build: instant learning Well, again, I think that having to rely on someone actually using the skill is worth a significant limit on the power, even if it is broader than UT in terms of what it can do. After all, with Universal Translator, you can technically speak first. With this, you can't. You would have to wait for them to say something to you. Same for anything else, if you want to save someone from bleeding to death, you can't do it, even in the presence of a first class EMT unless the EMT moves to help the person(or someone else) as well. I think that GREATLY reduces the usefullness of the power. As far as the EGO +30 goes, I still don't buy it. To me, there is a difference between digging through someone's subconcious to find something they haven't thought about in years and diigging through to find something they are looking for themselves. To me, if the person whose mind you're reading is looking for the information, it isn't buried that deep. And again, there is a power balance issue here. Do we really want to make this a 65 or 70 point power as the base? SIDE NOTE: I realize that technically you aren't supposed to be able to learn skills just by reading minds, but I don't see any way around needing GM's permission for whatever build you try to use.

Re: Speedster trick, would you allow this? Why do they need +40 STR for this then? It should be a rare agent that has more STR than the hero, all he really needs is about 25 or 30 STR to have enough casual STR for you to make the argument that he can take their guns without a contested roll, especially if the agent can't actually see it coming, so to speak.