Mike W

Re: X-men characters I agree. This is a classic example of building a guy on few points who can do a ton. In my campaign world, Wolive would be about 450-500 or so, but that largely comes from adding depth(lots of contacts, perks, and skills). But this is a great 350 point version that covers just about everything.

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? I don't see how you can use Invisibility to simulate an SEP since the SEP does things that Invisibility is not capable of doing. It has to be based on a mental power because nothing else is capable of encompassing the effects. And 15 dice or so would be enough to affect any human character regardless of willpower/EGO. Ultimately, I think this may be one of those, we have to agree to disagree on things because this conversation hasn't really gone anywhere the last couple of exchanges.

Re: Murphy's Curse Why not just buy unluck, usable against others, personal immunity?

Re: What do with a player ... I'm with Gary on this one. Most characters are inspired by a comic book character, movie character, whatever. As long as he realizes that A) the guy in the comic is more powerful than player can afford to build right now and he isn't doing anything that you can't fit into the campaign, let him go. Heck, since this has a TFOS element, have fun with it. Have people mistake him for the original, especially if he has a similar costume. "Can I have your autograph Mr. Marvel?" Maybe one of Marvel's villains mistakes him for the original while flying by and picks a fight. Once he realizes he has the wrong guy, the villain gets even more ticked off because some "third rate wannabe" is wasting his time.

Re: Blocking and deflecting Three things: First, yes, you block an autofire all at once but I was noting all the bonuses you get to block it because most people buy LOTS of levels with the autofire so that they have a shot at getting all the hits - so you generally need a very high CV to block it. Second, I can see building a shield as extra DCV to represent "cover". But it depends on the character too. Capt. America definitely has armor(or maybe damage reduction) in his shield. After all, he uses it to protect himself from blasts that would kill most people, and it clearly makes a difference. Third, missile deflect and block would be somewhat different techniques, so I could see having to use missile deflect only for missiles. Kind of like martial grab and chokehold. They are similar techniques, but not quite the same thing. You can't use grab to do both.

Re: Blocking and deflecting Shields should(IMO) generally be bought as armor with a skill roll. Missile deflect vs. hth is a bit abusive I think. You already have martial block, plus you can often apply two or three point combat levels. Also, HTH autofires are often limited by END cost as to how many times the attacker can use them. Ranged autofire attacks are much more likely to be built on charges(so they are limited more by the number of charges than by END and are usually easier to use multiple times in one fight).

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? GaryB: I think we're arguing two different threads here. You're arguing if Invisibility to Touch is possible(which I would agree with) but the original question asked if invis to touch would be the way to build a particular power(which, based on the source material I would say no).

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? Except that this is NOT a minor ability if it is built according to the book/source material. Plus, I am reasoning from effect, that's why I don't think you can build this as invisibility - because invisibility won't make people go around you, which this power should do. Not only that, but with invis, you still can know someone is in the area and try and drop an AOE on them. You shouldn't be able to do that with this power. Quite frankly, when an SEP field is in effect, you can't even ACT against whatever is generating the field. The ONLY thing you can do is avoid it. And that, to me, is a major ability, not a minor one since a properly functioning SEP field would prevent almost anyone from attacking you until you attacked them first. Even if you shot the guy standing next to me, if your SEP field is working properly I would STILL ignore you, because you're still someone else's problem(even if that someone else is my best friend) until you actually come after me.

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? Lucky, this is why I keep coming back to Mind Control instead of invisibility. Even though it is expensive, I just think it is the right way to build the power.

Re: World In Crisis..Idea help please I think what you need to do is write a bit of a history of the world. When did powers first appear? What kind/origin? Why did various power/heroes/ villains appear? Who are the major heroes? Who are their nemesis? Do you have a lot of magic? What level of super tech? Are there mutants? Aliens? After you've taken each thing individually, you can try to put them together. To take Marvel Comics, for instance, up until about WWII most "super heroes" were magic based characters(such as whoever the current Sorcerer Supreme was). A few cowboy types or masked crimefighters appeared but the max ability level would be, say The Green Hornet(yes, I know he isn't a Marvel character). A few four color super hereos/villains started to appear with WWII experiments producing Capt. America and the Red Skull. But the current age was ushered in with the FF and a few other "accidents" (Hulk, Spiderman), the rediscovery of Thor's hammer and Stephen Strange's training, the advent of mutants(X-men), and the beginnings of super technology(Pym particles, Iron Man's armor). Alien races gradually became a part of the universe as technology allowed for more exploration of other worlds(especially through the FF) and with the discovery of the eternals on Titan. These things let the rest of the universe know that the Earth was out there. This is what I think is missing from your world, a coherent history. Where do the current heroes come from? What is the legacy of those who have gone before? How do they relate to each other?

I was watching MIB II the other day and the scene where J and K arm themselves before going to retake headquarters got me thinking. Is there any rule against a "group gadget pool" of common equipment that they could only change at the base. If so, would it be built as a shared power or as part of the base?

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? The fact that they don't want to deal with what happened was a part of the nature of beings in the Hitchhiker universe, power or no. It shows up in other literature too(vampire literature for instance). Mind Control seems to me to be the best way to express the power, even if it is expensive. It's a pretty nasty power, being able to make people avoid interacting with you, so it probably should be fairly expensive. 15D6 Mind Control 0 END(+1/2) AOE Radius(+1), single effect(-1/2), only for people looking directly at the character(-1/4), must achieve EGO +30(-1/2) Active Points: 187 Real Cost: 83 Incredibly expensive, yes; but also very, very powerful. I mean, how many characters are even capable of attacking you when this power is going?

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? Actually, I don't think you would need +30 since the target actually wants to avoid dealing with it(it's a game logic thing, at least in Hitchhiker's). Also, since the mind control only does ONE thing, you get a major limit(at least -1/2). Invisibility sort of works based on the idea that you can actually see what is in the SEP if you know somethings is there and don't look directly at it(at least to start).

Re: Sentient Weapons Build the sword with a follower and give the follower control of the powers. Anyone using the sword gets an automatic disad - "sword powers work at whim of weapon".

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... Vince Starrett's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" is a great read if you can find. You'll probably have to find it in most college libraries. It's a sort of "biography" of Holmes based on the stories and talks about his writings, his personality, what real life house the Baker Street apartment was based on, things like that. Instead of chronologically, it is more divided up by subject/theme. It's written from the point of view of an enthusiast and was written back when William Gilette and others who had met Doyle were still alive, so it has some interesting stories.

Re: Who is Dr. Mindkiller? Maybe a take off on Nightmare from Marvel Comics - a guy who has the power to make your worst fears/nightmares real - real enough to actually kill you. Except this guy is based on earth.

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? Invisibility vs. memory, even if you could build it as a sense group(and I don't think you could) would not prevent you from interacting with the ship at the time you actually saw it.

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? MitchellS: The term "Someone Else's Problem Field(SEP)" is from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The way the field works, a person sees that say, an ugly green spaceship has just landed in the middle of a cricket field, but the people who see the spaceship decide that it is someone else's problem and elect to not interact with that part of reality. In effect, they see the ship, they unconciously know to walk around it, but they do not conciously see it nor do they remember it because their mind can't handle having to deal with the consequences of seeing said ship land in the middle of a cricket field; instead, they subconciously pass the buck by calling it someone else's problem, thereby not having to deal with either the ship or the consequences of seeing it. So it isn't exactly desolidification. To be honest, I'd build an SEP as mind control, limited effect "ignore". About 12 or 15d6 would be enough to make sure that no one properly even remembered it.

Re: Fake TV-Shows Can't believe I forgot that one.

Re: Loving Your DNPCs Exhibit 2: Linda Park She has media contacts that can help the Flash. She's also been used as a hostage before - and Wally DEFINITELY reacts differently when she is the hostage as opposed to someone he doesn't know.

Re: Fake TV-Shows Of course, there were all sorts of fake tV shows on Monty Python: Spot the Loony, Blackmail, The Light Entertainment Awards, World Forum, The Money Programme, Storage Jars, and a host of others.

Re: Where'd this base come from Most of the bad guys seem to lair in "temporarily abandoned" buildings and warehouses. Or so it seems. Makes things easier. People with established "headquarters" like the Tinkerer, yes, I keep track. But the usual professional criminal who is just passing through or up to the usual tricks(bank robberies and such) then I just pick a place as needed. Motel, warehouse, whatever sounds good when I'm writing up the adventure.

Re: Fake TV-Shows Let's see: Tool Time(Home Improvement, Tim's cable show) Gabbo(Simpsons, Krusty's competition) Eye on Springfield(Simpsons, Kent Brockman's show around town) Psycho Dad(Married With Children, Al Bundy's favorite show) If you're willing to go the movie route: Secrets of the Universe(UHF) Venckman had a TV show in the 2nd Ghostbusters but I don't remember what it was called "Mysteries of the Unknown" or something like that. That's all I can come up with for now.

Re: How would you build this I think Mitchell is on the right track. Images or mental illusions to make the menatlist "see" something different than what is there. Images is probably much cheaper and makes more sense.

Re: Aging Campaigns Charity events work great too. Yes, Mr. Hero-man, can you stop by and help us raise money for the new Children's Hospital? TV works good too if you have a mystic, scientist, or techie who has knowledge well beyond the norm. Every news show/talk show may want their opinion on the latest cloning development, whether witches are real, or what the newest computer trend might be.