dstarfire

Re: Why don't you play online? I gave up on any sort of onlien rp'ing years ago due to the vast hordes of juvenile "dickwad"s out there.

Re: Lore Spell Yeah, a simple detect magic item with discriminatory, and analyze is the way to go. Discriminatory would tell you what the item does, the general school/theme of magic used to create it (divine, necromancy, thaumaturgy, etc.), how many charges it has left (if it uses those), the caster's approximate power level (or at least how much power s/he put into the device), and the like. Analyze would tell you all that as well as the creators name, where they were from, and what they'd had for breakfast the day they created that item.

Does Mind Link allow an affected subject to know the location of other affected subjects (from the same instance of the power)? I'm trying to build a set of communicators that are difficult for foes to jam, detect, or track, but allows the heroes (with the same style of communicator) to find and rescue lost or injured teammates.

Re: independent power supply? Thanks for the suggestions. I especially like the limited 0 end advantage.

Re: Doors, locks, and security systems. building the security systems: depends on what you mean by "security systems" if you just want various types of intrusion alarms, a simple security systems skill will suffice. Cameras and the like are a bit more complex. Check out Champions for some base builds.

How would you model a device that normally draws it's power from a generator, but can run off an internal battery for a short time if the generator is unavailable? I'm modeling the generator with an end reserve, and I know the battery can be modeled as a continuing charge, but how do you model the failover aspect? (charge is not big enough to be an advantage)

Re: END Reserve that begins with 0 END in it? building on bill's idea... a 1-pt End reserve, with 0 recovery. Then buy whatever level of 'increased maximum' as a naked adder , and call it your masochism power.

Re: Were these left out, or no? for an object ot have a power itself, is usually reflected by a lack, or reduced limitations, if this is done as part of world creation. If a player wants to imbue powers on items in game, that'd be transform. To illustrate the first case, let's build an invisible ring that grants it's wearer the power of flight. 15" flight, Reduced End (0 end, +1/2), that's it. If the ring were visible to the naked eye, it would take the focus limitation. Another classic, the throwing axe that automatically returns to it's wielders hand. This would be built as 1d6+1 HKA, Usable at Range (+1/2), Reduced End (0 end, +1/2). Here we simulate the special ability by not taking the recoverable charges limitation (which would require us to manually retrieve the weapon after each use).

Re: Homebrew Defense Applicable Power Advantage Interesting idea, but the advantage would render the level of the base power meaningless. To put it simply, what would the difference be between 5 PD NNO, and 10 PD NNO? Also, how would this affect Armor Piercing and Penetrating attacks? A better idea would be to model the effects with desolid that doesn't work against a certain type of attack, and a similar lim on their other defenses. however, you do have the right idea in making it ineffective against the body of any attack.

Mind scan has penalties for finding an unfamiliar mind. These are negated by a few minutes of mental contact or long term association. However, what happens when you're trying to find somebody based on the telepathic impression from somebody who's had a long term associaion? For example:I've got telepathic contact (at ego +20 lvl) with 'FlunkyBoy' who's been working with Bossman' (the person I'm really looking for) for several weeks to a few months, and is probably thinking about Bossman at this particular moment ("I'm a bit out of my depth here, better call Bossman"). Would this be sufficient to negate the unfamiliarity penalties, would it just reduce the penalties, or make no difference at all? Would it matter if Bossman were within the character's "detect minds" power?

How would you force an npc to make a minor mistake (i.e. misreport crucial info) that they could conceivably make on their own, and remember it as them simply making a mistake? I'm thinking it's some variation on mind control, but can't figure out the exact specifics.

Re: I had a descussion with Steve about buying some Hero's books...

Re: Motion Dependant Predatory Vision I'd say, buy some enhanced perception with the limitation 'only vs. moving/active targets'. Most predators have fairly acute perception, at least within the limits of their normal environment / prey selection.

Re: Extra Time and Constant/Instant Powers If they only have to do gestures, incantations, concentration, etc. to start a power, you use the instant value. For extra time, this would eb the reduced "only to activate" value. If they have to maintain those (keep chanting, concentrating, gesturing, ....) the whole tmie the power is active, it's worth more (typically 2x the normal value), except for extra time. The default mode for extra time is that every use of the power takes the extra time. In your example, every action taken while invisible would take extra time, unless it were purchased as only to activate. (normally maintaining a power is an 'action that takes no time', the limitation changes it to whatever level the Lim is bought at). In short, the less valuable limitations only affect the initial activation, while the higher value ones affect every use of the power.

Re: Images....abuse or no? How context-appropriate are these images? I have trouble conceiving of any static (or even preprogrammed) illusion that wouldn't seem totally out of place following a person around (seeing the same tree/rock/chunk-of-landscape next to them no matter how fast/far they run would be a good tipoff). Read and know the rules on images. Odds are there's a catch in there that would negate just this sort of abuse. Also, if the affected characters get attacked by any weapon or power with visible sfx (which is darn near all of 'em) they'll see the source of the attack, unless the illusion specifically takes this into account. Getting shot by an arrow from a tree would yet another dead give away that 'somethings not right here'.