Whitewings

Re: Ethics for mentalists The obvious knee jerk reaction is "It's never ethical to use any mental power at any time for any purpose." I don't like this answer. In fact, I think it's a ridiculous position, as stupid as Piers Anthony's hypothetical example of Hitler's son being immoral and unethical if he called off the Holocaust, thereby going against his late father's wishes. Personally, I would say that as a general rule mental powers can be employed ethically if they bring about either as much harm or less, or as much good or mer, than conventional responces. If a guy pulls a gun on you, and you knock him cold with an Ego Attack, that's doing less harm than a normal attack. It's acceptable. On the other side, someone has a number of purely psychological problem. You use Mental Transform as a form of super-therapy. This does at least as much good as conventional therapy. This is acceptable. A guy uses Mind Control to get a girl into his bed when she would otherwise have no interest in him? Unless (in Champions terms) he gets the +20 for "think it was your own idea," he's just done her a considerable harm, and least equivalent to getting her roaring drenk for the same purpose. Not acceptable. If he does get the +20, it's more like being super-persuasive - but it's still pretty tacky. Oh, and I don't see any real need for special ethical considerations on the use of ultra-high PRE or EGO.

Re: WWYCD: They Walk Through Walls? Ika: The part she'd actually understand, she'd deal with fairly simply: These are evil spirits. She'd use her spirit-killing arrows on them, and if needed, her spirit-cutting knife. Her team-mates might take issue with this, but she predates concepts like "Code vs. killing." This will lead tno very interesting RP. Champion Wind: If these guys register as Nightmares, restraint goes out the window and they're lunch meat. Her teammates are going to be uttorly shocked at the amount of damage she's able and willing to inflict, since in her normal ID she's a second generation hippie, a total peace-and-love type. If they don't... she's got a problem. Her weapons are emphatically lethal, and she will not use them against anyone or anything except the forces of Darkness.

Re: Isis In the first issue of her comic, she demonstrates formidable power levels, much greater that her show's budget would have allowed. Early on: "This death bolt will empty you of life like water from a jar!" "Miss your target, flash of light, you cannot match my amulet's might!" Later in the issue, she fights a magical battle in mid-air while keeping pace with and protecting a passenger jet. And in the climactic battle: "Where nothing grew before save grass, let there be oaks of mighty mass!" and the White House lawn is covered by mature oak trees - big ones. They're hiding an ancient pyramid Isis is keeping suspended. She drops it onto the villain of that issue, trapping him within it again, then "Pyramid and prisoner fly away, back to Egypt, there to stay!" In order: Scarab is supremely confident in his ability to kill Isis with one shot, so I'd call his Death Bolt either a 15-18d6 BODY Drain, or about a 6d6 RKA. Assuming Isis put all her points in defense against his death bolt, that's at least 25-30 points of Power Defense or Force Field. The magical battle I'd have to look up, I'm not even sure where the comic is at the moment. But she was able to protect herself and the jet and fight the other magician to a standstill. AE Transform, clearly, to create the oaks, the transformation is reversed with a suitable counterspell. The pyramid... well, she flew to Egypt to fetch it, carried it back to Washington, kept it suspended, dropped it on the villain, then returned it to Egypt. Granted, it was a very small pyramid, only about 15 feet high, but that's still an awful lot of stone. In short, Isis is a top-rank super, easily on par with Zatanna at the very least, probably only one or two steps below Wonder Woman.

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind.

Re: Golden Age Day Jobs One character of mine is planning to create a couple of "impossible" carvings and sell them. A four-layer four inch diametre puzzle ball carved from opal should be worth a good hunk of change. This is a good example of a jade puzzle ball.

Re: A *very* different magic system The only one that comes close is the Chaos Blades, and their ability to "steal" spells when they kill other Chaos Blades, which is completely different. Anything else aside, in the system I'm speaking of you can't steal spells from the dead.

I had an idea a while ago for what I believe to be a unique magic system. Spells exist as semi-independent constructs of force within the sorceror's mind, and though they can be created, they can also be bought, sold, traded, stolen, and so on. Thus, for example, the Grand Archmagus of the Ancient Order of Rasselon might literally have all the combined power of those who went before him. Mechanically, all spells are bought as Independent powers, in addition to whatever other limitations they have. Opinions, comments, and feedback please?

Re: Worst comic book superfight ever Grean Lantern Corps #219.

Re: Worst comic book superfight ever I have the issue. Flodo Span did *not* defeat 3600 single-handedly. In fact, he very nearly dissipated his ring-generated abstract body attempting to contain Sector 3600; only the aid of Driq of Qik allowed him to pull himeself together (literally) after enveloping 3600. To quote: "But it took all the Guardians together to confine him last time!" To which Flodo Span, an abstract life form with no conventional body, replied "No! Itttook willpower and greenpowerand Iammade ofthose." He then becagan to expand his abstract body. Note also that 3600 was not focussed on Flodo, so the abstract Lantern was able to "blindside" the mad god, figuratively. Plus it *knew* that the green energy could contain it, and so the green energy *could* contain it. 3600's limits are largely a matter of what it believes them to be. If it believes that Flodo Span can capture and control it, he can. It's just that simple.

Re: Worst comic book superfight ever Ridiculously convoluted and explains nothing. Very appropriate.

Re: Yuletide travel powers Actually, he doesn't even need to cover all Christian lands, just England, Canada, the US, Japan, parts of China and SE Asia and possibly the Netherlands. All the other Christian areas have their own local gift-bringers, or such is my understanding. Still one seriously high-powered fellow.

I want to give my character an energy blast, "Soul Strike." I want it to use ECV for targetting, and MD for defence, but it *doesn't* have the other advantages of Ego Attack or Based on ECV. Normal range, normal range modifiers, normally visible. I have no idea how to do this.

We all know the story of how Kal-El was sent away from Krypton by his parents. At least some of us know how the pre-Crisis Jor-El was warking on a larger ship, one that could carry him and Lara and their son (a toddler, not an infant) away from the doomed planet. So... what might have happened if he'd succeeded? If Kal-El had landed as a baby on Earth, *along with his parents?* Remember, Jor-El was the greatest scientific and technological genius Krypton had ever seen, and Lara was only slightly behind him.

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers 1 pip aid to COM, maximum 10 characters points' worth, buy up the fade rate to years or decades. Who needs plastic surgeons?

Re: Flash (DC character, not the power) Jay once stated that he could "lower myself a dozen yards by slapping the air at Mach 1."

Re: Superhero technology Currently, the volantor can take off, and in wind tunnel tests has proved able to fly horizontally, but Dr. Moller still can't quite get the thing through the transition between hovering flight and horizontal flight.

Re: WWYCD: Category 6 Storm I have exactly one character would could actually do something in this situation, and she'd go after the hurricane first, long before it started moving south toward the Ontario heartland (forgot about that, didn't you? Chicago isn't the only major city in such a hurricane's path). Cat 5s are huge, but she can create mega-scale force walls that are tougher than anything this side of tank armour. Hurricanes can't stay put, they have to move to continue to exist. If she can use the +1/2 level on Mega Scale, she can probably surround the hurricane ontirely, cutting it off from external air flow and thus stopping it - or at least dropping it from "hurricane" to "massive windstorm." The tornado's even easier, it's a lot smaller: Put up a wall and let it blow itself out. Tornadoes are *very* transient events. Then contact her other high-powered friends, and try to find the little barfbag responsible for this and beat him up real good.

Re: When you think "Superhero"....

Re: Wwycd: Doom!!!! For me, the real problem is that Dr. Destroyer and his Destroids are *frighteningly* powerful, and in most campaigns, anything he can't handle on his own is almost by definition beyond the PCs' ability to cope with.

Re: WWYCD: The Return of Power Fist Except for Ika, who wouldn't even understand the request, all of my characters would think about it, and say no. This is nothing more nor less than the gang wars of 1920s Chicago come back.

Re: WWYCD: Will you forgive me? You know, I don't think I have a single character to whom this applies. The closest wolud be Champion Wind, and her greatest enemy died before she was even conceived. She helped to kill his ghost.

Re: Wwycd: They Blew It!! If something like this happened in Seeds, either Psyche would step in to encourage the rescinding of the order, or Canada and Mexico will suddenly become the most powerful nations on Earth.

Re: Wwycd: They Blew It!!

Re: WWYCD: Valdorian Age Ika: Too weird to understand vs too weird to understand. She's a timelost cavegirl shaman, she'd probably end up with one of the hill tribes. Faye: Even without her powers she's a formidable young woman, and even a 13- Activation isn't that big a handicap when you're a 690 point telekinetic. A 21st century education in metalworking, chemistry, woodworking, architecture and drafting, and electronics is enough to establish her as the top expert contractor on the continent. She'll make out. Liane: She's going to have problems. She's thirteen, very pretty, and not a very good fighter. However, she's an excellent musician, and could probably make a decent living as a minstrel - or a wilderness guide, she's good at survival. Phoenix: She's got problems! She's a full-body cyborg and the only people who can maintain her are thousands of years in the future.

Re: Lo, Our Savior is Born! I have read that "Kal-El," taken as Hebrew words, can be rendered into English as either "Star God" or "Star Child."