casualplayer

Re: Missile Deflection - Can someone explain this? I second the idea of merging Block and Missile Deflection, and make them both into something resembling 100% Damage Reduction Requires Skill Roll and various other advantages or disadvantages. If you want to Deflect or Reflect a warm body coming at you, I recommend Throw.

Re: "Point inflation" in Hero All the ability to play the piano is is a bonus to your Seduction skill. Unless you're playing Ragtime HERO or something. Doesn't need to be a separate skill.

Re: Weird Talent

Re: A Thought Experiment: The Buffest Heroes vs Dr Destroyer Would the heroes spend any effort on rescuing one of the others if they were near death? Dr. D, focused on any single opponent, will rend them pretty good. If the others leave the wounded to bleed out, like most D&D games, then the heroes will outlast Dr. D and he'll end up on the bottom of the monkeypile. Otherwise, maybe.

Re: Weird Talent I was tardy to the thread, but I just finished writing up a character for my impending Firefly game that has both a heal Aid and a movement Aid for spacecraft. He's a really good engineer!

Re: "Point inflation" in Hero Well, unless we pry HERO from Steve and Darren's cold, dead fingers I don't think we are going to get the lawyerly influence out of it. And I happen to like and appreciate their stewardship, even if I don't always agree. To set the wayback machine for the initial post, I am moderately OK with the bump to 350 for starting heroes. You can peg a Teen Titan/X-Men in their heyday (mid 80's era) with that many points, and you have enough wiggle room to do the socially clueless/immensly powerful Starfire and the mad skillz Robin. 200, even 250, didn't quite do the trick, although you could do a 60's version of these characters with that many points. But, see my sig, if points get in the way of a viable character concept I beat them within an inch of their life until they comply. I routinely create the characters from the players' descriptions or modify submitted ones for two reasons. It's my own fault then if I let them have a gamebreaker ability and I am intimately familiar with their capabilities so I can cater the game to suit. If it takes me 400 pts to make the supermage and 275 to make the martial artist, both according to request, and they are both happy and the game flows then I have done my job well and it's all good. I also bestow dedicated points often as part of my campaign. Handle the debriefing with the local UNTIL commander well, get a Contact, maybe even a Favor. Handle it poorly and prepare for me to make your character's life miserable. One of my players went to Hollywood to become a stuntman and got tapped to perform some lines when an extra failed to show up. Scorched off a 3 on his skill roll and discovered that he was a naturally gifted thespian, and he was gifted too with an 12- Acting skill for that session along with regular XP awards. BTW, I used to do Eidetic Memory as Skill Levels Only for skills that can benefit from memory (mostly INT skills.) Probably won't help your Acrobatics roll but came in handy with Security Systems, if you had done any research.

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

Re: Build Me A Villain Team Unflinching eyes took in everything around him. A tug on platinum cufflinks was the only outward sign that the raw-boned man felt anything about what he saw. The once-child of a mighty nation, now he was the wizened, worldly power broker of a broken superpower. The diminishment of Russia wore at Molnya as few things could anymore, and he valued his homeland too much to use it as the chessboard for the game he had in mind. However an ideal playing field did come to mind. Flesh became lightning which then streaked southward toward Africa, toward Lugendu. Anger, raw and bestial, radiated from the big man standing on the shore. His formal presidential garb seemed ill-suited and ill-fitting, chafing him like a restraining collar. The arrival of the man he waited for did nothing to calm Joseph Otanga's savage breast. Lightning once again resembled flesh and Molnya stood next to the president-for-life, within striking distance but apparently unconcerned. Otanga considered lashing out, with words or a mighty paw, but resigned himself to returning his gaze to the water, as the taciturn Russian was doing now. They did not have to wait long. Emerging from the water smoothly and sleekly, a regal maid from the depths approached the men. She gestured toward them with a trident, both weapon and scepter of rule, and waited for the courtesy that was her due. Behind her the sky darkened into a threatening storm and from out of the stormfront came another woman, a tempest in female form. Succor and shelter were offered by President Otanga, upon prompting by Molnya. With the addition of Princess Thalassa, better known as Stingray, and Monsoon now they were an apparent alliance of four. Returning to the presidential palace in a celebrated entourage, they passed close to the Temple of Flame Unbridled. A freshly built mecca in Otanga City surrounded by neglected and shunned squalor, the gilt shone and flickered in the light of the pyres lit to celebrate the greatness of the Ifrit inside. Followers exchanged worship for otherwise scarce meals and left the services warm and well-fed. They also drove past an Asian man making shadowpuppets on the walls. On closer look the light was wrong and the man was even more so. If the children watching were not appreciate enough, appreciative enough meaning screaming themselves hoarse with praise, they were soon screaming for another reason. The shadowpuppets lunged from the walls towards the audience and smothered some in shadow, and it was probably best that you couldn't see what wrung such shrieks out of the villagers. Shadowdragon's satisfied grin was disturbing enough. When the caravan reached the palace, the lead car discharged several hulking bodyguards and a man in streamlined grey-and-black armor. Once he was certain the courtyard was clear Steel Commando signalled to the remaining bodyguards to get the presidential party inside. After pleasantries and banter, Molnya turned the conversation to the establishment of wildlife preserves. He had a specific type of wildlife in mind and Obelisque had frightfully demanding needs for space and food. While it may take devoting a tenth of the country to the ebon monstrosity's home, they all saw no reason that area couldn't be on hostile borders. The Dominant, for that is what they called themselves when alone, laughed and plotted and laughed some more.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? All the Roadrunning by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris. Haven't heard a song yet that I haven't liked, but then I really like Dire Straits and bluegrass.

Re: Universal Translator: Overpriced at 20?

Re: Universal Translator: Overpriced at 20? Stuffed means fuct in Australia.

Re: VVP and AP limits If the VPP player isn't responsive to the possibility of stomping on another player's schtick and diminishing the game enjoyment for that player, they are probably too immature to be given access to a VPP at all. VPPs should only be in the hands of someone with huge self-restraint or they can bust your game wide open. As far as AP limits, I tend to ignore them but I also tend to write up or heavily modify the characters in my games. I've let a 300 pt hero have a 100+ pt power (it was a monstrous No Range No Personal Immunity Explosion, in case you were curious.) If you are going to use AP limits however, I would recommend drawing the line and holding it. A good compromise/combination could be an AP/DC limit combination so powers/frameworks can be up to 80 AP but no more than 12DC. 30pt Cosmic VPP, 50pt Generic VPP, 60pt MP w/ 20pts of slots, 40pt EC w/ 3 slots, 12d6 EB w/ 1/2 END, etc.

Re: Universal Translator: Overpriced at 20? Like all of the non-scalable, whole cost powers the view on price is heavily influenced by the base points you start with in your genre of choice. In Star Champions it's barely a pinch of your points while in Pulp Hero it's 13% of your bankroll. Most everyone in Star Champions picks it up so that you can talk to the Gleepnees of Tellurik IV as soon as you meet them the first time while only the cloistered academic usually buys UT in Pulp Hero. As I feel with all of the bulk priced powers, UT could do with a makeover to make it scalable appropriate to genre, a la the VPP suggested at the get go. There are ways to keep someone from player-advantaging the VPP construct. If the pool is bare-bones 4-7 pts, what happens if there is more than one type of alien/monster/non-human race in the conversation? Gaming fun can be had if you give the wrong participant the short end of the linguist stick and say something that means one thing in one language and something else entirely in another. I have a friend who had a big meal with friends while in Australia and said "No thanks, I'm stuffed" when asked if she wanted some pie. I haven't seen what was suggested yet in Ultimate Skill, and am looking forward to it.

Re: DC Animated Ground Rules Just a suggestion, Crosshair Collie, but on the x2 effect things (smashing normal stuff, mental powers on normals) I would suggest going with maximum effect instead, i.e. 16 BODY, 48 STUN on an 8d6 attack. It will speed the game along as you can skip a die roll plus x2 effect can get really scary if the person rolls extremely well.

Re: Why do we object to mechanics? I object to any mechanic that affects the pacing of the game, unless that change of pacing was the GM's idea. If a game mechanic makes your tough guy character into Two-Hit Charlie (one, you being hit and two, you hitting the floor) then I object. STUN Lotto, x5 blame! If a game mechanic suddenly means that one player steals and keeps the spotlight and the other players might as well go on a munchie run, then I object. Speed Zone, you can't run away fast enough! If a game mechanic turns a threshold/benchmark game into an escalating arms race, then I object. 100% guilty Damage Reduction! Any game mechanic that encourages games to turn into rules lawyer litigation, then I object. Special effect vs. special effect/Power type, Transform and EDM kludges are the worst offenders. If genre-weighted conventions begin to permeate a system that claims to be versatile and generic, then I object. All the gunbunny crud that seeped into 5th Ed. shoots this game in the foot. I object that even though I hate Combat Luck that I either bought that for my recently-made character or bought PERK: prepaid funeral plot! HERO adventuring without resistant defenses these days is as suicidal as making a Rifts character without MDC. When your game system veers into Rifts territory it's time for true friends to plan an intervention.

Re: The VPP - my bugbear. Please help! I've always described a VPP as a bag that you can fill up with things, as long as nothing is bigger than the opening (the pool cost.) Sometimes you can only change what's in the bag when you go home, sometimes you can only change what's in the bag in-between adventures, sometimes things are tough to find in the bag (Requires Skill Roll) and sometimes you have just the right thing in your bag right at your fingertips every single time (Cosmic.)

Re: Is this Indirect? There are three implied rules for all others-affecting powers: 1) Power must originate from specified area of the attacker's body. 2) Power must affect the revealed facing of target, unless it's an "affects whole target" type of power. 3) Intervening objects provide cover and protection. Each +1/4 of Indirect lets you break one of these rules. Mix and match however you want. Sorry if I'm Johnny-Come-Lately.

Re: Trading up with Skill Levels Hardly anybody has just one job on a sub. Your friend is lucky he didn't say he was a good cook. In gamespeak, the two medics probably had different complimentary skills. A land-based paramedic gets the person safe to move and then gets them to a hospital; a sub-based medic may have to tend to someone until the mission is done and they can surface or return to port. As far as the original "can skill levels evolve?" question, I feel everything about a character can evolve and change. It's no different than tacking on another point of CON or what have you.

Re: Trading up with Skill Levels I like this. No, I love this! Why have I not thought of this before? This could be awesome in a low level game, where points are scarce. 3 SPD bought at full, +1 SPD Act. 15>, +1 SPD 11>, +1 SPD 8> (one die roll for all activations for speed's sake.) Almost always a 4 SPD, occasionally a 6 SPD dervish! This would keep people from gaming the SPD chart, mix things up so combat isn't so repetitive and make END worth its weight in gold. I gotta start a new thread for input on this; was this suggested in some book or is this home-grown genius?

Re: Comics you loved...but apparently no one else did Your avatar is a bit of a clue.

Re: Is Crimefighting Ethical? There's Texas ethics and then there's the rest of the world. You can beat a shoplifter with a baseball bat in Texas. Pretty sure that the He Needed Killing law is still on the books there, where if you can prove that the dead guy was scum it's considered justifiable homicide. Not saying that any of this is bad.... Unless powers included some key to certainty (Telepathy, Clairsentience, Detect Scumbag Drugdealer, etc) most people's ethics would not allow them to use force to enforce the law. We have been too exposed to reasonable doubt, to the point of inaction. Only zealots have the blissful certainty to continually believe that their end justifies the means.

Re: [Totally fictional] A suicide note Sounds like an overly verbose cry for help.

Re: Ultimate Speedster: Other stuff Almost every published HERO character without VPP or Variable Advantages has glaring END problems. Wanna wipe out the Champions Universe? Ranged END Drain. Ok, this is the "Everything but the Speed Force" thread. All right, I'll dial the rant knob back from 11. Let's start positive. I absolutely loved the sections that fleshed out what life would be like if you could count the wingbeats of a hummingbird or watch atomic motion. Three snaps up in Z formation. The SPD x " Move charts will certainly come in handy. Most of the example characters were good, although introducing The Speed Zone and then not putting an example character in (I suppose Vector counts) was a mistake. Cracking DEX into 3 stats was interesting but unless you recalc the cost of CV-affecting Skill Levels also it won't work. I'm sure there's more but I've only had U-SPDer for a couple of days. The Bad: I'll try to be kind. Wow, did they ever stretch the definition of the term 'speedster.' The book should have been called The Ultimate Mover, but while the book touched on other than fleet feet and aviators it really gave them the short end of the stick. Tried to do too much and seemed to veer off course. There was a lot of reinventing the wheel. There is no need to buy your character an EB Must Cross Intervening Distance, Range Determined by Half-Move, etc, etc to represent punching someone at hyperspeed then returning to your starting position when Running + Move-By already allows you to do that. Half-move up, smack, no turn mode, no accel/decel problems with Running, half-move back to start. If you want the invisible pimp slap, buy Invisibility linked to your Running. The new suggestion of EB bypasses Damage Shield, end-arounds STR Drain/Suppress and causes more problems than it solves. Was it really so hard to add a Swimming slot to your Flight or Superspeed MP? The May Be Used as [some Other Movement Type] advantage irks me, probably more than it should. I don't care for power construct examples not contained within a character write-up, but that's a personal bias not an objective criticism. However there was a heap of pages devoted to these power examples, more than I really wanted to pay for. Upon first pass, I felt I should have scanned the book in the store and if I had I probably would have passed on it. Give me another week of digging and I may change my mind; I have had this initial impression before especially with Ultimate books.