casualplayer

Re: Could your Champions character beat... I like Trebuchet's Cap maginally better than Agent X's. I'll speculate using that version. Challenger , assuming they disregarded the whole "wow, both our costumes look like the American flag," could possibly win if he realized that Cap throws his shield in combat (I mean really, who throws a shield?) He is nimble enough in the air to evade easily all but a full-OCV attack, and he is cagey enough not to give away immediately the extent of his manueverability. His favorite strategy is Draw Fire, Evade, Draw Fire, Evade, Draw Fire when all levels go into OCV none in DCV, Evade and Paste the sitting duck. Theoretically a Colonel should beat a Captain, right? I give Challenger a 35% chance of winning, lower in an urban environment. Deadweight, formerly Constitution would be a problem for Cap to hurt but has next to no chance of hitting Cap short of pulling a building over on them both. At Deadweight's cruising density Cap couldn't really hurt him and he can briefly become dense enough to cause light to bend towards him so that would put him out of reach of being damaged at all. Of course, if he maintains that weight, he's usually on a fast track to the core of the planet! Cap could pretty easily steer the fight to soft soil, and the only time Deadweight drops his Density Increase entirely is when he is being intimate (5 levels Persistent.) My guy could drop a building on them both, but neither wins in a stand-up fight and Cap could just run me ragged. Willpower is based on Psycher from Strikeforce, with 4 years more points. T-porting mentalist/martial artists do well against Cap, but Cap often shrugs off EGO based attacks. I would give this one the best odds at a 40% chance of victory. Impact turns kinetic and potential energy into STR and END until he is "full" then it is immediately re-emitted as light (EX Flash) if he absorbs any more. He also has Damage Reduction linked to the Absorption, so he doesn't have to survive the STUN to get the benefits. The "slow blade" gets him every time, so throws, nerve strikes and choke holds would wreck him. Dramatic fight, and maybe the changeover to the Flash in the face gets Cap off guard (yeah, right,) but this falls into the Not-A-Chance-in-Hell catagory.

Re: Character Design Theory As a player, if I have to hesitate at all when doing Disadvantages I reconsider whether I should play the character at all. It feels like there isn't enough "there" there if the disads don't flow naturally. My thumbnail is usually within 10-20 pts of campaign limits, so the number cruching isn't usually a factor. As a GM, points be damned. I design for a plot purpose and honestly rarely do a completed character sheet. Most of my villains look like this: Demedeus-son of Zeus and titan (probably Rhea) Olympian package, Zeus' stats + 10 levels Growth, Aquarius' weather control, Oratory, Persuasion, Noblesse Oblige, Enraged if disrespected 14-, 8-, Wants to ascend to Greek Pantheon. I did eventually write him up fully around the time he became a series regular. My supplement books are un-resellable because they have been marked up so much.

Re: Ranged, STR Adds Damage A way I have done archers and bows in HERO is buy the bow as a MP with two slots: + blah STR Only for throwing arrows and a HA slot for when it's used as a club. Then I buy the arrow MP slots as Range Based on STR. What's an arrow weigh? A kg, maybe. At +50-60 STR on a balanced, aerodynamic object you get a pretty decent range. This might let you get around the HA stoppage. It also means the character can lose the bow focus and not be entirely handicapped (can still stab and throw by hand.) However HA is already bah-roken, and there is no way I would let a player use it at range.

Re: Name her! Give her Powers! I'm Lazy!

Re: Name her! Give her Powers! I'm Lazy! YEAH! I have mad namin' skillz. One of these days I'll get off my butt and get Hero Designer and then I can start floating stats also. Pretty cool, but she better be careful drawing swords out of those shoulder sheaths or she's gonna have to walk to the corner store.

Re: Name her! Give her Powers! I'm Lazy! I'm thinking a name like Thirst or Hellion. Maybe you can name her Rouge, and then when people write about her they will misspell it Rogue.

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill? Let's see: as a GM I made sure that my players realized that they weren't above the law. Actions had consequences, and nothing irritates authority like being disrespected. One of my players (Rage) was a MA of the "two men enter, one man leaves" mindset. He had killed before and had no compunctions about killing again. I was subtle about the consequences. Rage killed the handler of a Hulk-ish creature and then had to deal with a Rampaging Hulk. He used killing force against his respectful rival Catspaw, and then had to race against time to get Catspaw to the hospital. When a mass immigration of demons poured out of the Sonoran Desert, he waded in both blades drawn. After the demons petitioned for Refugee status Rage was jailed for Man (Demon?) slaughter. It was a setup for a Mission for Pardon adventure, but it also tempered his steel a bit. For NPCs, it is very difficult to get the worms back in the can after you open it. If you turn your game into a bloodsport, the players will lash out at the slightest hint of danger and it will be difficult to advance a plot. Casual killers that elude justice make the players feel ineffectual. Joker types have to snuff it and on-screen, or it becomes a farce. I personally don't like playing bloodthirsty characters. I am a "talk to the dragon" kinda player. One of my characters didn't know his own strength yet and killed several FBI agents with a fire extinguisher (threw it hard enough to rupture and explode.) I had him bend over double and puke his guts out on the spot, giving the surviving and very angry agents the drop on him. I do however read books like The Punisher, and Jon Sable is my favorite comic ever. I like people who bring a gun to a gunfight, rather than counting coup in some sort of super-cage match. Something that people overlook about Ennis' Punisher is that Frank has no tolerance for collateral damage and he only unleashes on proven criminals. When he saw a pimp was running underaged girls, he mangled the pimp and told the girl to go home. I got no problem with that.

Re: Batman vs Midnighter

Re: Punisher Vs Batman I can't believe I forgot. Maybe Matt and Frank should switch enemies for a bit? Punisher vs. Bullseye! Should take about 5 panels. "What kind of fool puts targets on his costume?"

Re: Punisher Vs Batman Garth Ennis writes a good Punisher. So does Chuck Dixon. Mike Baron lets a little too much Badger bleed through. Larry Hama is a Skaramine-level gun nut, so his issues focus more on the firearms. Gerry Conway created him, in the era of Death Wish/Dirty Harry, concurrently with such stars as pointy toed Tarantula and Rocket Racer. I would love to see Mike Grell, John Ostrander and Frank Miller take their shot at Frank. Currently Frank is written as a 50-60 year old Vietnam era vet that basically sold his soul to survive his firebase being overrun. His family died back in 1976, when he first debuted. Apparently killing people keeps you pretty frisky, but for the most part he is a big guy with extensive commando training. A big chunk of gristle and scar tissue. He could probably tussle with the Batman in The Dark Knight Returns. Eternally 30-something DC Batman would take him apart.

Re: Punisher Vs Batman The Midnighter vs. Batman thread did a better job of setting the scene. There are ways that Frank could win. Not many, but there are ways. A stand-up fight is not one of them. The Punisher beat a battered Wolverine with a steamroller. Sorta. It mostly just slowed Logan enough that Frank could get away. In the Spidey/Daredevil/Wolverine team-up Punisher triggered Logan's Berserk and then scrammed while Spider-Man and Daredevil dealt with him. Which Daredevil did with a finger strike to the throat, disabling but not lethal, no bones about it. Ennis does show respect for the non-powered heroes; it's the supergoofs that seem to tick him off. In their own book, every character has a Fully Invisible 2d6 Aid to all abilities plus 2 Overall Levels for free. So maybe if this fight happened in the pages of Punisher frank might stand a chance. Awww, who am I kidding?

Re: Batman vs Midnighter Aww, jeez. This has remained relatively calm with the only Bat-fan to come out staking a claim for Batgirl. Normally this turns into "My Dad can beat up your Dad" within 10 posts. Midnighter carries the Batcomputer in his head and has a cybernetic link to it. Bats has to go back and study for a bit before he's ready for the test. Midnighter just looks human so he can get within arms reach and kill you. Batman actually is human. Midnighter got jacked in and Bam! "Whoa, I know Kung Fu." Batman traveled the world and studied with the best masters he could find (why he doesn't have the gnarliest knuckles of any billionaire is beyond me.) Midnighter has lost fistfights with superhumans that could give Superman a bloody nose. Batman has been beat by Bane, Shiva, Wildcat, Cassandra/Batgirl, Prometheus and a bunch of other human-level MA. He doesn't lose twice generally. However Batman has anti-Midnighter spray in his utility belt. Seriously, if it's a conjoined comic world, Waynetech either designed or consulted on just about everything that went into Midnighter. If he were to recognize it in time, and it is Batman after all, he would be able to give that combat computer a virus. Imagine if the combat computer's response to Batman's left hook (taught to him by Wildcat!) was to jut your jaw out, lifting it just slightly and standing flat-footed. Maybe the response to a snap kick is to flap your arms like a chicken? Hey, Kev blew Midnighter's head off because Midnighter is a sadist that likes to gloat and his combat computer didn't know there were 7 chambers in the pistol (I think it was a Webley.) There are weaknesses to exploit. Batman is a prime choice to find and maximize those.

Re: END -- Do You Need It? I have noticed that a lot, a whole lot, of published characters would be wheezing by the end of the Turn if you track END. Too high of SPD and acting every phase, massive attacks w/o enough END storage to maintain them, FF that can only be powered for a minute tops, etc. Either oversight or shoddy workmanship. Without END, rookie heroes develop strangely. Most want to start adding DC with xp, and then the arms race is on, but if you enforce END rules Reduced END, more CON, END or REC becomes the more appealing choice. You get to throw more bangs for your buck then. Also without END an archetype is lost. The nimble distractor is unplayable. Spider-Man and Robin I (most sidekicks for that matter) don't have the incentive to bob-and-weave, wearing their opponents out and drawing their fire. They start evolving into turbo-bricks, maxing out DC and OCV.

Re: Does Body, bypassing defences

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? Armor Piercing. Sometimes MAs go with Find Weakness, but damn few characters go long without an AP attack. Which is why I hate the advantage.

Re: Focus = Too Great a Price Break? Hey, if the GM is too lazy to incorporate Hunteds and DNPCs into the game they are free points also. The GM has to step up. "Obvious/Inobvious" is too subjective and needs to be changed. My awesome mystic wand looks like a pinwheel (A Pinwheel from Hell!) Is it obvious or inobvious? Depends on the viewer. Starts to sound like we should have Distinctive Features for stuff. Maybe gear should be designed like vehicles. Or even Followers. "Accessible/Inaccessible" is a little clearer but still too binary. Could you take your foci to the movies? Could you carry it onto a plane, especially post 9/11? Would it have to go in the trunk if you took a cab? Does your girlfriend get pissed that you keep leaving your Steamertrunk of Lethality in the middle of her living room? It's way more than just GRABable or no. Vincent Vega got shot in Pulp Fiction because he didn't take his Glock to the can with him. Sounds like we need Physical Limitations for stuff, more than just Bulky. In a "radiation accident" one of my players was hired by a movie studio to become in real life their cinema star Ronin. The gig came with a suit of high-tech armor, absolutely free. However they had cameras mounted all over the suit (Watched,) anyone could find out the suit's capabilities by watching the movie or reading the press releases (everything was an Obvious Focus, also Reputation and Distinctive Features) and everyone thought he was actually Michael J. Fox, the actor who starred in the movie! The suit was gifted to the player at no point expense, but it wasn't free. If foci-wielders in your game don't piddle their drawers when anyone with TK shows up, the GM is being way too kind. Firing pins don't work well around magnetic powers, let alone sensitive electronics. The cheaper the players make their powers, the easier they are to Suppress. If you wargame, Focus is a gravy disadvantage. The more role-playing that sneaks in the less broken it gets.

Re: Alternative Combat Orders for Combat The only change I make is that when combat begins I start on Segment 2d6 instead of Segment 12. It mixes it up a little so that the first phase of combat isn't just a quick draw contest, everyone going in descending DEX order. I've noticed a lot of character designs list towards "shoot first, shoot hard" constructs that might as well just have a 2 SPD because they only care about going first on Seg 12 and annihilating their enemy. I also track all the SPDs of the players and NPCs and don't announce what segment it is. I just point and say "your action."

Re: Anybody Ever Get THIS? Have you asked him if he knows Champions? Most folk still call it that, even if they are playing a different genre. The way I have won over many a non-HERO player is by having their character take a massively bloody wound and still be standing. And returning fire. Lots o' BODY, not enough STUN to stun or KO them. It makes for a cool mental image as they spit in the face of death, and no other system represents it as well as HERO. Fudge the STUN results if you have to. Encouraging hefty CONs for the characters helps also, because being stunned feels like losing to a neophyte.

Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..." Most "magic" is actually Visible (or visible to readers at least) Mental Powers, and Supes doesn't have much if any Mental Defense. Monstrous EGO, but no MD. He holds up just fine to kinetic energy from magic sources, or the numerous demons he has fought would have popped him like a grape. The end-around powers get him everytime, like Drains and Ego Attacks that he thinks are Energy Blasts. That said, Thor's full-bore hammer attack gets Galactus' attention.

Re: To agree or disagree with Steve's answer I have always worked it just like REC. Unless the return rate on the adjustment power is modified, you get your REC in active points back each Post-12. Take a Recovery on your action, get back your REC in CP. It always seemed to me that REC was meant to be "restore characteristic to starting value" and operates on all characteristics simultaneously STR-STUN. So I keep a gross total of adjustments and REC away at that til restored, not each seperate "wound." P.S.: I understand that this favors the STR and CON-Monsters, just like all the other non-SPD figured characteristics do. I find it in flavor that high CON people recover from adjustment powers more quickly, and I find it helps in the gradation (degradation) caused by taking adjustments off the top. If I hit you with a 1d6 STR Drain, you lose ~50kg of lift; if I hit Grond with it he loses a gazillion kg of lift!

Re: Sacramento Area Campaign - VINDICATOR Sigh. My dormant campaign was based in Sac to start, then wandered all over California. You guys have a perfectly good, half-assed reactor in Rancho Seco. Who can't have adventures around a nuclear reactor? My game flamed out when the adventure plot was to save the kidnapped governor, and the whole team said screw it. Of course the governor at the time was Pete Wilson.

Re: Rifts HERO To represent Mega-damage I would have a +2 advantage on EB and HA that ignores all non-resistant defenses. Oh, wait, that's Killing Attacks! Don't allow unrestricted purchasing of resistant defenses higher than around 10/10 gross and make most weapons normal damage and you will have a good simile. Save higher def and killing damage for the MDC and mega damage weapons and it will work out fine. I played in a HERO game that wasn't identified as Rifts HERO but that's what it was. I was a Borg named SHAMAN (combat medic, emphasis on the combat,) there was a psi-knight named Blue and a mage named Canus. I also played in another Rifts game a Borg named Buick Skylark, the Crazy in a Can! Good times.

Re: Crazy Idea to Remove the Math I knew I blew this writeup, but when I thought of what I did wrong I was away from the computer. Base Cost * (1 + gross advantages - gross disadvantages.) I don't think it would be a straight conversion from fractions to decimal. If you are making this much of a change, might as well review and recost. x3 END is not worth -1 as the rules are now, and sure wouldn't be worth -1.0 under decimal revision. I said magnifying glass, not stop sign.

Re: Character Work in Progress -- Kriegmädchen Wargirl looks pretty darn cool. Only two nits to pick- 1) Where does she get more bullets from? If she is accruing ambient mass to make into rounds, I would try a END Battery construct rather than Charges. 2) I would add a smidge of HA to represent her resilient skeletal structure. When she hits people it's like getting hit with a flesh-wrapped steel bar! She could have problems gauging her Casual STR in her new body. If she loses her temper does the auto cannon pop out of its housing and swivel to track the offender? Could be funny. "I'm sorry your fries are cold! I'll get you fresh ones!"

Re: Can you suffocate foes with an Entangle? There is the classic example of reasoning from special effects leading to trying to justify something for free. Special effects certainly can guide your development, or where you spend your points, but only isolated incidents should happen for free. Kristopher did a great job of explaining. If you recall, in The Incredibles, Frozone fully encased the cop without choking off his air. Iceman's armor wouldn't work very well if he couldn't breathe through it (and it should make a horrible cracking racket as he moves, snapping and reforming, if you reason from effect.) Ice can be porous enough to breathe through. I would suggest a supplimentary Multipower to go with your frosty blast. An NND EB representing suffocation, a Flash to represent snowball in the eye, Darkness to represent opaque ice covering the face, maybe some others. Then make Multiple Power Attacks to represent what you want to happen to your target. An Energy Blast + Flash is the snowball to the eyes, Entangle + NND EB is a smothering ice sheath.