casualplayer

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome Really fun, well-fleshed out character. I'd like to know her personally, although she may be a little too "on" to be around for long periods of time. Is anyone actually born in Mendocino? Admit it, she was born in Ft. Bragg or Ukiah. Or maybe she was bought in a gift shop in Mendo. (BTW, if you have seen Murder, She Wrote you have seen Mendocino. Agressively quaint, picturesque little burg right on the Pacific, so of course it was used to represent a town in Maine.) If she was born anywhere in that county she would be one heck of a cross country runner also. I could see her having problems with teamwork as she was a solo effort runner. Athletes tend to have problems relating to non-athletes also. She could easily be portrayed as arrogant when she is primarily introverted. Since she apparently has a Public ID, have you considered just calling her "Faith?" Seems appropriate, markets well and is applicable to her powers.

Re: Your Favorite Useless Power How about: Mr. Happy-Detect COM, Ranged, Discriminatory Restrainable, 1 Recoverable Charge lasts 5 Turns.

Re: Passing Strike (martial maneuver) Unbalanced? Same old, same old in HERO. Anything involving figured CHAR can be manipulated to advantage. Take a rules system that draws the math adept like flies to ...well, there is no flattering way to finish that analogy, but the Brian Van Hooses run amok if the the B A Feltons don't rein them in. This isn't a criticism, just an observation. I can't play other systems without mentally converting them to HERO, 'cuz I can do anything with HERO and I always run into a wall of limitation and frustration with other RPGs. HERO is the UNIX of gaming. However the GM has to be the most rules-crunchy of the group or it has to be a very contientious group of players. Anything else and havoc is unleashed. This is why I do all the character design work in my games. This is also why I can bring a 250 pt hero into your game and bust it wide open. It's not a design flaw; it's a feature! Sadly, completely balanced RPGs don't sell. The brunt of gamers are people who inherently, instinctually seek out the key to God Mode. If that loophole is not there (or worse, the loophole is too obvious) then the game sits moldering on the shelf. What can you do?

Re: How to: Shapeshift It'll take GM's permission, but it sounds like you are the GM so go ahead and greenlight it if so inclined. Have the character sell back to 0 all the stats that would change with his form (STR, DEX, CON, BODY, PRE, COM, SPD) and then work up a VPP set that represents his base form. It would help to know the character's stat values but a 105 pt pool would restore his values to normal human, with a larger pool required if he has enhanced stats. It basically turns the character into a blank slate that you can overlay a critter template onto whenever he changes. It will blow every possible active point cap you could have ever possibly imagined to do it this way, since it will require at least a 250 pt pool for the character to be able to emulate the most popular animals. That is in addition to the Power Pool costs! Most people go the VPP Only for Multiforms route, and make their player invest in a HERO Bestiary. This is the most glaring example of where HERO comes up short emulating fantasy literature. Crunching it out is hideously complex and point expensive for an ability that is common as dirt in comics and novels.

Re: Okay, Who's yer favorite Icon? Tough to chase what Hermit said; he pretty much hit all targets. I would say though that Superman-Batman have more of a Heracles-Theseus relationship, if you are familiar with the myths. Captain America represented correctly is everything good about America. Superman done well is everything good about humanity. Wonder Woman is the Sacred Feminine, Eve made from clay. The icon that I miss is the swashbuckling, whimsical Robin. He wore pixie boots and hot pants but he was fun to watch and kept Batman from surrendering to the dark. Where have all the sidekicks gone? My current icon of choice is Invincible. I laughed out loud when he was trying on prospective costumes and asked for something more "iconic." Now he wears Image's logo emblazoned on himself, a lucky break that their names both start with I. He has vanilla powers but a hugely refreshing attitude. He has Superman's powers and high school Spider-Man's outlook. Loving this book.

Re: Superhumans pulling an Authority I don't know which is worse, wondering why Superman doesn't fix the Saharan Desert (or for that matter run against Luthor for President) or fearing that he might decide to take over to that extent. Free will in one hand, prosperity in the other. Civil liberties versus civil security, and don't be too sure which one Americans favor. 250 million people can be wrong, right, left and all of the above. The problem with the Authority's ascension is that it was too abrupt (almost as if they changed writers) and they didn't play by the rules. If you don't play by the rules, someone is always willing to appoint themselves referee and send you to the showers. If Jack Hawksmoor had announced himself as a candidate for Prez, campaigned and won I would have had much more respect and been tempted to follow the storyline. More importantly Jack wouldn't have Battalion or Henry Bendix plotting to abdicate his head from its shoulders. Heck, Kev with the right handgun can put an end to this regime. Sometimes a logical progression of the story takes you there. In my longest ran game, one of the players became a California Senator after amassing a Gates-ian fortune. He felt he could accomplish more that way than just punching badguys. He does have his eyes on the Oval Office also but the game hadn't played out to that point yet. "I captained a swift boat" doesn't even compare to "I have documented proof that I saved the Solar System." As far as the proposed game goes, if everyone's having a good time go nuts. Superhero stories are power fantasies by definition so who's to say what scale to play on. However The Authority is currently boring, silly, and in Storn's words "mean," and why would you want to emulate that?

Re: I love The Ultimates I am of mixed emotions concerning The Ultimates. Bryan Hitch's art is off the charts but he can't hit a print schedule to save his life. Millar can write testosterone but can't do estrogen at all. The team name is just as lame in comics as it was in HERO, unless you were trying to get a half phase jump while your opponents are laughing. Ultimate Cap has to have stats more in the Spider-Man range. What kind of Breakfall roll do you need to jump out of a plane w/o a parachute? Ride an air-dropped tank to the ground and survive? His best quote (about France) is a modern, reactionary view and not really appropriate to a doughboy from WWII. I do like that Ult-Cap uses what will get the job done, including firearms and mech-cavalry, and I like the Leatherneck attitude they gave him. Iron Man is like a Patriot missile with arms. Not quite sure what he does that couldn't be automated and remote controlled. The Launch Crew is kinda cool but the prep time got to be like watching the Voltron crew commuting to their lions every damn episode and wondering why they didn't park a little frickin' closer. I wouldn't want to see them streamline the suit to suitcase size, but Ult-Tony is chained to Manhattan or he doesn't get to play because the suit does not travel well. Giant Man (boy, I wish they would have renamed him) is being kicked around like a red-headed step child because otherwise you don't get to have Ultimate Ultron. Now in Champions Growth to just shy of 60 ft is impressive, but Hank comes in third (maybe fourth) in Strength for the Ultimates. The GM really should have helped him make his character. Ult-Hulk is dumb Mr. Fixit. Amusing, but he's done nearly as much damage as Ult-Magneto. He's useless as a future teammate unless they whip out the Ultimate Plot Device and pardon him. They have made no bones about Ult-Hulk killing MANY people. Ult-Wasp pisses me off to no extent. She shrank out of her clothes and got mugged by ants. Whoopee! She has been decoration and victim so far. She used to be Hank's DNPC and now she's Steve's. Fine female characterization from the British minister. Ult-Thor is a plot device, even moreso than in Marvel 616. I like him, don't get me wrong, but he outclasses the rest of the team. All of the godly power and none of the disadvantages. Unless "Must Save the Whales" is worth more points than I thought. He's like a couple of Earth First-ers that I used to know who seemed sincere but were really there for the hippy chick booty. No one has mentioned Ult-Widow yet. I dig her, although I couldn't begin to gauge her abilities. I don't think she is a ex-ballet dancer, secret agent anymore, more like something out of the Weapon X project. Sadly I can't identify with any of them. Every Ultimates issue is like watching Independence Day, and you can only watch that movie so many times. They just don't hold up over time. I made it 50~ issues into Ultimate Spider-Man, all of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, 6 issues into Ultimate X-Men, 10 issues into Ultimates and am thinking about giving Ultimate FF a try now that Warren Ellis is writing it. Not real sure how I feel about a Dr. Doom with hooves though.

Re: Building a Robin/Nightwing inspired Hero NEED HELP! The biggest problem with modeling after Nightwing is that you are trying to tap into his "coolness" factor and that is impossible to duplicate. His powers and stats are not very game expensive, but he has 60 years (!) of XP that he dumped into skills and levels. Let's see how close you can get though. At what point in his career do you see Nightchild being at? Has he been under Dr. Midnight's wing for ~10 years or less than that? More than that? The best way to simulate characters with extensive experience previous to their creation (stemming form their backstory) is through Levels. Levels with INT skills to represent intense academic study, HTH levels to represent martial training or Overall levels to represent being good at anything you put your mind to. Physically and athletically he should be able to enter any Olympic event and take home a medal, the Gold in any Gymnastic event. This can be skewed by campaign benchmarks but Champions gives good guidelines. I gasped in amazement when I saw the initial write-up's 28 DEX, 18 BODY and 7 SPD. If this is the sidekick, then Dr. Midnight could manhandle Batman! I would give him some DCV levels Requires Acrobatics roll and buy his Acrobatics roll through the roof. One facet of both Nightwing and Batman is that they are almost undefeatable on their home turf, so levels only usable in Metrogotham would be appropriate. Nightwing's most distinctive attribute is his attitude, so emphasize the compassionate, confident (not over-), self-sacrificing swashbuckler and you will have a spiritual heir to the man we all know and love.

Re: Weak Supers who just needed better writers Ah, I love forums. Did I dig on the JSA at all? Nope, just disappointed that the guy who's doing such a good job with everyone else on the team gutted the tenuous fragments of history that Power Girl had and left her a fanboytoy. I blame Gerard Jones for a lot of this because he had her go through the depowering surgery and the Diet Coke lunacy, but I don't think I'm out of line for expecting more character from a self-made millionairess that created a software company from scratch and got out before the bubble burst. Chuck Dixon did good things with her in Birds of Prey and I enjoyed her guest appearances in Will Payton/Starman written by Roger Stern.

Re: 6v1 Even Fight Now that's vague. If you mean "Why not give any hints to villain's capabilities?" then I would have to say people don't respect what they don't earn and players deserve to get a benefit from spending points on stuff like Detective Work, Knowledge Skills and Contacts. If you mean "Why do I hate Damage Reduction?" it's because of the same reason why people justly feel STR should cost 2 for 1. In a point based system a point of anything should advantage you roughly the same as a point spent anywhere else. HERO runs on a nickle scale where 5 pts of blah is as good as 5 pts of blah and 5 pts of defense will protect you from 5 pts of blah. Damage Reduction, and all the stop-sign and magnifying glass powers, break the rules. And if you tack it on a villain you can't argue with any credibility against a player buying it also. Instant arms race. I know that most of these powers, Damage Reduction not included, fill a comic genre need but I don't have to like 'em. Good old PD and ED and CON. And yes, I have been playing HERO since before Damage Reduction in case my crusty gamer attitude was showing.

Re: 6v1 Even Fight

Re: Spiderman Vs. Firelord Think of it in Champions. Spidey did net 1-2 STUN each turn over several hours to take Firelord out (damage - POST 12 REC.) SEVERAL HOURS! That's a herald of a lot of turns. Firelord had that massive Overconfidence disad that kept him from ever dodging or putting his levels into DCV and got tagged every time Spider-Man swung. Spidey had the SPD edge and could take a REC almost every turn in addition to his Post 12. Everytime Firelord tried to catch his breath he got a solid pasting that left him in a deficit. Spider-Man got on him and stayed on him and didn't let up. Of course if we're thinking in Champions this combat took seven years uninterrupted to game out.

Re: Weak Supers who just needed better writers There are two time periods in New Mutants history: pre-Bird Boy and post-Bird Boy. I don't like to talk about post Bird Boy. How someone who had so much fun with Power Pack could fubar the X-Babies so badly is beyond me. Lets not forget Doug's most impressive power, the ability to get his groove on with tasty purple-haired British mutants. Before Psylocke turned Japanese, turned Japanese I really think so she was warm for his form. As Dani said "Doug, you sly, sneaky devil," when she found Elizabeth Braddock and Doug in a room together with only one pair of pants between them, and Doug had those! Doug is still alive somewhere though. He is either deep within the NSA's headquarters breaking 10 codes before breakfast or he's residing in Limbo with the true Illyana and reigning over Sym City. He was infected with the Techno-Virus meaning he can't really be killed just in need of a jumpstart. Rahne is not so much a slut in the new X Academy book as a Grrrl! She is very Rebel without a Collar right now and was actually turned down to become an instructor at the school. It's amazing what the right writer can do and amazing the havoc the wrong one can wreak. Grant Morrison comes in and revitalizes the entire X World, Warren Ellis takes Gen X and runs with it, Mark Millar arrives and turns Extreme Xmen into terrorists that need to be exterminated (no, not just Magneto's pack of bastards.) I love the bow heroes, Hawkeye and Green Arrow, but Fabian Nicienza is writing Nomad-with-a-bow and Judd Winick is just not firing on all cylinders. Who wants to follow Kevin Smith and Brad Meltzer anyway? Speaking of sluts, I would like to see someone do something worthwhile with Power Girl. I mean she used to be Earth 2's Supergirl, on a par with Superman for power and drive. Now she's a hysterical decoration for the JSA. Kinda strange to mention her in a weak hero thread but she is being squandered and it ticks me off.

Re: Stretching Question Yeah, Hugh, I've done the math. If TK has inherent Indirect it's too cheap relative to STR; if it doesn't then it's a bad buy (except for the arbitrary prohibition against Ranged STR.) What can you do? For my own sake, I house rule "No Free Lunch." No power comes with any bundled gunk. Who wants the grief of deleting Media Player every time they install Windows? When I post I try to stay FRED-legal but I can't keep up with all the populist errata crud. I imagine people belly-ached enough that Desolid is now inherently Invisible because of the Pryde influence and the only reason why TK would have any level of inherent Indirect is pandering to the crowd. Everyone wants to be Phoenix and no one wants to pay for it. So that it's not a complete thread hijack, I guess I would use TK Direct for Spidey. What disadvantage would you give for Direct: must issue from body? -1/2?

Re: 6v1 Even Fight Someone might have a hard-and-fast rule but I design from a meta-game standpoint. Your team may cream some of my 1000 point villians without breaking a sweat; some of my 300 point villains might prove unstoppable for your guys. First thing I would suggest is to not worry too much about points. They may work as a good guideline for you to rein it in but the main goal is to present a credible threat. Since you specifically said mono, maniacal, monomaniacal villain we can start from there. Start with sufficient PRE that your players don't kick in the wall, get a 1/2 phase jump while your Evildoer wets himself and then gets annihilated in a hail of attacks before his defenses are up. That is anti-climatic. Defensive PRE will suffice if you don't feel this guy warrants agressive charisma. If you want that Terminator, we-just-can't-stop-him feel crank up the CON. Defenses are nowhere near as important as a good CON for a solo villain. If he gets Stunned, then the aforementioned hail of attacks and a whole lot of design work down the drain. Your players will be dancing on his grave before you can blink. People swear by Damage Reduction for master villains but I find it frustrates players. The more gross damage they do, the more is subtracted to determine the net damage and they can see you doing the math adding insult to lack of injury. Having your 80 STUN punch do 20 net STUN is aggrivating but the villain taking the 80 STUN punch and still being conscious and lucid is scary. KB Resistance is key also. YOu just don't respect someone that you knock into the next timezone and it also makes it impossible to play to the strengths of the battlefield if you keep getting slapped into next week. It's also a nasty surprise for the Move By/Through crowd, who get an obnoxious damage potential for relatively few points spent. I like to play to my player's strengths and weaknesses. Have your mega-baddie able to hit your nimble player on a moderately good roll (9>) but unlikely if that player goes full Dodge, all levels to DCV. They can draw shots that would otherwise cream an easier target on the team. Have your supervillain's harshest attack able to hurt the toughest character, but just enough that the player can grit his teeth past the pain and fire back a tough guy soliloquey (sp?). Leave chinks in the armor for a martial artist to exploit. Have your villain able to withstand any one attack from your group but not the aggregate of a succession of attacks or a creative teamwork play. Without knowing your player lineup I can't really suggest more, other than teleporters laugh at Entangles, fliers laugh at ground-pounders, mentalists laugh at your worst memory then make you relive it. Oh yeah, start with same point base then +~50 points for each player past the first so around 500-550.

Re: Stretching Question This thread makes a good argument for allowing players to buy Ranged for STR. Which will open a whole new can of worms. Spidey's webshooters are not really the focus. They are IAF, maybe even IIF, while the webbing itself is OAF and we all know that he went for the biggest point savings. His webshots can be Missile Deflected, crisped up by Damage Shields w/o hurting him and so on. Doc Ock's (comic) arms are also a focus, OIF, which is why he can stick them in a fire w/o hurting himself. What is really fun though is buying them as a follower and him with Mind Link to them. It helps with the SPD differential, as Doc has probably a 3 SPD while the arms have a 5-6 SPD. Then the arms can be moderately self-willed also, which is even more fun and explains why they still operate even when Doc is KOed. True evil is buying each arm as a separate follower, independently willed and each lashing out simultaneously. Reed Richards is clearly archtypal Stretching. It is bits of him elongating out to slap you and if he ensnares you he leaves himself vulnerable to any damage that you use to break free. He doesn't Entangle, he just Grabs with all the benefits and drawbacks involved. By the by, I don't see Spider-man's webbing as Stretching at all but as a fine example of non-Indirect TK, examples of which are actually tough to come by. Every red-headed mutant seems to have massive, invisible, Indirect (can use thru Mind Scan) TK but hardly anyone has linear blast, issues from my body, visible TK. Except Spidey. I know many a player who buys vanilla TK and wants to use it like a Grey, and it always ends in tears. "No, you need to buy Indirect to do that." "No, it's visible unless you buy it Invisible." Jean Grey's original 400 kg TK with all the mods cost her 75 real points! For a starting level X-man! Cyclops dumped his points into a monstrous EB; Jean went for the sneaky power. So I would buy one of the slots of Spider-Man's MP as TK No Fine Work, May Not Crush, OAF. This gives him the ability to reach out and touch someone, along with most of the other things that he can do that aren't covered by Entangle or Force Wall.

Re: In order to prevent Munchkinish... I wouldn't say this is Munchkinish...maybe Umpa-Lumpa-ish. This looks much like the first salvo of a power that is eventually going to become a VPP for all things gun. So what would you give for May Only Change Points if Near (1KM>) Battlewagon? As others have said campaign flavor will affect this, from urban to cosmic, but somewhere in the -3/4 range sounds good. I know that sounds huge but there is no way on this earth I would give you any Focus disad for this. If it has to be an obnoxiously big gun you could get OIHID, but it would have to be something completely unconcealable. A Baretta wouldn't fly. The power is basically "Point hand, make trigger-pulling motion, do RKA," which really doesn't justify any Focus disad. If you can only "castle" the weapons, replacing the current firearm with a new one, that might be worth the Focus. Just as an aside, it seems odd that you would have unlimited guns and only 2 clips of bullets. Why change clips when you can just change guns and if you can tport guns why not always have a live round in the chamber?