radioKAOS

Re: Thoughts on using 1d20 instead of 3d6? Well, in a game where combat often takes a good portion of the gaming session, you do want to hit as often as possible... Not sure what fun it is in combat if you miss most of the time... *shrug* And as has been pointed out, there are always other modifiers in combat, things that D20 doesn't deal very well with. Considering skills generally start at 11-, yeah, most skills under 14- are considered 'low'ish. 8- is called a familiarity. I wasn't attacking your thought on it, I used to think that way as well. If you'd rather think of OCV vs. DCV as [11+DCV=AC, Roll + OCV to hit], then go right ahead... Of course, since you are using D20, you should probably change it to 10+DCV... but that opens a whole can of worms regarding skills as well... should they only be 8+CHA/5 rather than 9+CHA/5? Above all, have fun, I'll use what I've found tried and true, and you experiment to find what will work for your troupe.

As I am building an NPC for an upcomming game I find myself looking at the use of Martial Arts with Telekinesis... Does TK use 'Ranged' or 'Hand to Hand' or none at all? I'm thinking that the HtH moves are more appropriate, but they are, in fact, used 'at range' so does that change things and how? I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to use MA with TK, something like Choke Hold is perfect for Vader's famous attack, and Shove is a natural as well. I come to you seeking sage advice, please indulge me

Re: If you hate Killing Attacks, how would you replace them? I can't say that KA has ever been a problem in games that I've played in. Rarely does a player ever have one, and if so, there must be a darn good reason for it and there's a ton of stigma that goes along with it. Most Heros don't agree with killing attacks, they just aren't Heroic.

Re: Thoughts on using 1d20 instead of 3d6? Nate, this is the way we had been playing from the start. We found that it drives CVs into the stratosphere, and makes having 'lower' skill levels next to useless. Our campaign ended up with one character having a 17OCV and a Tracking skill of 17- [which somehow still ended up failing quite a bit of the time]. His other meager skills were almost never used, the chance of success wasn't worth the time involved. Not to mention the point costs involved. A skill of 17- will generally cost most people 15pts. Now assume you would like your character to have more than one skill in that range [and most of us do]... Hell, you could fly for cheaper than that An OCV of 17, using the cheapest method [+1 OCV with a single attack] and assuming a 23 DEX [OCV 8] will still cost you 18pts on top of what you've already spent on DEX. Ouch. [disclaimer: this was also in the 250pt character days, it's a little easier at 350 to spend points in this way] Could be just my view of it, but a race for CVs and high skills seems to take away from creating a 'character' out of the numbers on the page. It's just a numbers game at that point, and if that's what you want, then fine.

Re: A reason to play a 'straight' MA Granted, but what now? Not allowing the DCs to count at all seems to throw the favour way back towards STR again... The brick wielding a katana/staff/etc causes FAR more damage than a MA does with the same weapon? Not sure if I like that, and it's certainly not 'in genre.' I'm really leaning towards prestidigitator's way of thinking re:"advantage graded DCs"... seems to be the fair way to do things, IMHO.

Re: A reason to play a 'straight' MA Well there is the "buy the Weapon Element for each" school of thought, though that doesn't really balance things out... Of course there's also the "pretidigitator" school of thought where the 4DCs at +2 would actually need you to purchase 12 MA DCs... which seems to even it out a little better... lol, of course, now we're arguing that MA is more powerful than straight STR, so I almost find this thread funny as we've been arguing the opposite for the past while... maybe, somehow in this wacky world of HERO, it's somehow balanced??? *shrug*

Re: A reason to play a 'straight' MA

Re: A reason to play a 'straight' MA The second bit was more of a design question. My MA is already the heaviest hitter in the campaign and I don't want to push that with the GM, but I would like to add some new abilities such as Affects Desolild or Armour Piercing... so how should I buy that? I have 5DCs and 15 STR, so with a Quick Strike I am already doing 10D6, and I don't want to go much higher than that. Buying even 1D6AP gives me 1D6HtH + 1D6 from STR, +5D6 from DCs, +2D6 Quick Strike= 9D6AP! That's a little high for this game I think, considering my 10D6 is the highest attack in the [<200pt] game so far. Next I'm wondering if to even this all out you should be forced to buy a Weapon Element, perhaps even for each? [and yes I agree that's overcomplicating things, but it's quite the advantage to be able to use the bonuses from MA moves and your DCs 'free of charge'] I know it's not actually bought as a weapon, but it seems like you're adding a different 'element' to each attack this way, no?

Re: A reason to play a 'straight' MA Of course, without my book in front of me... Does this mean that if I am a MA with 10 STR and I perfom a Quick strike, it costs me 2 END? 1 for the STR and one for the Move? Or is it just that it would cost me 1 END even if I decided not to use any STR with the move? Also, what if I don't really want to add more damage dice/already at the Damage cap for the campaign? Would I create it as a MP of naked advantages on STR? or create it as 1/2D6 or 1pip HtH with advantages?

Re: [Campaign] Champions of Vancouver lol, oh yeah, and Orion loves his sidekicks

Re: Duke (art and characters) Damn Skippy Des old boy

Re: [Campaign] Champions of Vancouver Another good game man, thanks. and do you blame us for being paranoid??? it was Mechanon!!!

Re: NCM-type for strength "Really hate"? I think it would be silly to place that much emphasis on a game mechanic, period And those who do bother to place that much emphasis I would politely ask to spend some time outside, preferably away from their books, heck, maybe they should even engage a member of the opposite sex in a conversation or something I like talents for some things that are in the 'inbetween skills and powers' arena. "Simulate Death" for instance. Other than that, I don't mind talents when they have the power explanation within them, though I think those ones are just nice names for mechanics you should just buy as powers anyhow. Do I generally use talents? No, not really. Of course I usually use HERO for Supers games, and most talents are designed for lower point games than that.

Re: NCM-type for strength Ahh, see, that's part of the reason I like HERO. I want the game mechanics to be laid out simply for me, rather than have some 'adder' that magically makes something happen... Just a difference in flavour I suppose. Yeah, wow, I could have massive amounts of lifting strength then!!

Re: NCM-type for strength lol, actually I've been thinking about this for a while now... Son of Atlas +40 STR, no figs -1/2, only for lifting -1, Total Cost: 16pts

Re: NCM-type for strength "+5 strength, no figured: -1/2, only for lifting: -1. Total cost: 2 points." That works, I don't see the need to complicate things with thinking NCM/adder...

Re: The Forumverse name game lol, living in Vancouver will do that to ya, it's only 2am here

Re: The Forumverse name game "Enforcer84" was the only name he ever knew. It was the designation awoke to the first day he can remember. Killing is first nature to this man. Sometimes he's not sure if he's even human, finding his instincts and reactions far quicker than a normal's, and far deadlier. Weapons of every type feel natural in his hands; he can't remember ever training, but there's no doubt he knows how to use all weapons he comes across to deadly effect. He thinks of people in 3 categories: Friend, Foe, Bystander. Everything is a tactical excercise; his life a giant game of survival. Escaping from the institute wreaked of deja vu. He's been on the run from those who kept him captive for almost 3 years. He searches now, for his origin. Others have families, he's never known anything like that. He made a gruesome discovery in his last attack. The man that gave him the most trouble, the man that wouldn't fall, the man who's instincts were nearly a match for his own.... Was a perfect clone of him.

Re: Purely Positive Thread lovin it.

Re: [Campaign] Champions of Vancouver Another good session QM. I'm thinking that may be our regular time, seems to work out rather nicely.

Re: The Force--Need Help! Quick thought... Just because it's 'Lucas' cannon doesn't make it good or necessarily right. The guy can barely keep his own concepts straight, hence the fiasco of Episode 6 "Revenge of the Jedi" - changed at the last minute when something in him said "Uh George, Jedis shouldn't really 'revenge' per se, I thought they were all about knowledge and defense? being at peace, calm?" "Oh, yeah, you're right, we'd better call it 'Return of the Jedi' instead" - they had to recall all the posters, the film trailers, everything. Not to mention the glaring ridiculousness of Episodes I and II. Seriously, medichlorians? You've taken a wonderful mystic religious thing and turned it into bad psuedoscience. Or "A Jedi never uses the Force for attack," per Yoda... but uh, yeah, they do, repeatedly. Enough rant about how Lucas has destroyed my beloved Star Wars. I like the idea of stating out some standardized force powers and letting them choose some to fill out a repetoire, but what about some sort of 'prerequisite' system? Make it so they must learn the more basic powers first before moving on to more advanced ones? Make the difference between padawan, knight, and master, be more than just how good they are with each power. Perhaps differentiate between the types of powers a member of each level might have access to [or be taught]. Perhaps limiting the size of the multipower based on rank? Padawans may only have a 10pt pool, becomming a Knight when they reach a 25pt pool, and finally a master with a 40pt pool? As for the dark side, [in the SW RPG anyhow] it worked in 'Dark Side Points' - every time you performed an evil act and didn't show remorse, you gained a DSP. Each DSP you had would increase your force skills by one die, showing how the Dark Side is always trying to seduce our beloved heroes. Whenever you got one though you had to make a d6 roll and roll higher than your current DSP to continue playing, as once you failed that roll [or got to 6 DSP, obviously] you went over to the Dark Side and became an NPC. Not sure how to simulate this... maybe something like a "Dark Side VPP" used only to pump force abilites, or give new temporary new ones, but with lims like: -Only while doing the Dark Side's bidding, and Side Effects in the form of a +5pts toward a "Slave to the Dark Side" psych lim? Or maybe just a "Dark Side END Reserve" used only to push current abilities. Apply the same sort of lims? I think it would be intersting to give them each a power like this, therefore tempting them to use it, just like the dark side should. It depends on how strict you want to be with the light side/dark side issue as well. In the SW game it was a big issue when Jedi went bad. It is basically up to you to determine what is flirting with the dark side and what isn't. A simple way of looking at it is this: 'if the player has to try to convince you that his character's actions are not evil, then they probably are evil.' It should be pretty evident when characters are not walking the path of light. In any case, have fun, and I wish I could join in!

Re: Need a Superhero HQ? - Try this one great stuff, very pro. Agreed with QM, maps maps maps! Edit: Repped!

Re: [Campaign] Champions of Vancouver "Ah what rippling links! Your Google-Fu is strong!"

Re: [Campaign] Champions of Vancouver Yeah, it was good Dave, No matter if QM believes us or not. He's a little harsh on himself, but we had a ton of fun and that's what is most important. A couple of character tweaks and we'll be off to the races!

Re: Character: Psychose (with illustration) Good stuff dood. Yeah, the desolid thing throws me for a loop too, as does Multiform... man is that ever screwy now...