Rebar

A long time back, before my RPing hiatus, I recall a list someone posted somewhere that was a highly-detailed, expanded list of Disads.

Here's where it used to be http://surbrook.devermore.net/herosource/newdisads.html

Anyone know where that might have gotten to? Or a similar one?

6 rPD will stop Body from most small arms.

D'oh! I really gotta go back and read the whole section. This is the first time I've cracked the book in years...

Inherent is a +1/4 Advantage, not a -1/4 disadvantage but other than that it looks good.

Right. But I also forgot Always On.

Another point: you can use a damage shield on someone by grabbing them, what limit would you give for a DS to be passive only? Maybe -1/4?

I would still link it to the 6 resistant PD.

Nah. I like the cinematic effect of Jaws taking NO damage and just grinning.

A 6PD just won't do enough.

(Then again, PD always reduces damage, whereas DCV only reduces the likelihood that damage will be done. If the attacker makes it by 3, our hero takes full damage. Hmm.)

Hm. So, you can add the damage of an Inherent power to the damage from STR? I hadn't thought of that.

So, if the character already has a 20 (or maybe 25) STR, I could simply buy the power as a naked advantage?

Naked advantage on 25 STR: Damage Shield(+2) Max-out(-1/2) Act 8- (-2) Inh(-1/4) = 50AP, 13CP

Am I missing anything?

5th Ed. Pulp hero - Standard hero: 150CP

I'm building a Steely-jawed Hero. Literally. His jawbone including teeth has been replaced with Stainless Steel. (Think Jaws from James Bond)

In addition to the obligatory 'HKA - must follow grab' power, I'm trying to figure what would happen when some feckless thug goes to sock him in the jaw. (Swish *CLANK* YAGHHH&$!&!^$!*#!!!)

Two effects:

1. our hero feels nothing (bought as +2DCV, just like a shield is bought) +

2. the thug gets a broken hand (4D6HA Damage Shield)

limits: only versus melee

activation 8- (represents that, on average, only the occasional attack will be aimed at the jaw - I am not using Hit Location rules)

So:

+2DCV

plus

6D6HA 0End(+1/2), Cont(+1), Inh(+1/4), Damage Shield(+1/2), maxes out at opponent's attack (-1/2), only vs. melee (-1/2), Act8- (-2)

or: (10 + (30@+2 1/4)@-1/2) @ -2 1/2

I work this out to a whopping 107AP / 21RP (one seventh of all his CPs). And it only works 25% of the time!

I suppose I could weaken it to 4D6. (the max-out limitation might be reduced to a -1/4)

so: (10 + (20@+2 1/4)@-1/4) @ -2 1/2

This is a weaker 75AP / 18RP (1/8th of his CPs)

Anyone have better ideas about how to simulate the fist-meets-steel effect?

Re: looking for non-Causasian pulp roles

I looked up Ottoman Empire and Turkey, and it looks like the entire regime was overthrown in 1925, exiling all royalty.

It's an obvious tie-in - an exiled Ottoman prince.

But it's got me realizing that it's REAL hard to write up a character who's supposed to be a stereotype when you know noting about the history - let alone the stereotypes - of a nation. I foresee some tremendously clumsy and naive characterization.

Re: looking for non-Causasian pulp roles

You could also have non-Caucasian citizens hailing from various "Lost Worlds." The pulps were full of cities hidden in darkest Africa' date=' Asia, or South America; in tropical oases in the Arctic Circle or Antarctica, or in the heart of the Sahara or Arabian deserts; beneath the surface of the Earth; even on the Moon. They could be inhabited by survivors of archaic real-world cultures, antediluvian civilizations, or descendants of stranded aliens, wielding super-science or mystic powers; or primitive savages, even apelike subhumans, sometimes serving immortal masters (or mistresses).[/quote']

 

Actually, this is where they're going to end up...

Re: looking for non-Causasian pulp roles

Thanks guys, lot's of ideas in here!

I had better come clean before this gets too far. This is really more of a story than a game. I've fantasized about running this game for years, but I realize the thing that will mess it up is a GM and PCs. So I'm dabbling with the idea of bypassing the whole roleplaying aspect and just writing the story.

There's no reason you couldn't have a Mexican fighter pilot around earlier.

I have in my pulp game a young female Aussie grease monkey character. A complication she has is being chased by rich son of the sheep ranch next door who wants to marry her for the land that her dad has. Fun character....

Another idea is a USA black airman Hubert Julian, the Black Eagle of Harlem

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/The-Black-Eagle-of-Harlem.html

I suppose. Though Australian and Mexican are still technically European race. Don't seem to be doing proper justice to diversity (I'm Canadian, so it's a pathological imperative...).

One of my personal heroes, Eugene Bullard, an African American pilot in WWI

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard

 

It would help to know more. Who's putting together this team? Where are they based? etc.

I'm deliberately trying to be open so as to get the broadest set of choices. The character is more important.

Skippers: Nations with coasts tend to have navies and maritime fleets. I don't know what you consider "exotic" but a ship captained by an Arabic, Turkish or East Asian person could easily turn up in any port in the world.

This could work. I like this.

Mechanics: Being a lower prestige job compared to others you list, it was probably not that hard for disadvantaged minorities to learn and practice.

Yeah, that could work.

Military Officers: A general in whose army? Ottoman Turkey was a major world power until WWI' date=' and a "modern major general" who had served in the Sultan's army is a possibility. On the other hand, the US didn't have an African American general until 1940. France had the French Foreign Legion and probably had officers from all their colonial possessions.[/quote']

I like this a lot.

 

Yeah, I'd been thinking about the FFL. But a Turkish officer would be cool.

 

(Though frankly, I abolutely loooooooooooooove the traditional attire of the Indians.)

 

Sort of by definition a "Great White Hunter" is White (also Great, and a Hunter) but if you mean someone with the skills to track and shoot big game, there were probably plenty of Africans, Indians, and Native Americans who knew their own lands and the beasts native to them at least as well as people who HADN'T grown up there.

True. This is broadening my ideas.

 

Again a "Nordic Ox" is sort of by definition Nordic' date=' but a big bruiser could come from almost anywhere. Even Japan, stereotypically not a land of giants, is home to sumo wrestlers. [/quote']

True, though I do want to avoid the stereotype of the Big "Dumb" Bruiser. It's a slippery slope.

I want to build a Adventurer's team that is not comprised entirely of Caucasian nationalities. The characters are all highly proficient and successful, which is why they've been gathered into a team (think of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). This is set in the mid-twenties or thereabouts.

I've been poring over the Pulp Hero book and supplements. Found some about exotic nationalities, but not a lot about PC-level roles.

Example character roles I'm already toying with are: Aviator, Ship Captain, Grease Monkey, Modern Major General, Professor/Scientist, Great White Hunter and Nordic Ox (Hans).

Example nationalities so far seem to be French, Irish, British, American, Icelandic.

I'm willing to jumble things up to get the right combo.

I want something more colourful but I don't know how non-whites achieved success and expert proficiency in desirable skills in the pulp era. It would be easy to do if I were including sidekicks, but I hate the idea of the token non-white being relegated to what is essentially a second-class role.

I don't think I want to do the exotic Asian Martial Artist.

It would be cool to have a East Indian. (I don't know, maybe a prince? Or is that too close to Nemo in LXG?)

Maybe an African. I could see the Ship's Captain being African (thinking of the ships' captain from Raiders).

If you think of something (such as the Indian), please try to give links. I'd need to read up on the history so I can ensure it's properly canonical to the pulp era (It'd be dumb to have an Indian prince if they were rare in the '20s).

Any other ideas?

Re: The Birthday Suit Boogaloo?

Makes catching illness easier.

How does this follow? Is this from the apocryphal myth that being cold makes you more susceptible to colds?

Re: Multiform

I think he means' date=' that he has to Invent clear Names/Abbreviations for them.[/quote']

 

Yes. ghost-angel's 'Only in X form' is the same thing. Either way though it still requires that I explicitly define X twice on the same character sheet.

 

To wit:

 

+10 INT (-1/4 only in human form)

2D6HKA (-1/4 only in bear form)

Re: Multiform

In 6E "Only in Heroic Identity" was renamed to "Only in Alternate Identity".

I still need two distinct lims:

ONLY in Hero ID for some powers (such as claws)

NOT in Hero ID for others (such as INT and skills).

But wasn't the original idea behind the Multiform to have sperate sheet to not confuse her?

It was. I'm going to have to write up unbalanced character sheets for the player.

5E.

In a game with a 40AP point cap on attacks, how large can a HKA be if the character has a 30STR?

Is that a 2D6-1KA (5D6-1 w/ STR) or capped at 3D6-1?

Re: Multiform

Actually, I'm trying rewriting the character as OHID. It's working pretty well. The human form has little in the way of cha or powers so it's pretty eay to build on. And the point cost works out similarly. (But I've got to invent a limitation: NOT in Heroic ID -1/4 for INT and skills.)

Re: Multiform

Dear player: if you are interested in making the best of your character, you have about 100 more points you can spend freely on your human form. I know it doesn't fit your character conception, but the alternative is that, if you are more interested in roleplaying, those 100 poiints should be discarded now and forever. Your call.

Maybe this character would be better built as OHID...

Re: Multiform

I don't know if it is true for 5E' date=' but in 6E Cots Endurance makes the power Continous, thus she would already revert when she gets stunned/k.o (since the power ends then). And charges remove the endurance cost. No Idea if this is true for 5E too.[/quote']

These are all explicitly listed in the book unde multiform.

 

Be certain not to over-limit it. When it is true that she still only has 20 points beyond the multiform, playing such a character could be frustrating. Especially with charges, Revert and Personality Loss her hero form.

Yes, actually, I've realized there's little incentive beyond roleplayability to add any limits on the multiform. The human form has way more points than she has any need for.

Re: Multiform

Also, I guess there's no incentive to give the 20pt human form any disads. In a 150+50 campaign, she's got 150pts to spend before she needs to worry about disads.

Also, there's no reason not to spend those 150. They're totally free. I'm going to have a 150pt 15 year old girl... And since she does have about 25pts in roleplaying disads, she might as well be a 175pt 15yo girl.

Re: The Birthday Suit Boogaloo?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tornado

Anyway, never mind. I get the point.

Re: Multiform

OK, so I'm rebuilding it with the normal human form having the multiform.

Multiform (200 Character Points in the most expensive form) (40 Active Points);

Reversion (-1),

Personality Loss First Roll After 1 Hour (-1),

4 Charges (-1),

Costs Endurance (Only To Change; -1/2)

Disad: Multiform Amnesia (maybe, haven't decided on this yet)

So, in the first adventure, true form has earned 4XP. If she puts 1XP into multiform, that is enough to jump the bear form to 218 points!

It seems to me, I still have to invoke a GM fiat that says bear form increases only at the same rate as XP earned.

Re: Multiform

Just to kill this once and for all;

Thank you for clearing it up.

(I take some weird solace in seeing that it took 4 pages to do so. Many people had opinions, true, but "You can trust me! Really!" is not exactly a compelling argument.)

Re: Multiform

I am very conservative about the rules and the balancing (as a dozen disputes in the forum show clearly) and when I want too convince you that there is no inbalance in having a 200 pt bear taking a 20 pt Little girl Form for 4 Points, than you can believe me there isn't a single one.

Wow. Modest much?

Re: Multiform

When in doubt' date=' "WwSLd (What would Steve Long do?)"

Actually, this is the philosphy I tend to follow.

How many times have I read things to the effect of

"If there are two ways of doing something in HG, an expensive one and a cheap one, the more expensive one is probably the right one."

"If it seems like you're getting something for free, you're probably doing it wrong."

Re: Multiform

Wow. Even under the old 'most expensive forms must pay for it' versions before 5th I never assumed the character form actually paying the points to be counted as one of the forms.

Why not? Surely if it was intended not to be included they would not have used the same word 'form'. Or would have at least qualified it and excluded it.

Re: Multiform

The problem is mostly how the "buying Multiform" is written in 6E.

5E, please.

Re: PRE attacks on PCs

For myself, I dislike any rule that says "PC's are different from everyone else". The game universe has no way of differentiating between PC and NPC, so why would my being impressed by Captain Confident differ depending on whether he is a PC or an NPC?

I remember (granted, vicariously) a D&D game where the power-gamer was vying with the rest of his team for some found loot. One of the NPCS grabbed a hot item, and the power-gamer said "Wait. He's just an NPC. I want that item!". The NPC turned to the power-gamer, pulled the hilt of his sword from his scabbard and said "I'm a what now?"