Kirby

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? As for "organized crime" types, I prefer the "organization" or Cult of the Red Banner. While there are already 4E listings for Iron, Gold, Sodeptan, and Li Chun the Destroyer, (along with different level ninjas!) I personally would like to see Sodeptan have an additional "spark" of powers like the Death Dragon and Li Chun have, even if it's just a BODY drain. Giving him some infernal powers might be nice (maybe Damage Reduction or a lot more Stun). Oh, and additional characters, not all of whom have to be super level. I would like to see written stats for The Man With The Black Eyepatch and Jagatai. In 4E WotD, they said "The man with the black eyepatch is himself a highly skilled martial artist, capable of taking on someone of Seeker's caliber and giving him a tought fight." (p. 128) This is a Seeker built on 544 points. I'd want to see a write up, not a "he's capable of taking on Nighthawk," because that would really tick me off. Jagatai was a bodyguard type; I'd like to see him with not only CSLs, but PSLs as well. Enough to make him scary. Expansions on Tiger Squad would always be nice (and Champions Worldwide may have that). While not an overhaul, I'd like to see "Hercules" changed to Herakles. But that's me. Of course, with a 5E Watchers of the Dragon, I don't know what would upset me more: listing the same characters again, but with the 100 point upgrade, or dismissing them all for new replacements that are essentially the same, just "slightly" different to pretend they're fresh creations.

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? Well stated. I generally like Powerhouse from 4E's BBB. Let's see, others from CKC: Crowns of Krim (and other evil supernatural types) I'd like to actually see a hero or hero team who has Holy attacks. Otherwise, these guys have lots of free Disadvantages. Though, I'd personally like to see them eliminated so the Seven Horseman could return (since I've been told the latter aren't in 5E because we don't need two teams of the same type. ). Of course, Eurostar needs to be upgraded, I'd like to see GRAB expanded with a few more of the "thief only" villains. Black Harlequin could get a "he's dead" overhaul. I think Blowtorch should be a Dark Champions villain. Bulldozer should have wrestling martial arts. Perhaps write-ups for the other "Anmal Villains" under Fenris's write-up. Grond needs to be more powerful, starting with the elimination of the Vulnerability: Fire that everyone knows about. Herculan always seemed that he was supposed to be a big threat, but at 350, he's clearly not. Maybe I've just misread him. I like Howler, construction-wise, for everything except her amulet, which I think is a munchkin-manufactured Disad. If you take it off of her to remove her powers (it is bought as a focus) and leave it off for too long, she dies, which is not heroic, so you have to keep it on her, which means it's not limiting to her. The others either are okay, or I don't use them (such as the Ultimates) and know about them enough to see if they need upgrading/changing. YMMV.

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? Too true. It's difficult to have an intelligent debate with someone who complains that the science fiction can't be believed because reality gets in the way, while saying that we shouldn't use reality to compare science fiction. Coupling this with extremes of one is either an always-victorious genius or a blithering idiot stupider than mulch, with no in-between is just extreme thinking. Then there's that "last word means I'm right" syndrome.

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? You're assuming because you would that she should. Yet I provided several real world scenarios where this thinking went to the wayside. The Middle East is filthy rich, yet they don't have top quality militaries, aside from Israel. Logic would almost dictate that every country spend top dollar on their military, but they don't. Why? The vast majority only spends what's necessary for what they think will prevent invasion. Ahh, Poland, using horseman against tanks. Nope. Was it configured for earth? Doubtful. Besides, a probe probably revealed the supers before it was destroyed. Really? How many "competent probes" have been done of earth? Did they use Windows 98 prior to her first invasion? "General, why did we fail? Didn't you get access to their computer files?" "Apparently, your highness, the world no longer uses BASIC." "Curses! Foiled again!" Or, how's this: "Your highness, we have all of UNTIL's files, they tell us exactly how many VIPER and DEMON nests are as well as where Dr. Destroyer is located and all of his followers. They've known this for decades, but refuse to act on it for two reasons: 1) Funding, 2) Alien invasion." "Oh, commander, we're not aliens, we're extra-dimensional beings, they won't use them against us." Really, her own write up states "[istvatha V'han] has known of Earth's dimension for dozens of years, but skirted around it because of the high percentage of superhumans in its populations." (CKC, p.24) Hmm, looks to me like that would be a sign that she knows her military wasn't up to par for fighting on the level that Earth can contend with. Champions Universe mentions that Tyrannon is an "overlord of millions of dimensions" and that one reason that he took notice of Earth is because of "his archrival Istvatha V'han." (both are in CU, p.124) So it's more than conceivable that her resources are not only used in protecting her own dimensions, but in fighting Tyrannon's minions as well. Now, I think this horse has been beat enough. From Enemies for Hire, I would like to see Ack Ack McCleary, Betelgeuse, Extreme Prejudice, Kryogen, Kunoichi, Ronin, and Wraith. I would include Brood, but since he's a Masq, I guess we won't see him.

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? While I love that ship, it's *just* 8km.

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? I'm not too worried about it. Her background states that she avoided earth for quite some time simply because of the supers. She also has other dimensions she's using resources on to try and conquer. Simply because of size and resources doesn't mean she's putting them to proper use. Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world, yet we saw what they spent on the military. Iraq had the third largest army in the world and wasn't able to conquer Iran, but was defeated quickly by the U.S. As of five years ago, China, with the world's largest military, didn't even have the resources to move troops effectively. Vehicles had to be rotated. Simply because one's logic may state one thing, doesn't mean another's personality will follow that. Heck, tactics say that in conventional warfare you don't attack with inferior numbers and you don't split your forces against overwhelming numbers. And yet the Mongols conquered and the world's largest kingdom doing just that. Heck, even if a standard probe was done, it's not like it would have picked up the size of VIPER, DEMON, Dr. Destroyer, all of whom would greatly disapprove of someone trying to conquer their planet-to-be. As for other villains, I'd also like to see an update on Icicle. Rumors once stated that there were legal disuptes over her because of the costume, but I haven't heard anything official on that. Black Paladin actually needs some underlings. Maybe Leech and Morningstar. Bulldozer needs wrestling. Have we mentioned how weak Eurostar is? And Grond? I have yet to use PSI, but with their points ranging from 350 to under 400, they could probably be improved. That's all I can think of for now. Though my big preference would be to bring back lots of 4E villains they dismissed for 5E for one reason or another.

Re: Which villain needs an overhaul? To add my opinion on others: Grond and Eurostar need improving. Dr. Destroyer really needs a downgrading (or elimination would be fine by me). I too enjoyed CLOWN and would much rather see them than Black Harlequin. As for V'han, in her background it states "due to the quirky and upredictable nature of interdimensional travel she cannot employ her troops and materiel en masse to simply conquer one dimension after another." (p. 24 CKC) With her initial attack in 1998 and a second in 2002, the pattern may have her attack again in 2006. Maybe HERO Games will produce something akin to Invasion and Demons Rule which is dedicated to the armada she amasses. And history shows several instances where invaders intending on conquering bit off more than they could chew. USSR invades Afghanistan. Iraq invades Iran. The Seven-Day War (Egypt vs. Israel). Three countries (Egypt, Jordan and Syria?) attack Israel. And those are only recent ones. For 4E villains, I'd like to see many of them from Enemies for Hire make a return, like Ack-Ack McCleary, Betelguise, Wraith and others. Thunder and Lightning from 4E always were good to use.

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share you ideas! *Bump* Because I have nefarious deeds to tend to.

Re: Hit Locations Hmm. I can understand your thinking of 'head to toe' doesn't make sense, especially if you define FW as finding a specific vulnerable spot (which I think a lot of people interpret it as). Personally, I see FW differently. To me it goes along more with finding a pattern your opponent is using that leaves him open. Maybe you've discovered that he unknowingly closes his eyes after each energy blast and then can't see what's coming, or he extends himself too much with each punch. Thus, you don't need a hit location as much as placement of your attack. Also, for those that have FW w/punches or a martial arts attack, these (mostly) are restricted to certain areas, so a character with "FW: Single attack: Punch" is not likely to roll a hit location targeting the legs or feet. Also, some maneuvers (such as the previously mentioned head-butt as well as legsweep) target specific areas, but get neither a bonus nor penalty; that's more how I see FW. Out of curiosity, if someone in your campaign did FW with an attack that had Area of Effect, one hex, would you give them an additional minus for trying to hit the hex?

Re: Hit Locations Yikes! Your Find Weakness seems very punitive. It's bad enough that there's a cumulative -2 penalty that comes standard with the power, but you're adding in additional penalties as well, so that if someone just wants to target the chest, they're now at -5. If someone has FW with legsweep do they get penalized -8 to target the legs when normally they wouldn't? What about throw or takedown? If it works for you and your players, then have at it. Just seems too unfriendly in my opinion. YMMV.

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: US Army Rangers *Bump* so I don't have to remember it's on page three again.

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls Well, what he's referring to is the -8 needed for a called shot to the head. What he's not taking into account is that since it's a CSL and not a PSL [Penalty], it would lower the OCV's chances by 8. So someone on 125 points who has a 12 OCV, now has a 4 to hit said person in the head. He's also not taking into account that the only way you could fully double BODY and STUN is if they have no resistant defenses. If they do have resistant defenses, the STUN is doubled before defenses, then the defenses are subtracted, but the only BODY that is double is the amount that bypasses defenses. For PSLs for a single attack, to cover the 8 point penalty (and keep the same OCV), one would have to spend 12 points (just 4 points more).

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls Dr. Anomaly asked Steve again, with a more detailed explanation on why this came up. Steve's response: So, no, it's not in the rulebook, but I may be able to quote you a page number, later. But I'm still going to allow them, dangit.

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls As I don't have all the HERO books, I can't give you the page #. I have FREd, but I can't quote you anything from 5ER, Dark Champions or The HERO System Combat Handbook. This doesn't mean a rule isn't in those books. As for "believing" me; it exists in the software as a legitimate purchase. You can remain in denial all you want, but that won't change the fact that it exists. Laugh all you want. But quite frankly, it sounds like that since you don't like it, you're changing your requirements to find it acceptable/existing. You first didn't know what the skill was, saying it sounded too cheap. When it was explained, you said you didn't think the software should write the rules, but that the software should follow HERO/5ER. When informed that HD does follow the rules, you said now one has to show you 'where in the book' it is. (Which one poster has put they believe it is in their book, but they were at a different location.) The last bit of info I can give you is this, from FAQ on Skills, in particular, Combat Skills. [Emphasis mine] So, a 2-point CSL can be applied to any single weapon or attack. So Johnny can buy a 2-point CSL for "Greatswords." He does so. Any greatsword Johnny gets a +1 for. Not bad since he likes them. Now, Sammy makes Johny a special engraved Greatsword with elaborate designs and calls the sword "Bob." Johnny has 2 XP to spend and decides to use it to demonstrate his fascination/obsession in training with "Bob" the Greatsword. He buys two of the 1-point CSL "with any single attack with one specific weapon." (Which is the exact phrase used in HD.) Now, Johnny has +3 OCV with "Bob" because he spent two levels on Bob and one on Greatswords. Should Johnny pick up a different greatsword, or try a disarm with "Bob," then he loses those 2 OCV levels. Can't help you any more than that.

Re: Sharing the Campaign ideas you can't use... yet I hear that! I had a game (double entendre) set up in 2E D&D Ravenloft campaign where I was planning to use it on players. They never did adventure long enough for me to ues it, though.

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: Telekinesis and Martial Arts Okay, I have a few questions, since I can be a nitpicker at times. 1) Why does Invisibility not have the Inherent advantage? Do you house rule it unnecessary, or can he be seen if knocked out? Or was it just forgotten about? 2) Why does Images have a -4 PER? I'm guessing that's for people to not see through it; is that correct? (It's been about 10 years since I've been in a game with someone who's used that power.) 3) How big of a disad is the Phys Lim of Invisibility? Was it just that he couldn't see himself, or did this come into play with penalized DEX rolls? 4) Susceptability: If a group of people discover his true self, either all at once or relatively close together (all in the same turn), does he take the STUN for each person that discovers this, or just once? (If each person, it seems valid, to me.) Having asked these pesky questions, let me say this looks very intriguing and I may have to use this model myself. Thank you for posting it!

Re: Bypassing Armor that has Activation rolls

Re: Pre 5th Edition packages