JohnTaber

Hi CH,

Hummm...I guess I don't care but I know for a fact that the Hero folks care...at least to some degree. For example, I had a character in my DH article, Infectious Enthusiasm, called "Riptide". At the time I did not own CKC so I did not see the duplication. I was told to change the name of the character in my story even though the article itself is tagged with a "This is not part of the Hero Universe" disclaimer. Again...it was no problem changing the name of the character in my article to "Pipeline".

Long story short, I would just change the names of the characters in your stories/articles and avoid the confusion...is the name as important as the content anyway? Guess my priority is on the content...

Hi Killer,

Having the defensive EC like that shown above is really gross in my opinion. I foolishly let my players do the same thing now I am regretting it. Most of the powers in there are technically illegal as they inherently costs 0 END.

Yeah...regeneration with damage reduction is a gross combo. I have a PC with this combo. He can take massive attacks but a bunch of agents with autofire attacks bring him to his knees. The PC with this combo in my campaign has only a 4 PD/ED! It STILL works REALLY well.

I like the force limbs. Neato.

Just some comments...

I AGREE! VERY NICE!

I am not planning on Star Trek but I can definitely see stuff that I want to do for my setting...

I think there are also a bit more things to buy in FREd. There are more adders, advantages, and such that are fun to buy but hard to afford on only 250 points. Some of the existing powers are also more expensive (aid, TK, etc). I used to run games at 200 points but my new campaign is 350 points. I have to admit it is a fun change...

In my mind Karma said the salient point. MP and EC are restrictive in their own right. In my mind, that is why the point break is given. It is not given simply because someone figures out how to make all their powers fit under a given special effect.

Just my $0.02...

Hi Gents,

For a PC I would not allow it. Sounds like an interesting NPC concept but for a PC it is a bit gross IMHO. Sounds almost like Mechanon as a hero.

I THINK I know the answer but I just wanna confirm it. The FAQ says...

Q: Could a character with a Variable Power Pool defined as a Gadget Pool use it to buy a Vehicle or Computer?

 

A: With the GM’s permission, yes. However, the cost for the Vehicle or Computer bought through the Pool is its total cost, not its points divided by 5.

 

If a character buys a Vehicle or Computer through a VPP, he should not apply the “+5 points doubles the number of items†rule without the GM’s permission.

In my campaign this PC, Smith, calls back items magically (i.e. he does not go to a lab/garage or anything). Poof. Car. Poof. Helecopter. Poof. Viper blaster. Anything he has touched and analyzed.

Do these apply if it is defined as a Cosmic VPP NOT a Gadget VPP?

I assume this ruuling applies for any type of VPP but I'm just checkin'...

Hi Steve: I want to confirm something in another thread...

A PC in my game is named Smith. He can magically "call back" anything he has touched and analyzed in the past. It is bought with a VPP. Now...for guns and such it is easy...I have questions about vehicles...

Assume the Taurus has an active point cost of 60.

1) Does this mean that the VPP point cost of said Ford Taurus is 60 points (i.e. 60 points from the VPP are used) OR does it mean the character only has to use 24 points of his VPP (i.e. because he can use the power Summon with Slavishly Devoted)?

2) What about the max VPP cost? Does the PC need a 60 point threshhold in his VPP to summon a Taurus OR is 24 points enough?

This is hard to explain...

Originally posted by Grymlynn

I believe:

Your VPP has to have at least 60 points in it to cover the active cost, but only 24 points of the pool will be held by the Summon power, until they don't need the car anymore. Then, the character can move those 24 points into something else. I guess the special efect would be the car owner showing up and yelling "Dood, where's my car!"

My response...

FYI. This is how I am currently playing it. The only part that is weird is the VPP having to have at least 60 points to cover the active cost. In fact, the player bought a 100 pt VPP for this reason. Since the player is fantastic I don't have to worry about abuse issues...it just seemed like a funny ruling...

Is Grymlynn correct?

Originally posted by Grymlynn

I believe:

 

Your VPP has to have at least 60 points in it to cover the active cost, but only 24 points of the pool will be held by the Summon power, until they don't need the car anymore. Then, the character can move those 24 points into something else. I guess the special efect would be the car owner showing up and yelling "Dood, where's my car!"

FYI. This is how I am currently playing it. The only part that is weird is the VPP having to have at least 60 points to cover the active cost. In fact, the player bought a 100 pt VPP for this reason. Since the player is fantastic I don't have to worry about abuse issues...it just seemed like a funny ruling...

Hi Guys,

I actually have a situation like this in my campaign and I don't have the ultimate vehicle book. Can I clarify something with everyone? I want to make sure I understand this...I also want to get the opinions from other Hero folks. Let me know what you think...

A PC in my game is named Smith. He can magically "summon" anything he has touched and analyzed in the past. It is bought with a VPP. Now...for guns and such it is easy...I have questions about vehicles...

1) Does this mean the VPP point cost of said Ford Taurus is 60 points (i.e. 60 points from the VPP are used) OR does it mean the character only has to use 24 points of his VPP?

2) What about the max VPP cost? Does the PC need a 60 point threshhold in his VPP to summon a Taurus OR is 24 points enough?

This is hard to explain...

I've run several campaigns like this in different settings. One of my favorites is based on the Network from Danger International fame. See the description in the book. I also ran a sort o multi-session 1-shot campaign based loosely on the Dirty Dozen. It was so much fun I came inches away from making it a regular campaign.

Have you seen the Unknown Eagles stuff? I assume you have but...

Hi Savant: In those specific cases we go back to the dice. John T>

Hi Gents,

Hang on...you guys think order a guy to say something really blasphemous is that high of an effect roll? He is only SAYING it...he is not doing it. See what I mean? I guess I interpret it differently. Also the limitation on the Mind Control would be huge. Very limiting IMHO.

I guess only Restrainable would be fine in most cases. If there are prevalent anti-cyber devices then I would consider adding a Side Effect. The new rules for Side Effect are very cool. You could easily add associated vunerabilities and such using this method.

My group uses a house rule.

If two characters act on the same Dex in a given phase both get their actions off but the actions are declared based on the roll of a dice.

It sorta resolves this issue and has worked fine over the past 15 years...

My group started our new campaign with 350 points. In the past I started the PC at 200 points...yeah low powered.

One of the first comments I heard from one of my players was, "Things are more expensive in FREd." In this case he was updating an old PC based on TK, Absorption, and a defensive EC so yeah...he felt a lot of pain. Turns out FREd has adders and other cool stuff that did not exist in the old rule. My players found that SEVERAL effects that they desired were more expensive. I think this helped "combat" the feeling of having oodles of points compared to 200. (Now we also found that Martial Artists stuff did not change in cost so they ended up overpowered at 350 points but that issue has already been discussed in other threads.)

Wanted to throw in my observations as a GM in our recent sessions...

Hi Harry,

In my new campaign the defenses of the PC range from 4 to 28. That's right...4. The reason is other stuff...for example...

The 4 def PC has 75% Physical and Energy Damage Reduction Resistant. He is also a Mystique type IPE Ego Attacker. He does not need high defenses as he is often not directly attacked.

The 24 def PC is the Martial Artist and often has high DCV.

The 25 def PC has an absorption that feeds back into his defenses. He also has lots of raw stun. The name of this PC is Survivor so you can imagine defenses are important...

The 28 def PC has a fairly low speed so the higher def are not so big of an issue. This PC is a sort of gadgeteer...

EVERY PC has resistent defenses.

Hope this helps...

John T>

Hi Gents,

I am doing something similar in my new campaign. The general populace considers them a serious threat. They have extablished a large powerful government group to handle encounters. I'm using UNTIL for this purpose in my world...

Huh...we call them "Combat Specialists".

Hi JmOz,

Why Hardened then? Why does Leia's toughness mean she can avoid AP or Penetrating effects? I think that is my problem with it...

Darn...I know Derek has a good idea for this...I THINK his ideas is that a Continuous Persistent power bought at no range is a damage shield. In other words, you just buy these two and define it as a damage shield. Drat...hopefully Derek will read this and reply...

Hi Gents,

This was a topic of discussion last night at my Champs campaign. One of the PC has Combat Luck the main bad guy had a Penetrating attack. We were not happy with how Combat Luck was defined and worked for Champs. Saying that I think as written the power might be better for Heroic level PC.

If I was gonna rewrite it for Champs I would go with the Damage Reduction route I think or simply DCV with a limitation that it can't be used if the target is unconcious or surprised as per Combat Luck.

I dunno...

Hi St Barbara,

I have a really cool PC in my game called Smith. He can summon any object that he touches as long as he can analyze it first. (Bought with a VPP and a control roll. Great VPP concept that is not overly abusive.) The character is not a scientist but the concept is vaguely similar. Smith is really fun...he is a thief who turned good when he realized he could just make whatever he wanted instead of stealing it. He now has a Robin Hood complex. Fun stuff...

HI Blue,

How about 2 dimensional powers. TV screens are flat afterall. Maybe Disolid to slip under doors and such and/or DCV levels only from the sides??? Something like that...

Hi Paul,

I would LOVE to take a look at the application. I have been really wanting one of these programs.

Here are some suggestions...

+ A way that you can save collections of characters then load them. For example, I could enter the PC and save the file. Then I could enter the villains and save the file. At the start of the combat I could load both files.

+ On phases when multiple characters have the same Dex arrange them randomly so dice offs are not needed.

+ It needs to run on the Palm OS...otherwise I can't use it. I have a Prism. :-(

FYI. In my mind keeping track of saved phases is the responsibility of the player.

Please let me know if you are willing to let me take a look. I have 12 years experience as a software QA engineer.

AWESOME!

PS I would buy such a tool.