GhostWing

Re: Question About a SPD Limitation For a Smart Power? Limitation: No Conscious Control at -1. Let the GM determine how the power works. If you're the GM then technically you can do anything you want in terms of defining your character. Read the description of Trigger, it says it's not supposed to be used as "Activated when I'm about to be hit" and if it were "activates only when targeted", the attacker could continue to hold their action. If you want a character who always avoids damage, you should consider Desolidification with some sort of special effect. But if you REALLY want a character who always avoids damage, you should consider being the GM. BTW, I recently had to put caps in my game because the SPDs, damage and CVs were getting out of hand. A SPD of 12 is annoying for all the players with SPDs of 5 & 6. Fortunately, the players were okay with it. The game gets boring when a typical combat takes three hours to complete but lasts less than 10 seconds. Why, you don't even get the second post-segment 12 recovery!

Re: Superleap UAA???

Re: Calling all figure modders and painters, Champions Challenge! Heh. I haven't been using too many of the standard heros/villains from the Champions universe (when I started GMing, I modified the villains from the old ENEMIES books and some of those guys like Raccoon, Sledge and Hideous haven't made the 5e squad). When the group met Dr. Destroyer, I plopped down Darth Vader from the Star Wars CMG and all his grunts were played by stormtroopers. I've tried repainting/modding clix with disappointing results (but then I'm not a real expert at it and I'm too lazy to buy new paints which might work better on the clix), also clix are in a larger scale (28 mm?, 30 mm?) which is a little annoying when playing on a grid. There are a few clix that look okay since they have similar body types and coloration, so you can get away without any modding (apart from removing the base and affixing to a smaller base): VIPER AGENTS: HYDRA agents (exact same color scheme, down to the red tinted visors), and they're majorly common figures! LADY BLUE: Dove UTILITY: Metropolis SCU (Can also double as a Destroyer Agent!) FEURMACHER: Human Torch ARMADILLO: Mandroid Armor WARCRY: Thug (Come on! Look at KCC pg 43!) BTW, if I were to actually mod a figure to look like DR. DESTROYER. I'd use the Sidewinder figure from the Ultimates set. Not only does he have a cool cape and mask, but his pose is far closer to what I'd expect from a major villain than Dr. Doom for instance. Though I have a Galactus heroclix, I won't use him in a game until the LAST game (chuckle)...

Re: Superleap UAA??? In addition, there must be a reasonably common set of defenses that will cancel out the attack. (HS5e pg 177) Seems to me this statement allows the GM to prevent the power from being too abusive - besides all the Usable On Other advantages are STOPs, which I've told my players are subject to GM approval. Leaping UAA isn't impossible to justify (a hero steps on a spring-loaded trap and goes flying through the air - check out the 1960s Batman movie, this was an actual trap, the target hex involved an exploding octopus). I might allow such a UAA I'd only allow it to work on characters on the ground (and give no extra limitation for that) and my set of common defenses would be clinging and allow a character a DEX roll to avoid hurling themselves to oblivion.

Re: What would Dr. Destroyer *really* do? The odd thing about Dr. Destroyer - and I'm answering this as a GM who's about to run his Champions group through "The Island of Dr. Destroyer" (no relationship to the 1991 incident from the Champions Universe sourcebook. It's actually the 1981 1st edition Champions adventure in which Dr. Destroyer attempts to launch a mind control satellite to destroy the free will of every living being on Earth) is that his M.O. seems to change depending on the situation. None of the plots I've read so far though suggest that he would involve himself with the problems in the middle east (remember: never get involved in a land war in Asia!) unless it were to perhaps secretly supply both sides with weaponry and gain the favor of both sides. Dr. D's plans seem to be a lot more widescale than taking over/occupying a country and a lot more covert. It is very likely that he already runs several countries through puppet rulers - including maybe the USA (campaign finance reform will never happen! bwahaha!).

Yesterday's game contained a lot of grabs and throwing combat maneuvers and one use of Telekenesis that seemed a bit too much like a Flight (usable by other) effect. Just need some clarification on throwing effects: 1.) Battling Bill and Armadillo are slugging it out in adjacent hexes. Bill performs a grab maneuver. Can he throw Armadillo for any distance in that same phase? (Per the FAQ, if he wanted to throw him at another character, he'd have to wait for his next phase, since it required an extra attack action - does the same thing apply if trying to throw someone to another hex?). Does it matter whether or not Bill had to use a half move before the grab? 2.) Bill finds himself on the far side of a battlefield. His 10" run is too slow to get to the nearest opponent. His friend, Capt. Hero, has a 50 STR telekenesis. According to the throwing table, he can move Bill 32". Does that count as a throw? Is there Velocity involved? Can Bill be used as a missile to hit another character? If he's just being moved to an empty hex, does Bill automatically land safely (and does he suffer any CV penalties)? Finally, does Capt Hero have to make an attack roll to put him down in the right hex? Phew! Thanks for your attention!

I recently posted this question in the question section: Is it possible to apply/add the Money perk to a base? In the two examples below, if the space and personnel are purchased with the base, can the money perk be added to have it generate income? A.) Supervillain secret base is hidden in a city building (disguised) that has a drugstore at street level. The villains have paid points for the floor space as well as for the personnel to run the drugstore. B.) Well known superhero group conducts weekly tours around their base and run a gift shop in a separate building on the grounds. The heroes have paid for the points for the base, grounds and gift shop area and pay points for personnel to conduct tours, work security and run the shop. I would think that if a character paid a character point for the Money perk, that it can just as easily be applied to a base (in essence, the contributor is giving his income to the group). Of course, I might be missing something. Am I? Obviously, this is subject to GM discretion, but it occurs to me bases do use some perks (particularly followers and computer link). These are perks that the heroes can only use at the base, but that they can share.

Is it possible to apply/add the Money perk to a base? In the two examples below, if the space and personnel are purchased with the base, can the money perk be added to have it generate income? A.) Supervillain secret base is hidden in a city building (disguised) that has a drugstore at street level. The villains have paid points for the floor space as well as for the personnel to run the drugstore. B.) Well known superhero group conducts weekly tours around their base and run a gift shop in a separate building on the grounds. The heroes have paid for the points for the base, grounds and gift shop area and pay points for personnel to conduct tours, work security and run the shop. I would think that if a character paid a character point for the Money perk, that it can just as easily be applied to a base (in essence, the contributor is giving his income to the group). Of course, I might be missing something. Am I?

Re: Stretching Question Reading this thread makes me question the grab maneuver. If a Grab is successful, the target can be crushed or thrown. How would you simulate a situation where a character grabs his opponent by a limb and without letting him go, repeatedly swings the target around and slams him into the ground, nearby walls, etc.? (Basically, a throw without letting go so the target can be thrown again next phase.)

Re: Help with a Name I like the name, but it might not fit your character since Avantgarde is commonly used to describe trends in things like art, fashion and music.

Re: Bringing new players to HERO System. I'm part of a group of old college buddies who are about to play Champions/HERO system. The big advantages HERO has over other systems is that if you have enough character points, you can build vitually any type of character and characters are very well defined. Sure there are a lot of stats (and tons of skills/powers/etc!) but this game only uses 6-sided dice, and the combat system is not much different than most. I bought the Sidekick rules (even though I already had the 5eHC), since it was under $10 and I definitely recommend using it for new players and so you have another rulebook handy. The way I'm overcoming the rumblings of "this game looks too complicated with all these stats!" is by making the first session a user-friendly intro to the game. I'm running a session where everyone plays a pregenerated character and has to blow through a "Danger Room" simulation and possibly brawl with each other. The pre-gens represent the different character types (brick, energy projector, speedster, etc.) and use different design concepts (using the most basic power advantages/limitations and frameworks). I figure the first game will help everybody learn the combat system, adjust to how I'm gonna GM the game and help them figure out what kind of character they want to play.

Re: Weak Supers who just needed better writers Wow... Cypher. Uh sure, if it wasn't for him, Marvel Earth would be infected with the techno-organic virus of Warlock's pappy, but basically Doug was what I might call a "skilled normal" whose mutant power basically allowed him to access a lot of skills. Of course, until he merged with Warlock, he really demonstrated no superhuman physical attributes or abilities and while he repeatedly showed signs that he was quite brilliant, he wasn't on a par with, say, the Mad Thinker, Reed Richards or Forge. In comparison to the roster of the X-Men and the New Mutants of the time, he was basically a very vulnerable member and not surprising that he died (and just in time, Marvel's X-Books had already begun to get convoluted, plotwise). Um, but while we're talking about un-powered characters, how about Garryn Bek of L.E.G.I.O.N. fame? The only alien in the bunch who had no appeciable superpowers (though he was pretty good at running away from fights) and a knack for getting into bad situations and miraculously surviving.

Re: Costs END only to activate Thanks for the input everyone! Considering that the Reduced END advantage (1/2 END) is also a +1/4 advantage, I've got to determine that the Costs END only to activate isn't an inappropriate power advantage for most constant powers. The major advantage it has over 1/2 END is in long-term use on high END powers at higher SPDs (a character with a low SPD doesn't get as much of a benefit) and it lets you turn on a power and forget about it. The major drawback is it isn't as good as 1/2 END if you have to activate the power frequently and (as stated in the previous post) the power does have to be turned off to take a recovery. In any event, it's not nearly as good as Zero END Cost which is +1/2, so it seems appropriate to apply it to Invisibility and Desolification. Besides, if it's in HD2, that's good enough for me (pity I'm using HD1 still). Using it for other constant powers: It is still a little troublesome for powers like Force Field/Force Wall since a character with a hi defense force field could get a real break on maintaining END cost, but not unreasonable for certain special effects, say a character who can control earth/stone morphs the ground into a protective force wall. Once the wall is created, it stands on its own and doesn't require continuous END. Hmmm... technically such a Force Wall would be permanent unless bought with limitations. The applications of such a power are bizarre... Also, Costs END only to activate applied to movement powers is also a bit troublesome, but I suppose activation in movement would only apply to acceleration (and maybe deceleration) and the advantage could be used to simulate a "flywheel" or a "frictionless" special effect where a character (or vehicle) in motion only spends END to get up to speed, then cruises at that speed and don't spend any more END unless they speed up or slow down. Good for those FTL vehicles.

I'm creating a character who like a ghost can turn invisible and become desolid. Before I go through the costs of buying reduced END for these powers, I read in the UNTIL Superpowers Database that the power advantage "Costs END only to activate" (+ 1/4) could be applied to Desolidification (Easy Intangibility: 50 pts). My questions are: Is this advantage only supposed to be used to affect size-altering powers? and if not... Can I apply it to both desolidification and invisibility? Oooh! Already got my answer (GM's discretion) Thanks, - GW