eepjr24

Handed on a silver platter...

I would hand the platter back to Steve. For all the minor quibbles I might have, I do NOT think I could do a better job than him.

- Ernie

Originally posted by Agent X

The game works. You can break it down, overanalyze it to death, and you are still going to have a hard time showing how these "flaws" amount to anything when the game actually gets played. As a Missourian might say, "Show me." Not by adding points, I want to see it in practice. I'm pretty well set against you being able to show me that ECs are imbalancing because I've played this game for 12 years and I haven't seen it.

Well said. I have to say that in my 14 or so years playing it, I have seen individual constructs that abuse every framework. It is not the constructs themselves that are flawed, it is how people are using them. EC is no better, and no worse, than any of the rest.

- Ernie

Accounting

The last big fantasy game I was in used 3x5 cards to account for anything that was awarded or purchased. From money to magical items to expendables (food, arrows, etc). Everyone just kept a carrying case with those in it. With expenable items there were boxes drawn on it, and they were marked off as the item was used. Like this:

[10] +1 OCV Arrows:

[           ]

Each one would get filled in or X marked as it was used. It was much easier to trade with other players or barter with merchants this way as well. Just hand the cards around. And charges of things were handled without arguments.

The GM would typically initial changes made to the cards (adding 3 charges from a mana stone or whatnot) or just write a new card. I also did some cards printed up on the deskjet, that worked pretty well, too, since I would drop a small black and white bit map of the item on the card. Scotto (GM) would do hand drawn stuff, but my pen and ink skills stink.

- Ernie

Originally posted by Demonsong

My goal is that any thing that can happen to a normal sword can happen to this magical construct. Including getting disarmed, grabbed, broken, melted, you name it. If the character weapon is destroyed by physical damage he takes feed back. But if he turns the power off or it is dispelled he simply must spend another ½ phase (and END) to call another sword. [/b]

Hrm. One more thing, then. Since I just noticed the "takes feedback if destroyed" I would only allow them to turn it off or dispell it if they have it in their hands. This will prevent the "Oh, the enemy got my sword and is throwing it into the lava? I turn the power off." kind of thing. You can include this as part of the restrainable lim.

- Ernie

Re: Magic Weapon Rune Tattoos

Originally posted by Demonsong

-1/4 Gestures: Character must Touch the Tattoo

-1/4 Noisy: Any magically active character with in 50 hexes that has line of sight on character will know a spell is being used

-1/2 Side Effects: on failed Activation Roll, 1D6 Normal Damage Direct

If this is your game that you are GM'ing, you can probably disregard these comments.

1. I require gestures to be a bit more obvious and take enough time to be interfered with. I would suggest that a player trace the outlines of the rune in the air in front of him, perhaps.

2. Noisy does not require line of sight in my campaign, unless you mean LOS for Magic Sense. Since Magic Sense is based on the Unusual Sense group in my campaign, most phsical objects don't block line of sight. Som major magical devices or fields might.

3. I think you might want to look at the SE limitation again, this would probably qualify as a "minor" side effect, giving it a -1/4 (that is from memory, no book here).

Other than that, the constructs look okay to me. Might want to define what the "restrainable" means in this case. Can the weapon be disarmed (via the maneuver)? If so, does it poof? How about grab and takeaway or grab by? Just some things to think about.

- Ernie

Random ideas

A rail gun.

Various sensor suites, to include a satellite targeting system.

A couple gag devices? (jokes, not verbal restraining devices, heh)

A paint bomb.

Weather controlling device.

Technology based "Gate" system (teleport, mega, gated, etc)

Nanotech?

A computer virus generator?

Powered armor mine? (deactivates or interferes with armor powers)

Some gadget twists on nets, whips, manacles, etc.

That's it for now.

- Ernie

Deposed...

Well, the quick example I found was Henry IV deposing Richard:

"Taking advantage of the King’s absence in Ireland, Henry landed on July 4, 1399, at Ravenspur, near Bridington, where he was soon joined by the northern nobles who were unhappy with the policies of the monarchy. By the end of the month Henry and his followers had raised an army and marched to Bristol. When Richard returned in August, the royal army started to desert; Henry claimed the throne for himself, and on August 19 he captured Richard near Conway. He then went with his prisoner to London and there, on September 29, Richard abdicated the throne. On October 13 Parliament formally deposed Richard and transferred the crown to Henry. This parliamentary action had constitutional importance, since it revived the claim that Parliament had the power to create monarchs. Prior to his coronation, Henry condemned Richard to imprisonment, where the deposed monarch soon dies, possibly due to starvation."

Link: http://www.123student.com/biographies/376.shtml

Personally, though, I would ask the player to back up his claim that this is a common practice among royalty in either RL or fantasy literature. HE needs to do the work if he wants this character, not you. Think about this. In fantasy, when do you see a ruler travelling? Diplomacy, perhaps, or it's cruder cousin war. Or maybe in a fight to restore himself to his seat?

If he wants a steward, a capable one of royal blood (perhaps a bastard brother), he better buy a follower or come home to be deposed. If the steward is not capable, then he will be ruined. If he is not of royal blood, why would people listen to him? If he is the type to order peasants about (especially into combat) you can expect that they will revolt as soon as they see a chance like this.

- Ernie

Aid...

2d6 Aid, Standard Effect, Up to 4 attack powers (+1), Fade at 5p/Minute (+1/4)

AP: 45

Not too bad, really. It is 25 points to get one attack up. Would be 65 AP for all attacks at once.

- E

Rank has it's limits...

Most nobility is not free to wander the countryside. They have land and people that they have to care for and have responsibilities to (fealty works both ways). Even a tyrant has to be around to make sure that the troops are paid, etc.

I would let him know that regular adventurers could not be landed nobility and expect to keep their land if they flit off all the time. And non-landed nobility seldom have low justice and the like. If he wants to order people about, buy presence for "Noble Manner" and Oration. That will frequently get that done. Nobility also has to answer to those above them, just like supers answer to the police. Noble is as noble does.

As to the "filthy rich" perk, I don't allow that one for starting FH characters (or Wealthy for the most part). Anything above Middle Class requires GM approval, and I have actually run games where I upped the disad for "Poor" or "Destitute" by 5 points each. This is usually combined with "Compulsive Gambler" or "Lush" or some other method that the character regularly flushes money away.

I allow Well Off if the character is a 3rd son of a large noble family, rich merchants daughter or the like. She has a stipend that she can count on, influence with relatives, friends who are wealthy and do favors, etc. Consider that FH (pg 317) suggests that this perk gives x7 normal income. Anything greater than that has a HUGE impact on the campaign.

I usually don't allow "License to Kill" unless they are a Paladin in a chruch state or have some other moral code that restrains them and will bring them to justice if abused.

All in all, it is best to nip it in the character creation stage. As always, YMMV.

- Ernie

Correction...

I need to stop posting before 8am. heh. Minor corrections after reading my post:

1. Skill roll standard effect would probably be 11 since 9 is actually alot better.

2. Power could be bought with combo levels to reduce AP, like this:

Stealth (11-)

Concealment (11-)

+5 levels with above 2 skills

Persistent

Inherent

Always On

Only vs IR Perception (-1)

AP: 37

RP: 15

Not a huge difference, but something. Anyone see any holes? Advantages or Limitations that I missed?

- Ernie

Concealment?

I was thinking about this one last night, and thus posted a rules question to Steve about it. Let's see, that would look somehting like:

Stealth (11-)

Concealment (11-)

+5 to stealth roll

+5 to concealment roll

Standard Effect (Is that legal on skills?)

Persistent

Always On

Inherent

Only vs IR Perception (-1?)

AP: 45

RP: 18

Are skills persistent by default? I thought no, but could be wrong.

Does -1 seem like a fair lim for "Only vs IR Perception"? Lower? Higher?

If standard effect is legal (no book here), I am not sure what exact number it guarantees on 3d6. If it is a 9- roll, this would provide a total of -3 versus the average perception roll of 11-. If it is 11- on the standard, then this gives -5 on average.

Starting to sound like no matter how you do this it is about 18 RP. Perhaps that is a fair price, perhaps not. Obviously, any of these would be cheaper if they were not innate abilities generated by the type of body the creature has.

- Ernie

Originally posted by Gary

All they need is a multipower to compete. A EC is overkill.

I think at this point, you are not arguing that they need something, only that EC is not it. You vary in degree, not in position, so to speak. It is very much an issue for each GM, and will depend alot on what they allow to go in an EC or MP or even VPP. I frown on VPP in general unless they have pre-written up everything, since I have had several players who would do the "Gimme 5 minutes and I'll have a write up for this thing I wanna do now". EC requires a decent concept and powers that fit together, but I allow 0 End. Usually, they have to fit well enough to be drained together, some exceptions exist. MP's I watch for the possible abuses there, and will usually require the "drain one, drain many" as a -0 limitation of SFX.

If not allowing EC's meets your needs, full speed ahead! But many people find that they work well and reward well thought out concepts, which are unfortunately rare in my neck of the woods.

- Ernie

I am looking at page 52 in Fantasy Hero, under Size: Small. It has listed a +2 to concealment and a +2 to stealth. How do these work when someone tries to perceive the character? If it is indeed skill versus skill, what is the roll the character who is small gets, especially if (s)he does not have those skills? If it is not, is it simply a -2 to perception? I tried looking elsewhere in FH and FREd, but did not find anything, also search the FAQ and the rules forum.

- Ernie

Originally posted by Jeff

Change Environment, either for direct PER penalties for IR vision or to jigger the local temperature so you fade in. It may depend on just why they're hard to perceive with IR.

Well, lets look at the case of a being that is constructed of something other than flesh and bone. We'll assume some metal to start with, that is steel like. It tends to be the same temperature as the room around it, dissipates heat very quickly if it heats up. Would this be something like:

Change Environment: Neutral Temperature Body, -5 to IR Vision Per rolls, 0 End, Persistent, Inherent, Always On, No range (-1/2), Only affects body not surrounding hex (-0)?

AP: 34

RP: 15

Or maybe:

Invisibility: Neutral Temperature Body, Targetting Group, Only vs IR Perception (-1)?, Bright Fringe, 0 End, Persistent, Inherent, Always On

AP: 45

RP: 16

Both of these seem expensive for the effect, making him difficult to perceive in an odd single sense. It makes sense for several beings to have this power (elementals, undead, etc) but still seems pricey to my eye.

- Ernie

Originally posted by Zed-F

Odds are, if you've been in the city more than a week, you will have seen something printed about her. She has a Public ID, and thus gets more than her fair share of publicity.

Well, I will let the GM rule on that, of course, but unless it was widely printed in the local spanish language paper, I doubt it. My character would be unlikely read an English language paper, although he is fluent and does read English, Spanish is his native language.

He will be in the city for however long fits Deans plans, if left up to me he will be "just off the bus", literally, the night before. He has been in another US city for a while, though, so not totally green.

I am going to be trying to step out of my typical here, I usually tend to play native English speakers, so feel free to give tips if I seem to be acting out of character.

- Ernie

What is the best way to build a power that make someone difficult to perceive via IR? I have thought of invisibility vs IR, Bright Fringe, but it seems pricey for what you are getting. Other suggestions?

- Ernie

Originally posted by Zed-F

Heh, well I did say it was printed by a local rag. What do you expect?

Well, I am not so sure my character would have seen any of that, being a recent addition to the city. Does anyone know which city we are based in yet? My write up guessed New York. We may have to wait a bit. If anyone does a search on Nundor after we meet, I will post some things that newspapers might have reported on him.

- Ernie

Agent....

I would like an exotic base, and could put a few points to it, esp if he lets us loan on future xp (1 per session or whatnot).

I am okay with comm's or not, whichever is norm for the campaign.

Codes and such should wait for RP, I think.

Originally posted by ch0wyunf47 keen

 

What does he do?

Well, on good days, he beats up villains. =) On bad days, they beat him up. Broadly, he is a quasi martial artist with some brick leanings. Not that experienced, no team experience, will be interesting to see how he works on a team.

- Ernie

Image...

Did a cityscape colage kind of thing for my character image, what do you think? File is attached.

- Ernie

Lounge Lizards?

Originally posted by wcw43921

And the lounge-singer would be a bipedal reptile--called, of course, Lounge Lizard.

heh. My brothers wifes dart league team name: Lazy Lesbian Lounge Lizards. They had an odd name, but they always had fun.

- E

Originally posted by Zed-F

It wouldn't be based on touch, it would be based on Radio. According to the FAQ, Radio does start with Range and Sense.

 

 

It does ignore some kinds of modifiers for sight (such as darkness) that normal characters have to deal with, but on the other hand there are other conditions that would cause this summon trouble that are no issue for regular sight, like being near a powerful radio transmitter or (potentially) even a cell phone tower or satellite TV dish.

On the Radio point, would it be certain bands only? Otherwise, anywhere near civilization is going to be a haze of AM, FM, CB, LF and HF radio, etc. Many local radio stations have transmitters that are quite powerful. On the radar bands it is less so, but you still have store security systems, police radars, etc. A large city would be VERY confusing unless this creature was earth familiar. And would it not also have to be active? Otherwise, in a radio deficient area (rural) most everything would be black or in shadows.

- Ernie

Originally posted by prestidigitator

At most I think it would merit a Physical Disadvantage: can't see color, Uncommon, Slightly Limiting (I'm not sure those are the exact phrases; I don't have the book in front of me).

Hrm. I think it is a bit more limiting than that. How about "Cannot Read", "Cannot perceive 2d visual images (TV, holograms, billboards, road signs, etc)? No book here, but does SA have discriminatory? If not, then don't you lose fine details as well? Like texture? Since it is based on touch, and has no range, don't you pretty much lose any long range sensing as well, except perhaps hearing? So they would be surprised by move throughs from more than 2" away, since someone just suddenly appears doing 30 mph? And they would not effectively be able to launch ranged attacks, correct?

As I said, no book here so I may be way off. If correct, those sound quite a bit more limiting than not seeing color, even in combat.

- Ernie

Originally posted by PerennialRook

Really all I need to know is what the cost of an advantage that would enable a AOE Line to turn would be.

 

-Preston

I thought people were pretty clear before, but here goes again: There is no such advantage. If you want one, have your GM create it as a house rule. Not trying to be antagonistic, just making the point.

Personally, I would buy it with "Area Affect: Any", double the size 2 times, and then buy AE: One Hex Accurate for it as well, then slap a limitation on it "Only up to x targets". This would give you a 20" line of continuous hexes that can turn, twist, or even double back on itself. It will hit x number of people unless they dive for cover or manage to dodge your attack roll versus a base DCV of 3.

As always, YMMV.

- Ernie

Reaction...

I think my current concept would say something like:

"Oh, yes. Next up should be my sister as your side kick, si? You danced well last night, shall we tango?"

You might say he is a bit bitter about life. lol.

- Ernie