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Marketeer

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Everything posted by Marketeer

  1. Re: Archaeologist If your achaeologist was particularly interested in how certain mindsets and living conditions affected the culture of prior civilizations, Sociology also makes sense. Mind you, that might be better described as a KS rather than a Science skill.
  2. Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character) Not new to the boards, but this seems like an interesting necrothread. Blackberry S. Firr: would nominally fall under the "scrapper" archetype, but is not truly a heavy duty fighter--and she is not all that interested in fighting in the first place. She is very active in charity work, the easiest way to take her out of the picture would be the following: A few days before the nefarious plot, a large, respectable organization asks her to speak--for the day--at a public event. In exchange, they will build, fund, and staff a community college. The catch? She needs to be there for a day--she's a popular public draw, and while she isn't as famous as some heroes, she is very well liked and does not have controversial baggage. The villain, of course, will enact his diabolical plan about halfway through the day--and the plan will NOT involve obvious threat to life and limb. Blackberry would agonize a bit over the choice, but ultimately helping people would likely win out over something like "stopping a robbery" (very broadly speaking) in her mind, and thus the villain would have essentially neutralized her for the entirety of his plot.
  3. Re: Evaluation on an ability: Bounce Back I like the mechanic; it seems clear to me what it does. I do think that, depending on the genre, it gives characters strong motivations to attack foes while they are already down--both on the PC side and on the NPC side. As long as the GM does not make this kind of ability too common, it should not be a problem, but I would watch it more for its impact on campaign tone than for its own sake.
  4. Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" Sounds like the equivalent of a social lim or physical lim, depending on how you want to tone the disadvantage. It would depend a lot on how badly your character needs things like food and shelter, since one of the biggest hits would be to your character's ability to make a living and create things like bank accounts.
  5. Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" Looking at the comics, I also would suggest that many characters, while they may have Secret or Public ID in their solo titles, would lack either Disadvantage in their team titles--it just does not come up as often in team titles. I agree with the general consensus that if you have neither Disadvantage, the associated social issues just do not occur (as often) for your character. One other comic character who seems to lack either Disadvantage is Oracle (Barbara Gordon). She does not seem to lead the double life that is characteristic of a Secret ID, but criminals in general have no idea who she is, to the point where her exisetence is something of an underworld legend.
  6. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. I realize that you are probably aware of this, but the thread is currently 13 pages long, so some of the posters (and more importantly, readers) may have forgotten the original context. The original character, Riot, is described as "breaking/crippling bones" during interrogations, and in order to "get cooperation". Granted, some of the later discussions centered around just what qualifies as torture, but I would suggest that this qualifies as torture, and not in a mere semantic sense.
  7. Re: Crisis of Infinite Champions: 10 brave heroes Both Blackberry S. Firr and Psyche would be willing to go, but neither brings the all that much raw power to the a team. However, both play very well in groups, so if the team needed an internal liaison, either would be appropriate, but neither would make the cut onto a "dream team" of heroes when everything is at stake; both simply lack the "oomph".
  8. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. Based on the description in the first post, I think the character goes beyond "mere" torture as his SOP; he cripples people to get "cooperation". I do think most characters in-universe would consider "inflicting pain" and "inflicting lasting and disabling bodily harm" to be different in nature. The fact that it seems to be something done with a certain degree of routineness, rather than "he was driven to it once by dire circumstance" adds another layer of overtone. That is what prompted my question about whether this character would kill in self-defence if others were not threatened; how does he define an "innocent" for purposes of his CvK?
  9. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. I am aware that those things would color the analysis: what I am driving at is that the CvK has to limit Riot at some point, and the "life or death 1 on 1 fight" is a relatively simple example of where it actually might come in to play.
  10. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. Tying it all back to the original post for a moment: So, if I interpret this correctly, Riot is willing to go to extreme lengths, up to and including crippling people, for information. I suggest that while he may (or may not) be heroic, he is not innocent. He has a 10-pt CvK to avoid killing except to protect innocents. Am I correct in interpreting this to mean that, in a scenario where he and a villain are fighting one-on-one, and nobody else is directly engaged or threatened, that if it comes down to "him or me", Riot will not kill? That is how I would interpret his CvK, based on the information provided.
  11. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. I am having a difficult time navigating the quote tunnels due to weak HTML-fu, so I will focus on the above point. The right to remain silent and the notion of not being tortured are not one and the same. Torture potentially violates more than just the right to remain silent. Likewise, there are ways to violate the right to remain silent in the real world that do not in any way involve torture. I realize your statement was intended as a joking one-liner, but it does not accurately reflect the issues we are discussing. I have not compared Telepathy to torture, I have merely examined some of the likely concerns that would arise if someone attempted to use Telepathic evidence in a modern "western" court, with the general laws of evidence as they currently stand. Here is an important distinction between the two above kinds of experts and the use of Telepathic experts: Fingerprint and DNA experts--I will call them "physical evidence experts", in any given case, will be interpreting the same evidence. There might be a set of fingerprints, that everyone was lifted from say a murder weapon, and the various experts can all refer to that evidence. It is the same evidence, and everyone can draw conclusions--and rebut each other--based on analyzing the same thing. That is not necessarily true for Telepathic evidence. Telepathy, as it is portrayed in comics and most science fiction, does not lend itself to recorded images. The different experts are not going to be using the same images from which to draw their conclusions. Different experts talking to different pieces of evidence mean they are talking past each other; it becomes impossible to critique bad methodology or errors. Further, the evidence is not saved in a permanent format for later review, which is extremely important in criminal cases. The possibility of an appeal does exist, and if a court of appeal is missing evidence that the trial judge/jury had in front of them, it becomes very difficult for the court of appeal to evaluate the correctness/reasonableness of the decision drawn by the trial court. DNA and Fingerprint evidence are not properly analogous to Telepathic evidence.
  12. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. There are significant concerns that would apply in the real world that would need to be examined, and they are more fundamental than just the right to privacy. And I do not think fingerprints and DNA evidence are properly analogous to Telepathy. The notion behind the right to not self-incriminate can, I think, be summarized this way: If I am accused of a crime, I have a right to say nothing. It is also not open to the state to compel me to provide information that helps it to prove its case against me. Exceptions do exist, but they are generally very limited in scope and quite specific. Using telepathy in the sense of "scanning your mind for the truth" runs directly afoul of the underlying principle, because you are compelling me to provide information that is against my own interests. On top of that, there is a second concern: telepathy does not display direction to the judge or jury what I am thinking, a middle person has to tell the judge or jury what I am thinking. That introduces an additional level of possible error--both accidental and intentional. This does not necessarily mean that telepathic evidence would be banned outright in a prosecution or civil case, but the basic structure of the legal system--particularly the criminal justice system--are such that there would be restrictions on its use.
  13. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. While Dark Knight Returns is considered very influential as a comic within the industry, I believe it is not canon by its nature of being set in a future timeline.
  14. Re: Change of Fortune Blackberry S. Firr is well-off normally; not quite "rich" but certainly able to fund her many side projects. She would probably end up destitute. Prior to the shift, Blackberry spent a lot of time helping people down on their luck get back on their feet. She has seen how difficult it was for them, but being a very compassionate person herself, she never really "got" how some people would shun the poor. Now, she would be experiencing it for the first time, and probably be more distressed by the lack of sympathy people give each other than her personal suffering.
  15. Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. What tone is your campaign? What does the GM want? What do the other players want to play? What tone do you want from the campaign? All of those are probably more fundamental than the technical nuances of the discussion. Now, having said that, I will use a baseline of comparison: Justice League Animated Batman. He's not the only envisioning of Batman, but he's a relatively commonly known one, and in many ways is more definitively heroic than the comic ones. He breaks bones, but I do not think he has ever crippled someone during the process of interrogation, nor has he tortured--and I do think there is a significant difference between injuring someone during a fight and injuring someone who is at your mercy. The fact that Nemesis/Riot are willing to consider torture at all means they are already on the slippery slope; the narrative question that needs to be asked is what kind of story are the players trying to tell, and is sliding down that slope--or even making the threat of moral degradation due to extreme measures--a part of it. It is entirely possible for the campaign to never put your character in the "torture or the innocent dies" scenario, or to always have available outs. Other campaigns do not have that as a possibility, and the analysis changes as a result.
  16. Re: Champs-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act? I can envision a possibility of a metahuman law that might just pass the smell test: having "use of metahuman powers" as an aggravating factor in a crime the same way threatening someone with a weapon might be. There would still be the legitimate debates around "what constitutes a metahuman power", but I do not know if, offhand, people would consider it unreasonable for someone who robs you at gunpoint getting a similar sentence to someone who robs you by threatening to throw a car at you. I recognize that this is different in substance to a registration act, though.
  17. Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The Dark Knight Rider ...where the car truly, indubitably, inarguably, has more charisma than the male lead...
  18. Re: Kryptonian knockoffs in CU? 4th Edition Viperia is very much analogous to Supergirl.
  19. Re: How to open a door? He's a mastermind type? How does this sound: He buys the building in which the vault is located through some kind of shell company. The theft is revealed after the shell company is gutted of assets, both literally and figuratively. The heroes have to do some investigation to follow the trail.
  20. Re: Deconstructing Self The only concern I have with the scenario is that it is one that has a relatively straightforward response: Most Champions characters, faced with "everyone gets hosed" or "I alone get hosed", are going to choose the heroic thing. Even an Iron Age character, while not liking the choices, is unlikely to choose to have the necro win--since the necro has already established that no soul is safe from her, not making the sacrifice does not yield any benefit, even if the character is selfish in nature.
  21. Re: A character that can grow limbs? If you want the mere ability to create extra limbs, I like the following construct: Pseodopods on Demand!: Extra Limbs, Inherent, Variable Special Effects (only to create/remove limbs) Total Cost: 7 pts. Simple mechanically, and easy to interpret in-game. Mind you, it does not provide extra actions or stretching in and of itself, but it addresses the extra limb issue.
  22. Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Stone-aged iron-fisted lawman upholds law & order in Bedrock City One in: Judge Fredd
  23. Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The following will either come across as inspired, or insane rambling--possibly both!: You are all aware of Dark Champions: The Animated Series. But are ready for Champions Beyond? ...in a dystopian future... Troubled youth Aaron McGuiness, after a run-in with a local gang, takes refuge in the once glorious but now dilapidated mansion of a reclusive retiree. The retiree turns out to be the quasi-mythical "Mr. Long", who honorably faded into the shadows after years of fighting the forces of Dodecahydra. Gaming has has never been the same since. Mr. Long still has the will and the means, but no longer has the CON to deal with internecine internet squabbles over whether or not COM should be in or out of the 15th edition rulebook. He needs a pupil, a protege, a successor. Aaron McGuiness is that man. It's a new era, with new rules. It needs a new kind of game designer. Champions Beyond
  24. Re: Superhero X and the Fur Con of DOOM! Blackberry S. Firr has not-so-distant relatives who were/are catgirls, so she would almost certainly come out of it looking like some of her cousins. She would not be pleased by such a turn of events, since she was quite happy looking like a normal human woman. Fortunately, many of her other relatives have magical backgrounds, and have faced big baddies, so she would be fairly confident a cure could be found. It is not that she would be ugly, but she just prefers her real body, thank you very much. She is also a bit on the conservative-dressing side, and catgirls, well...
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