Marketeer

Re: Best and Worst Costume/Appearance Changes I am very fond of the Ben Reilly version of the Spider-Man outfit--the more pronounced spider isignia, and the external web cartridges, just seemed to come together and work properly.

Re: Caution : Superhero at Work Not much; any agency shelling out a large amount of money, or asking for an important task to be performed, cannot afford the random chance factor of having a three-year old (mental or otherwise) involved.

Re: WWYCD: <Your character>: The Clone Saga!! Blackberry S. Firr would find a nice safe place, get a whole bunch of friends, then wake the clone up. Then the two would start talking; both would most likely be seriously worried about the emotional well-being of the other.

Re: HA versus MA I am not 100% sure on the following, but this is how I understand the issue: If MA could be combined with Advantaged HAs, you could have some very undercosted, yet book-legal, Martial Arts attacks with advantages on them. Take the following example: 20 Str character, Armor Piercing on the STR [10 pts for Str, 10 more for AP advantage, totalling 20 pts] +4d6 HA, Armor Piercing, 0 End [27 pts] 10 pt. Martial Arts Package including Martial Strike [10 pts] +2 DCs for your Martial Arts package [8 pts] So for 65 pts, you are getting a 12d6 AP HA that costs 2 End per swing, along with most likely 2 other small maneuvers. Even if we assume you spend 15 or so pts. on the Martial Arts package, 70 pts for a variety of moves that are all Armor Piercing, topped off by a 90 Active Point Attack, is quite nasty. Then again, my Rules-Fu is not as strong as I want it to be...

Re: Business model question I am not sure if there is a defined, named business model for such, but I do not see why, conceptually, it would not be possible. It sounds like a theoretical research firm--maybe if you made such a business operate in conjunction, or out of, a university, it would be even more plausible.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Storn, your L5R art is amazing.

Re: WWYCD?--"I'm not crazy...or anything." Blackberry S. Firr is definitely suited to helping people going through personal crises. She would start by giving Major League a big hug, then get him in a nice, quiet place, and talk with him. Between her sympathetic demeanor, and the delicious cookies she bakes, she would definitely be able to at least keep him occupied long enough to feel a little better.

Re: How would you build Bumblebee? I did not write this myself, but I suggest the following link as a point of reference: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mathewignash/csbumblebee.html

Re: WWYCD: We Have To Work With Them To Get Out Of Here... Blackberry S. Firr would be suspicious of this cosmic entity's motives, and try to engage it in conversation to determine more about her plight. She would have no problem conceptually working with some villains to get out of such a place--in fact, given her earnestness and sincerity, it is entirely possible that 4 heroes would end up emerging from the dungeon...

Re: The "Classic" Elements In-universe, L5R characters debate whether the Taint of the Shadowlands constitutes a 6th element, but the true elements are the five you mentioned, yes.

Re: Power help - how would you do this? I do not have my copy of the rules by my side, but I was under the impression that you cannot use Usable Against Others/Usable as an Attack on a power if the net result would be to simulate another power. So no "Flight Usable as Attack" because that's simply telekinesis. Can someone with greater Hero-Fu confirm or deny my belief?

Re: why the UNITED NATIONS? (for global super-agency) I started with 4th edition; that was the impression I got of PRIMUS from Classic Organizations, VIPER (Armstrong's background), and other books.

Re: Hair Tricks? Ow, the punnage!

Re: WWYCD: Quantum Leap ...behold the ripples in time caused by Uncle Slam's failed attempt to stop World War IV!

Re: Campaign Limits: what's your formula?

Re: Need Help with new power idea. I also concur with my colleagues--the "balance" in this construct is not there. In general, the standard HERO way for modelling "fast growth" is to bank the points, yes--but there is no cost break of any kind on the banked points. You just note that X number of Character Points have yet to be spent, and allow a little bit of leeway in terms of not requiring in-story training and so on when the points are assigned to skills/powers/attributes/perks/whatever. If the character is supposed to grow to the level of being more powerful than the rest of the characters, give him a larger bank of points--but now, the fact that the character is intended to end up more capable than his peers is open and commonly understood by the players. As the construct is written, it games out to free points, particularly if you allow Limitations on the bank.

Re: WWYCD: The Crossover from H E Double-hockey-stick Blackberry S. Firr would definitely find herself as the guest on an episode of "The Muppet Show". Her rendition of "Mahna Mahna" would quite possibly singlehandedly resurrect the program to its former lofty heights.

Re: Campaign Limits: what's your formula? It is doable and can be balanced in theory, but it leads to some significant concerns around Advantages that do not add DCs, but make powers much deadlier. Area Effect, for example, greatly increases the accuracy of a power without raising DCs. Same with 0 End. You will have to watch out for players who take advantage of that to up the combat efficiency of their characters. This is less of a problem if everyone is munchkinny, simply because you can enhance the opposition to compensate. The real problem that can arise is that some are munchkins, some players are not, in which case you can have difficulties keeping the characters balanced in comparison with each other.

Re: Modelling two power effects 1) Not quite sufficient information; is it a "decay field", a martial arts chop to the foci, or what? Generally, direct damage to the foci (EB/HA/HKA/RKA/whatever) will work, or as mentioned above, a Dispel. 2) Depends on if the point is to freeze the lake, or if it is to freeze the lake to generate other effects. An Entangle with various limitations might apply, but other than that Change Environment seems appropriate. Change Environment's Area of Effect is built in to the power (if memory serves, I may be confusing this with 4th ed rules), so AE is not a necessary advantage.

Re: Honey, where's my supersuit? I can definitely see extra time, only to activate being placed on skill levels ("gimme a sec while I fiddle around for the right lockpick, guys"), but only if the skill level were something broad (like say "all Int skills") and the player and GM worked out in advance that by default, as soon as you are done with the task at hand, the skill level "resets". Within that constraint, a +1 or +2 to Dex, Int, or an Overall Skill Level seems appropriate. For Armor, I would generally be against allowing Extra Time, Only to Activate. I would, however, consider "Only in Hero ID" on your supersuit, since most villains are not quite so craven as to take off the hero's clothes if she gets knocked out. Conversely, if it were an OIF, it would be something easily removed if you were incapacitated, which precludes most suits (by genre convention if nothing else).

Re: Uhm... ouch? The other reason I would be somewhat more lenient with AVLD is that AVLD costs more as an advantage, at least as far as I remember; it's still effective, but you are being charged for the effect. In both cases (NND and AVLD), you are using the Dispel to face 0 Flash Defence, or "full damage". I would point out though that if the two are Linked, the defences do apply against the damage dealing attack because Adjustment Powers (and in this case I'd rule the Dispel to be an adjustment even if it strictly speaking is not) apply at half effect against defences. An alternative, less problematic, build would be replacing Suppress for the Drain: I would be more likely to allow that.

Re: Uhm... ouch? Are they Linked? Or does the character merely have both powers? Conceptually, this is very similar to a Brick also having a "Drain PD" attack; certainly noteworthy but not necessarily inherently dangerous. I would probably disallow the EB to be purchased as an NND; however, purchased as an AVLD (do they still have those in 5th? I remember that it is categorized as an attack vs. a different kind of defence--the same mechanic is possible under a new name), I would consider allowing it. The big problem is that Flash Defence vs Hearing typically only gets purchased up to the 10 pt. level tops, so a Dispel would only need 20 character points worth of effect (factoring in the doubling rule against defences) to dispel the entire thing. The other grounds upon which to disallow the whole thing might be that a "sonic amplifier" special effect might not justify removing Flash Defence vs. hearing--it is unclear why making the sonics more intense utterly removes the effect of insulating your hearing.

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age Another definition that is usable is taking "cold iron" to mean "iron never heated by the forge"--iron that has not been worked or forged. The definitions of "cold iron" vary from universe to universe.

Re: Plot Seed: Six Places to Nuke When You’re Serious *Stage whisper* Psst! Liaden! ...you know I'm in Canada, right?

Re: Plot Seed: Six Places to Nuke When You’re Serious Nono, Independence Day is proof that the aliens are allied with Canada.