Chris Goodwin

I think there's a fundamental disconnect. Most horror works rely on the protagonists either overlooking something or being stupid to the point of cliche. Which the author can do; he controls the characters, and if something slips their mind it's because he said so. Whereas most gamers spent their formative years making equipment lists including "1 skin (water or wine), 1 10' pole, 50' of rope, one week's iron rations..." In short, gamers never overlook anything.

I would say that yes, you do want to look for another way. Best not to add Advantages without exhausting other avenues. +1 EGO, Only Vs. Effect Rolls, works exactly the same as Mental Defense, with the added bonus that it kicks in after Damage Reduction. Which, if I'm reading your original post correctly, is what you were looking for. (Okay, it doesn't work exactly the same, not doing anything against Ego Attacks or any other attacks that go against Mental Defense. But, were I the GM, I wouldn't allow a character in with such an Advantage on Damage Reduction.)

I wouldn't. I would write "rope" in the Equipment space on my character sheet.

Why not just buy extra EGO, Only Vs. Effect Rolls? That will give you exactly the effect you're looking for. No need to buy an Advantage on either Mental Defense or Damage Reduction.

KS: Classic Spells KS: Poisons I used to play an assassin that had KS: Anatomy and Physiology, but nowadays that would more properly be a SC, I think.

KS, I'm going to privately e-mail you at some point to try to clear up where I'm coming from. I don't have the time right now to compose an e-mail, but I will later. I'm going to try not to flame or slam you but try to shed light.

Shades of Gary Gygax, circa 1979. "If you're not playing according to the rules, you're not playing AD&D!"

Try these four words: "It's only a game!" Again, what's wrong with someone learning the rules to a game incorrectly, if they are having fun with it and it works for them? It's not like they're going to Hell if they do it wrong.

Just to be difficult You make an Attack Roll to Block, too, and you can Abort to it.

I don't have a problem with pointing out that something is against the rules as written, but you were harping on that quite a bit and seemed to be implying that doing it that way was Hurting Wrong Fun. On the specific issue of newbies, okay, maybe they need to be aware when something is against the rules as written, but then again it can show a newbie how to change or ignore the rules that don't work for him. And what's wrong with someone being incorrectly educated about the rules of the game if the "incorrect" version works for them? Note that said newbie would face the same problem if he played under a GM who used his own house rules. Are you going to say that no GM should ever use house rules because of this?

Interestingly enough, I don't have HD v2 either. With my current state of finances, I am unlikely to buy either USPD or HD v2 in the near future. You can use UBO to grant someone the ability to use a Power. Once you have done so, they can use the Power until certain conditions are met. Using the Differing Modifiers rule, you can, for instance, give someone a Power they can use every Phase with no preparation, but your ability to give them the Power might take, for instance, Gestures, Incantations, and RSR. It would look something like this: Per the rules of UBO, no one pays points for the granted ability. This does break one rule in that it specifically says that you can't use UBO as a cheap way of giving yourself a Power, but I'd allow it myself. If this absolutely rubs you wrong, you can require the character to buy the Sword of Light Power, with perhaps an additional Limitation not reflected in the UBO points (effectively, Linked to Create Sword of Light, which is itself a Constant Power). Alternately, while the following is pure velveeta, it doesn't actually break the rules. It does exactly what Demonsong wanted, no more and no less. Edited to fix Linked and add some formatting. Edited again to fix END cost of SoL placeholder.

Which, per the original poster, happens if the wielder is Stunned or Knocked Out. I don't know what Physical Manifestation is. I honestly don't have USPD.

Part of my original point in mentioning Limited Power was that Limited Power is a catchall. What if I want a Limitation that doesn't affect an Instant Power every time I activate it? Assume I don't have FH and don't like the Lingering Advantage as written there. Limited Power can be any damn thing I want it to be. Why can't it be "similar to Limitation X, only different"? Why not? By definition that Power is worse than an Instant Power with no such requirements. Are you seriously saying that you have to pay more points for an Instant Power with these requirements than for an Instant Power without them?

I would say you don't need to roll to hit a Power that has already rolled to hit you. OTOH, you could require this, treating it as if it were a Block (and in fact, some fantasy literature seems to treat magical battles almost as if wizards get a Magical Block maneuver -- hmmm...)

In fact, why not make it something like OIHID and Restrainable? Restrainable means it can be taken away or otherwise deactivated, and OIHID means that you then have to "reactivate" it once it's taken away. If you don't like calling it OIHID, call it "Activation Limitations" at -1/4.

Which is what Demonsong was asking about. How does he limit his basic HKA, which works every Phase, so that it requires a skill roll to activate and can be deactivated by someone else easily? You're talking about Advantages when he's looking for Limitations. In fact you've gotten quite adamant, several times using the phrase "ACTIVATION LIMITATIONS" in all capital letters. That's what he's asking about. So what's his Limitation value? And who says the construct Demonsong posted above isn't a spell? KS, it seems like you're taking "what I'd do in my game" and calling it "what you should do in your game".

I have FH, but don't have USPD; it's entirely possible the original poster doesn't have either one. In any case I don't know the FH book well enough to have suggested Lingering off the top of my head. Note also that it's an optional rule; the first four words of the description of Lingering are "At the GM's option..." In other words, it's by no means official and Holy Writ. So if the original poster (Demonsong) is the GM, it's up to him whether to use it. (If not, then he should be asking his GM anyway.) I also don't agree with the way it's written up; I'd do it differently. There's nothing in the writeup of UBO to indicate that that's the case. Not everyone has access to those.

Limited Power. Limited Power can limit the Power in any way you want, if you can describe it well enough. I don't see anything at all wrong with saying "Limited Power: Requires A Roll To Activate (-1/4)" or something similar. So? Are you harmed by it? Is the world going to crack in two? Does someone else's wrong fun hurt you? Seriously. So what? I used to get my panties in a wad over someone else's wrong fun (anyone remember the Normal Characteristics Maxima "debates"?) but I came to a realization: it's just not worth it to get that worked up over it. Man, let it go. Personally, if I were Arthur's GM, I'd say write it up as a Power, then build it with UBO Differing Modifiers to create it. Technically, according to the rules, it has to be usable by someone else, but it's so useful I'd be willing to handwave it. Or use Create from first edition Fantasy Hero, which is basically the same thing as UBO Differing Modifiers.

Andy -- why haven't you turned all of this stuff into a Digital Hero article and gotten paid for it?

Question. Could you build both of those Teleports with Leaves Body Behind and get a body switching power?

In L. Neil Smith's Tom Paine Maru, a group of alien naval cadets on their equivalent to a midshipman cruise decided to play a practical joke on, well, themselves. Their star drive was based on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, and so as their prank half of them calculated the ship's exact location and the other half calculated its exact velocity, rendering them immobile in space. There they stayed until a friendly Earth vessel happened along, to tow them to a carefully randomized location, there to cut them loose on a random vector and velocity.

Real Cost has nothing to do with END Cost. Dividing the Real Cost by 3 will not affect a Power's Endurance Cost.

This combat could not have been run using miniatures. I know when I'm playing with miniatures I'm thinking of my character as a piece on a board, and trying to optimize based on that. If the combat above had been presented with miniatures, I'd be thinking "Where's the tactical options? Where's the combat movement?"

Re: Re: Focus/Independent Questions Would disagree with this. If Joe Cardboard Box paid the points, he's got the Hummer. He would still have to justify it, but I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the points.

Re: Re: Focus/Independent Questions To make it even more confusing, two characters could conceivably have paid points for the same Focus! I have no idea what would happen in that case, but there's nothing in the rules against it.