gmurie

Re: [Worst Ever...] Reasons to be a superhero That sounds like a really GOOD reason to be a superhero.

Re: Multitarget Abilities That's just an additional limitation I think, and a decently hefty one: Limited power, only one beam can be used at a time on any one target each phase (-1/2) The wording's awkward, but there it is. Put in the limited attack arcs limit of (1/4) and you could conceivably slap all of those eye powers in an EC and have it not cost all that many points after all. Though I'd think the anti-magic primary eye is a suppress vs. all magic at once, and outside of the secondary "stalk" eye powers.

Re: Multitarget Abilities I'd just do it as an EC with a set of limitations thus: Restrainable - Flash Attacks will knock out powers for duration of flash (-1/2) Limited Power - Doing X damage to eye destroys it for the day (-1/4) Limited Power - Can only bring three/four eyes to bear in each arc (-1/4) A beholder is going to be a whale of a lot of points. I think what you should do is make a character sheet in champions based on the DESCRIPTION in the MM rather than the D&D STATISTICS. It requires you to be less anal retentive, but is easier and no less entertaining for players.

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week Do you need Puerto Rico done? I'm thinking anti-US fanatic who wants to force the country into independence. You've been doing too many heroes lately...

Re: Count vertigo from DC or Vertigo from Marvel Here's what I reckoned it should be. Stripped down to minimum mods needed, so yeah, it costs a lot of END. 64.....The Vertigo Effect: (Total: 111 Active Cost, 64 Real Cost) Drain DEX 2d6, Attack Versus Limited Defense (Flash Defense; +3/4), Continuous (+1), Area Of Effect (12" Cone; +1) (75 Active Points); Limited Power DEX returns to normal once outside AOE (-1/2) (Real Cost: 50) plus Change Environment 8" radius (16" Cone; +0), -5 DEX and all Skill Rolls based DEX (36 Active Points); Limited Power Only vs. targets with DEX reduced by Drain (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Linked (Drain; -1/2) (Real Cost: 14) [Notes: Victims of the Change Environment must make a DEX roll whenever they move inside the effect. If they fail the roll then they move in a random path that leaves them still inside the AOE.] - END=11

Re: Count vertigo from DC or Vertigo from Marvel I'd also link a change environment to it, and I think as portrayed it was a Cone AOE rather then ranged. The change environment would be -X DEX and all DEX skill rolls, and the victims would have to make DEX rolls to move in a straight line. If they fail the GM gets to "wobble" their movement path for them. Also, at least with Count Vertigo it was a continous effect, and all the Drain went away when the power shut off.

Re: Mimicry On the other hand, Peter is retarded, so that limits his power somewhat. I swear, the only characters in that series with more than a handful of brain cells to rub together are Sylar and Hiro. Granted, there was a writer's strike, but you can really see the smarts of the actors (or lack thereof) shine through their characters. But on subject, the only way to do Peter (or Sylar for that matter) is GM's fiat. "Congrats! You met a new super! Here's another fifty character points." Another case where fiction and game system don't translate well.

Re: Starter Characters (Critique/Steal) These are complex characters for a newbie to swallow, and experienced Champions players will chafe at playing a martial artist with DEX:20, SPD:4, and a wimpy 6d6 basic attack or a 8d6 autofire attack with an OAF. Martial Artists are pretty tough for new players to the game to work out unless they're dead simple brawlers like Seeker was. There's a wide power gap between the different characters, and I'd certainly drop Nite-Owl as a pregen, since most con games are railroad affairs, and a player with a character half or more skills and minor gadgets is going to feel like a fifth wheel. Even at the most cursory glance there's complexity that just doesn't need to be there, like 23 or 43 STR. Why make a beginner or even an experienced player fart about with half dice if they punch someone? My rule of thumb for Con games is the simpler the better. If you build an energy projector why not just give them a MPP with a few different blasts, flight, damage resistance, and naturally high PD and ED along with say maybe STR:30 and a few combat levels with the MPP? Lots of fun things can be done with a character like that (despite only having five powers or so) without having someone new to the game sort through a long list of powers and abilities.

Re: What's the Simplest Way To Do This? And also a violation of the character building guidelines. A character shouldn't have more than one of each of the frameworks, and VPPs are expensive for a VERY good reason. Honestly, there's little point to taking multiple MPPs because you can just ram them all together into a single very large pool. I just noticed that skill change outs are a part of this character, so yeah you probably should do it as a Multiform. Taking skills as powers that get locked out at different times is clumsy any other way. I realize that you are the GM so anything you like goes, but the other players might be annoyed at your wife having a character that's been allowed to violate the structure of the rules several ways from sunday. I may end up building a character like this just to see if my suggestion pans out.

Re: Soon I Will Be Invincible It's a great book. Essentially, you're put inside of the heads of Fatale, the outsider/newbie to a Justice League type organization after it's Superman (called Corefire) has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. So you get to see what superpowered people are like with all their human foibles. The more interesting character is Doctor Impossible, in effect Lex Luthor, and the book does a really good job of showing why a super genius mastermind would keep trying to take over the world after getting trashed by the super heroes over and over and over again. Getting inside the head of the evil genius is the books best feat. He's vile and horrible, and yet you feel sorry for the poor devil by the end of the book.

Re: Gorilla 'mother lode' found in Congo It means that Gorrah the Great Ape just found a lot more recruits, or is working on a breeding program, or is about to preemptively engage in a bit of eco-terrorism.

Re: How Do I Build It Question Thank you!

Re: Sexy costume power What? Sweaty nerds? You're hardly unique there.

Re: Sexy costume power Oh man! GenCon flashback! Though there always were one or two girls there who could carry it off. Made it almost worth having to look at the ones that couldn't. Not that you could get NEAR the girls who were able to carry it off for all the desperate sweaty nerds clustered around them.

Re: Royalty Character Princess Doomarina? Had to be said, though the vision of Dr Doom in a taffeta ball gown and one of them traffic cone hats is a touch disturbing.

Re: Hey, that worked pretty good! Afterthought powers that worked well THAT is hilarious! And no, I wasn't thinking of "how do I abuse X points" right from the outset. More like simple powers that were tossed in as an afterthought and turned out to work really well.

Re: Sexy costume power You'll have to add the limitation "power does not work after a heavy meal" or "Side Effects: If character puts on a few pounds PRE can only be used to repulse or annoy." Situational bonuses to PRE based skills should be free, since ANYONE with a COM over a certain level can get the same effect. The character's default all the time Seduction and Persuasion skills should be high no matter what s/he is wearing. After all, put an average normal person in a costume like THAT and what you get is more horrifying than anything else. I created a character (actually one Multiform of many) who's power was that he was that guy no woman could say no to. It was just done with PRE:30, COM:20 and Persuasion, Seduction, and Conversation bought up to 17-

Re: What's the Simplest Way To Do This? It depends on the exact concept I think: If you have a person who actually CHANGES into something fundamentally different with each option (especially if there are wildly different characteristics or disadvantages like the vulnerabilities or psych lims change around) then the only clean and easy way to do it is with Multiform. You can add disadvantages like personality loss, no concious control (eek!) or Accidental Change if the concept is that Oracle doesn't have full control over her changes. If what you're thinking of is a character that always has the same physical form and mind (and for the most part characteristics), but has access to a different suite of powers depending on which goddess she's calling on... The best way to do it might indeed be the VPP concept. My own inclination would be to create a set of powers that have the Lockout limitation on them. The lockout being that she can't use the powers of Aphrodite or Artemis if she's using Athena powers. It's probably the cleanest way to do this if you've got powers that shouldn't be in frameworks like enhanced senses or always on defenses.

Re: Followers of Takofanes Nobody. The whole point of him is that he's an undead monster that seeks to control all undead under his iron authoritarian grip. There's no "maybe I can pursue my ulterior goals" or "maybe it's for the best to have him in control" or "this will allow me to savor my vengeance." Maybe. MAYBE someone who seeks to destroy all life in the universe with no ultimate goal in mind. Not even Black Paladin would serve this guy. Takofanes would just kill him and turn him into a servitor, and Black Paladin despite his flaws seems to have a lust for life written into his background.

Re: drone followers That's a good point. If you're thinking of Mr. Terrific type drones then a MPP with a restrainable or focus type limit and things like indirect EBs and fine manipulation TK would be the way to go. If you need them to scoot off and do their own thing without direct supervision then the summon is the way to do it. And yes I did do it wrong, since the way I built it would probably raise alarm bells with most GMs. The drones would constantly pop into existance when one of them is destroyed so there's always four of them. I think.... Sometimes this game IS too complicated. On a related note, if you strip away all the advantages I gave that power it will cost seven END to summon them (big deal when it takes several minutes in a lab) and some literal minded GM's will limit the drones to your character's EGO/1 in tasks with each summoning. After which they go inert.

Re: How do I build this power: Always face away from me Honestly, I think the best way to simulate what you're talking about is an Entangle with a Linked Telekinesis. That would be the best way of both making sure the opponent is always pointed away, and making sure it's not subject to rules debates like a UAA movement power would be. It could be done by adding the -1 "Set Effect" limitation to the Entangle, and make the Set Effect "Only to keep victim facing in one direction" while the TK would have to be a "only to Keep victim facing away" limited power, which also seems like a good candidate for -1. Wouldn't just slapping a generic TK or Entangle in your character's MPP be more useful and easier?

Re: drone followers Summon is certainly the way to go. You could add the limitation that you can only summon them at the hero's workshop, or with the right material to hand and make the power 0END and Persistant. Followers tend to ring alarm bells with most GMs. They are wide open to terrible abuses of the rules. There's probably a better way to do it, but off the top of my head... Drone Workshop: Summon 4 100-point Robotic Drones, Expanded Class of Beings Very Limited Group (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Slavishly Devoted (+1) (112 Active Points); Limited Power Can only be summoned from robotics lab (-1), Extra Time (5 Minutes, Only to Activate, -1) That will allow you to create four drones (assuming most of their powers and stats are the same with weapon swaps or whatever) if you have five minutes in a robotics lab to kit them together. In effect, you get followers, but without having to put the personal investment into them that you'd have to with real followers. You could only operate four of them at any one time though. 0 END, Persistant, and Uncontrolled allow the drones complete independance from your character. Though they can be Dispelled or Suppressed, and some GMs may demand you provide a means of turning the power off like EM Pulse I don't think that is illogical.

Re: UNTIL Superpowers Database -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Re: Alcohol touch Alchohol Touch: (Total: 140 Active Cost, 80 Real Cost) Minor Transform 4d6 (Normal Person into Morose, Angry, Happy/Horny, or Stupid Drunk (see text), Drained INT returing to full level), No Normal Defense (Immunity to Alcohol; +1) (80 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (AID to victims PRE and EGO to resist attacks and persuation; -1/2) (Real Cost: 40) plus Drain 2d6, DEX and INT simultaneously (+1/2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per 5 Minutes; +1/2), No Normal Defense (Immunity to Alcohol; +1) (60 Active Points); Linked (Transform; -1/2) (Real Cost: 40) NOTES: The type of drunk the victim of this power becomes is a judgment call of the GM's. There is not an improved results group for this because the user of the power has no control over this. Someone with enraged, berserk, or similar psych lims becomes an angry drunk. Someone who's depressive becomes a morose drunk, etc... The transform just adds a Very Common Moderate Strength Psych limit like "horndog" "convinced everybody likes him" "short tempered" "stupid". Because I simple could not let it go without statting it out. That's an expensive power!

Re: UNTIL Superpowers Database -- What Do *You* Want To See? Seriously, was my suggestion even seen by Mssr. Long? Would he even bother monitoring this thread any more?