gmurie

Re: Alcohol touch I'd say it could be as simple as a drain to DEX and INT alone. Though as stated you might also want to put a cosmetic mental transform in there (acts like a drunk is nothing more than a 5 point mental limit) unless you're wanting to do something a little more serious like transform people into angry drunks (enraged at petty slights 11-, rec 11-) in which case that'd be a major transform. That would be pretty hilarious. A bunch of drunk superheroes staggering around at half or less of their starting DEX and INT going "What're YOU lookin at?" I disagree with mucking about with EGO or PRE just because drunks are, if anything, even MORE difficult to control or persuade than sober people.

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week Did you lose the Shaper? Or are you just going to use those characters you've already posted for Norway?

Re: Alternate Teams Here's another idea that I got just thumbing through CKC. It starts with Thorn, who hates all mammals who prey on his precious plants. He keeps trying to destroy the filthy mammals, but is stymied for obvious reasons. He's only 350 points going solo against groups. It's not like his psych lims leave him inclined to work alongside others, not even Mechanon who'd want to destroy the plants too. At some point (maybe even during combat with PCs) Hornet tries to steal the same bio research as Thorn, or he just decides that Thorn would be a good ally as he's had problems enough with the stinking mammals himself. Insects pollinate plants and keep the cycle of live moving properly. It's a good match. This is best if you have the PC's stop a scheme that the two of them work on together. Hornet creating insects that spread a dangerous pollen that animates or super grows plants in an attempt to destroy the city. Esper also hates humans, and desires to control and dominate all. She busts Thorn and Hornet out of captivity after the collapse of aforementioned scheme. With her powers of persuasion and a somewhat better grasp of the long view she proposes an alliance with one goal, the elimination of 80% or more of the human population. Corral the remainder and keep them under control. Esper has worked alongside Fenris on several occasions and is able to "nudge" his animal nature with her Mind Control so he also signs on. Thorn and Hornet might have some reservations, but he's a predator who goes after other mammals. Not an eater of bugs or plants, and his science skills are too valuable to ignore. Alter all four villains, add SS: Psionic Engineering to Esper and some other skills. Give all four a modest VPP and Inventor and more SS's, or just hand wave whatever equipment they need for their schemes. An ideal fifth member would be a machine type creature with a similar contempt for humanity, but isn't actually wanting to wipe all organic life from the planet like Mechanon. The Engineer isn't quite a good fit for this, so one may have to be custom built. An experimental AI robot for use in Stronghold that's reprogrammed and set loose as a distraction during a prison break was my initial thought. It'd want to keep ALL humans penned up and under control.

Re: Alternate Teams (inspired by Thunderbolts) It's a Simpsons quote. There are a lot of good minions for that team just in CKC. - Black Paladin: He'll "minion" to either Zorran or Stingray, and you could easily see him backstabbing them to his advantage at a crucial juncture. Add some sort of magical amulet to let him function underwater. - Leech : 2x effect from magic mind control. Aquatic. Would function in either Lemuria or Atlantis. - Menagerie : Sees the two mystics as "on her side" as far as protecting the oceans and wilds goes. Add more points to her, and maybe give her some mystic foci gifts. Add a slew of animal forms that'd help Zorran and Stingray. - Riptide: Gullible girl bonded with water elemental. Perfect patsy.

Re: Alternate Teams (inspired by Thunderbolts) Your ideas intrigue me, and I would like to see any literature that you might have.

It seems that one of the recent trends in the comics industry (especially on the Marvel side) is to shake things up a little by altering the teams that have been pretty fixed through from the silver age to about 2000. All of these teams have always had their "core members" more or less, but now we see teams getting altered in major ways, and new teams being formed from collections of other villains. I thought it might be fun to throw the idea at the Champions universe, which has been pretty fixed over the years. See if any odd new relationships can be built, and thence some interesting new plot points. And because these sorts of things need rules here they are: 1. NO FOXBAT! I love Foxbat as much or more than the next Champions gamer, but this can all too easily become attack of the infinite Foxbat teams. A little more creativity than that. Please. 2. No master villains or fanatically loyal subjects to those master villains. A "team" of Dr. Destroyer and Warlord isn't a team, it's a major world turning plotline. 3. You may use ONE master villain/major hero of the second water as team leader. Holocaust is a good example, though his habit of frying anyone who annoys him even slightly would really lend itself well to teaming with anyone. 4. You can use any other villain (or hero!) that might conceivably ditch their current team mates. Either predominantly, as a side project, or because their normal allies are cooling their heels in Stronghold. 5. For every three published heroes/villains you may create a new one that might even be the glue that binds this new creation together. Bonus points for creating a set of plot hooks. My own team: THE ULTIMATE ULTIMATES! This works best if the Ultimates run afoul of the PCs on several occasions and have their numbers whittled down or just get owned by them several times over. It assumes that you work through the "Cyclone is a snitch for PRIMUS" plot hook, Radium's powers go haywire or he just quits the group as his radiation gets out of control. The group fragments and Slick and Thunderbolt just ditch Binder and Blackstar because Binder starts getting more and more angry and annoying. Blackstar's been around Binder the longest and they get along well despite a little friction here and there. Binder's had a good thing with the Ultimates over the years and decides to rebuild. To not rebuild the Ultimates would be to concede inferiority and defeat, and that he will not do. First he recruits Brainchild, because the villain seems like a good fit (there's a matching set of psych limits and a common superpowered scientist theme add Teamwork to Brainchild, contributions to the Ultimates base and vehicle, and some more powers) and perhaps it'll help his new team deal better with those damned mentalists. This is better if the PCs have had some run ins with Eurostar, or you can set it up so that Fiacho and/or Mentalla are out of commission for a while. Ultrasonique shows up at the new group's door. His paranoia has finally turned against his old team, and he feels that other super scientists might better appreciate him. With Brainchild about his erratic behavior can be controlled much as it was by Mentalla. Fenris is a biologist that's turned himself into a savage wolfman, and in "Campaign Use" it's stated that he makes a good add on for any team. This is his new team, and he adds a level of science knowhow that the rest of teh team lacks. Finally, deciding that having someone with electrical powers of some sort about would be handy Binder finally allows Stormfront into the team, but ony if he "smartens himself up a bit" (see Stormfront's plot hooks) add the contribution to the base and vehicle as for all of them, and give stormfront some more science skills and boost his INT to 13. Use this as a justification to add one or two slots to his EC. This new group is radically different from the old Ultimates. They're more brutal without Slick's lighthearted nonsense or Cyclones Code vs. Killing. They'll still function reasonably well as a team and they've got a LOT more science knowhow.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE DESTROYER: What Do *You* Want To See? What I've always wanted to know, given his massive resources and raw power, is why he has never won? OK, so Destroyer is arrogant, but given his character sheet and the power level of his followers it seems unlikely that he couldn't have taken over already. That needs to be explicitly spelled out in his personal history. Why, if he's got the power and willingness to annihilate cities at a whim, hasn't Destroyer ever taken over?

Re: Completely Undetectable I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. I'd have shot it out my nose. You realize of course, that it'll be worse than that. It'll be something like Captain America faked his own death to singlehandedly stop the Skrull invasion!

Re: Ape Name Needed All cribbed from Jammers faction of Shadowfist CCG Leader Names Battlechimp Potempkin Brass Monkey Che Gorilla Doctor Zaius Furious George Orangotank SAM Simian Minions Apes of Wrath Ba-BOOM! Big Macaque Attack Chimpanzer Flying Monkey Squad Funky Monkey, the Chimp Pimp Gorilla Fighter Marmojet Monkey Boy Simian Liberation Army I also did my own Ape Mastermind called Gorrah the Great Ape http://www.herogames.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-60960.html

Re: Cybernetic Telepath - Naming Powers Wow, good ones braincraft. Of course with a character like that you'd almost have to come up with some oddball powers that are more than just the vanilla. How about... System Scan - Detect Human Minds plus Computers as extra class of things System Lag - BOECV Drain vs. DEX and EGO, not a powerhouse ability, but one that's much beloved by other players. Cortex Cooker - BOECV RKA Jammer - Invisibility that only works vs. computers and humans you're aware of. Video Buffer Overflow - BOECV flash attack I'll agree on the DCV and Combat luck as non-foci defenses. You could also add Danger Sense that only works vs. human or machine attacks.

Re: Completely Undetectable Just to drag things back on topic. My usual approach as GM is to have a copy of all the character sheets, and look at them for odd and "useless" skills or powers that are added strictly for role playing reasons. Say for example one of the PC's takes PS:Cobbler for his brick who was turned into a giant metal man after hammering a radioactive nail into his thumb. At some point I'd make it work for that PC. Have him recognize a bad guy by his gait or the shoes he's wearing. In other words, I wouldn't pore over the PC's abilities trying to shut down their every single option for detecting the bad guys. I'd pour over them to block all but handful of interesting and rarely used skills or powers so the players feel that it's worthwhile to play CHARACTERS in my game as opposed to OIF+OIHID monstrosities with no skills. Yes, I'm aware that OIF + OIHID is no longer allowed, but you get the idea.

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character) I believe that the point of the Batman Protocols wasn't just to take down his fellow JLA members, but to take them down alive. He has that Batman don't kill thing going. Hence trapping Wonder Woman in a virtual reality, turning Flash's powers haywire, and using red rather than green Kryptonite on Superman. A lot of these suggestions are decidedly lethal, which is honestly dead easy. There are lots of ways to kill off a champions character since there's a rules structure to follow, but how to take a person down in one go effectively? Well I guess that's what NND's are for. Better still would be INTERESTING ways to take a character down alive and quickly. Sleep gas on those that don't have sealed breathing or attacks against particular vulnerabilities are also easy, and hence uninteresting. From the role play and storytelling perspective I was rather hoping to see people explain their character's motivations and psych limits. Show how the character could be baited into doing themselves in, but again without endangering their lives or stuffing their girlfriends into a fridge. My own character? Strike. Strike begins his career as an optimistic carefree Spidey type in personality. Powerwise he's uninteresting, a FISS (read PS238) with a few odd extra defenses (power defense and sealed breathing) and senses (IR, extra perception, radio hearing) added on. As he progresses he becomes more and more dissillusioned. By game start he's still at it because A) he likes saving people and he enjoys beating the hell out of super villians. The best way to take down Strike is to overwhelm his strength. Trick him into getting under something that's a lot heavier than it seems because he's far too confident of his physical power. It can't hurt him, but he'll be pinned until he can be dealt with. Alternately, a Batman type character could just bargain with him. Given the right incentive he'd hang up the cowl for a long time, or even willingly surrender to the authorities.

Re: Shard Tricky. You could do it with the Trigger advantage and whole ton of other mods, but for so many points you could just as easily give him 75% energy damage reduction and/or ED armor that only work vs. light attacks. For the 60-80 points I suspect the Missile Deflection would cost you'd get a whole lot of invulnerability vs. light attacks, and my instinct is always to go for the simple solution. That seems about right, though some purists might argue that Damage Shields should only be applied to ranged attacks. I'd personally do it as two separate powers in an elemental control; the RKA damage shield and the HKA. For that matter I'd probably stick the armor and damage reduction vs light attacks only in the EC too even though that's not entirely kosher. It wouldn't be limiting ALL THE TIME. Only when he was trying to be stealthy.But you should add distinctive features that can't be concealed.

Re: The Worst character in comics @DocSamson: And yet in the X-Men movie they were able to reinvent the Toad into something quite cool. Though of course not having him be a fat guy in a jester's suit helped a lot. So maybe Batroc can reinvent himself into the big screen just as bad ass in the Captain America movie. @ Lemming: It wouldn't surprise me if you could get slug stomach powers from Palladium's Heroes Unlimited or the old Marvel RPG expanded powers book. I got some damn weird characters off that second one.

Re: The Worst character in comics

Re: The Worst character in comics My vote for ALL TIME WORST is Spawn. This month Spawn wakes up and has breakfast! I once heard a rumor that Todd McFarlane bragged that he could put the panels of Spawn together in any order he liked and the fans of the comic were so dumb they wouldn't notice. I have two additional TYPES of characters that I don't like: Witchblade, Fathom, Power Girl, Red Sonja, and a few others of that ilk. The comics that have covers that are blatantly aimed at 13 year old boys. Look! BOOBIES! BOOOOOBIES! Spawn, Punisher, Cable, and any character that is shown carting around several guns the size of sign posts and kills people for no comprehensible reason other than to prove that he's tough. As often as not I find myself loathing established characters that I'd normally like because writers shift them over to one of those two types. I hate almost everything Image has ever done with the exception of the early run of Savage Dragon, but Spawn has a special place of loathing in my heart.

Re: The Zodiac Super Hero Team? I tried to hew pretty close to the signs in this villain group version I created here. This site was somewhat useful.

Re: Opinion on this Sense Then you buy invisible for the AOE always on telepathy that only reads surface thoughts. Again, what's the point? There's little advantage over just plain vanilla full on Telepathy. If she's trying to replicate a specific character in fiction or comics then give us the character. If she just wants her character to have a sense that lets her get a lock on people nearby for her other powers that's Mind Scan. Again, a GM generally won't allow Detect Minds because that's a replication (sort of) of Mind Scan, and frankly Mind Scan is better. What kind of character is this player wanting? WHY is it is so important that she be able to snoop on all people's surface thoughts at all times. Also, as a GM I'd be discouraging this, because I'd have to build every NPC with Mental Defense just to keep the player from being a pain in my ass.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine I do have to wonder how "Please sue the crap out of me." translates into Portuguese. I'm just remembering the flap over dupes of Marvel characters in City of Heroes.

Re: Opinion on this Sense The ability to detect surface thoughts is telepathy. Technically, you're not allowed to use a power to replicate another power. If she just doesn't want her character getting snuck up on that's Danger Sense. This could just as easily (more easily) be replicated with a very low level of telepathy, but why bother? What I mean is, what's the point of this power that you can't do with regular telepathy? After all, once a mentalist gets a lock on someone they can maintain the link. If she's bound and determined that she wants an AOE telepathy that only reads surface thoughts then build that as a slot in a MPP and put the full on Telepathy in the other slot. Something like 4d6 telepathy, only vs. surface thoughts, nonselective AOE with some multiples, and errrr 0 END and Persistent I guess. Oh, and No Range.

Re: The Ultimates-Need Ideas... I don't have Tachyon's stats on hand, but IIRC he's a teleporting brick right? Well, for starters they ALL have AOEs (Tachyon and Blackstar can chuck cars), so making heavy use of those will eliminate any DCV advantages, though it sounds like all four PCs are more reliant on defenses. Apart from Blackstar every one of those villains has a lot of movement, and all of them have radio transmit and receive except Thunderbolt. So coordinating attacks should be easy for them. Binder, Blackstar, and Cyclone even have Teamwork as a skill. Anklysaur's Flashbangs and Binder's Entangles can keep a PC out of the fight without actually knocking them out. That way the other four can concentrate on the remaining PCs. If you're looking for stuff like the fastball special... Catch! : Tachyon could teleport behind someone and grab them, and then throw them in front of a held action Blackstar. Then he can cut loose with that STR:80, or Tachyon could just hold and crush until Blackstar catches up. Same deal with Anky and his STR:75 tail and high run speed. MoveMove By/Through: Between Cyclone and Anklyosaur there's a lot of power in their move bys. They could teamwork on a Moveby (17" run or 20" leap on anky, and 24" flight on cyclone) And he is out of there!: Have Tachyon or Blackstar throw someone near Anklysaur when Anky has a held action for a tail smack. Not effective, but a good visual. If there's only four PCs I'd take Tachyon out of the mix. The Ultimates are pretty powerful even with Radium and Slick replaced with just Anky, and if you up Anklyosaur to the 400 point range they should work well (add some slots to his MPP and increase his stats and skills) You also have to play to the groups psych limits and motivations to make it a true role play experience. Assuming you take my advice and drop Tachyon: Binder will attack anyone pretty or handsome first, and due to his paranoia will probably be all over the hunted hero. Blackstar will want to get into a knockdown drag out with the strongest PC. Cyclone's a showoff and has a bit of a complex about his armor, so he'll probably go after the power armor PC. Thunderbolt is just a jerk and a showoff. He'll probably attack the hunted, and the energy projector to prove just who's best. Anklyosaur hates authority figures, and he's vengeful. Again, the hunted and any patriot or goody goody types.

Re: Need Suggestions: Updated Zodiac Alliance PDF Attached Yes, it's all me baby. I also did a gorilla mastermind. I should probably do him and his gorilla, chimp, and orang followers as a PDF some day too. It's buried on the forum somewhere.

First, attached is an updated version of the Zodiac Alliance PDF. I'd attach some art, but it'd consist of scribbles, stick figures, and smiley faces. OK, I'm marginally better at drawing than that, but only just. More important to me at the moment is an update to all of the characters. All twelve have twenty points of Perk invested in Bases, Vehicles, and Followers. Making for 1200 points to allocate among those resources. I have in mind a mountain fortress which could be stashed away anywhere there's a mountain near a sea or ocean, and a cargo ship converted to a pleasure craft and transport. Plus all the crew and personnel to man and defend both. Maybe with some sort of mansion or business concealing the front entrance. In addition Cancer has his own base and submarine. Confession time, I'm crap at building vehicles and bases. In games I just wing it, and if a hallway is defended by sleep gas dispensers and blasters it's because I made it up just that moment. So I need help, and no I don't own Ultimate Vehicle, and am not likely to buy it until I see for sure what's up with v6.0 There were a few questions about HDC's in the earlier post. I don't have them as they appear. I did not enjoy the export process (suggestion to HD folks, make a mass export for all open files button!) so I've been directly editing the characters in the Office Document.

Re: Who lives in these quarters? Hero #1 Oh sure, the full background. OK, here's Null as HDC attachment. No disads, ran out of energy at that point. More powers could be added to the MPP and EC, like time travel, but I wanted to keep him inside 350 points. I see him as a GM's fiat type character. You need him to be able to travel back in time to when Lincoln was assassinated, and presto it happens. Background: Null is a man out of time and place, out of all reason. There was a surge of magical energy, everything in the world twisted and distorted, and some miles away a man materialized. He had no identity, and was quickly caught up in all sorts of problems just trying to get food and a place to live. How does someone survive when he doesn't exist? Not only that, but when his own memories of his existence are scrambled and confused? He became a low level criminal of a sort, and often just a nuisance. He'd teleport into bank vaults and steal enough money to get by for a few months, or attack drug dealers and take their money. Because he never stayed put in existence it was hard for authorities to track him down and pin anything on him. Gradually, John Doe (he's sure that it's his real name) realized that he was shifting around in time and space, but there was one place that was the center of his existance, a derelict building that he was sure contained some secret. Rex set him right and helped him organize his thoughts, and he's been with the team ever since. At least, for all the time that he's in the world. He is becoming more rooted in time and space, but no one is quite sure why, or even where he's from and how he got his powers. Least of all him. Personality:Null wants to know why his existance is scrambled and where his powers came from. He remembers some things accurately enough, but they don't mesh with the world as it exists around the base that's become the center of his existance. Did a magic using member of the Golden Age team create him? Is there some mission that he's supposed to accomplish? Null has no idea, and it makes him crazy. Though Null is confused and his memories scrambled he is not insance. He deals with the strange events in his live as logically and carefully as possible. It's just that at any moment he might forget someone he's known for years, and think that a total stranger is a dear friend with a complete set of memories about them that have nothing in common with reality. This makes him very reserved in social situations. Quote:"Am I supposed to know you?" Powers: Null is a teleporter with a suite of time and dimension travelling powers. He has a large number of attack options based on subtle tricks of temporal warping, to crude attacks like teleporting people and objects away. He's even capable of teleporting part of something away to destroy it, but has never used this on a living being. Null is often left reiventing the wheel tactically, because he can't be relied on to remember anything about team tactics. Fortunately, his confusion has never extended to not knowing who he's supposed to be fighting at any given moment, but he might forget what an enemies or allies powers are. Campaign Use: In many respects Null is a plot device. Who is he? How did he get his powers and why are so many mages interested in him? Why does his existence revolve around the base, and just where did that statue come from? Come to that, why has he painted those odd patterns on his walls and floors in glow and the dark paint? Null does not hunt anyone consistently, but may become confused and hunt people for no reason that exists in the world. To make him more powerful increase the active points of his MPP and EC, and to make him weaker do the opposite. Appearance: Null is a non-descript man in his early thirties. He's healthy and strong, and obviously knows how to handle himself in a fight. He has several large scars on his body, but is at a loss to explain them half the time, and the other half of the time gives explanations like "A dragon hatchling bit me in that cave on Albion. Don't you remember?" He doesn't have a costume, but wears sturdy combat fatigues similar to those of the bases guard force.

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week Inspired in no small part by Jim Ward of the Stephanie Miller show I don't doubt. There are better ones than this, but this is the only one on the tube Kay to the Jay to the Eye Ell and the Hizzy!