jackalope

Visible vs Invisible When it comes to the Visible/Invisible rules, I think the only thing you can do and maintain sanity is take them as Extremely Rough Guidelines. Because frankly, they don't make sense. The important distinction between a visible and invisible power is "How Obvious Is It That The Character Has Or Is Using A Power?" not "How Many Senses Is It Visible To?" For example, the following special effects (for an RKA) are all Visible: Laser Rifle, Flame Blast, Focused Sonic Attack, Bionic Finger Gun. But they are all Visible in very different ways, some to all senses groups, some to only one or two, some dependent on whether you are the victim of the attack or just watching the fight, and other dependent on whether they are being used or not. The Laser Rifle is a Focus, and as an object is visible to all normal senses. You can touch it, taste it, see it, hear it, and smell it. But you might not be able to tell it was a laser until it was fired, unless you had appropriate background knowledge. When it's fired, you can see the laser, maybe hear a sizzle at the target point or a mechanism in the gun working, feel the beam if it strikes you, maybe smell the ionized air it leaves in it's wake. The Flame Blast is completely invisible until it's used. Looking a character who can project blast of flame, you would not imemdiately assume "Oh, he shoots blasts of flame." Once used however, it'll be incredibly obvous. You'll see the flames, feel the heat radiating off them (even if you aren't the target), smell the charred target, and hear the crackle of flames. It's visible to almost all of the sense, except Radio. The Focused Sonic Attack, on the other hand, would hardly be Visible. You'd see a disruption in the air, and you'd feel the blast if it hit you, but any sound it makes will be well up into the ultrasonics, assuming you can hear anything at all (it is a focused sound attack afterall). And again, it would only be visible while in use. A Bionic Finger Gun, on the other hand, would also be visible to all the senses (just as any gunshot is), and visible while not in use, yet not a focus. With Armor, it's just as complex. Compare the Thing with Spider-Man. Both have Armor. The Thing's armor is very obvious, he's made of stone! One look at him and you can tell he's not someone you want to punch. Spider-Man, on the other hand, looks kinda puny and weak. But hit him and you'll feel how rock solid he actually is. So Spider-Man's Armor is not obvious at all, until you've hit him. And regardless of how many senses the Thing's Armor is visible too, he should get a Limitation for it, because it's incredibly obvious that he's armored.

Re: Why Is "Requires EGO Roll" -1, not -1/2

I thought I would start a thread and post a few of my characters, villains, and other goodies. We'll start things off with a bang, in the form of Jet City's favorite bomb tossing psychotic vigilante nutball, IRON DEMON.Iron Demon is a character that originated in a solo campaign one of my friends ran for me. He started out as a straight up Green Goblin As Hero clone, and became more and more powerful as time went on. Of the course of about two years, I played Iron Demon about twice a week. His current incarnation is about 550 points, and I'll post him later, along with the Demon Glider, the Demon Glider v2.0, the Demon's Lair (his HQ), and a representative member of the Night Court (a group of scouts, spies, and agents made up of reformed criminals who help the Iron Demon).And now, allow me to introduce: THE IRON DEMON!!!Iron DemonPlayer: Jackalope Val Char Cost 20/30 STR 10 21/24 DEX 33 20/23 CON 20 15 BODY 10 15 INT 5 13 EGO 6 20/30 PRE 10 10 COM 0 5/15 PD 1 5/15 ED 1 5 SPD 19 10/13 REC 4 40/46 END 0 40/47 STUN 5 6" RUN02" SWIM04"/6" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 124Cost Power END 34 Bag of Tricks: Multipower, 60-point reserve, OIF (-1/2); all slots Range Based On Strength (-1/4) 2u 1) Skull Bombs: Energy Blast 8d6, Explosion (+1/2); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2) 2u 2) Hellfire Bomb: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Explosion (+1/2); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2) 2u 3) Brimstone Bomb: Darkness to Sight Group 6" radius; OAF (-1), 4 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Turn each (-1/2) 2u 4) Barbwire Bomb: Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF, Backlash (+1/2); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2) 2u 5) Razor Bats: Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6, Autofire (3 shots; +1/4); OAF (-1), 8 clips of 3 Charges (-1/2) 23 Brimstone Blast: Energy Blast 8d6, STUN Only (+0); OIF (Gauntlets; -1/2), Limited Range (12") (-1/4) 4 4 Brimstone Power Pack: Endurance Reserve (40 END, 1 REC) Reserve: ; OIF (Gauntlets; -1/2) Brimstone Injection, all slots IAF (Hypodermic; -1/2), 1 Continuing Charge lasting 1 Hour (-1/4) 24 1) Performance Enhacement: +10 STR plus +3 DEX plus +3 CON plus +3 PD plus +4 ED plus +10 PRE 6 2) Toughness: Physical Damage Reduction, 25% 7 3) Regeneration: Healing 2 BODY; Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4) Iron Demon Costume, all slots OIF (Costume; -1/2) 10 1) Chainmail: Armor (5 PD/5 ED) 5 2) Police Scanner: Radio Perception 3 3) Lowlight Enhancement Array: Nightvision (5 Active Points) Powers Cost: 126Cost Skill 2 AK: Jet City 11- 3 Breakfall 13- (14-) 3 Combat Piloting 13- (14-) 5 +1 with DCV 5 +1 with Ranged Combat 4 +2 with Razor Bats 3 Conversation 13- (15-) 1 Criminology 8- 3 Deduction 12- 1 Electronics 8- 3 High Society 13- (15-) 3 Interrogation 13- (15-) 2 KS: The Criminal Underworld 11- 1 Mechanics 8- 2 PS: Playboy 11- 3 Shadowing 12- 3 Streetwise 13- (15-) Skills Cost: 47Cost Perk 20 Vehicle 10 Base 10 Money: Wealthy 3 Reputation: Dark Champion (Jet City Residents) 11-, +3/+3d6 3 Well-Connected 1 1) City Contact: Reese Myers, Deputy Mayor's Office 11- 1 2) Police Contact: Sergeant Ditko 11- 1 3) Press Contact: Talia Mumnar, P-I Crime Desk 11- 1 4) Underworld Contact: Jimmy The Snitch 11- Perks Cost: 50Cost Talent 3 Eidetic Memory; Only People/Names/Faces (-1/2) Talents Cost: 3Val Disadvantages 30 Berserk: In Combat While On Brimstone (Common), go 8-, recover 8- 10 Distinctive Features: Fright Mask (Easily Concealed; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 5 Hunted: Foxbat 8- (As Pow, Mildly Punish) 15 Hunted: The Mafia 11- (As Pow, Harshly Punish) 15 Hunted: The Police 11- (As Pow, NCI, Mildly Punish) 20 Psychological Limitation: Erratic and Emotionally Unstable (Very Common, Strong) 20 Psychological Limitation: Obsessed With Personal War On Crime (Very Common, Strong) 15 Reputation: Bloodthirsty Vigilante, 11- (Extreme) 20 Social Limitation: Secret ID (Frequently, Severe) Disadvantage Points: 150Base Points: 200Experience Required: 0Total Experience Available: 0Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 350 BACKGROUND: Clayton Clarke Jr. was a strange, troubled kid. He was prone to violence, and erratic behavior, and this brought him into conflict with his peers and the authorities. His mother died before Clayton was one, and his father, a wealthy industrialist and philanthroper, sent him to the best treatment facilities, though he was never able to provide Clayton the love he needed.Eventually Clayton struggled through college and took a meaningless position in his father's company. Clayton spent the next several years obsessing over various hobbies. In particular he enjoyed comic books and studying crime. His father tried his best to make Clayton's life easy, as he felt guilty over his son's mental condition. Clayton did seem to be slowly improving, and began taking on more and more responsibilities.Then the elder Clayton was struck down by a stroke. Suddenly Clayton was forced to care for his father and take on a tremendous amount of responsibility. He struggled valiantly to hold it together during this time, and fooled his father into thinking he'd gotten his act together. So it was that one warm summer night, Clayton Sr. called Clayton Jr. to his bedside, and extracted a promise from him. The Clarkes has a long tradition of protecting and uplifting their community, of being a pillar of strength, and Clayton Jr. was expected to follow in that path. Clayton swore he would, and then his father passed into death.The next year was hard, very hard. Clayton was put under a lot of stress, and he was sure he couldn't handle it. He started buying odd things, a chainmail outfit, a rubber fright mask. Then came the weapons, the specially designed weapons, prototypes from various companies he now owned. It was a hobby, he was collecting, that's what he told himself. When his researchers discovered a powerful combat enhancing drug, he knew he was almost ready - but ready for what? He still didn't know.Then, on the anniversary of his father's death, the breakdown occured. It was complete and it was total. Clayton Clarke had spent the better part of year under stress and obsessing over his promise to his father, and he snapped in two. Clayton Clarke died that day. Died and was reborn. Reborn as THE IRON DEMON!!!.PERSONALITY: In his mind, Clayton Clarke is actually the Iron Demon, dark champion, ruthless defender of the night. No one knows that Clayton Clarke has died, that his soul is gone forever, replaced by the Demon. The Demon is constantly restless, and wants nothing but to seek out evil and destroy it wherever it hides. But the Demon needs finacing, needs weapons, it needs Clayton Clark. So now everyday the Demon must wear his Clayton Clark mask and go to work and pretend to care. It used to be stressfull, it was such hard work and made so little sense. Now everything is clear, crystal clear...Clayton Clark is a delusional schitzophrenic. He believes his soul has been replaced with that of a Demon of Justice. This complex fantasy allows him to detach emotionally from everything and cope with life's difficulties. It also compels him to don a terrifying costume and fly out into the night as the Iron Demon, lashing out at criminals and venting his rage on those who would hurt innocents.QUOTE:Clayton: "No Miranda, I can't see you tonight...I have work to do."Iron Demon: "Justice as found you! I have found you! And now evil ones, NOW I'LL DESTROY YOU!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"POWERS/TACTICS: Iron Demon has an array of gadgets and gear that he uses to fight crime. These include several types of bombs, razor sharp throwing knives shaped like bats, a bioelectric blaster built into his gloves, a chainmail costume, a winged rocket that he rides around on, and various sensory enhancements. He also has access to a extremely powerful combat drug that he calls "Brimstone", though using it makes his mood swings even more erratic, and he occasionally gets caught up in the violence and goes on a little manic mayhem spree.CAMPAIGN USE: Hunteds: Iron Demon's willfull use of extreme violence has made him unpopular with both the local authorities (who will not cooperate with him knowingly) and the local mafia. Iron Demon has also faced Foxbat in the past. The two men have very similiar delusions, and tend to reinforce each other's perceptions of an epic struggle occuring between them. Each believes he is the hero and the other the villian. To outsiders, it looks like two wackos going at with extreme gusto.

Re: What would you character do... Peacekeeper's Response: Peacekeeper considers non-sanctioned superhumans who use their powers to mete out "justice" to be criminals. Since this group is not recognized by a legitimate authority on Earth, Peacekeeper would consider them a supervillain team - even if they limited their targets to the most evil and vicious men. The Jet City Sentinals are on equivalent power level to the JLA, and so Peacekeeper would attempt to convince his (government sanctioned) teammates to combat this menace. Iron Demon's Response: "It's about damn time someone else realized there's a war going on out there!"

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That!

Re: A contriversial "Would your character...?"

Re: What Would Your Character #72 (or so) Peacekeeper's Response: Peacekeeper is already a member of the world's premiere UN backed superteam. He is not interested in joining another team, though he would be willing to assist them if they require his talents. He will immediately inform his teammates (including the suspected character) of this other team's concerns. Iron Demon: "I don't do teams."

Re: What would your character do? #71

Re: A contriversial "Would your character...?"

Re: What would your character do? #70 Peacekeeper's Response: After performing a quick risk assesment, Peacekeeper determines that it is the demon that is of greatest concern, and attempts pursuit, sirens blazing. While pursuing the demon, Peacekeeper contacts his teammates (if he's functioning as a member of the Jet City Sentinals) or local emergancy services (if he's going solo) to take care of Anderson. If his teammates are unsure of what to do with Anderson, Peacekeeper would strongly suggest that Anderson be turned over tot he local police authority to be held for trial for his crimes. Anderson may have not been responsible for his actions at the time, but that is a matter to be decided in a court of law. Iron Demon's Response: After performing a quick risk assesment, Iron Demon determines that it is the demon that is of greatest concern, and attempts pursuit on the Demon Glider. While pursuing the demon, Iron Demon contacts members of the Night Court (a Guardian Angels type group, composed of reformed gang members, led by the Demon) to take care of Anderson. Anderson will be taken to a safe house, treated, interrogated, and if the Demon feels he wasn't in control at the time, he'll be dropped off at home (or a hospital, depending on the extent of hsi injuries) witha warning to keep his nose clean. If Iron Demon determines that Anderson is likely to recombine with the fire demon (if, for example, this is the third or fourth time this has happened), Iron Demon executes Anderson and buries him in the Boneyard.

Re: What Would Your Character Do? #68

Re: Marvel Heroes Quotes No, no no. The quote is: "Weakest hero in town, am I, sucker? Then what does that make you? You didn't even have the strength to pull my 250 pound bow!" From the Hawkeye Limited Series #4, said to Crossfire after he stunned himself trying to fire an explosive arrow from Hawk's bow. Here's a great Hawkeye quote, very typical of his entry lines: "You clowns don't stand a chance against me! I've beaten you before - and I'll do it again! They don't call me the world's greatest archer for nothing!" - Solo Avengers #1 It's got everything. The bravado, the insecurity, and it tells you everything you need to know about Hawkeye. He's an the best insecure, boastful archer in the world. World's Biggest Hawkeye Fan, right here.

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! Are those characters that people actually played, with the intention that they be taken seriously? Or just created as jokes?

Here's a thread that may hurt some people's feelings, so be careful how you answer. What the LAMEST character you've ever seen another player actually play? Concept wise, not point-build wise. The LAMEST character I have ever seen in my life was my friend "Bob's" back-up character. "Bob's" main character was a electrical energy blaster named Blue Bolt, an okay if not exceptional character. "Bob's" backup character, however, was the LAMEST character I've ever seen. His name was Quarter, and his only power was this: He could shoot razor sharp quarters from his palms. Why? Because he was exposed to radiation while holdinga roll of quarters in each hand. Yeah, I know. That's just stupid. Whenever "Bob" would play Quarters, my character would ask him to explain his origin over and over. And then always ask the same question: "Okay then, but why are the quarters razor sharp? Were you carrying rolls of razor sharp quarters? Cuz I don't get it. Why don't you run out of quarters if you were only carrying two rolls?" It drove me crazy. Especially when he would use the quarters to buy things (and this was before the wealth perk - and perks in general - were a part of Champions). Cause every timehe invoked his special effect, I was reminded that my team included the LAMEST character ever. And I knew, because he told me, that the concept was only intended to justify this min-maxed RKA machine he'd built. So, what is the LAMEST character concept you've ever seen? Can you top Quarters, the Amazing Change Giving Hero?

Re: Would your character...

Re: What Would Your Character Do? #68 Peacekeeper's Response: The governments of Earth have ceded control to the new reign of Megascourge II by what appears to be an entirely legal contract, therefore Megascourge II is the legitimate head of the Earth government. My mission remains the same, to serve and protect the people of Earth, and to uphold the Galactic Code. Rebellion against legitimate authorities is forbidden under the Galatic Code, and super powered beings who attempt to rebel against Megascourge II's rule are criminals, and will be dealth with accordingly. (Peacekeeper comes from an alien and essentially fascist society, in which the absolute authority to a supreme leader is the norm. Of course, his species is naturally hive minded, and he and his species simply couldn't understand statements like "absolute power corrupts absolutely" as the thirst for personal power is simply not part of their psychological make-up. He considers the diversity of political opinions on Earth a sign that the human species is irrational and insane.) Iron Demon's Response: Eh, whatever. New boss same as the old boss. The mission remains the same. (Iron Demon is obessively focused on combatting non-super crime in Jet City, and cares very little about things on the scale of what Megascourge II has done. Besides, if Iron Demon knows he can't beat something (and he can't even come close to beating MS2 I'll bet) he can easily rationalize why it's not his problem to deal with.)

Re: All the superhero PCs I've ever played All Champions, in order of preference: Peacekeeper: An alien cop stranded on Earth, used superior alien technology to wage war on crime, including a forensic tricorder with criminalogy lab, multiblaster, and super motorcycle. Also a master of several alien martial arts. Thought humans were insane and hopelessly irrational, but highly amusing. (Standard) Iron Demon: Okay, take Bruce Wayne and combine with Green Goblin, and you have Iron Demon. He has a Demon Glider, wears stylized Demon Armor, has a special forumla that gives him superstrength, and a bunch of gadgets and weapons. Is still fighting his excessively violent war on crime, though his former team - the Night Court - has disbanded. My second favorite character after Peacekeeper. (Standard) BattlePrincess Ao: An alien princess who came to Earth to become a celebrity/superhero. Acted like a dimwitted bubbling sexpot, but was a super sharp manipulator and had the public eating out of her hand. Was forced to return to BattleWorld to take over as the BattleQueen. Currently misses Earth, but can't escape her duties. (Cosmic) The Rampaging Razorback: A hapless truck driver is caught in a reality warping megabomb while transporting a truckload of javelina to a zoo, and becomes fused with them in to the Rampaging Razorback, a towering pig man with the strength of an entire herd of wild swine! Currently in hiding somewhere in Arizona. Not really a hero, but he does tend to show up when villians are around and smash them into buildings, hit them with cars, and otehrwise do lots of property damage. (Standard) Arsenal: Waged war on crime from within his powered armor. Arrested for several hundred counts of murder after unleashing a devastating missle barrage inside a packed mall and bringing it down. Currently incarcerated. He was under mind control, but refused to contest the charge and plead guilty. (Standard) Shamrock: A tiny Irish lass with a 10 ton punch and lifetime supply of lucky clovers. A Catholic, she abandoned superheroing for the life of a nun after a confrontation with DEMON that threatened her very sanity. (Standard) I've left off a bunch who I only played once or twice. But here's two I never really played, but have to mention: Kevin: A mentalist whose illusions were so powerful no one actually knew he was a member of the team, or that he even existed. He kept the team mindlinked at all times, and read the minds of others all over the world to gather information that the various characters could not possibly have and plant it in their heads. I only brought Kevin to the game once, but he was forever invoked retroactively to explain any and all table talk that couldn't have happened ("Kevin mindlinked the conversation."), outside knowledge the player acted upon ("Kevin told me."), NPCs that forgot to act ("Kevin put the whammy on him."), etc. X-Ray: He's a free-standing intelligent X-Ray. that is, an invisible, desolid flyer with N-Ray vision and no range penalties on an indirect extended range penetrating RKA usuable while desolid that does body. It's also continous, so once he hits, no need to reroll. No GM has ever actually let me play him, nor do I expect them to. Oh yeah, he's 250 points.

Re: Superhero Images Uh...turns out he wasn't scanned in. Imagine a blue Hawkeye without the winged face mask, and you've got it. His name is Trickshot, and he's a Super-Archer. He got into the hero game after he rescued a whole bunch of people from a burning building, then got trapped in it himself, then got saved by CW, then spent several months in intensive care (horribly burned) stewing over the fact that Washington got all the credit for his heroism while he got a heap of medical bills. After he recovered, he built some trick arrows and hunted down the Captain, defeated him, and then demanded a spot on the team. While he is a hero, he's a bit more interested in upstaging the Captain than anything else. They have a rather one-sided rivalry thing going on. I like including inset pictures, and "casting" the characters. Captain Washington is actually miscast in that picture, it's suppossed to be J. August Richards (who played Gun on Angel). Red Racer is singer Nelly Furtado, and Dr. Dyad is Ben Kingsley. Trickshot hasn't been cast yet, were looking for a Ben Affleck type, but not so lame.

Re: Superhero Images These are the designs I did for the four active players in my campaign. The team leader is Captain Washington , a flying brick. A "professional superhero", the Captain has a public identity and is considering a run for public office. Both paties are courting him, and he's very popular with the people. His lieutenant is Red Racer, a former Olympic track & field athelete who discovered she was a latent mutant when a scandal led to mandatory testing. She was drummed out of the sport, fell on hard times, and ended up with VIPER (who used an experimental process to activate her latent genes, giving her speedster powers). She was reformed by the Captain, and now is his most loyal supporter. Doctor Dyad is a self-trained mentalist and one of the world's foremost psychoanalysts. While very powerful, he's an utter coward in the face of a physical threat. He serves as the teams counselor.

Re: Mental Contagion Power See my response to nexus, and you'll see I've already had some thoughts along this line. In the CU, it might also be possible for someone like Menton to take control of Groupthink. That might put him on a even level with Dr. Destroyer. And it really wouldn't take much (a few more doublers on Billy's mind link mostly) to make Billy powerful enough to collectivize the entire planet.

Re: Mental Contagion Power

Re: Mental Contagion Power Really? I thought they had to be visible to three sense groups just like other powers. Does that mean I can apply a limitation to the power, Visible to Sight Group since one doesn't need Mental Awareness to tell that someone has been infected?

Re: Mental Contagion Power

Hi there. I'm in the process of creating a new challenge for my players, and I wanted to get some advice. The basic plot is this: A "mad scientist" villian in my campaign has begun a secret experiment on a group of school-children, dosing their school lunches with his secret mutagentic compound to see what sort of powers manifest. Things go horribly awry when one of the children turns out to have an untapped power level that is simply off the charts. The child, Billy (7), can unite the minds of others into a single collective whole. Anyone he touches becomes a part of the group mind. Anyone THEY touch becomes a part of the group mind. Because Billy's mind is still developing, his ego is not strong enough to maintain a grip on realitty while in contact/control of so many minds. The group mind becomes dominated by Billy's id, his raw instincts. And the raw instincts of a 7 year old boy can be a frightening thing. The groupmind, known as Groupthink, is only interested in expanding as rapidly as possible and defending Billy from harm. So this little boy goes to the nurse's office complaining of a headache, she touches his forehead to check his tempature, and within a few minutes the entire school has been brought into the Groupthink. The Groupthink then spills into the city, the various controlled members charging anyone and everyone, grabbing them, forcing skin contact, forcing them to join as well. And so it spreads, first a city block, then a small town, then an entire city, eventually the world... So, this is how I built Billy's power: Mental Contagion: Mind Control 15d6 ( Human class of minds), Cumulative (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Sticky (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), (337 Active Points); Mandatory Effect (EGO +30 or Greater; -1), Skin Contact Required (-1), Stops Working If Mentalist Is Knocked Out (-1/4), Real Cost: 92 points According to Hero Designer v.2 I can't apply Sticky to a mental power without making it based on CON. Since that isn't the effect I want, and since I'm the GM, I just ignored that "rule". I thought about making the power Invisible, but I decided it was much creepier if everyone in the Groupthink had glowing eyes. Any suggestions? Does this power do what I think it does? Anyone interested in seeing Groupthink's full character sheet?