Fur Face

500-700 points I'm currently in a "pointless champions" campaign, where we are more concerned with story & character development. The characters aren't combat monsters, but fully detailed concepts. We are playing in "pseudo-modern-wuxia-Indiana Jones-slightly-Marvelish-campaign." Hard to explain, but good fun!

Do you mean "use Art with TK", or do you mean something like conjuring up a "TK Duplicate" to do the fighting, such as Esper in CKC?

It shall be mine!

Hey Zan, To me it would depend on what else is in his framework and what kind player you have. If having a naked advantage in a multipower slot prevents him from using other slots that he uses a lot, then its possible. If you think the player will start using it exclusively (or it just happens that way), then make him buy it outside the framework at a later date. Either way, of you want all of your villians to get double KB'ed all over the place, then you may reconsider...or, just to be fair, have some villians start showing up with KB resistance.

Hey Daz, H5, Page 270-271 is the basis for all of this. UMA tends to no repeat H5, and merely quotes it. Hope this helps!

Hey Daz, If you were playing in a heroic level game, that would be correct. In a superheroic level game it runs like this: Killing Attacks: Cannot exceed base damage by 2X Normal Damage: Weapon adds to STR. If you have a 50 STR brick (10 Damage Classes or DC) and he picks up a baseball bat (which I'll call 4 DC's), then if he hits it does a total of 14 DCs. The only way to get around the 2X for Killing Attacks is with martial arts, becasue martial arts adds to normal and killing damage. So, in referring to the example above: Using a martial strike (+2 DC), plus STR, plus a baseball bat, equals 16 DC's. Using a killing attack (+1/2HKA), the max damage would be 2X plus 1/2. If they character has bought extra DC's to go with the martial arts, then you can add those in to. Then it can get nasty. Of course, the character also has to take the modifiers for the maneuver, which for an Killing Strike is -2 OCV, but if you hit - BIFF! Hope this helps!

Why Throw? Dude, if said thug is made lighter than air, sooner or later he will be in outer space, so no throwing is necessary. Now, you could always wait until the thug is 1,000 feet up and turn gravity back on ...

Description is key I think all of these points are valid, but what I really liked about the COM scale was a characters ability to differentiate. It doesn't have to be an official rule or house rule, for that matter. But it does allow for more of a conception match. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and one person's 14 COM is anothers 34 COM. But now I have a scale to make comparisons against, and think about how a character interacts. A tool tool for better roleplaying, to be more precise. For example, if you have a character who has 75 STR, how do you envision him/her? Bulging muscles, very hard, lean & fit looking, or the Wonder Woman kind -can't really tell she's that strong till she picks up a freight train? While actual game effects could be minor, they will eventually come into play in how a character is defined, just like height (Oh no Capt. Bicep, you said you were 7 feet tall and looked like a side of beef with teeth. You aren't going to make it through that air duct. Now, Wonder Woman can, because she's built like a supermodel). YMMV, but in the same way that perception is reallity until proven otherwise, description is key to interpretation. IMHO, of course.

Hey Darren Hey Darren, In all seriousness, there has been much debated about PDF vs. paper in hand, price, and all that other good stuff. While these are valid viewpoints, I don't think it really matters that much. Lets face it, most people were talking about scaling the price back $2-4 dollars. This amount is something that doesn't really mean anything to a consumer, but means everthing for yall. If that's what you need to sell it as, then I trust you, because all of you have proven you deserve it. The PDF format has pluses and minuses, but that comes with the territory. In all honesty, if I need to print out something, I will print out the pages I need, and thats it. If I don't want to print a map, I'll just free hand sketch it. Better to have that ability than not at all. I enjoy the fact that once I have it, I'll never have to worry about pages ripping, bindings coming undone, etc. If a PDF gives me access to material that I wouldn't otherwise have available, I'll get the PDF. When push comes to shove, I firmly believe that if the product has your ususal high-standards for quality, then it will eventually be purchased. I think that when it was released on the heels of Champions Battlegrounds, people had to choose, hence the cash flow problems. That was it in my case. I'll be getting SoB later this month, once I have the money. Sorry is this is a little wordy, but I used to teach, so there ya go!

100% Damage Reduction I believe it was on the last boards, but some folks talked about creating a 100% damage reduction, with the costs scaled like normal damage reduction. Example, if 75% is 40 points, hardened 60 points, then 100% would be 60 & 80, respectively. Not legitimate rules wise, but neither is trying to build something that has 100% anything. IMMO, YMMV

Depends on your perspective I can understand some frustration if Champions Battlegrounds was the only Champions product you purchased, only to discover that you needed CKC if you wanted all of the villians. That's why I almost always never buy anything on line, because I want to read it in my hands before deciding whether I want it or not. In the end, its not like they haven't done anything different than any other game company. If they started posting pre-published characters every time they put out an adventure, their wouldn't be any reason to purchase previous supplements. That's biting off your nose despite your face. I know sometimes other companies, like WotC, would put out basic stats. But unless you had a previous manuel, you really couldn't do the villian/monster justice because you didn't have a complete write up. In the end it was your interpretation of those stats. I always thought "Gee, thanks a lot". I am actually glad they used CKC villians, because you get to see them used in different scenarios, and that expands the possibilities/flavors. Some of the villian pairings I would not have thought of, but they did and explained why. They also explained how you could substitute different villians. If things do work out and they do start publishing more adventures, we could ask that they have at least some of them with all original villians, stand alone. At that point you can bet your bottom dollar someone will say "I bought all these supplements, why aren't you using some of them in your scenarios? Kind of a no-win situation for DOJ, but a win-win for us, because they are putting out material we can all use, even if we have to tinker it to match existing campaigns. IMHO, of course.

Just Eyeball it, Bro! GURPS has great background materials, but to me it always seemed the system made things complicated and inconsistent. I would just eyeball the effects and translate how that would work in your campaign, forgeting conversion altogether. For example, I picked up GURPS Martial Art Adventures some years back, and they had a supplementary rules material at the end. They had two things I thought were cool, some new maneuvers, like Axe Kick, and one thing called Sharpshooter. As far as the Axe Kick, instead of requiring things like "must be taught by master", I just ended up calling it an Offensive Strike, because that's what it truly was. As far as the Sharpshooter power, this was something that could only be done in character creation, and a character with this power could pick up, use & repair any pistol-type weapon from any time period. Not only that, but he could pull off phenominal shots without even trying. In the end I decided it was kind of hokey, but if I wanted something similiar I could just by tons of Weapon FAM's & Combat Skill Levels. FWIW, I would just eyeball the effects you want and press on.

Perks for Equipment Access/Equip Allownaces You might want to try perks for stuff that characters purchase as a means of control 5 points = normal stuff, 10 points = modern/cool stuff, 15 points = military/sci-fi. You could also try equipment allowances, where you allow the characters to have a predifined "set" costing a certain amount of points, then allow them to change sets at their bases. A set could be things like an AK-47, knife, grenades; or climbing equipemnt, IR gear, pistol, smoke grenades. Both of these ideas are old 4th Edition Dark Champions recommendations for GM's who wanted more control over the stuff their characters had access too. YMMV

Arrived in Phoenix AZ My FLGS got it yesterday (Game Depot, Southern & McClintok) and I picked it up this afternoon. These are some of the best maps I've ever seen. The attention to detail is exquisite and very well thought out. Heck, so is the entire product! My hats off to all of you! My FLGS just keeps reordering & restocking all the DOJ products it can get its hands on. Good Grief, Fantasy Hero is bigger than many college textbooks!

Police in Dark Champions What the police will do depends upon your campaign flavor. Traditionally (comics/TV that is), there are always one or two cops who dont' approve and consider the PC's just as bad as the criminals they take out. Mostly though, in a Dark Champions campaign, the police do a lot of yelling/screaming, may bring you in to ask questions & such, but for the most part a lot of them are happy that someone is handling things in a manner that they couldn't. So they will tend to look the other way, if at all possible (Who killed this murdeous, drug pushing pimp? Gee, that will be the top of my priority list). IMHO of course.

Same XP Different Power Levels? I met a new player last week, and he brought up an interesting question. He told me he was looking at the reals given in FRed, and he thought there was a typo in the XP awards recommendations. He said "it kind of doesn't make sense. If you are playing in a Fantasy Hero campaign, and each player is built on 25/25, you get 3 experience points (XPs). If you are playing a game that is 200/150, you still get 3 XPs. That doesn't make any sense." I didn't disagree with him, because I believe the same thing. I suppose it all comes down to character progression. If everyone is happy at 3 XPs a session, then it doesn't matter.

Don't forget about super sight, so you can actually see the satellite and gauge the distance, like absolute range sense. For that matter, you could just simulate this ability with megascaled range on an EB.

Bank Shots Don't forget to buy at least one power with Indirect so you can do bank shots and other fancy throws. You could also use Missile Reflection to send stuff back , Area of Effect to simulate throwing a bunch of smaller stuff, or to simulate incredible skill just buy an extra EB/RKA witht he limitation "only with thrown objects"

What about using EGO Effects? Continuing with what GamePhil said, why not ask for a "special dispensation" based on the effects roll: If EGO +30 is achieved, then attack your friends If EGO +20 is achieved, then stand around stupified If you bought mind control with a +1 Advantage to simulate this, your GM might find it acceptable. Just my two cents!

Samples? Not quite sure what you mean, but in HD there aren't any examples, just the different types. This was a change from Creation Workshop, because they seemed to have had some, like Secret ID. Now Secret ID is just another kind of social disadvantage. I remember this, because when I first got HD I realized I had to to back and see how Secret ID was built officially. I hope this helps!

What Archer Said! Don't be apprehensive about not using a focus. The other alternative is VPP or Summoning, which is a little much for the effects you want, and amounts to the same thing.

Last night I finished watching Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon" on AMC for the umpteenth time. During this movie in the final fight scene Bruce chases the main bad guy, Mr. Han, into a secret room. The room is large and bright, with mirrors everywhere. The mirrors form hallways and rooms in a maze, and it is very confusing and unnerving to someone not used to it. My question is, has anyone either set up something like this as a GM, or had to work through this as a player? I would appreciate any experience from both sides.

Seeker Returns! Seeker returns, sporting the new name "Iron Kangaroo", saying "Well mate, I have found what it is I've always been seeking - resistant defenses!"

Any chance on getting the HDC files? I really like the Enforcers, Killer Shrike! Any chance of getting an HDC file, or are you in the middle of doing that since you are posting JPEGS? Thanx!

Hey Lightray, On this issue there is definitely more that one way to skin a cat. The crux is how to simulate "Wu Fu" style shooting without getting overly complicated. If deciding between autofire & rapid fire, both need additional skill levels for accuracy. The difference is that if you use rapid fire you have a 1/2 DCV penalty, with autofire you do not. Before FRed many people handled this type of thing as naked advantages or advantages placed different power levels. The more active points on the power, the bigger gun you could use, up to the max RKA. Assuming a 9mm Baretta for example: 1d6+1 RKA, Area of Effect- Any (to simulate picking targets at different locations), Autofire 5, OIF (any pistol he picks up), must have a pistol in each hand (-1/2). They would also buy five point Combat Skill Levels to help with autofire accuracy: +8 CSL, only to offset autofire penalites (-1) . Under a system such as this, you can tell a new person: "Lady, as long as you've got a Baretta in each hand, you can shoot five shots at anyone, anywhere you can see." If you have a new person, and want to make things easy, then this could be a way to make things easier for you and them. Otherwise, some nice folks here have already suggested some good alternatives!