Cardinal

Re: Area of Effect for Hand to Hand attacks?

Insofar as the HA has Advantages that the character's STR does not' date=' there'd be no damage benefit to having more Active Points in STR than you have in the HA.[/quote']

 

Most of the examples of this power, the HA + Str is slightly below the normal martial strike DCs. As such, in the normal MA character context, I would got with at least as many DCs of HA as you have in Str, with potentially more if you want.

 

As LL notes above, you are leaving added str on the table unused if the HA is less than Str.

 

However, at the end of the day, you might be faced with some damage caps, etc.

 

BTW, if you want to see some examples of this power (and other advantaged HA), there are a couple examples of characters on the board that have them. My memory is that ZLF (Tredbuchet's speedster / MA) has some.

Re: Area of Effect for Hand to Hand attacks?

Do you have a specific rules forum or FAQ reference on this?

 

To my knowledge, Steve L. has never gave a firm answer on this. Instead he has opted to make it a GM call.

Take a look at the FAQ for 5E and the UMA (I don't have it with me so I have to take the FAQ at its word).

If a character has bought an Advantage for his STR (say, Armor Piercing), and he then uses a Martial Maneuver or Haymaker, how does the Advantage apply — to all the dice, to just the STR dice, to none of the dice?

 

It applies to none of the dice (see 5E 272, second paragraph in the right-hand column). For example, a character with 20 STR, Armor Piercing, who uses an Offensive Strike (+4d6) does 8d6 Normal Damage, with no AP effect.

 

If a character wants to make an Advantages Martial Arts attack, he should buy Advantages for specific Martial Maneuvers, as described in the optional rules on page 104 of The Ultimate Martial Artist.

Re: Area of Effect for Hand to Hand attacks?

That works, but it would not get the benefit of any martial maneuver, just str + the HA.

With the Selective, you would have to roll separately for each target.

p.s. I agree with ga's comment re the location covered. Just choose the radius you want.

Re: Gestalt: Architects of Change: What Would *You* Like to See

I want to add my interest to this project. I found the Gestalt setting a very creative and compelling idea. It is not in my normal wheel house, but I found it very engaging.

Anyway, since this is going to be a digital endeavor, have you considered supplying / selling separately HDC files for the various characters? I assume that you probably write up many of the characters using the program. This would be a way to expand your potential revenue base with little additional work.

Re: Costumed Crimefighters Collective

Thoughts?

I love the idea. I had actually proposed something similar for a PBEM game. Unforunately, we didn't do it so I can't report on success or failure.

My thought was this practice of multiple heroes per player would work great for an UNTIL game. Lots of mixing and matching of teams to address different challenges, being dropped all over the globe. I also think it would be fun to encourage players to choose characters from all over the globe to encourage the number of plot hooks you could tie into.

I also think that it would also encourage more specialized characters. An aquaman homage would work well in a situation where it was likely to be used on those under water missions.

Finally, I love the idea of unifying arch threat. Everyone gets to pull all their characters and you have a big ole throw down with the entire team.

All in all, a great idea.

Re: Some Book Of The Machine Pages Posted

I have the PDF and it's good.

The colour artwork makes it even better in my not so humble opinion.

Agreed on both counts.

Re: Liberty League

How would you model the talking to plants thing. I assume this would not be a case of telepathy - vegetable class of minds.

Instead, it would seem to be more like Retrocognizence, only where plants are present. This could be set at range or not depending on whether the hero can "talk" to all plants in the city or just those in front of them.

Anyone have a better build?

So I just finished reading the pdf of Book of the Machine.

A couple of thoughts: I loved the color art (and the quality of the art). The layout was great and had some wonderful visual elements. I also liked that the art tracked the story being told in the book (or the book tracked the story told in the art). In short, I would rate the experiment with the color book as a HUGE success. It really did a nice job of tracking the comics feel. Contentwise, I think it did a great job of providing a living feel to the Champions Universe.

That said, I am really posting about the Liberty League. My KS: Hero Lore is lower than most on these boards. Has the Liberty League been detailed anywhere else? The descriptions of the encounters with LL were interesting. Seemed like a pretty archetypal hero team with some good flavor.

Given their ability to take on Mechanon, it seems that they would be in the 450-600pt range like the Champions.

Any details or other info would be appreciated.

Re: What happened to San Angelo?

I might still have the old stats for the Arroyo Verde characters laying around. I don't know if Mark or Steve would have any objections to my posting them somewhere' date=' but if not and if I do have them I [i']might[/i] be willing to update them to 5ER (via HD) and post accordingly.

bring em on!!!

Re: Regenerating Touch

I am not sure if this is book legal, but how about:

Healing AOE 1 hex (only when touching PC), continuous, etc.

Re: RDU sourcebook—help us gauge your interest!

I would be interested in a pdf copy laced with Storn work in proper context. I also second QM's comment about including the luck chit system (specifically providing the context).

All of the above is, of course, premised on the price point that it is offered at.

Re: Surprisingly Effective Builds?

I wouldn't say that Rebus is over- or under-powered. He fits in pretty well with the group, from what I've seen.

 

My character in the X-Men: TNG game has +2 Overall Skill Levels, Usable by Others (x8), with the SFX that he barks out orders and if the team follows them, they all get +2 to whatever they're doing. It has proven to be surprisingly effective.

I love the Captain America power.

I had a character that had this plus a couple of other booster powers (such as Find weakness UBO) that never made it off the drawing board.

The theory was a psychic with the ability to link minds and grant "supreme consciousness" with others.

Not very useful on her own, but an absolute brute on a team.

Re: Surprisingly Effective Builds?

All of the FMove martial arts are very very effective. I built a pretty run of the mill low end speedster with speedster martial arts. I was surprised at what a quantum leap of impact 15 pts of those MA had over the traditional levels with move through / move by, route.

One GM I played with refused to allow FMove martial arts.

Re: Scott Heine - Protectors

I wonder if Scott's Avatar comes from Quasar... specifically the starry night vibe.

Re: My Failed Project

Checkmate -

I agree with your premise for this thread. Dex and Spd has gotten out of control.

One interesting result of your approach of cutting back spd and dex is that it make recovery more powerful (i.e. if you are getting ps-12 rec every 4 actions on average rather than every 6, it makes rec 50% more influential).

Good work and keep it up.

Small note, I think you might want to consider replacing the TK slot for Spiderman with a Stretching, only to pull, etc.

Re: Villains who are Homages to Heroes

In "Things I Learned Playing Champions" on Surbrook's Stuff' date=' it says that [i']Brick[/i] is the CU equiv of the Thing.

I thought that Diamond was supposed to be the Thing (not to suggest he counts as a Villain).

Re: Help Make Energy Projectors Interesting

Ok, this is a bit of a long setup, but the fact you mentioned Dr Manhattan makes me think this might be worth it for you...

 

I have a pair of "twin" energy projectors. One is a Cryokinetic, the other is a Pyrokinetic. They have some other minor psychic abilities as well, which they used to rather good effect. In my opinion, what sets them apart the most is their synergy and teamwork.

 

Somewhat inspired by Aurora and Northstar, they can buff other thermal based energy powers while in physical contact. Obviously, they tend to buff each other most of the time, which means they usually fight while holding hands, while carrying each other or standing back to back. However, they can't self buff, so they really are MUCH stronger together than they are apart.

 

In addition, they can share their Endurance Reserves, fueling each others powers through their psychic connection. It's a neat trick when you have been going all out and you're still fresh because your partner has been playing defensive... or isn't even there.

 

They have a mind link and can share their senses over great distances (Clairisentience), though when they use those powers they risk feeling each others pain as well (Stun Only Feedback). However, when they use this ability in close proximity, it effectively gives them 360 degree perception, making them pretty much impossible to blindside.

 

They have some very specialized close protection/martial arts training that focuses on team work. They have Defense Maneuver, but it only works when they are working together and they have extra CSL's that require a Teamwork roll. They've good good at paired acrobatics, allowing them to fling and fly each other into spectacular Surprise Maneuvers. They even use a variant of the Fast Ball Special

 

It goes without saying, but they have a really high Teamwork roll, so they can do scary things to even the toughest opponents with Coordinated Attacks and they frequently have a Multiple Attacker bonus. If that's not working, they can delay actions so that one of them can Haymaker after a successful Flash, Entangle or Martial Throw has reduced an opponents ability to defend himself.

 

Finally, since they have opposite power FX, they bring a rather wide spectrum of powers to any fight. And since they are essentially immune to each others powers, they can use tactics that would otherwise be considered suicidal.

 

So why do I mention all this for your character?

 

Because someone with a Dr Manhattan level powers should be able to justify some Duplication

Very cool pair. must spread rep before yadda yadda yadda...

any chance you would be willing to share the builds for these two. i would love to see how you put it together.

Re: Another Possible HPA In The Works: Born To Be Wild

pulp teen champions? that souns like fun

Weren't there "The Adventures of Young Sherlock Holmes" and "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on TV at some point?

I was going through the Viper book the other day and was reminded how Scott Bennie* had created many of the villains with powersets, etc. so that they were homages to heroes from the comic books. IDHMBIFOM, but here are the ones I remembered off the top of my head:

Villain (Source Hero)

Oculon (Cyclops)

Viperia (Supergirl)

Freon (Iceman)

Are there any others I missed?

Also, has anyone done something similar in a campaign and how did it come out (whether it be using a comic hero as the basis for a villain, or comic villain for the basis for a comic villain)?

* While I know that Scott wrote Viper with Steve Long, my memory was that he was also involved in the creation of many of the long standing Viper characters from earlier generations. If I blew my KS: Hero Games History roll, I apologize. I would love to hear the real story.

Re: Help Make Energy Projectors Interesting

One alternative, is to make the powerset an accident/after thought in the background.

I did that with one character: Angel - I played a teen aged victim of Soviet experiments. At the end of the cold war, they were trying to create biologic code breakers (ie. manufacture savants) that could help get through NSA codes. Most went insane or failed. My character was a success One unexpected glitch in the process gave my character psionic ability to create force fields.

The result was that she had two suites of powers. A very low cost set included +int for code breaking, some language skills (pattern recognition) and a huge cryptography roll. This was great for color and anchored her history, but had little impact on the game.

In addition, a much more expensive suite of Force field powers:

Flight (restrainable) -- FF wings

Force Field Ram - EB with Variable Adv (pointy = AP, wide = 1 hex AOE, etc.)

FF,

FW

TK

Engtangle

However, one of the most fun aspects of the character was her personality. She did not know her history and instead had been rescued by a group. That group received funding from ACI. As such, she had become sponsored by an Evil Corporation. her uniform had all sorts of logos. However, she was genuinely naive and nice. As such, she assumed that ACI and everyone who had helped here were good. The campaign ended before they fully reared their ugly head, but it was a fun dynamic with her talking to the bad guys all the time without realizing it.

I also built a character that was similar in concept to the necromancer. However, in his case he summoned air elementals.

His power set was:

flight (being carried)

EB (blast, explosion, etc.)

Summon Elemental

FF (mystic wards)

NND (suffocate)

CE

I have also been working on another idea that I am not sure if I can make it effective at the cost: inertia powers. Think combination of slick from the Ultimates or a sanded down version of Gavis Gan from GC.

Power Set:

1. Leaping (or flight)

2. EB (OIF, object of opportunity); if you have the points, indirect

3. Limited TK

4. FF (probably heavy on PD not ED)

5. AOE Entangle takes no damage (freezing movement in an area)

6. AID movement powers

7. Flight, Usable as an attack

8. Drain Movement powers

This would be a very non-standard powerset. However, as I discussed, it is kind of tough to do at a reasonable cost. This might also work well as an offshoot of Speed powers. You could keep some of the running, etc. under the theory of self enhancement.

In terms of other ideas, here are a couple off the top of my head:

1. Snowstorm (think mix of storm and iceman)

2. Weather -

3. Electricity -

a. Lightning / nasty stuff

b. control electricity - cybermancy

4. Cosmic Fire

5. TK

6. Power Armor based on sonics (Dr. Sonic from TSATP)

7. Radiation control (lots of drains, etc.)

If I can think of anything else, I will post it.

Good luck and let us know what you choose.

Re: Theron's Bay City Mash-Up

Was rex havimg his communicator off a player decision or GM one? Either way, well handled.

Sorry to hear about the miscommunication with your wife. That can be tough.

Re: The Champions Universe's mightiest archetypes

Brick: Valak the Ravager. Runner-up, Brawler III.

What about our boy Diamond? Albeit he has 5 str less, but he has more def and all the tricks... and he is clearly stolen... er... an homage to the classic bricks from comic books.

Mage: Takofanes. Runner up: Rashindar.

**Cough ** Drifter ** Cough**

Holy crap' date=' that's the most inefficient use of points I've ever seen, and I've seen Doctor Ka! Orchid.[/quote']

:rofl::rofl:

 

Villains with cool power sets most deserving in face time: three-way tie between Thorn' date=' Tesseract and Momentum.[/quote']

 

on Tesseract. Good call.

Re: Hand to Hand Reflection

LL

I think your solution is elegant and simple. Makes sense to me.

Re: 1905: The New Century Campaign

Well, if you can convince Mentor to post any of the write ups, I have a shiny virtual cookie with his name on it.

Glad to hear that it is going well.

Re: Unity

Peregrine -

Thanks for your thoughts. One the aspects that I found appealing to a UNITY based game was specifically the fact that it was not a US based game. Most of the games that I have played in have been based in some real or slightly altered US cities. I liked the concept of playing non-US heroes in a variety of global locations. I thought UNITY offered an interesting way to push the international aspect.

In terms of the role of the UN, I always assumed that if one could suspend disbelief such that people can fly and shoot lasers from their eyes, one could accept that the UN, in this new world, had addressed some of the fundamental structural dynamics that limit its effectiveness. However, you are absolutely correct in that to be a viable campaign you would have to assume a much more powerful and robust international organization with the mandate to pursue and address the sorts of issues that a super team would be going after, something that is significantly out of the scope of the current UN (unless you assume significant big power cooperation through the security council). I can see how that would not fit the world power structure that many people would want to play in.

I have never played in a Primus campaign and to be frank have never had much of a taste for it. This is primarily because I have seen it played as a foil to the hero team in one of two ways: (a) US Govt as ultimate corrupt evil (as you described) or ( red white and blue boyscouts without a tremendous amount of depth. This is more of an indication with how the particular GMs I have played with have treated Primus than a reflection of something inherent about Primus.

That is not to suggest that I don't enjoy US heroes in US locations; rather, I thought a global viewpoint would be a nice change.

Outside of the UNITY context, have you ever done any of the character pool swapping in your campaigns to create a bigger team and mix and match for each mission?