Frenchman

Re: Random SF Science Questions

Re: Elemental Control Variant

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers There is a rare (in humans, Belgian Blue cattle all have this trait) genetic disorder in which the body in unable to produce any fat, except for that used in the nervous system and the linings of some organs. Theres a young boy on the east coast somewhere with this, I can't recall his name or the name of the disorder, but I'm looking through my notes for it. The big, obvious advantage is that a person who has this abnormality is able to put on tremendous amounts of muscle by being a couch potato. The downside is that infants tend to be very large and muscular, and their mother's often don't survive. Also, their stamina is directly related to what and how much they have eaten recently - they have no fat to store energy in and their lungs don't always work very well. They may suffer from starvation more rapidly too (this is just conjecture from me) Edit: After googling around for this Joseph Greenstein character, it seems he may have had this - powerful bone structures and incredibly hard hair & fingernails, as well as respitory problems stemming from a lack of fats are some of the traits of this condition.

Re: Vulnerability questions

Re: Fantasy Miniatures I know Reaper has those figures you want, because I've got 'em:) I think the mounted guy you want is Sir Lightspear or something - he comes in several incarnations on foot and mounted, with and without spear. Also, Reaper has pretty nice weapons packs that can be used to modify your minis easily - If you have access to a jewelers saw (you can buy 'em at many hardware or art supply stores for ~$20-$30) I'd reccomend it over a file - then you can save the sawed off bits to use on other minis. Takes some getting used to, though. If you can, get someone to show you the "right" way to use it.

Re: Random SF Science Questions Allright, heres 'one': Would it be possible to have two stars, complete with star systems, <1 Light Year apart? What effects would this have on the planets, if any could exist at all? Would there be any habitable planets, or ones which could be easily terraformed? Would it be possible for earth-like life to evolve there? Assuming positive answers to the above, would gravity radiation in any form from the neighboring star have a noticable effect? What are some of the other implications for this set up I may not be thinking of?

Re: PS: Farmer in a Fantasy Campaign

Re: Elemental Control Variant You're right, and those did occur to me, but they don't seem to be obvious/neccessary to the concept - while most 'good' characters who have a well-developed concept and background will have disads directly relating to their powers, not all will. Take Wolverine - his disads don't stem from his powers, instead his disads and his powers share a common source (depending on which version you're looking at, I've only seen the movies and the Ultimates within the past ten years). I don't think it would be unreasonable at all for Wolverine to be built with an EC, but both the 'official' way and this variant way wouldn't let him use one, either because many of his powers don't cost end (regen, mental defense and adamant bones) or because he doesn't have 'enough' disads stemming from his power. I can hear you going, "Ah-HA! What about his Amnesia and Psychopathic Tendancies?" Well, I consider those to be the wonderful side effects of how the adamant was applied to his bones, but I will grant you that he could define his EC disads as such - but that's where another qualm of mine comes up. If you're going to require disads, but not require a certain kind, why require them at all? All characters, EC or not, are going to have disads which relate to their EC at least as much as Amnesia relates to Regeneration. And since I've only once seen a character not take the full amount of disads allowed (he was 5 points short and I wouldn't give him points for "Distinctive Features: Slayer T-Shirt" or something silly) then I can't think of a character who is going to be affected by this requirement anyhow. It seems fairly pointless, inneffectual, and it feels 'un-HERO' to me.

Re: Elemental Control Variant I like and respect what you're trying to do, I'm just not sure about how you're doing it. 1) I'm gonna have to jump on the "I don't like the required disad" bandwagon - for some concepts, it doesn't make sense. What do I have to take for my super-mage who has an EC defined as "Magic Powers?" Or Mr. I'm Dead Allready? I can think of more concepts that don't have easily-related vulnerability-type disadvantages associated with them than I can those that do. 2) Using a -1 Limitation value rather than halving the cost strongly encourages powers built without limitations, and somewhat discourages powers built with them. In a by-the-book EC, -1 of limitations will save you 25% of the powers cost, and -2 will save you 33%. Your way a -1 saves only 17% and -2 saves 25% - thus making certain power builds/character concepts more expensive. 3) All-in-all, for many characters your mechanic is essentially: Pay 1/2 the active cost of your highest AP power, and you get to save 50% of the real points on all your powers! Thats an amazing deal, and encourages characters to buy lots of powers they wouldn't have otherwise. Personally, I think Gojira's version is a lot more workable, especially if you use a 1/2 cost instead of a -1 limitation. Another way may be to increase the 'buy-in' cost of the EC to the full AP value of whatever's in it, and then eliminate the lower limite of benefit. Then Snowball would look like this: 60 EC: Cold Based Powers --------- 30 SnowBalls-Energy Blast 12d6 30 Ice Spear-Killing Attack - Ranged 4d6 30 Ice Wall-Entangle 6d6, 6 DEF 7 Ice Armor-Armor (5 PD/5 ED) 8 Ice Ramps-Flight 10" (20 Active Points); Physical Manifestation (-1/4) --------------------- Total Cost = 165 pts or 34 EC: Cold Based Powers Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Limited Power Not in Arid conditions or temperatures over 100 degrees (-1/4) --------- 17 SnowBalls-Energy Blast 12d6 (60 Active Points); Common Mods (-3/4) 17 Ice Spear-Killing Attack - Ranged 4d6 (60 Active Points); Common Mods (-3/4) 17 Ice Wall-Entangle 6d6, 6 DEF (60 Active Points); Common Mods (-3/4) 4 Ice Armor-Armor (5 PD/5 ED) (15 Active Points); Common Mods (-3/4) 5 Ice Ramps-Flight 10" (20 Active Points); Common Mods (-3/4); Physical Manifestation (-1/4) - 7 pts --------------------- Total Cost = 94 pts. The higher buy-in will make it a little less likely for characters to buy whatever they want in their EC - they have fewer points to spend. In all, I found the best way to manage ECs was to manage them, as in, be rather vigilant and strict about what powers could fit into an ECs 'schtick,' and making sure that they didn't have one that was too broad. Fire-man is OK, Magic-Man is too broad (what can't fit in there?). Edit: Lucius pointed out my contradiction with the Magic sFX of an EC - It'll happen at 2 AM.

TB: Re: PS: Farmer in a Fantasy Campaign

Re: PS: Farmer in a Fantasy Campaign Also remember that even if peasants are skilled in fighting against monsters, that doesn't mean they can challenge their leiges. Peasants may rely on certain forms of combat or certain weapons which are ineffectual against highly skilled and armored warriors. Reduced Penetration and Normal Damage weapons (like most farm implements) are all but useless vs. almost any metal armor. If I recall correctly, there were a few occasions in "fuedal" Tokugawa Japan of peasants revolting - peasants who were trained in martial arts and wielded farm implements just as nasty as those available to Europeans - and they were easily and brutally crushed by much smaller forces of fairly inexperienced (some of these rebellions occurred in the 3rd and later Tokugawa generations, when real warfare was almost nonexistant) Samurai wielding traditional weapons (swords and armor, as the gun had dissappeared from Japan by this time) It seems to me that, even in a fantasy setting where peasants can learn powerful martial arts, they would be no match for their (at least) equally powerful and much better equipped leige-lords.

Re: Lock Picks Most of the time, I'd agree, but I can also see a time when you may want to stat out Lockpicks (or another tool) because a character, say a mage with some skill in breaking and entering, may want to be able to create a magical set of lockpicks out of thin air. If the party has a more traditional theif, then he may complain that he is limited by having to carry around a set of (usually) expensive and delicate tools - the wizard should have to pay for that ability. Again, in most circumstances, I'd just chalk it up to the sFX of being a wizard and tell him to make a power roll, but it really is no more fair than allowing the same wizard to create a weapon or other piece of equipment without paying for it. Then you could tell the wizard to buy the appropriate power (in this case, penalty skill levels, with Requires a Skill Roll) in order to do that.

Re: How would you create this power? Here's a wierd take on it: Mind Control 10d6, NND (Operating a Shielded Machine; +1), Continuous (+1) (150 Active Points); Only to affect how the person operates a specific machine which they are currently using (-1), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4) With this one you technically take control of the machines operator, not the machine itself. It would work well for a power armor suit and vehicles, at least.

Re: Shipping times I've never had to wait more than 4 days. One time, the week before christmas, I got 'em overnight. But I live two hours north of San Francisco

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero Or just drive it on the rims - no speedbumps though.

Re: Sectional Defences Yes, but metal armor still provides some defense (I would agree with reducing its energy defense). Take a thin sheet of metal (like an aluminum can side), hold it in your palm, and stub out a lit ciggarette. Now do the same thing without the metal. I'd say it provided something. Now, yes, electricity should go right through metal - which is why in my games I usually create electricity powers as AP, PEN, or +3/4 AVLD (non-conductive defenses) - but thats not true of other types of energy, such as fire, ice, acid, or light. One more argument in favor of metal armor providing ed is - I can't think of any metal armor that is worn without padding - and the padding would insulate you, often quite well, against an energy attack.

Re: What do I need to start GMing with? BESTIARY That one will be a huge help if you plan on throwing any...beasties at your players. If you plan on more humans/humanoids then you don't really need one, though the part in the back of MMM will be real helpful Whatever you decide you need to get next, the very next thing (after that) should be the Ultimate Martial Artist - I used mine so much I had to buy a second copy because I wore out the duct tape I used to repair it and pages won't stay in anymore. I actually had my g/f (who's father runs a print shop) re-bind it for me recently, so now I have two - One only slightly worn, the other is...custom. As others have said, all of those books will help you, but with Hero you don't need them if you have the time and drive to do it yourself.

Re: Sectional Defences You do And as for 16/17-, I'd say that something which covers you 98+% isn't worth a limitation - well maybe -1/4 if its the head were talking about.

Re: Double Knockback too pricey? We actually do use something similar to what Silbeg suggested. We only count advantages and disadvantages which affect how, umm, effective the spell is, as opposed to those that affect how easy it is to cast or how accessable it is. Sadly, this inevitably means the 2x KB is one of the ones that is counted, and even then it doesn't help tons when you're trying to fit the spell into a power framework.

Re: Protection from Undead Ward If you want it to harm them, then you could also buy CE which does a little damage - enough to eventually destroy them, but mostly just drive them off

Re: Protection from Undead Ward The only reason I don't like a FW or Entangle-like barrier is...what happens if an undead is created in the city? I'm pretty sure it is either impossible to do it or it has to leave on the hotfoot. I'd say go with Chiba's suggestion. You could even make the change environment affect necromancy rolls or something.

Re: Sectional Defences The way I do this is to add up the % chance that a covered location is hit, then compare that to an activation roll. The following numbers are swiped from here, but you can find 'em other places too. Result Probability Probability of Result of Result or Less 3 0.4629% 0.4629% 4 1.8518% 1.3888% 5 4.6296% 2.7777% 6 9.2592% 4.6296% 7 16.2037% 6.9444% 8 25.9259% 9.7222% 9 37.5000% 11.5740% 10 50.0000% 12.5000% 11 62.5000% 12.5000% 12 74.0740% 11.5740% 13 83.7962% 9.7222% 14 90.7407% 6.9444% 15 95.3703% 4.6296% 16 98.1481% 2.7777% 17 99.5370% 1.3888% 18 100.0000% 0.4629% So you add up the %s in the second column and compare it to the first column, then find out the limitation for an activation roll of that or less. So you've got 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, & 13 - thats 74.5 and some more numbers% Almost exactly a 12- roll. So I'd say this one is worth -3/4 PS - For values lower than 8-, I use: 3- -5 4- -4 5- -3 6- -2 1/2 7- -2 1/4 If you extrapolated from the book, each number below 8- would 'increase' the limitation by another -1/4, but starting at 6- the percentages begin halving themselves. Hope that helped Edit: Ack, sorry for any wrapping issues you may have experienced, I've fixed it.

Re: Double Knockback too pricey? I can't speak much for supers games, but I know that double KB is almost literally useless in lower-powered genres. When your spells have an AP cap of 30 and you have to buy Does KB, this means you get a 3d6 EB... or you could just use your 6d6 EB and do double the damage with the same KB - it's silly. Even if you don't have to buy Does KB (in a game where attacks do KB by default) it's pretty hard to make a double KB attack for under 50 points that actually, y'know, does KB. So we never use the 2xKB advantage in our fantasy games, even when we have a spell that should have it - it cripples the power. I like what MitchelS & Jmoz said, so I think I'm going to suggest a cost structure like this: Does KB: +1/4 2x KB: +1/4 3x KB: +1/4 +1x KB: +1/4 'Hard' KB: 2x advantage This would assume that there are two types of KB; 'soft' and 'hard' 'Soft' KB doesn't do damage (or no more than 1-2d6 or 1/2 the base inches) 'Hard' KB does damage as per KB in the book

Re: question for gm I tend to agree with Hugh & Derek - The best way for a character to aquire new disads is to 'trade' them for older ones - However, I am also not opposed to letting a character gain disadvantages, and gain points for them, as long as it doesn't upset the balance of power. For example, one of our players had terrible attendance, and he couldn't (or wouldn't, it varied) show up to many sessions, and most of the ones he did make it to he only stayed for half the session. When this cleared up and he started showing up every week, he was, not surprisingly, around 30 xp behind everyone else. One session, the character was badly wounded (his arm was cut off by a stone golem:eek:). We talked it over and decided that instead of getting it magically reattached, he would stump it and get extra points for his disad (15 for a phys lim, and I think also 10 for a social lim - people look down on the disabled and all that). Now he has 25 points of disads more than everyone else, but he was still 5 points behind (he's more than caught up since then with bonus for rp) in total. He's a great rper, and he came up with a really good ic reason for not having it magically healed - his character and the priest are both notoriously stubborn, and they got into an argument. Priest refused to heal him unless he took back some nasty stuff he said 'bout the priests orcish heritage, and he refused to apologize. Since then relationship between the two has normalized, but the priest is too proud to offer to heal his arm (doesn't know if he can, anymore) and the other player isn't going to ask for it. I'll also allow a player to take a disad on a temporary basis in order to gain some advance xp to pay for something expensive - this usually happens in the beggining of the game when someone forgets to buy something intrinsic to their character, like perks or rounding their speed up to 3. The player then has to dedicate some fraction of his xp (either 1/2 or 2/3) towards buying it off. Of course, this has to be something that I, or whoever is GMing, approves of and agrees that it can't wait, and there needs to be some in character roleplaying to get the disad and get rid of it later. In games where we pay points for magic items, this happens a lot - the item has a 'curse' associated with it that an experienced wielder is able to suppress or overcome. Edit: Need formatting...

Re: Help with Islanders Arg, I let my inner Yoda out (name of my cat, coincidentally) That'll teach me to post before I've had my coffee and shower (yeah, I slept in)