Frenchman

Re: Post Apocalyptic Mutations

 

Like I mentioned, I tried to avoid sFX on the table, and I consider animal-human hymbrids to be a special effect of a group of mutations. Certainly, if someone noticed that several of their mutations worked together in a way that could be defined as being the result of such a mutation, that would be allowed - what better way to define a mutant with claws, a tail, and nightvision?

I also don't force my players to roll on the table for each mutation, though that is encouraged. I require all mutants to have at least one random mutation, and beyond that, the character may choose randomly or make up their own. In my game, I actually have three animal-human hybrids - one because his species of cat-people are one of the ones I established in the world, another wanted to be a rat-person and I liked his twist on them enough to make them another common species, and the last is a unique house-cat-like being.

I am toying with the idea of encouraging random mutations by giving them a slight cost reduction somehow, but I don't want it to seem like I'm slighting the non-mutant (theres only one)

Re: mental Invisibility

 

I would like to create a Mental Invisibility that makes me invisible to a single target. Apart from the +20 effct (major change' date=' thinks change as real after effect fades), and Self Only lim., can I buy some extra limitation, if I don't want to use Mental Illusions for other effects? I would like MI to only make me invisible, would that make a -1 limitation becouse it's for a single-purpose only?...[/quote']

Do you want to make this invisibility power a 'screw you, you can't see me' power that makes you dissappear to all senses, including those you (or your character) don't know exist? Or is it a more standard 'I erase myself from his sensory perceptions using my telepathic powers' type of invis?

For the former, you will need mental illusions as you described, and you will need to get +40 most of the time (+20 from major changes, and another +20 to make them think it was real after they breakout). You said as much, but I wanted to restate it because I'm not sure from your post if you are aware that the +20 modifiers are cumulative.

If it is the latter type of invisibility, I would suggest buying the Invisibility power to Sight, Hearing, Smell/Taste, and possibly Touch and/or Mental groups - and slap a limitation on their to represent that it is psionic. Like requires a skill roll Ego vs. Ego, Psionics vs. Ego, or even Doesn't work against targets with Mental Defense. Also being invisible to only one person at a time is a limitation, especially if you have to spend a 1/2 phase and/or make an ECV roll to 'target' them.

 

Also I have a problem with another Stealth power: I would like it to make me invisible to both sight and hearning, but using different limitations for each Invisibility, should it pay them 20 (for sight) and 10 (for hearing) as described below

 

18 Psionic Stealth: Invisibility to Sight Group; Requires a Stealth Roll (-½), Only Works in Shadows Or Darkness (-½), Psionic (- ½) and Invisibility to Hearing Group; Requires a Stealth Roll (-½), Psionic (-½) [2+2]

 

Or should I but the Invisibility to Hearing Group for 5 points? I cannot apply the Only Works in Shadows Or Darkness limitation to the hearing invisibility, but it will costs me much more if I buy it separately...?

I think this power looks fine the way it is, especially if you want to be able to be Invis to hearing outside of darkness and shadows and/or invis to sight when you fail your stealth roll. There is no reason you cannot apply the Only in Shadows/Darkness limitation to the Invis to hearing, if you bought it as one power.

Re: Psion: a unit of psychic energy.

 

If you want to know what it measures' date=' ask how you measure it. Will psionics depend on a new particle/wave? Can it be measured directly? [/quote']

 

I have to agree with this - you need to know how it is measured. If there is no high-tech device, then it could be through a test of some kind, thereby granting higher and higher Psion ratings (perhaps multiple ratings, one for each power or group of powers) at certain benchmarks. Maybe...

1 = Telekinetically move anything, determine whether or not a dog is hungry, or make a chicken fall asleep.

2 = Telekinetically move 1 kg of material, read an infants emotional state, or calm an angry parrot.

skip some...

5 = Move 50 kg of material, discover a stranger's name, or make someone throw their wallet out of a window.

10 = Move 1000kg of material, read a catatonic's most embarrassing moment, or cause an elephant to forget.

 

The list could be arbitrary (like mine) or have some basis in...well something. I would highly recommend measuring sensory powers, telekinetic/attack powers, defensive powers, and straight mental powers (mind control, etc) differently, even if you use the same units (12 active points of TK = 1 Psion, but it takes 20 of Mental illusions to = 1 Psion).

Just my $14 Million

Re: Post Apocalyptic Mutations

 

Of course you should feel free to use it, or put it on your website, or change it, or whatever.

I started creating a similar generator about a year ago, but stopped about halfway through. This one is me finishing and revamping that one. I looked for a few online before I started to create my own (I don't want to put in the work if someone else has allready done a good job of it) and none of the ones I found were really what I was looking for.

The one I really drew any inspiration from can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/3440/rmg.html

I originally started to modify his, then scrapped it and started from scratch because I didn't want to generate a list of sFX - just powers. I also didn't want mental powers (I added them to this version). So I suppose the one you mentioned may have been some inspiration (I can't be sure, link doesn't work for me) but I like to think that I pretty much did it all by myself, drawing ideas from Miller's.

Good morning to All! (even though most of you are probobly reading this at night). I finally finished the random mutations chart for my Post-Apoc Hero game, and I couldn't wait the 1/2 hour to start gaming to show it off.

One of the most frustrating things about setting up my Post-Apoc world was a paucity of developed material, at least compared to Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and other genres. So I'll help out those seeking such things by putting this out here.

It's not quite all the way finished (I still need to add more hyperlinks to the document, and I haven't really checked it for bugs yet) But it is fully usable. Any suggestions for improvement?

Thanks, All

 

Edit: Oops, I'd better attach the damned file, too.

Re: how to make this power

 

Multiform, and a linked Multiform, usable as attack. You turn into him (with some extra powers, such as your mental characteristics, your knowledges, your mind-based powers, and, of course, your multiform.) And he turns into you. You would have to agree with your GM how many points to build the multiform on (probly a lot, somewhere around 2x starting values)

Re: Taking Names

 

I'd just do it as a roleplaying thing. The character carries a battered notebook around' date=' and whenever he served someone the beatdown, he pulls out the notebook, frantically digs in his pockets for a pen, then plants his foot in their chest and demands, "What's your name, punk?"[/quote']

 

I have my next character for our Sci-Fi game.

Re: More Automatons . . .

 

Isn't this just lockout (-1/2)?

I don't think so. Lockout prevents a character from using his other powers, so putting lockout on the extra summoning would prevent him from casting fireball, but not from summoning as many critters as they wanted.

I valued it at a -1 because I figured that being able to summon 32 critters, one at a time, was about half as useful as being able to summon them all at once. I've heard arguments both ways, and in your games, ask the GM to value it as they see fit.

Re: More Automatons . . .

 

I wouldn't allow them to summon more than they have bought, but...

 

For the necromancer in our game, I allowed him to buy extra summons with the modifier Can Only Summon One at a Time (-1). After adding all the other limitations his spell has, this makes them pretty cheap.

Re: More Automatons . . .

 

I have always just waived the EGO v EGO roll and said the character automatically wins, but now that I review the rules that might not be a good idea.

 

Well, a creature with 0 EGO has an ego roll of 9-, so maybe we should use that as it's base roll, but that seems way too high for a zombie. After performing only 4x its tasks it would be rolling a 12-, which is as high as most heroic-level characters roll for EGO. If we start it at 0- then it will take a lot longer (13x tasks) to have an equal roll....maybe a little too much

 

I guess thats why I always buy them as slavishly loyal, or with the Phys Lim- Must Obey Creator (When the GM lets me)

Re: Value of, "Only to Protect Against NNDs," Limitation

 

I agree with Trebuchet. The use of this would call the special effects of both the power and the defense into account. If the potion protects you from unnatural aging (to use your example) then yes, I would allow it to protect you from spell that ages you towards infirmity (a drain of physical characteristics). But a spell that causes you to lose all hope by showing you the inevitable future you face (death of old age) would have Immortality as its defense because immortals never die of old age, not because they don't age.

 

For other powers, such as mental defense, since you only need to buy one point of mental defense, a limitation is worthless (in the most literal sense) anyhow. Life supports I would never allow (on principles similar to those outlined above) without a very good special effect and in-character reason, and the understanding that it would not always work, depending on how it's defined.

 

I might allow other powers, such as teleportation or desolification, as long as there was a good special effect and they were bought at the campaign minimum (we generally don't allow movement powers with less than 5" in them) and I would give them a -2 limitation since it makes the power almost totally useless.

If one of your players has asked for this, I would be very careful in scrutinizing his character and his reasons behind it.

Re: Knockback and Bullets

 

Tell me the results of the study when they have Grond punch the pig.

An adjustment power with the Variable Effect advantage at +1/2 can affect "any two Characteristics or Powers with related special effects simultaneously" (5th Rev, 111). I have two questions about this, the second dependant upon the first.

 

1- Do these characteristics or powers need to be defined at the time of power creation, or can they be re-defined with each use of the power? The book seems to indicate the latter.

2- If the latter is indeed the case, then is an adjustment power that can only affect two specific characteristics/powers (such as a drain that always affects Strength and Constitution) warrant a limitation or a lesser advantage?

 

Until I purchased the revised edition, I was under the impression that Variable Effect at +1/4 could/should be added to the greater values of that same advantage to produce an adjustment power that effected multiple powers of choice, but now it seems to me that the +1/4 which allows this choosing has always been added into the greater values.

I apologize for rambling, and thank you for your time.

Re: Resistent PD not resistent against Nerve Damage

 

I always assumed that when the term 'Force Fields' was used (in relation to an NND or AVLD power) it referred to the special effect of a field of force (like in the Star Trek brig), not to the FF power. I guess it is kinda wonky, like an energy blast vs. pd.

During our last gaming session, I used an encounter, which my girlfriend thought up (the basics and background anyway), to great effect against my players. It was in the sewers beneath a middle-eastern style city, and I asked my girlfriend for idea of interesting things to throw in there. She said, "Why not a demented magic carpet that got thrown down there?" So I left it lurking in the muck, next to a body the characters had to investigate. Needless to say, it surprised the hell out of the prissy female martial artist, who had poked it with her staff, as it flung itself towards her, spraying everyone with offal. Even though the battle was over in a few short phases we were referring to it for the rest of the night, and even outside the gaming room. I think the best part was describing how the halfling's fingers slipped off of it because it was covered in...slime. It was such a riot, I decided to post it here for your viewing (dis)pleasure and ask about any similarly...provacative encounters the lot of you have put (or had) your characters through.

Re: Package deal - no deal?

 

The idea of allowing the PD disads to be "free" is reasonable but I really don't see why players need to be "bribed" to take a PD

Pretty much my view on this. I recently presented my group with a set of package deals for a game we'll be starting soon. Characters are 250 points, and the package deals range from 51 to 117 points (!) and -30 to -75 points in disads, with the average being around 100 and -50. That is a huge portion of character totals, and there is no beneficial 'deal' (see below) for characters taking them. I told my players that they could take a package deal or make their character from scratch, whichever suited them. Everyone took a package deal because it suited their character, even though there were (with all but one person) a few things in it that they would never have bought if it weren't in the package deal.

 

My other beef is with the idea that just because they are called 'deal's, that there should be some positive (usually point-based) benefit coming out of them. A deal is not a positive thing, the word deal is neutral.

n.

1. The act or a round of apportioning or distributing.
   
2. Games.
   1. Distribution of playing cards.
   2. The cards so distributed; a hand.
      
   3. The right or turn of a player to distribute the cards.
      
   4. The playing of one hand.
      

[*]An indefinite quantity, extent, or degree: has a great deal of experience.

[*]An agreement often arranged secretly, as in business or politics.

[*]A business transaction.

 

In "Package Deal" the word is used as a noun. This is the definition of deal as a noun. I think the last one most accurately describes a package deal, buying a set of abilities in exchange for some points. It does not imply that a deal is beneficial to the purchaser.

So stop claiming that it should have a benefit just because it is called a 'deal'. In my experience, Raw Deals are just as Common as Sweet Deals.

 

Edit: As usual, after reading my post I see that I may have come off to harshly. I apologize and please don't kill me.

Re: Sword and Shield

 

But you do get to keep the DCV from your shield, even when blocking. You're using it defensively, so it adds to your DCV.

Re: Help with balancing fighters with magic users

 

Funny, I always thought spells were too expensive, not weapons.

Most spells (that our group uses) have about -1 to -3 of limitations, averaging (as you might expect) at -2.

A weapons built that way, on the other hand, has -1 1/2 at minimum, and often have more than that. I don't think I've seen a weapon built (that simulated equipment) that didn't have OAF, Real Weapon, and STR Minimum limitations.

Re: Gantha the Graverobber--Character foir Review

 

Cool, I like him.

 

If you want a few more points, you should add Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2) to the EC, netting you 7 more to increase your dispel with, since most diseases have 100+ active points, so mayby you should consider buying it with cumulative.

Re: Demon/Angel powers for Urb. Fantasy.

 

Interesting. After seeing that movie, buying/playing Munchkin Bites, and painting my werewolf figuring all in one day, I came up with the same idea.

 

Here are the packages I was going to use for demons/angels in my game, but other ideas are available everywhere.

Demons: Claws (HKA, RP), Infernal Levitation (Flight), Growing Scales (Force Field), Hellfire (RKA, Pen).

Angels: Blade of Holy Light (HKA, Physical Manifestation), Angelic Wings (Flight, Restrainable), Aura of Protection (FF), Holy Smite (HKA, AOE).

For more ideas look in the bestiary or the MMM

Re: Sharing END

 

Why not buy Usable By Other on the characters's END? It seems to me that this would accomplish exactly what you are attempting to achieve.

Re: Invisible to Touch Group?

 

Ah, no... see, this situation wouldn't occur. Because of the way the power works, the paperboy does "see" the character, it just doesn't register. So he'd swerve his bike out of the way and rationalize his decision by "filling in" the memory of a pothole or a squirrel in the road or whatever. If anyone asked him why he'd suddenly turned his bike, he'd present one of these explanations, because that's what he remembers.

 

If anything, the power might start to break down if the paperboy were to be interrogated (say, by the police or a supervillain or whatever). For instance, if presented with the evidence that no-one else saw the squirrel or that there are no potholes on that street, the paperboy would be extremely confused.

I don't think it would even get that far. Most people wouldn't invent a memory if they didn't have to, and it is difficult to find a situation where someone couldn't do something just 'cuz I felt like it.' The kid would have swerved his bike because he is a kid, and kids like to make their bike swerve and do figure-8s because it's more interesting than going in a straight line. The interrogators wouldn't get anything more out of him than you would if you went up to a random child on a playground and demanded to know why they chose the red ball instead of the yellow one.

Re: Multiple Special Effects

 

I'd allow it, though I'd be wary.

 

Just roll different colored dice for the different sfx, that way if someone had +4 PD vs cold you just take it off of those dice. Applying defenses against it twice is more effort than is neccesary and cripples the power.

 

I'd have a long hash about your particular examples, though, if a character in my FH game wanted to buy spells like that. After all, it is a spell, so isn't one of its sfx magic? But for other mixes, like fire/lightning, acid/cold, etc... would be fine. Sorta cool, really.

Re: Challenge! The Hero System in One Page!

 

This is great, I'm sure I'll end up using it to introduce some of the people I know to the system.

 

If you attack, you take a number based on your Dexterity, subtract a number based on the target's Dexterity, and add 9 to the result.

If you roll that number or less on 3 d6, your attack hits.

One little nitpicky problem, though... shouldn't you add 11, not 9, to determine your target number for an attack roll?

Re: Neck Snap

 

Exactly, Mr. B. It's all about the special effects.

The cylindrical helms worn by some crusading knights would just swivel around the poor guys face, other helmets would hit a point where they would catch on the armor and not move any more to the side, Motorcycle helmets (full ones with masks) wouldn't offer much protection, if any, and hardhats and pith helmets wouldn't mean anything, since the MA would just grab the part of his head not covered by the helmet.