Dr. Anomaly

Actually, better make that "Sixth HERO Rules Edition" = "SHREd" (it's more eupohonious).

Aunt May with superpowers? Assistant Editor's Week at Marvel Comics: Spiderman's Aunt May, while babysitting Franklin Richards, encounters the herald of Galactus, who's come to take Franklin to be the new herald. Aunt May objects and puts up a fight, and SHE ends up becoming the herald of Galactus, instead of Franklin. Aunt May, now a female being of golden light and incredible beauty, known to mortals as...GOLDEN OLDIE!

In the spirit of "The Tick" and "Mystery Men", here is a new superheroine for The City and her loyal sidekick: Zee Creemson Baboon Val Char Cost Roll Notes 10 STR 0 11- Lift 100.0kg; 2d6; [2] 10 DEX 0 11- OCV 3 DCV 3 10 CON 0 11- 10 BODY 0 11- 10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11- 10 EGO 0 11- ECV: 3 10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 14 COM 2 12- 8 PD 0 Total: 8 PD (6 rPD) 8 ED 0 Total: 8 ED (6 rED) 3 SPD 0 Phases: 4, 8, 12 4 REC 0 20 END 0 20 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 2 Movement: Running: 6" / 12" Swimming: 2" / 4" Leaping: 22" Cost Powers END Martial Arts: Swashbuckling Like None Uzzer Maneuver OCV DCV Notes 4 2) Martial Disarm -1 +1 Disarm; 20 STR to Disarm roll 4 3) Martial Dodge - - +5Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 4 4) Martial Block +2 +2 Block, Abort 4 5) Martial Strike +0 +2 4d6 Strike 1 1) Weapon Element : Blades 13 Super-Baboon Agility: Multipower, 20-point reserve, all slots OIF Mystic Ruby Baboon Pendant (-1/2) 1u 1) Clinging (normal STR); OIF Mystic Ruby Baboon Pendant (-1/2) 0 3m 2) Leaping +20" (22" forward, 11" upward); OIF MRBP (-1/2) 2 2m 3) You Meesed Me!: Combat Luck: 6 PD/6 ED; OIF MRBP (-1/2) 1u 4) +1 SPD; OIF MRBP (-1/2), Incantations ("Justice eez not monkee beeznus!") (-1/4) 15 Blade of the Baboon!: Multipower, 30-pt res, all OAF Rapier (-1) 1u 1) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (2 1/2d6 w/STR); Only vs. Inanimate (-1), OAF Rapier (-1) 3 1u 2) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1 point, Variable Special Effects (Any SFX; +1/2), Penetrating (x3; +1 1/2), Variable Advantage (+1 1/2 Advantages; +3); OAF Rapier (-1) 3 1u 3) Spanking of zee Monkee: Hand-To-Hand Attack +6d6, Stun Only (+0); OAF Rapier (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2) 3 1u 4) Swashbuckler Restyling: Cosmetic Transform 6d6 (Clothing to restyled clothing); OAF Rapier (-1) 3 Perks 11 Follower (Platinum Orangutang) Skills 3 Acrobatics 11- 0 Acting 8- 0 AK: The City 8- 0 Climbing 8- 0 Concealment 8- 0 Conversation 8- 0 Deduction 8- 0 Language: English (Idiomatic, native accent; Everyman) 0 Paramedics 8- 0 Persuasion 8- 3 Power (Swashbuckling) 11- 0 PS: Adventurer 8- 0 Shadowing 8- 0 Stealth 8- 0 TF: Everyman, Small Motorized Ground Vehicles Total Powers & Skill Cost: 73 Total Cost: 75 25+ Disadvantages 0 Normal Characteristic Maxima 15 Psychological Limitation: Protective of Sidekick Common, Strong 10 Distinctive Features: Bad French Accent, Swashbuckler Outfit, Gorilla Mask Easily Concealed, Always Noticed, Major Reaction 15 Hunted: Zookeeper 8- (Occasionally), As Powerful, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish 10 Social Limitation: Public ID Frequently (11-), Minor 0 Experience Points Total Disadvantage Points: 75 The Crimson Baboon dresses in an outlandish swashbuckler's outfit (with no red on it anywhere) and wears a gorilla mask. Originally she was an explorer who found a Mystic Baboon Pendant carved of ruby and the mystic Blade of the Baboon in an ancient South American temple. Taking up these implements, she chose to fight for justice as The Crimson Baboon! (Note: She also does not speak French, despite the outrageous accent. And yes, I know baboons are not from South America. It's the Tick universe, fer cryin' out loud!) Platinum Orangutang Val Char Cost Roll Notes 10 STR 0 11- Lift 100.0kg; 2d6; [2] 10 DEX 0 11- OCV 3 DCV 3 10 CON 0 11- 10 BODY 0 11- 15 INT 5 12- PER Roll 12- 10 EGO 0 11- ECV: 3 10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 16 COM 3 12- 8 PD 0 Total: 8 PD (6 rPD) 8 ED 0 Total: 8 ED (6 rED) 3 SPD 0 Phases: 4, 8, 12 4 REC 0 20 END 0 20 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 8 Movement: Running: 6" / 12" Swimming: 2" / 4" Leaping: 2" Gliding: 0"/15" / 0"/30" Cost Powers END Martial Arts: Cinematic Brawling ("It's time to go ape!") Maneuver OCV DCV Notes 5 2) Offensive Strike -2 +1 6d6 Strike 3 3) Flying Tackle +0 -1 2d6 +v/5 Strike; You Fall, Target Falls; FMove 3 4) Grappling Throw +0 +2 4d6 Strike; Target Falls; Must Follow Grab 4 5) Martial Strike +0 +2 4d6 Strike 4 6) Martial Block +2 +2 Block, Abort 1 1) Weapon Element: Clubs 10 Orangu-Hang Silver Foil Glider/Backpack: Gliding 15"; OIF (-1/2) 0 8 Going Ape: +1 SPD; Incantations ("It's time to GO APE!!") (-1/4) Talents 12 Combat Luck: 6 PD/6 ED Skills 0 Acting 8- 0 AK: The City 8- 0 Climbing 8- 3 Combat Driving 11- 3 Combat Piloting 11- 0 Concealment 8- 0 Conversation 8- 0 Deduction 8- 1 Inventor 8- 0 Language: English (Idiomatic, native accent; Everyman) 0 Paramedics 8- 0 Persuasion 8- 1 PS: Astrophysicist 8- 3 PS: Test Pilot 11- 1 PS: Race Car Driver 8- 3 PS: Rocket Scientist 12- 1 PS: Brain Surgeon 8- 0 PS: Explorer 8- 3 SS: Aerospace Engineering 12- 0 Shadowing 8- 0 Stealth 8- 3 Teamwork 11- 0 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles Total Powers & Skill Cost: 72 Total Cost: 80 30+ Disadvantages 0 Normal Characteristic Maxima 10 Hunted: NASA (Mistaken for escaped test monkey) 8- (Occasionally), As Powerful, PC has a Public ID, Mildly Punish 15 Psychological Limitation: Loyal to Crimson Baboon Common, Strong 5 Social Limitation: Sidekick Occasionally (8-), Minor 10 Social Limitation: Public ID Frequently (11-), Minor 10 Enraged: "Did you just call me a 'sidekick'?!?" Common, go 8-, rec 14- 0 Distinctive Features: Skintight silver suit and ape mask Easily Concealed, Noticed and Recognizable 0 Experience Points Total Disadvantage Points: 80 Platinum Orangutang is The Crimson Baboon's loyal sidekick, but DON'T use "the S-word" around her! She HATES the term "sidekick" and tends to go off explosively when someone applies it to her. Platinum Orangutang wears a skin-tight bodysuit of metallic silver plus a monkey mask, which is why she is frequently mistaken for an escaped NASA test chimp! She's brighter, tougher, and better looking than The Crimson Baboon, but seems completely unaware of it...and so is everyone else (she is, after all, a sidekick).

A character I'm designing is going to have a Multipower that's agility-type effects (Clinging, Leaping, etc.) bought through an OIF mystic amulet. Realizing that he has no resistant defenses, I thought that perhaps buying some as Combat Luck would fit with the 'agility' theme of the Multipower. Then I had a thought; when adjusting how MUCH Combat Luck can be bought through the Multipower, how do I do it? I mean, it's a 18 pt Multipower, 12 Real (OIF). No slot can have an active cost higher than 18 points. Combat Luck is already built using Limitations to reduce its cost. Do I need to take this into account, or do I simply treat Combat Luck as-is and apply the OIF limitation to that? What I mean is, since Combat Luck costs 6 points per level (for 3 rPD / 3 rED) could I fit 3 levels of Combat Luck as one slot, or do I need allow for the fact that 3 levels of Combat Luck would have a "true" Active cost of more than 18 points, if you look at the way it was built?

So buy more dice of the effect. At 43 per d6, a starting 350 point character could get 8d6, with a few paltry points left over for some skills. (No, I don't see actually letting a PC have this Power, let alone a starting PC. This is really just an exercise.) If you want a more sure-fire thing, then buy 25d6 like Mr. Vimes suggested, at a cost of 1075 points. To REALLY make sure, buy 50d6 so you can get even BOD 25 people/things in one shot. But by this point, you're well up there into la-la land as far as points & balance goes anyway...i.e. into the realm of GM fiat / plot device / cosmic NPCs.

Well...if the fat person has more BODY, then yeah, I guess so... I *did* toy with making the effect vs. CON or EGO instead of BOD, but in the end decided it wasn't worth the extra hassle, and the final result probably wouldn't vary by much.

Try this one: It will stop pretty much ANYONE, eventually (except those with Power Defense), even those who are intangible (Affects Desolid). The cost listed is for 1d6; season to taste by buying multiple d6's to speed up the effect. The focus is a gold pocketwatch (for nostalgia's sake; remember that bad old TV-movie?) Using the rules for partial Transforms, everyone would sloooow down until they stopped. The way to stop the "Uncontrolled" is that after one minute of 'internal' time for the user, the effect shuts off, and the Transform is an all-or-nothing reversion as well (reverts when the watch shuts off). I toyed with the idea of using a charge that lasts for 1 minute, but didn't really see it was necessary, since I had to define a way to stop the "Uncontrolled" in any case. Pts. Powers END 43 Time Stop: Transform 1d6: Transform all targets into targets frozen in time (Major), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Affects Desolidified (Any form of Desolidification; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Megascale (1" = 10000 km; +1 1/4), Can Be Scaled Down: 1" = 1km (+1/4) (86 Active Points); Gold Pocketwatch IAF Fragile (-3/4), Gestures (Must push button on watch) (-1/4)

That won't make it any cheaper, though, points-wise. It will in fact make it more expensive! (The regular way) Vehicle Size + Def = cost (Buy it as you suggested) Vehicle Size + Def for 1 piece = cost Advantages so other parts of vehicle share it = cost * advantages See?

(Stone Boy) Actually, the partial transformation skill came along well before the Biernbaum era. Way back when Dynamo Boy infiltrated the Legion, got the rest of the Legionnaires expelled on Trumped-up charges, and then inducted the Legion of Super-Villains, Stone Boy used this ability when the Subs tried to take on the "reformed" LSV. (Polar Boy) The reason given for his rejection annoyed me greatly, especially considering they'd ALREADY had stories where both Lightning Lad and Sun Boy had lost control of their powers. This actually caused enough grief that much later the then-writers retconned this to say the real reason he'd been rejected was because he was 1 year below the minimum age requirement of 14. (DC Comics Presents) I've got a love-hate relationship with this comic. I love: * Seeing the Subs get some seldom-offered "screen time" * Ambush Bug * The laugh-a-minute madcap pace * Giffen still drawing like he actually has talent * Superman being drawn in the old Seigle&Shuster style * Infectious Lass (le rowr rowr!) -- her best look yet! I hated: * Seeing the Subs made laughingstocks (something the thrice-d@mned Giffen took to extremes later) though seeing Superman ALSO made to look bad was some compensation * Ambush Bug (I love to hate this guy) * Seeing the Subs made laughingstocks (did I already mention this?) Still and all, that comic is one of my prized possessions.

Hmmm...I wonder...would he have to turn *other* stuff yellow? What do you suppose would happen if he turned their RINGS yellow? Would they just shut off? Be unable to project the emerald energy at all? It might even drain them completely -- after all, being yellow, the emerald energy probably couldn't be stored in them, and it would just dissapate.

Okay, class, in Destroy the World 101 we learned all the traditional ways to destroy the world (a really big bomb / laser cannon, earthquake machine, drop an asteroid/comet/the Moon on the planet, release a global disease, cause a new Ice Age, dry up all the water, burn off the atmosphere...the list goes on and on and on). Yawn. Okay, class, for extra credit, describe a way of destroying the world via Utopia! A couple of expalainitory points: 1) By "Utopia", I do not mean the Orwellian variety where Big Brother proclaims a Utopia but without the actual benefits happening. 2) It should be by providing an over-abundance of things that people SAY they want, and usually want in limitless quantitites. Example: "The Midas Plague" Wealth (Perk) 15 point level, AoE (1 Hex +.5) MegaArea (+1.5), Sticky (+.5), Uncontrolled (+.5), Usable As an Attack (+1), OAF "Utopia Machine" (-1) 75 Active, 38 Real Since the "wealth" Perk isn't limited to an actual government-printed currency, whatever is the chosen medium of exchange becomes instantly worthless as a basis for an economy, since the moment it becomes the MOE, everyone has a huge frickin' amount of it. (Weight-loss pills that Really Work With No Side-Effects become the unit of exchange because all currency has gone down the toilet. BING! Now everyone has a huge supply of the things, so they are now effectively worthless as a MOE.) Okay, class, prepare your assignments -- and remember, you're being graded not only on originality and creativity, but feasability as well! (No 2,000+ point monstrosities, please!) Begin!

As has already been pointed out, the first one on this list is actually Stone Boy. Later on he (gradually) developed greater control of his power, and learned to (1) selectively turn just certain parts of his body to stone -- like, say, his fist (just before he punched you) and (2) move even while turned to stone (sort of a sleepwalking state, but he WAS able to fight). Polar Boy didn't exactly have 'typical' cold-based powers. Rather like Killer Frost (from Firestorm's hit list) his powers worked by *absorbing* heat. He was, in effect, immune to just about any heat effect, including the temperatures at the core of the Earth. Most people would expect "Hey, a cold-based guy! Let's see how he like a little fire-blast!" In the case of Polar Boy, those making this assumption were in for an upleasant surprise. The last one you mentioned is actually Color Kid, and was a tad bit more effective than you'd think. Among other things, his exploits included saving Superboy & Supergirl (turning a cloud of green kryptonite particles surrounding the Earth to blue, which didn't affect them) and blinding opponents by turning the color of the air to black. He also helped put paid to a number of Khund warships during the Earthwar, by swapping the colors of the sky & ground. The confused pilots believed their eyes instead of their instruments and...crunch.

I don't get to play often -- I mostly GM -- but there was one time when one of my characters did make the ultimate sacrifice. It was in a game of Mage (don't remember which version, it's been a while) and I was playinga Bjorner mage (they're the shapeshifters). In this particular situation, our small party of three found ourselves facing a frickin' big demon lord who was about to enter the physical world and dish out much death & destruction. We'd tried to fight it, but frankly didn't have anything that could do more than scratch it. Beaten & exhausted, we're facing it, the last line between it & the world, when I get an idea. I check back through the spells my character knows, check a couple of references in the book...and inform the GM I'm casting a major Transformation spell (can't remember the exact spell name). The GM looks startled, checks the book, and after taking all odds into account, agrees I've got a better than even odds of having the spell affect the demon, turning him into a duck, chicken, cockroach, or whatever...then he starts chuckling evilly and says, "But you don't have all the materials you need to cast the spell! You don't have the heart of a shape-shifting creature as one of the consumable components!!" I just smiled a bit and said "Oh yes I do," and tapped my chest. The look on his face was priceless. I cast the spell successfully, too. End of my character, but end of demonic threat as well.

Oy! That thing had a number of stellar-mass black holes rolling around inside a "cage" to act as the focusing agent, IIRC, and they fed it entire stars as fuel! As for the effect -- a really, Really, REALLY overpowered Change Environment...?

Hmmm...speaking of BIG things...there's the multiply-nested Dyson spheres from Colin Knapp's "Cageworld" series -- though that construct would definitely be a *base*, not a vehicle.

Well, it moved under its own power -- and it was slowing down as it approached our galaxy. There was at each pole what was essentiall a giant rocket thrust outlet. If it's capable of moving itself, I'd say that tends to make it a vehicle.

Those books are a number of years old now, so you might have better luck with Amazon, Half.com, or a used book store. The reason Cuckoo has such a low gravity is that 99.99% of the mass of the thing is in the star at the center -- and at a radial distance of about 90 million miles, even the mass of a star only exerts the equivalent of about 1/1000 g.

Cuckoo is in two novels by Fredrick Pohl and Jack Williamson: Farthest Star and Wall Around A Star. No, it was not inhabited throughout its entire volume. It was, indeed, mostly hollow shell a few tens of km thick, surrounding empty space with a type F sun at the center for power & drive plasma. Basically it was a mobile Dyson sphere but was never intended to be inhabited. The "crew" were in cold sleep, or were stored as templates that could be grown into crystalline forms when necessary. It WAS inhabited, though, on the outer surface -- by the descendants of those from its home galaxy who hadn't been selected to be saved who had managed to latch on to the surface, and descendants of lifeforms from OUR galaxy (its target) which had been sent back by advance scout ships. The surface was habitable because it had a very thick atmosphere built up from eons of gathered cosmic gases & outflow losses from the interior. The surface was warmed by heat leaking through from the inside rather than from an orbiting sun. Light came from continent-sized "clouds" of bioluminescent single-celled organisms. Oh, and it had a surface gravity of 1/1000 g.

Re: Re: Ultimate Supermage Magic Spells You do have a couple of options here that could make your life MUCH easier in this web-based modern day. 1) Get a credit card (say, from Capital One) with a $200 limit and use *it* for on-line purchases 2) Get a "cash card." This is a card that works like a Visa or MasterCard (and carries the emblem) but instead of going to a line of credit, it goes to an account you have with the bank that issued the card. Transfer into the account enough to make the purchase you desire, use the card to make the purchase, and if anybody rips off the card number, all they have access to is the $1.37 (or whatever trivial amount) left in the account.

Your avatar (Krillian) doesn't HAVE a nose. No, I don't think it makes sense, or only in the Social sense. Other than that -- considering the people & things he's gone up against (and done quite well for someone that isn't a Super Saiyan) under no circumstances would I call him an Incompetant Normal. YOU go call him an Incompetant Normal. Go on. I double-dog dare ya!

Actually you could do something like this: +2 points x2 Gallery foes +4 points x4 Gf +6 points x8 Gf +8 points x16 Gf So if the Hunted was a 20-pointer, then for 28 points you'd have 16 foes in your Gallery. The old HERO standard of "+x points, double the effect" would fit nicely, I think. The only problem is that I'd REALLY prefer it to be +5 point groups, but if your Gallery was (like, say, Batman's or the Flash's) that big, you'd have a 40-point Hunted, and that might be a bit much for some people's taste.

The thing I mentioned earlier, Cuckoo (or Object Lambda if you insist) was also a ship -- a sort of 'ark' to escape a galaxy that was blowing itself apart. Cuckoo was around 180 million MILES in diameter.

I know the Valeron had to be that big just to hold the circles -- but I do NOT think it was just a hollow sphere otherwise. Remember the description of when the Chlorans of galaxy DW-4U-whatever are burning her down to size? DuQuesne sees her burned, blasted, and peeled away, layer by layer, like an onion. No "Oh, the outer shell is gone, suddenly we've got the little core." Plus, at the beginning of that book, when the Seaton/Crane party are coming on board, the transit throught the many miles-thick airlock doors is described. At no point does Skylark II transit any empty space between the skin and the inner core.

+1 Overall Level (their data processing capacity links up to your neural net so that you just have a bit of an edge in everything you do). +20 COM -- for those times when you want to REALLY knock their socks off! A few inches of Gliding (instant parachute) 1 pip Major Transform with +1 in Advantages for Improved Target Group-type stuff. Sure, it may take them a while, but they'd be able to build just about anything for you, using just about any raw materials that happened to be at hand.

Some of the various Life Support powers could come in REAL handy every now and then, and they're mostly 10 points or less! In fact, you could put several of the Environmental ones together in one slot as a Combo Power. Ex: Breath Water (5) + Env: High Pressure + Env: Cold Feel like visiting the bottom of the sea?