Intrope

I don't suppose I could get a copy of this, too? my address Thanks!

For #2: Ra-man! Okay, that's cheesy--but at least he could make some cash plugging cheap noodles on late night TV Brother Ra might work. Egyptopimp is right out, though.

Re: Re: Re: Tax Cheats R Us... So, how do you write up a Horse's Head in the bed, anyway? Horse's Head: +5 with Persuasion, Oratory and Trading (15 Active Points); OAF Bulky Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Only to intimidate potential customers (-1/2) (I can't believe I just wrote that up...)

Well, how about just buying all of Jarman's powers with a -1/4 limitation: only while he owns the jar (about as restrictive as OIHID, someone could steal the jar or he could be taken to a place the jar can't reach) and a Psych Lim: doesn't understand magic? And possibly Accidental Change: Horus sometimes casts a spell other than what Jarman wants, or a times he doesn't want to cast? If you want Horus to be an active participant all the time, he could be an AI (or permanent duplicate) with Clairsentience (only through Jarman's eyes) and all powers: indirect, megascale range (1" = 1km) and Only through Jar Bearer ( -3/4?). So long as Jarman is within say 500km Horus ought to be able to cast through him (the GM would have to waive the range penalty though). Maybe Jarman also has to concentrate to channel the power? I think I'll steal this idea though; Horus in a jar (warbles: Horus in a jar-o ) could be very cool.

Well, I don't have an example of a hard construct. But I have some thoughts about the examples so far: Soul-stealer Angel: That's rough (any variant of Rogue is always tough). How about: Transform (Spirit) BOECV (into 'spiritless being') and a VPP, only to buy Multiform into me+stolen powers. By selecting the size of the VPP, you can limit how much of the target's powers the angel can borrow. Naturally, the VPP control can be limited (it requires you take someone's sould, that's pretty limiting). I'm assuming that the Angel retains all it's own powers once it's stolen a target's, of course. Horus-in-a-jar (neat idea, BTW): if Horus isn't independent (he just casts spells when needed, and acts as an information source): he's just a cool OAF on your multipower/skills. I'm assuming you want H-jar to be a little more active; in that case, why not duplication? Vertigo: instead of DEX drain, how about Flash (to all senses, yipe) BOECV? or maybe NND defense: not having human-class mind? That would give you a power that completely disconnects a character temporarily. After all, if all your senses have been flashed you can't make a PER roll to lessen your blindness penalties!

I'd say it's not abusive. 8- skills can't use skill levels, so you'd have a boatload of things you could fail at

Ah! I wasn't out of my head after all...during 4th's era, we had 3 FH books and all the Rolemaster/FH products. I'd say that's a bit better support than Cyber HERO and Bright Future. In any case, I hope Star Hero does pick up in the new era.

Hmm...I would have sworn that their were more than 3 FH 4th books, but I can't recall any titles. Maybe I'm just losing it. One day, I'll actually get my HERO 4th collection back... OTOH, I can only think of one Sci-fi Hero 4th product: Cyber Hero (Huzzah.) Maybe I'm wrong, and 4th didn't have much better support for FH than for SH. Does anyone know of any list of all older HERO products?

If I recall correctly, the last Star Hero was a pre-4th ed. product (wasn't it?), so we may also be suffering from not have had much Sci-fi coverage in >12 years. On the other hand, Champs and FH saw big support during 4th ed.

Re: Re: Subluminal Travel Given mass is the big limiting factor for low-rubber space ships, I'd guess that Ice would be out, and Chobam(sp?)-like armor would be in; basically, you'd want the most penetration resistance per kilo. But admittedly in Songs the Ice did make some sense 'cause they were planning on replenishing it during the voyage (and they weren't apparently heavily mass limited).

Another great site: Wikipedia's Spaceship Propulsion For non-rubbery, your best bet appears to be Nuclear Photonic drive (Isp: 5,000,000) but I have no idea if that would get you anywhere near the .5c mark you want. Not that you can't exaggerate it's effectiveness.

Sure. Just buy the power in pieces (a compound power), with different END multiples. I'll use Force Field for this example: Incremental Shield: (Total: 50 Active Cost, 29 Real Cost) FF (5 PD/5 ED) (Real Cost: 10) plus FF (5 PD/5 ED) (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2) (Real Cost: 7) plus FF (5 PD/5 ED) (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1) (Real Cost: 5) plus FF (5 PD/5 ED) (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x4 END; -1 1/2) (Real Cost: 4) plus FF (5 PD/5 ED) (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x5 END; -2) (Real Cost: 3) With this, you can get up to +25rPD/+25rED, but you'd pay 15 END per phase. This works for most anything.

That's a cruel (and clever) creature. Cumulative isn't needed for the Transform power though (it's already cumulative with no upper damage limit).

Whoops! I forgot that transform isn't supposed to be applied to oneself (and then I had to read the whole power description--twice--to find where it said that). OTOH, it's pretty clear that the no-self-transform rule is to prevent transform from being used to gain powers/skills/points, so I'd probably just bend it here and allow this self-effecting transform. Lightray's Shapeshift idea might be better, but you'd need to buy it as Inherent (so that it can't be dispelled); after all, the character doesn't possess the memories any more.

Actually, steps 3 & 4 sound like a minor mental transform to me. Person -> Person with gaps in his memory (step 3); then define the method of healing to 'restore from backup' (step 4). Here's a write-up: Incriminating Memory Eraser: Minor Transform 1d6 (standard effect: 3 points) (Transform Criminal into Criminal with no memory of a specific crime, Healed by reloading memories with the Eraser), Transform applies to EGO (+1/4), Improved Target Group (Remove memories of any set of events; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), BOECV (Mental Defense applies; +1) (32 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Hour, Character May Take No Other Actions, -3 1/4), OAF Immobile Fragile (Large, cumbersome machine; -2 1/4), Concentration (0 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -3/4), No Range (-1/2) Active points: 32, Real cost: 4 Note that this write-up is for a big device (like the machines from Total Recall) and it will take hours to perform the erasure (1 hour per 3 EGO of the NPC).

I'm not sure how closely you want to emulate the T-1000. I'm assuming 'very closely'. I'm also too lazy to write up the whole character...maybe someone else will be more energetic! Shapeshift: Sight Group (+10), Hearing (+3), Touch (+3), Any Shape (+20), Imitation (+10), No End (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Must touch a target to imitate it (-1/4): 74 points Note: I didn't take Cellular; separated Chunks of the T-1000 are clearly metal, which means that Cellular doesn't apply. OTOH, Imitation clearly does, but he does need to touch (and maybe injure?) them to make it work. Also, I didn't take smell/taste, because I assume that's why dogs can detect Terminators. And Radar would be a dead giveaway! Also, since he can be stunned without losing his shape (I forget which battle stuns him, but it does happen once as I recall) Regeneration: 2d6 Healing (standard effect: 3 BODY) (20), Ressurrection (+20 pts), Can Heal Limbs (+5 pts) No END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Self Only (-1/2), Extra Time (-1): 36 pts. He doesn't heal all that fast, but he just won't stop healing! In a supers campaign, I might add some more regeneration for other damage (characteristic drains, etc.) Liquid Body: Desolidification (40 pts), Cannot pass through solid objects (-1/2), Does not protect against damage (-1): 16 pts I might add concentration to the desolid; it's obvious it's not easy for him... Beyond that, I'd buy fairly impressive stats relative to normals(he really isn't that strong/tough; mere mortal weapons can stop him...for a little while), an HKA, Stretching, extra running/leaping, life support, eidetic memory, maybe buy Indirect on STR (to simulate the tarbaby move, Nightvision. I think that covers most of it. You might consider taking relatively low defenses (he takes damage from police sidearms, either 9mm or .45) but buy Damage Reduction (he sucks up a lot of hits!). It's worth noting that this character won't be as effective in direct supers battles as most other supers, but he'll be very effective for infiltration and sneaky moves. You might also consider taking Accidental Change as a Disad; in the extended edition towards the end he has trouble controlling his shapeshifts (this and most of the Sarah Conner Prophetic Dream Sequences were cut from the theater release. Along with the scene that explains her hate for the 2 dweeb guards in the mental hospital). Anyway, hope that helps.

IIRC the later Bolos had gravity control, but it wasn't really flight as such; they could use it to lift off, but it was slow (not usually used in combat) and didn't give them forward movement, just lift. This was mainly to conteract the fact that later Bolos were insanely heavy. It also meant that delivering a Bolo to a planet involved dropping it from a great height squish I'd have to agree that Bolos would need to be upgraded to spaceships before they'd be useful against Berserkers. Curiously, the Bolo stories state outright that later Bolos are as powerful as space battleships, but the space battleships are clearly not Bolos (they're manned, apparently). Which is an odd inconsistency. Maybe he wanted to keep his Bolos separate from Berserkers?

Actually, 10 TK would be: 10 STR Ranged (+1/2) Indirect (+3/4) No Figured Chars (-1/2) Which works out to be...15 points, for that 2:3 ratio. On the other hand, if you let people buy this with AoE, it actually becomes too cheap: only 108 pts!

Also: OCV + 3d6 = DCV + 10 Not that different than what everyone else is proposing, but you can precompute DCV + 10. This is also a little better than precomputing OCV - 10, since OCV -10 is usually negative (which isn't really an improvement) but DCV + 10 will be positive nearly always. If and When 6th edition (or 5.5 ) hits the scene, I'd like to see this made official (along with equivalent skill check changes).

Too. Much. Information! On a less...informative...note: Bryan's Big Bag of Stuff: This ordinary-looking leather bag holds a surprising amount of goods: nearly half a ton of gear can be placed within the cavernous interior of this bag. Bag: Vehicle-like object; STR 20 [10 pts], BODY 10, Size (1 hex), DEF 2, No END (+1/2) Persistent (+1/2) and Full IPE for STR (+1) [20 pts], Full IPE for Size (+1) [0 pts] Disadvantage: Small Opening [infrequently, Slightly 5 pts]; 'Vehicle' isn't capable of moving or acting [0 pts] Total Vehicle Cost: 25/5 = 5 pts [The Invisible Power Effects to cancel Mass/Size was suggested by either Star Hero or TUV, I forget which. I simply dropped DEX, SPD and MOVE since it really isn't a vehicle. It'd actually be cheaper to buy them back, but I think that would be silly]

I kind of assumed that the skills are 'real' but not necessarily useful outside. For one thing, the real bodies of the hackers aren't all that fit (hey, they spend all day laying on their backs!) Also, I suspect that they derived their kung-fu program from Hong Kong action theater (which isn't known for usable real-world techniques). Along the same lines, Trinity probably really could fly a V212 helicopter--if she had one. Actually, that makes me think: why do they have programs for all these different things (like vehicles)? Maybe the technology was originally developed by the military to reduce training costs/time?

Tim, that is rather evil! but I think I can turn it up a notch: The little girl (in the absense of her mentor/bear) can't actually control her power at all, causing continous and massive damage to the surrondings (and possibly threatening her own life, either through collatoral damage or burn out).

If the, er, scrotal drumming (ow. ow. ow.) is actually a hypnotic effect, wouldn't that actually be mind control? say, area of effect and megascale? This is probably the strangest thread I've ever seen...