CTaylor

Re: spells and active cost It might be worth dropping the Requires Skill Roll limitation entirely (or give it zero limitation) and just consider it a campaign feature for magic.

At present, magic skill roll modifier and mana (END) cost are based off of active cost (active cost/10). That's standard for Hero rules, but it brings up a few oddities. For example, a spell that is incredibly limited and has very few possible uses will still be hard to cast and cost a lot of mana if it has a large active cost. For example a 10D6 blast that only works on albino whales during midnight on a full moon. That's unbelievably specific and specialized, but still really tough to cast. As I conceptualize magic, the more specific and limited a spell is, the less difficult it ought to be to cast. In addition, the more focus type components a spell's casting has, the easier it should be to cast. So if a spell has few limitations it should be harder to cast than one with gestures, incantation, some powder that burns up when its used, extra time, etc. In superheroic games it makes more sense to use active cost, because generally speaking you won't have a ton of limitations and the concept is different than magic. So it seems to me that spells maybe ought to have their mana cost and skill roll modifier based on the REAL cost (after all limitations) rather than the active cost. The real cost is what you get after all those limitations. Sure, Albino Whale Bane it still is a 10D6 blast, and technically it is a 50 active cost spell but conceptually it shouldn't be hard to cast or expensive. If you used the real cost (as paid for by the mage, so /3 in most systems) as the magic skill roll modifier and mana cost, you'd make the magic somewhat easier to use, but it would reflect the above ideas. The problems I could foresee would include: -people purchasing 87 boutique spells (THIS one only works on elf mages, and THIS one only works on elf rangers and THIS one only works on...) but since you have to pay actual character points each spell, that seems like it would be a limited concern. -the power level of mages would grow. You could have a 9D6 fireball because you could get the cost of something like that down to around 10 points, which translates to about 3 mana and -3 skill roll. -the active cost really is the actual power level of the spell: a 3D6 Killing attack with armor piercing and autofire really is worth 90 points, even if it only works once a day and requires a host of limitations. Just wondered what your thoughts were on the matter.

Re: Serial Campaign Episode There is a role playing system online that is dedicated to the idea of television shows, any kind of show, but I can't find the link now. It had some great tips on how to build a game like that and several different ongoing games, maybe someone here has more info.

Re: Another "extinct" critter Soft tissue eyeballs do not fossilize, period. The only reason compound eyes do is because they are shelled in with exoskeleton (like an ant). This thing doesn't look like it has fossilized eyeballs, it looks like a freakin' muppet. I pity the artist that has to try to reproduce a squashed distorted, mangled image like that, but the picture is just ridiculous.

Re: DC-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act? First, the question was what right was taken away by registration, to which the answer is "none." The original poster is talking about an entirely different topic, which would be absurd and impossible to enforce (let alone pass). Second, while that's discrimination, discrimination is not inherently bad or evil: discrimination is merely choosing between different things based on their characteristics. If you date Mary instead of Jane, you're discriminating between them; in one sense, having discriminating taste was considered a virtue. It is only wrong when you discriminate unjustly and unethically: say, you date Mary because she's blonde and you think any other hair color is inhuman and evil. Third, merely being born with something does not mean that it is wrong to register you for having this ability. We register all children as they're born (ever heard of a birth certificate?) with any abilities whatsoever. The point stands, merely registering unusual, powerful abilities beyond the human norm is not a violation of rights and not an unreasonable thing for a society to do.

Re: DC-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act? What right does making you register take away? You have to register all kinds of things now for far less destructive or dangerous things: your marriage, your taxes, your ability to fish or drive. Buy a gun, you have to register. Have a child, you have to register him (social security number) to get the child tax credit. Able to walk through walls? Gotta register.

Re: Odd Defense construct Not really any more invulnerability than just buying defenses. If you buy 42 PD, then you can ignore a 12D6 PD attack. If you buy 12D6 of soak, you reduce the attack to 0D6: same effect.

Re: Odd Defense construct That is a very similar concept, almost identical actually. Great minds and all that, I guess.

Re: Another "extinct" critter Did some Hanna Barbera guy draw that picture? What idiot thinks that giant, bulbous, muppet-like eyeballs fossilize?

Re: Odd Defense construct Only if you get both PD and ED with that cost. Then how much is it to just get one defense?

Re: Odd Defense construct Yeah that's the problem with the direct reduction, it makes you effectively invulnerable to anything equal to or lower than the "soak" effect. That's a bit too absolute for hero usually.

Re: Odd Defense construct Armor probably is the most accurate comparison, since the default DEFENSE build costs no END. However, the writeup I did presumed it only protected against one defense (PD or ED) so with those points you'd have 40 PD armor and take only 2 stun from a physical attack. The reason I broke it up into single defenses was so that the cost would be closer to present levels and you could more easily build it as alternate defenses such as ego, power, and flash defense. Now if only I could think of a way to build power defense so that protecting yourself from being turned into a newt didn't also make you protected from poison, disease, radiation, and having your soul sapped and losing EGO. And yeah, this would slow things down some but the damage class reduction idea is intriguing....

Re: Odd Defense construct Well the reason I went with 3 points per D6 is that 5 points would actually make it vastly expensive to protect yourself against both energy and physical attacks to any reliable degree. Far more than the present rules give us. Sure, you could buy a really cheap force field (costs END, not persistent, visible) but then you can buy a really cheap 1 defense force field now, as I pointed out.

Re: Odd Defense construct Yeah, comic book abilities seem very static and consistent (unless they are specifically and deliberately stated to be random and unreliable). I don't know how much use this would be but it certainly would be interesting if nothing else.

Re: DC-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act? Actually the concept is to make failure to register their unusual abilities illegal, not the powers themselves. But in practical terms, use of powers to commit a crime carrying a heavier penalty is probably easier to enforce.

I haven't used this nor am I thinking of it as an actual house rule, but that heading seemed the closest to what I had in mind. What if you built defenses to work like attacks instead of static amounts? In other words, you bought dice of defense and applied the result to the attacks rather than a predetermined, set, and reliable amount of defense. It could look something like this: DEFENSE Cost: 3 points per D6 When the attack hits a character, they roll their defensive dice to see how much they are protected. The dice are counted as a normal attack, rendering stun and body, and that is how much of each damage from the given attack the defense protects. This defense ordinarily would protect against both killing and normal attacks, but only against one defense: PD or ED, for example. Modifers: Unusual defense (for example flash defense or power defense): -1/4 Resistant Only (only count the body): -1 1/2 Force field would take limitations so it would not be persistent, cost END, and was visible. Power defense would be an unusual, single defense. For a 60 active point campaign, that gives you 20D6 against one attack (PD) which makes you virtually immune to the given damage on average - but then, a 60 point PD-only force field vs only PD would have virtually the same result. GMs would have to keep an eye on the DEFENSE power to make sure it was not bought over the campaign limits. It would cost 60 points for 10D6 against both PD and ED, but that gives you an average 35 for both, and a potential 60. I don't know why anyone would do this or what use it would be for a character build but it would make combat a bit more interesting, sometimes you'd roll low and get lousy defenses. Sometimes you'd roll high and be practically invulnerable.

Re: Favorite 60-point Power Construction Cumulative works funny with continuous adjustment powers so yeah that might work.

Re: The Mystery of the Corvallis Contrail Of course, the conspiracy theorists are seizing on this as proof that the government is spraying us with chemicals that cause morgellon's and lung diseases.

Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found You have to love peleontologists: Gee, that's pretty confident talk from someone who just found a few bones. What color was it and did it like long walks on the beach too?

Re: Favorite 60-point Power Construction Transfers make some fun powers. Transferring strength to strength (AE) is a pretty nasty ability. Even at low levels it can be pretty potent stuff in a hurry, particularly against agents. For 60 points you can get 1/2D6 of 0 END cost AE megahex, continuous, uncontrolled transfer with +20 points of maximum effect, that will jack your strength up by 26 points (and with a nice 18 or so base, that gets you up past Spider-man territory). It is a nice add on to a basic martial artist template, one of my favorite types of builds: the Martial Artist Plus...

Re: DC-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act? I actually don't think this sort of legislation is such a horrific burden or attack on tyranny, to be honest.

Re: Favorite 60-point Power Construction Well there is some precedent in games, movies, books, and so on for naked powers like one that only stuns and one that only knocks people flying. You can build that kind of thing with hero but I wonder if some strange construct that lets you do it like naked advantages wouldn't be useful. For example you could make a structure that would cause bleeding, based on a killing attack that didn't do any actual damage. Or a knockback attack based on a blast that did no actual damage but did the knockback. Instead of buying the attack and then lots of limitations to represent this effect, you have some construct rule that lets you buy "naked effects." Just an odd thought.

Re: Favorite 60-point Power Construction There's a reason the "does knockback" advantage is in the rules, and it isn't because we should only use powers that already do knockback to simulate being knocked around.

Re: GMing Luck The way we run luck is a bit different than the book. I give everyone 3D6 of luck and unluck, but the effects are a bit less than the book reads. That way in any situation where luck will be a major factor (dropped something, trying not to fall off a wire, playing cards, etc) the party or character in question gets a roll. 1 level of luck is something minor (I found a dollar in the gutter!) 2 levels is pretty amazing coincidence in your favor (a beautiful woman ffifty dollars, gave it to me because she thought I dropped it, and gave me her number!) and 3 levels is astonishing good fortune (I found a brick of fifties and a winning lotto ticket, then the Hawaiian Tropics bus stopped and invited me in to be their oil boy!). People who buy more luck or unluck get the extra dice to push this along, and often that affects the whole party, since the guy with the most luck rolls for the luck and the guy with the most unlucky rolls for the unluck if the party is involved. I also write up events in prepared adventures with luck/unluck in mind. For example, if a rickety bridge is being crossed, roll luck/unluck to see if a plank breaks or the whole thing gives way. Any levels of luck mean the bridge is secure, and maybe even breaks when enemies are crossing it. Or an item that is small and in a pile of other stuff might take luck to find, and unluck finds a spider instead. I find this more useful than the system as written, which presumes no luck or unluck for normal folks and like you say is a bit unclear at the high end.

Re: The Mystery of the Corvallis Contrail Yeah I saw that too, very odd looking.