Mortuorum`

Re: Opinions Sought: Limitations that great additional function

Howzabout the classic "holy aura" type power... Ya know... say a 2d6 RKA, no range AOE radius continuous, Only vs "Evil" creatures (-1/2 to -1, depending on definition)...

A pretty classic paladin/angel/holy avenger type power... with a fairly stock limitation that gives the player a point break for a limitation that effectively combines the useful parts of selective, personal immunity and a detect.

Any Limitation that effectively means "doesn't hurt my enemies" is a flat-out Bozo no-no. In fact, I wouldn't even allow it as an Advantage (or if I did, it'd be huge). If you want an AoE that doesn't affect "evil" or whatever, you need to buy the Advantage Selective Targeting and a linked Detect/Sense for the quality you want to use as a determinant for who is and isn't affected by the attack.

I'd probably allow a -1/2 Limitation on the Selective Targeting Advantage, though.

Re: Do Lower Powered Player Characters Lead To More Roleplaying?

Lower-powered characters do not automatically make for more or better roleplaying. That said, a GM has more tools to encourage roleplaying in a lower-powered campaign.

A team of lower-powered character perforce must cover for each-others' shortcomings. This leads to teamwork. The challenge then is to encourage the teamwork to be roleplayed.

With some groups, this is not necessary. When you have a group of capital-"r" Roleplayers at the table, this follows naturally. However, many players would rather take the quicker but (IMO) less-desirable approach of making plans and discussing tactics out-of-character. This is a perfect opportunity for the GM to encourage the players to take the conversation in-character.

This approach can be used for reconnaissance, breaking into an enemy base, combat or just the characters ordering a pizza at the end of a busy day.

Also, in my experience, in a high-powered campaign, players tend to assume that combat is the answer to everything. In a lower-powered campaign, the players are more likely to consider a roleplaying solution. To an extent, this is an example of metagame thinking, but it would make sense that the characters would be as aware of their limitations as the players and behave accordingly.

This is not to say that the GM of a cosmic power-level campaign cannot occasionally throw an encounter at the players that they cannot beat just by coordinating energy blasts, but in this type of campaign, the results of such bad judgment are more likely to have world-altering consequences that the GM must be prepared to deal with.

Re: In Real World Terms...

If one dc equates roughly to double energy then even a 50mt nuke might have problems with 40rdef' date=' that a billion times stonger than tempered steel.[/quote']I understand your point, but don't completely agree. Allow me to elaborate.

 

I did a little more research and realized that -- while it's not as explosive as I initially thought -- TNT still packs quite a whallop. I estimated that a pound would do about 6d6 damage. A modern 10-megaton nuke by definition does damage equivalent to 20 trillion pounds of TNT. (10 megatons x 1,000,000 megatons/ton x 2000 tons per pound = 20,000,000,000 pounds). 20 trillion is roughly 2^34, so (logically) 10 megatons of TNT would do 6+34 = 40d6. Just barely enough to stress 40 DEF on an average roll. (A larger nuke would certainly do the trick, assuming the target was fairly close to ground zero.)

 

Lo and behold, in my searching, I stumbled across this chart. The author postulates that TNT does more damage than I credit; he would have a pound (~500 grams) doing 16d6, and concludes that 8 Mt would do 50d6 -- certainly enough to put a hurting on our 40 DEF brick.

 

(I'm going to assume his results are more accurate than mine; after all, he has an official-looking chart.)

 

Now, you definitely have a valid argument regarding 40 DEF on a vehicle. That's just plain wrong. I'd generalize and say that Hero vehicle DEFs are unrealistically high.

 

in simple terms the nuke is equvalent to 2kg of tnt (relatively speaking), how far wouls steel statue have to be from the epicenter of a 2kg TNT blast to aviod damage, couple of meters? size of a bomb casing.

Uh no, that's 2 kilotons, not two kilograms. Huge difference.

Re: In Real World Terms...

What in the real world can damage def 40 material

 

Nothing

 

not even a nuke

Depends on the nuke. A Hiroshima-class (20-kiloton) Uranium fission bomb probably wouldn't, assuming he had the requisite Immunity to Radiation Life Support. A sufficiently large deuterium-tritium fusion bomb would certainly do well in excess of 40 ED. While there's no theoretical upper limit to the size of a fusion bomb, the largest one ever actually detonated had a yield of 50 megatons. Given that the US H-Bomb test at Bikini Atoll (a "mere" 13.6 megatons) "vapourised two islands, half of a third one, and millions of tonnes of sand, coral and sea and plant life" and left a crater with an 1800-meter diamater(Guiness Book of World Records), I'm going to guess a 50-megaton device would probably do the trick.

(can some one tell me about the real world 6d6rka flame thrower, thats one that burns throuh a foot of tempered steel in 1 second. just curious)

Re: [Newbie] Is desolidification truly unbalancing ?

It's scouting with desolid that can really blow a GMs plans in many campaigns, unless he's willing to give many major bad guys hide-outs with ADSO walls. Again, there are campaigns where this won't be a problem, and where the GM has actually based a plot point on having Desolid Guy find something by going through a wall.

 

Talk it over with your GM, and see how he feels about it.

Lots of Shrinking can have the same result.

Re: A Modern League of Extroardinary Gentlemen

My biggest issue with all of these many, many, many, many (zzzz!) suggestions is that they're largely cinema and TV. While I appreciate that this is the modern story-telling medium, it just seems that as the original League were based on literary characters, so too should the modern league.

 

As such, I'd rule out such characters as Buffy and Neo (who in any case should be disqualified from the league purely because in 100 years time people will be saying "What's a Buffy?". There. That's bound to upset a few applecarts )

[...]

Firstly, many of the characters featured in League were not considered "literature" at the time, but mindless entertainment for the unwashed masses. It's only after 100+ years of hindsight that these works are considered classics. Thus, it's wholly appropriate, when constructing a modern League, to include characters from today's most popular media: television and film. Perhaps the League of the '00s should include Gordon Freeman and Master Chief; I spsuect that more people today are familiar with their exploits than -- say -- Nora Sinclair. (And I did not pick this book at random; it's the current New York Times Bestseller.)

Secondly, it's impossible to guess what contemporary fictional characters, regardless of medium of presentation, will be considered significant 100 years from now. Perhaps Buffy -- or even Michael Knight -- will be viewed with the same reverence attributed by modern scholars to Tom Sawyer. (I doubt it, but you never know.) Speculation is probably futile, but I can pretty much guarantee that the works from our lifetimes that will be remembered by posterity will not be the ones that we think will. (The only one I'd bet money on is Harry Potter.)

Re: Props and your PCs

That's funny' date=' I think I have the exact same sound effects compilation. I bought it for sampling (which you're not supposed to do with it, but ah well).[/quote']Fair use, homes, as long as you don't receive profit from derivative works.

Re: What would your character LIKE TO do?

Impact: Wants to abdicate from the ruling oligarchy of Overworld and finish medical school.

Demon: Wants some quality time alone with his wine cellar.

Quantum: Wants to complete the Grand Unified Theory.

Strife: Wants to graduate high school and find out where her grandfather's "magic" sword really came from.

Eon: Wants to overthrow Earth's alien overlords.

51: Wants her PBEM game to finish so she can get on with her life!

Re: How do you track END?

Keep it simple. Scratch paper. I supply notepads for all my playes for keeping track of END/STUN/BODY, passing notes and other purposes.

And I'd eat all the m&ms.

Re: Request for plot ideas for an Anarchist villain team.

Anarchy: It's not the law, it's just a good idea!

Re: IHA Help

Mothers Alliance for Saving Humanity (MASH)

Campus Crusade Against Vigilantism

Secular Alliance for the Preservation of Humanity

Re: Classes of Minds

OK, so to recap what I think is the sentiment of most present...

If you're a machine, but are self-aware (Mechanon), you have a human-class mind.

If you're an animal, but are evolved to human-level intelligence (Dr. Silverback), you have a human-class mind.

If you're an alien, but are of a mentality that is essentially human-like (Ironclad), you have a human-class mind.

If you're a PC and you fall into one of the above categories, you have a human-class mind.

If you can be affected by mental powers that affect human-class minds and another class of mind, it is a Disadvantage.

Is that about right?

Re: Request for plot ideas for an Anarchist villain team.

Why does a group of anarchists need a leader?

(Yes, I know. That's a joke.)

Re: Request for plot ideas for an Anarchist villain team.

If you haven't seen Fight Club (or read the book), do so. I guarantee you will find Tyler Durden's philosophy useful in understanding the motivations and methods of an anarchist.

Most of these guys sound like they'd have more of a beef with the Federal Government than with the State Government. I'd reckon they're probably split on the local government thing with half of them in favor of local government and half in favor of true lawlessness. Given that assumption (which may not be correct, but probably is), they'd be more likely to go after targets that everyone in the group would agree on: Fereral Reserve banks, district court buildings, offices of the FBI, military recruiting offices (or bases, if they're feeling ambitious) and the like. Maybe an assassination attempt on the President or other high-level functionary (damn you, Secretary of Transportation!) when they're in town.

With this group, they'd probably be violently anti-big business, as well. (Hell, the heroes might not even want to thwart them if they went after Haliburton's San Angelo office.) Targets would include money-center banks, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and pretty much any corporation with close ties to the Government.

Re: Meta-game activities

1. I have a particular problem with this with one player; he's also my best role-player and a good friend. My solution has been to give my players one "freebie", where they can say "just kidding" and I warn them that -- from now on -- I'm going to consider remarks like that made in-character.

I liked owl wife of SS' "hand-raising" solution (Rep to you!) and plan to start using something like that.

2. I subscribe to the "it's not a bug, it's a feature" philosophy on this issue. RPGs come from wargaming roots, and Hero doesn't fall far from the tree. If a player character would not be able to perceive an opponent and the player uses metagame tactical knowledge, then I explain that they can't act on knowledge their character doesn't possess and they're OK with that. If an opponent is as-yet unperceived, I make a mental note of where they are and don't put their figure on the board until a PC is aware they're there.

3. This is really two separate issues: non-gaming chatter and inappropriate discussion of tactics.

Non-gaming chatter doesn't bother me. In any given evening, we spend about 3/4 of our time gaming and 1/4 goofing around. It doesn't bother my players and it doesn't bother me; we're all friends and gaming is as much a pretext to get together as it is an end in itself.

OTOH, tactical discussion bothers the heck out of me. I strictly disallow any tactical discussion "on-the-fly", unless a character has Tactics skill. If that's the case (and they make a successful skill roll), I will allow the player of the character with tactics to give brief instructions to the other players. The pretext for this is that the tactician has called out something like "Maneuver Omega-13!" and that the other characters will know what that means.

4. This usually hasn't been a problem for my players. When it does happen, I say "nope" and we all soldier on.

Re: Limitation Value

Due to crappy writing... yeah. I just look at examples of Magneto' date=' Cosmic Boy, et al... and try to find how often have their powers really be ineffective.[/quote']There was a bit back in (I think) Infinity Inc where Metal Master (?) was surprised that his powers didn't work against movie props; they were only wood, fibreglass and cardboard painted to look like metal. That struck me as pretty funny at the time.

 

Rarely, if at all... the movie being the best example. I mean... how the heck does a magnetic field stop Cyclops' blast... but Magneto has done that since issue #1.

Well, logically magnetic powers would be useful against plasma, since magnetic fields are used to "bottle" it. However, that's not the SFX for Cyclops' blast, so you got me!

 

No limitation beyond the rare game effect for SFX. That's how I'd rule it. YMMV.

Well, as GM I plan to be a little more restrictive than Bryan Singer, so I'll probably make it a -1/2.

Re: Looking for Western HERO Pics

Both Marvel and DC have a rich history of western heroes. For example, Marvel had the Phantom Rider, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid. DC had Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, Cinnamon, Nighthawk and, of course, Johnny Thunder, among others.

A Google image search should turn up a great many images for these characters, assuming this is what you're looking for. The links I provided are represenattive and there are probably much better images out there than these.

Re: Classes of Minds

That's the spirit!

Re: Limitation Value

Due to crappy writing and sloppy editing, Magneto's been shown in the comics to do all kinds of things that make obsolutely no sense for his power set, so he was probably a bad example. :

I didn't catch that they were lead bullets in the movie; I assumed they were steel-jacketed. (I freely admit that I don't know much about firearms.)

So, assume that I'm talking about a power that really only actually affects things that would be affected by a strong magnetic field.

There are a significant number of characters in the comics that have magnetic powers: Magneto, Cosmic boy and Polaris, just to name a few. What would the Telekinesis Limitation: Only vs. Ferrous/Magnetic Materials be worth in a typical supers campaign? I was thinking a -1/2, maybe -3/4, but could be persuaded otherwise.

Re: Classes of Minds

Does this seem fair? So far in my entire campaign only one character (an NPC) has had mental abilities that affect machines. I will likely introduce one or two more as the game progresses, but it will still be rare to run into one. Standard mentalists, though still not common, are certainly something the group has to face on a much more regular basis.

 

Thoughts?

It doesn't really seem fair to me unless you charge human PCs 100 points for being immune to mental powers that affect machines.

If you feel you must charge some amount, I'd charge him something in the 20-point range. But charging 100 points? For that same number of points, he could buy 125 points of Mental DEF, Not vs. Machine Class Mental Powers (-1/4). That means, on average, he wouldn't be affected by any power that does less than 36d6. Do you have any mentallist villains in your campaign that have 36d6 attacks?

Re: Say somthing clever... PLEASE!

Those of you who are my arch-enemies (or to whom I have become a nemesis) you have to be REALLY clever... but you can earn rep too!

At what point do you stop being a Rival and turn into a Hunted?

Re: Ring Ring go away....

Just because he doesn't have the skills to repair them' date='doesn't make them unbreakable. What is the origin of the rings themselves? [/quote']The rings were alien artifacts he found on a crashed spaceship. IIRC, he had to adapt them to their present use after spending time studying the alien tech, so he does presumably have the expertise to repair them if they get damaged.

 

OTOH, as far as I know they've never actually been destroyed or even damaged and their components are effectively irreplacable, so if I were the Mandarin's player, I'd say that they were indestrucable foci.

 

As ar as buying them goes, I don't have my rulebook handy, but I think technically you'd have to buy the multipower itself without the Focus Limitation and then apply an OIF Limitation to each slot. Speaking as a GM, I'd allow a player with this FX to apply the OIF Limitation to the entire Multipower.

 

EDIT: Here is the Marvel Directory entry for the Mandarin, which contains a nice synopsis of his history and his rings' powers.

Re: Champions Universe Help

Thanks to everyone who answered! While Psiphon doesn't completely meet my needs, he's pretty cool and I'll be using him (and tangentially the rest of the MC8) in this particular plot thread. So, I'll be writing up my own character to fill this particular role.

I'll post a summary of the plot after it's resolved.

Re: Nudity and Sex in comics books

This is a classic case of confusing medium and genre, something clueless politicions are going all the time. "Comics are for kids; they shouldn't have nudity!". "Videogames are for kids; they shouldn't have violence!". "RPGs are for kids; they shouldn't contain non-Christian references to religion!"

It's all nonsense, of course. Nobody (except a few extremist nutcases) says that books or film shouldn't contain any adult material. Yet other media (the kinds that don't appeal the mainstream America) are somehow supposed to be different from "traditional" media, despite the fact that their primary demographic is beyond the age of majority.