Mortuorum`

Re: Stupid question

I have nothing insightful to add except that this might be a good question for the "Rules Questions" board.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

We know everything

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Constantine?

 

(not the poster)

 

(but only works if you know the storyline...)

Or Marc Remillard from Julian May's excellent Galactic Milieu series. Seems to be a recurring theme in literature.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I recently trimmed my bread down to a goatee. And since evil twins ALWAYS have a goatee.....

I used to be an evil twin; now I'm an evil only child. Bwa-ha!

Re: Need ideas for a medical/doctor type hero.

It's the Drain vs. DEX that would have those effects.

 

Flash vs. Touch just makes you auto-fail your Touch PER Rolls. So unless you use Touch as a Ranged Targeting Sense it doesn't have much of an effect in combat.

I don't have my 5ER handy, but I believe there were other combat effects from having no sense of touch; reduced OCV, maybe? I would definitely incorporate a DEX Drain into an an anesthesia-based attack.

I would also suggest that you incorporate a visor into your medical battlesuit. N-Ray (X-Ray), Telescopic, Infrared and Microscopic Vision would be very handy to someone administering emergency battlefield triage, as would a radio to request emergency medivac.

Re: A "tactics elemental"

A character with "ridiculous tactical genius" would presumably have an intuitive grasp of any battlefield situation and the ability to translate that grasp into a workable plan that could efficiently be conveyed to teammates. Once enacted by the team, they should have an advantage outmaneuvering their opponents.

Generally, it's not really necessary to simulate a tactical grasp of the battlefield, since the GM already does that by providing a handy-dandy map of the battle location, complete with figures/markers showing where all the combatants are. For those combatants that are invisible, distant or otherwise hard to see, Danger Sense, possibly in conjunction with Linked N-Ray Vision, could help improve the character's grasp of where exactly his opponents are.

I'd probably go with: Danger Sense XX- (where XX- is the same as the Character's Tactics Skill Roll), Sense, In/Out of Combat, With All Senses, Immediate Vicinity & General Area

I allow a character with Tactics skill to (on a successful roll) give quick IG commands that allow the player to convey detailed instructions. For example, on a successful roll, Captain Battle could yell out "Maneuver T-4!" and then his player could say OOC, "Fred, you lay down suppression fire while Jane moves around to flank Ogre." If your GM doesn't allow this, you could buy Mind Link, RSR: Tactics, Incantations to do the same thing.

Reasoning from effects, you'd want to make your teammates harder to hit or make your opponents easier to hit or both. Some kind of DEX Aid, as you suggested, would do the trick. That said, it takes an attack action to use, only affects one target at a time, and you still have to roll to hit them. This is unsatisfying. If I were GMing this character, I'd suggest a Change Environment that adds to OCV and DCV, RSR: Tactics, Incantations. Making it selective (you choose which persons in the area of effect are affected) would probably be a +1/2 Advantage. Hmm... I don't have my book -- would it need Invisible Power Effects?

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Did you ever read Bob Burden's "Dreams of the Midngiht Taco Fiend" (or such) which was inspired by the similar Welsh Rarebit dream strip that' date=' oh dang it, what's-his-name who did Little Nemo way way back did? (I'd check the name, but in a hurry)[/quote']Nope, missed it.

 

Little Nemo was Winsor McCay.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

No more late night Taco Bell for you!

Re: CCG's and MMORPG's . . .

Tae Kwon Dan is right. There are simply a lot more nerd activities available to kids today than when us old folks were teenagers. Collectable card games (Magic, Pokemon, etc.), miniatures gaming (HeroCLix, Mage Knight, Star Wars, etc.), videogames and computer games all compete with RPGs for the young geek's time and money. The kids you do see at cons are much more likely to be playing something besides a pen-and-paper RPG.

For my campaign, I need a heroic NPC mentallist. I can create my own, of course, but would prefer to use one that already exists in CU canon. Ideally, he (or she) would have psionic powers (at minimum Telepathy or Mind Control) and be on good terms with PRIMUS. It would be even better if they were a PRIMUS, FBI or other law-enforcement agent, but that's not strictly necessary.

Thanks!

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

I couldn't let #5000 come and go with no fanfare.

Ta da!

Re: Sunspot clone - OIHID - Instant Change

Time for my two cents.

I believe that a Sunspot-like character should get the OIHID Limitation at -1/2 for powers that only occur in their (small-t) transformed state. That said, I would reduce it a -0 Limitation if there was no readily discernable difference between the character in his hero ID or if the character spent a majority of their time in their hero ID -- for example, She-Hulk before she lost the ability to transform to her human-looking form altogether. What's the quote? "A Limitation that does not limit the character is worth no points."

Re: Drugs YAY Drugs

You'll need someone to manufacture it and someone to distribute it. It can be the same entity, but it doesn't have to be. In my campaign, the new Purple Gang (see the Millennium City Source Book) is behind the distribution of Kick. I haven't made up my mind yet who manufactures it; the players haven't gotten nearly far enough along in that plotline for me to have to make a determination.

Distributors could be traditional organized crime (la casa nostro), an organized gang (bloods, crips, etc.), a Jamaican posse, the triads, the tongs, motorcycle gangs, Russian mafia or something even more esoteric. It depends on the tone of your campaign and what makes sense for your masterminds, Tempest and Backlash.

Re: Props and your PCs

I try to find miniatures that reasonably-well represent my PCs and NPCs. I also use a fair number of pictures, mostly from HeroMaker, since it really seems to give the PCs an idea of who they're interacting with.

Aside from that, I have a handout at the beginning of every game that is relevant to the campaign -- most often a school newsletter (the PCs are students) or a list of headlines and related news stories. Some of the news stories are for "flavor", some foreshadow future scenarios and some have a direct bearing on the present game.

I also use Matchbox cars in street battles. They're easy to move around and fit my battlemat's scale pretty well.

I don't do a lot with music; I have a ten-month old and don't want to give the players something to have to talk over. I've never created a prop for a macguffin, although it's something I've considered.

Re: Drugs YAY Drugs

I have a similar drug in my campaign called "kick", although it confers Enraged and Substance Dependance instead of a Psych Lim. I didn't even bother writing up the drug at the level of detail that you did, just a note that it adds 20 points in Powers and confers the two Disads. (The Enraged: Combat kicks in right away and the Substance Dependance kicks in after three uses.)

If you don't like "kick", how about "boost" or "hype"?

Re: Fuzion

Mayfair's Exponential Gaming System' date=' not Marvel's.[/quote']

D'oh!

 

That'll teach me to not post and sniff glue at the same time.

 

That's the one. Mayfair also used a modified version of the MEGS system for their game, Underground.

Re: Fuzion

Fuzion just couldn't define the character well enough for me to continue playing it. If I wanted to simplify my supers game I would go with MEGS.

For those not familiar with the term, MEGS = Marvel's Exponential Gaming System; it's the system used in the old DC-Heroes RPG and the currently-in-publication Blood of Heroes RPG.

It's a relatively simple system to play in, but the game scale is much coarser than Hero's.

Re: Hardened vs. AP

Well' date=' that's kinda the whole point. "Every offense should have a defense, and the defense should be cheaper" is one of the metarules of the HERO System. AP is the offense; Hardened is the defense. The defense is cheaper. [/quote']

 

Exactly so. Otherwise (using Phil's logic), Flash Defense and Power Defense should cost 5 points per point of defense. Defenses in HERO are cheaper than their corresponding attack power.

Re: Supervillain Images

First of all a big hooray to HeroMachine for letting people like me without any artistic ability whatsoever create reasonable visual aids.

I needed an old-school villain with a "mental amplificaion helmet" and -- voila! -- Mentallo:

Re: Early "What do you want to see?" for Teen Champions

How many points did you allow for Disads?

The upper limit was 100, but I encouraged players to keep it at about 80 or so. Since teen heroes shouldn't generally have a lot of reputations, harsh hunteds and the like, it can actually be pretty difficult scraping up 100 points.

Attack powers are in the 7-9 DC range, so a 160-total point character is actually pretty viable.

Re: The Champions Do they suck?

Random Thoughts:

 

Primary Purpose of Champions: Example of a super team for players

 

Secondary Purpose: To act as the important tewam in the Champs Universe (Avengers/JLA like role)

Actually, Primary Purpose: To serve as examples of how to create characters for newbies.

Not everyone has been playing Champions/the Hero system for 20+ years. The Champions are an example of relatively simple archetypal characters that new players can look to as sample characters and they serve that purpose well.

Would I want to play them? No, not really. They're a little too simple for my tastes and I don't really like gaming at the 350-point level; I find lower-powered characters (who can't afford to be completely balanced offensively and defensively) to be a lot more interesting.

Re: Early "What do you want to see?" for Teen Champions

I've actually just started running my "Hero High" campaign and am (for obvious reasons) really looking forward to Teen Champions. What I'd like to see:

#1: Plot Ideas! Many generic superhero plots simply don't work for kid heroes. I liked how the Millennium City sourcebook had story ideas associated with the various elements (locations, NPCs, etc.) of Millennium City and would like to see something similar with TC. Teen heroes are also more subplot-prone (see "angst") and I'd like to see some suggestions along these lines.

#2: Antagonists. Teen heroes are not adult heroes and have different antagonists. The two archetypes that occur to me immediately are "teen villains" and "the adult who Doesn't Get It."

#3: Teen Champions in Different Time Periods. In the '70s, teen heroes were in their hayday. In the '80s, they got grim-n-gritty. Now, the future's looking brighter again, but (as with adult heroes) a more realistic slant.

#4: Teen Heroes at Different Power Levels: Teen Heroes aren't generally going to be built on the same point totals as their adult counterparts. (In fact, im my campaign, they're built on an 80-point base.) Suggestions for scaling campaigns for different power levels would be helpful.

#5: Ravenwood Academy Source Book. Ravenwood (or is it Ravenswood?) probably doesn't merit an entire sourcebook of its own, but a chapter or two on the CU's premiere teen hero setting would be helpful... and is probably inevitable.

#6: Teen Heroes and the World: Teens are subject to a number of limitations and protections that do not apply to adults. Steve Long always presents super-related legal issues in an interesting and imaginitive way and I'l like to see his take on superteens and the law. Also, I'd like to see info on how teen heroes are viewed by PRIMUS, DOSPA, UNTIL, DoJ, and the other major heroes of the CU.

Just my six cents.

Re: OIF for Powered Armor why?

The fact that a player might have disabled' date=' broken, taken away, or not with him armor 1/3 of the time is a real possiblity. As I said above, it's not that difficult to disable part of Defender's armor. A 2.5d6 AP RKA will do it, and that's not anything more than a 60 AP attack. [/quote']

 

I had a battlesuit Villain ("Battlelash") whose motivation was taking out other powered armor characters. A HKA with Armor Piercing and Penetrating will make short work of any powered armor suit... and usually the person wearing it.

Re: Breaking through a force wall of 50PD/ED Hardened

Well' date=' you could allow them to coordinate. Normally that wouldn't have scratch all effect on BODY, you could rule otherwise against inanimate objects.[/quote']

 

I've done this. (House Rule Alert)

 

Take the maximum BODY rolled and add 1 for each additional attacker that successfully coordinated and hit the target.