SuperKlaus

Re: THE ULTIMATE SPEEDSTER -- What Do *You* Want To See? How about some quality art? I know color's out of reach, yeah, but black and white doesn't need to look as bad as it does in the hands of some of these fellows. If you reprint pictures, as I'm sure you will, please include the digitized-lookin' guy running up a building from "Champions" pg. 163 and the bicycle-helmeted guy using rapid-fire punches from UMA pg. 71. Those are favorites. On undeniably serious matters of content I support BobGreenwade: Seconded, all of these items. The coolest parts of Ultimate Brick were the little bits reminding me how many normal men a character could equal / the great things he could lift and I'll be a happy fan if you include plenty of keen powers for all different kinds of movement. I look forward to this.

Re: Yet another neophyte question... I honestly don't know why it's written as an RKA there. I'd think it's because HKAs add Strength in to their damage, which a laser sword would not, but it could and should be an HKA with the No STR Bonus Limitation for the exact same price. Unless of course there's some little detail I'm missing. Yes, the apparently repeated information is describing the Damage Shield (which I think is a silly waste of points and really ought to be covered under SFX and common sense but that's another matter). The Damage Shield is Linked to the main Killing Attack, indicating that it's only available for use when the Attack is in use. And I think putting "can be stopped by blocking with another energy blade" is stupid too, but that's irrelevant. Welcome to Hero, sir.

Re: Has anyone statted up the Prince yet? I would say the Katamari is an extraordinarily powerful Entangle with Sticky, AOE One Hex, Mobile and Personal Immunity. Simple as that. Sticky handles the growing aspect for you, AOE One Hex gives you a nice, fat starting Katamari, Mobile lets the Prince roll it around, and Personal Immunity, well, should be obvious. I was shocked to see worldly individuals such as Killer Shrike and Keith Curtis unfamiliar with Katamari Damacy! Then I remembered it's sort of a cult video game thing and lots of HEROphiles are old men

Re: So, Which One Are You? Are You Sure? Likely effect? Hilarious hijinx as the two adorable characters switch identities while getting their divorced parents to reconcile / trying to "go steady" with the cute boy in the camp across the lake. Give the PC bonuses if he goes ahead and calls himself either Mary-Kate or Ashley. Turn A Gundam is coming? Man I don't watch enough TV anymore...

Re: Combat Manuever: "Crack The Whip" I'd like to present a dissenting opinion. Ultimate Martial Artist is outstanding and my friends tell me Ultimate Vehicle's great too but I feel vaguely cheated about my purchase of Ultimate Brick. I bought it wondering if it could shake my idea that brick characters are a largely homogenous and boring lot and it pretty much failed. One or two concepts were neat but I'd seen them before in the "Champions" book and the expanded STR table offers some interesting trivia but I think I'd be happier with my money back (perhaps to be spent on the upcoming Ultimate Metamorph). I was also quite unhappy that all I got to see of the legendary Grond was a list of rather drab stats. Seems I need Conquerors, Killers and Crooks to get backstory and another picture. The sample characters are weak (in terms of imagination). Naturally it's all your choice and the book will indeed get you what you want regarding Crack the Whip. I just thought I'd offer my say.

Re: Star Wars - Balancing Jedi with everyone else and heroic vs. superheroic The problem there is that the lightsaber isn't so intensely hot as to destroy the bullet instantaneously. An attempt to block a slug with a saber might just mean that the Jedi now has a heated chunk of metal flying at him. I'm not saying Jedi could be beaten by slugs what with their ability to pull a Neo and say no to the bullets, but I don't think their lightsabers are the answer. Anyway, I want to join in giving you kudos for your idea, Greg. I had the very same thought when I considered doing Star Wars HERO. Please let us all know how well paying CP for gear works out.

Re: Another "New Guy" Story (Hmm, hmm, the new guy is posting all the things I saw and liked in HERO when I picked it up last year, one by one...SPD, END, and now Knockback...let's see if he posts "New Guy Likes PRE" to finish and then maybe "New Guy Likes PRE + Does Knockback.") kjamma, your characters were 16th level in D&D and they're fighting goblins? Wow. Don't misunderstand; I'm more envious than incredulous. If my 14th level D&D team (which I'm trying to talk into HERO) faced goblins, even class-leveled ones, they'd be insulted enough to riot. That's a big reason I want to move to HERO; when you're out of a level-based system, suddenly the GM's job of keeping the world appropriately threatening (not to mention logical!) is a lot easier. Is your GM (is that you?) really enjoying the HERO freedom as much as the players?

Re: But I want to play Champions This is simply astounding. I bet this is how patients in therapy feel when they come forward and discover that there are indeed others who know their suffering and can offer a shoulder. I've been doing the GMing for my little group of players for years and years and never especially liking it, but knowing like you guys that if I didn't GM there wouldn't be any game at all. Even during those glorious two years when I got to play in long Werewolf and Shadowrun games I couldn't find Champions unless I made it happen. And I still can't believe how many good nerds (that is, lovers of all manner of sci-fi, anime and fantasy) there are out there who inexplicably dislike superhero gaming. Oh, the livejournal-grade angst...

Re: Power Armor 'themes' Enjoy your rep, sir. More people in more forums should be helpful like you. And your sig rocks! I use it as a joke now to describe the incredible flexibility of HERO.

Re: Power Armor 'themes' Yeah, I kinda thought cold just made things brittle myself, but hey, I've got the idea in my head now. It'll be one of those "shh, it's a superhero world" things if any player asks, eh?

Re: The Treasure of Emperor Qin Wow! Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Michael Hopcroft. I know I'm going to want to use this someday but can't immediately and don't want to forget...is there a way to bookmark a thread? I can bookmark the article, but the thread contains great feedback from other gamers as well...

Re: Power Armor 'themes' If I may? The Argent Apostle of my group wears a suit of strange silver "life-metal" found in an alien wreck. It absorbs electricity and channels his own bio-electricity to blast people or heal them or stimulate them and improve DEX. It is also very receptive to brain-waves, giving the user a Mind Link power but a Vulnerability to Mental Powers. Cold Steel is a vaguely Mr. Freeze villain who combines the traditional armor with traditional ice concepts. I got the idea after seeing the note in Dark Champions about strengthening the metal in guns by subjecting them to low temperatures. He ices himself over and gets Hardened defenses as a naked Advantage that Costs END (provided I can do that, I haven't actually checked the book and made him yet). A currently unnamed armor hero (maybe Ironhide, after the Transformer) would have a suit built on steam principles with lots of nifty gas-venting pneumatic pumps and stuff. He'll be able to jump really high and use the pumps in the arms for mad crazy punches not unlike the Big O robot in the anime of the same name. As a bonus his "lower-tech" feel could make him a Golden Age or even Pulp character. Speaking of Golden Age, check out the Knight Owl in the old Golden Age Champions book if you can. He's a rockin' clockwork armor man with a name I honestly wish I'd thought of first. I like to tell myself these are all quite un-Iron-Manly.

Re: Let's hear it for villainous organizations Thanks a lot, everyone! I think Supreme Snake's is my favorite. I can make the "Maleficent Seven" superteam I had planned into the organization's leaders and have each one be from a different continent, or something (Poor Antartica probably doesn't get much respect). Excellent! And your false-trail acronym trick gives me some fine ideas for a little comedy. How does this "rep" thing people use work?

So I'm brewing up my own acronym-carrying uniform-wearing world-spanning evil organization for my game, the sort of thing you see in VIPER or FEAR or a hundred others. I think MALICE is a great name for it, but the problem is I think I'd actually like it to stand for something. Like Miscreants Allied something In Criminal Enterprise or Masterminds something something Conquer Earth. Who has ideas? And what evil organization throws its incompetent, blaster-waving goons at your heroes on a regular basis? Go ahead and babble about your game! Also, does VIPER stand for anything? I don't have the book.

Re: Advantages on Standard Maneuvers Ahh, requires EGO contest. Good thinking.

How many points do you think it would take to have BOECV on your Blocks? I consulted UMA but it didn't have quite the guidelines I was looking for. I've got a mentalist on hand who wants to turn aside the blows of weak-willed opponents with her crazy mad force of personality. I figure DCV levels with Requires Ego Roll or something would do the job too, but I feel they lack style...

Re: Sci-fi swear words? If you count Shadowrun as sci-fi you get a delightful variety of odd curses. "What the frag grenade is going on here?" "Slot off!"

Re: Knockback and Bullets Well, isn't the reduced KB for Killing Attacks enough to (usually) stop a gun from knocking someone back anyway? A typical handgun does 2d6 BODY, which is up against 3d6 to figure KB... The way I see it, the rules do a fine job of keeping down unrealistic small-arms KB while still allowing superhero-style lasers and such with half a dozen Killing d6s to blast people across the room.

Re: Introducing player to the HERO System Well, heck, if your players want to create their own characters but aren't likely to embrace doing it themselves, do what I do (or plan to). Have them feed you ideas, like "fire-specialist mage" or "two-sword fighter," and then make characters to fit that.

Re: Why can't Teleport do the Move attacks? Thanks for your inputs, guys! The Flight / Running thing was just a terrible mistake on my part. I somehow totally missed that 2 is not 1.

We all saw Nightcrawler kick those guys' asses in X2. Now, I'm fully aware that as a GM I could easily let my players perform Move By / Through with Teleport because I love the idea; I just would like to know the reason for the official "no." Is it because Teleport doesn't build velocity? If so, why not just deny Teleport the velocity damage (making Move Through pretty useless but leaving Multiple Move By as a potentially useful option, especially considering how easily Teleport could "return to the original hex" to strike again)? And why is Running 2 CPs per inch when Flight is 1, anyway? Compensation for the 6" of Running everyone gets to begin with? Forgive me if any of this was addressed in 5th Revised. I only have 5th.