Grailknight

Re: Parry. A third defense option.

Actually, they don't.

An analagous situation would be if the target declared a block or dodge and you then took away the attackers levels with his attack and only used raw OCV.

Re: Parry. A third defense option.

Dodge and Block don't ignore the AP and Penetrating advantages. The mechanic used has nothing to do with damage or DEF but instead is a function of OCV vs DCV. This manuver is using the actual DEF of the target to determine success or failure. In effect, you are giving ALL targets most of the benefits of Hardened and Impenatrable for free.(The only people who will take damage are low DEF targets that are fighting out of their weightclass.)

Re: What makes a great Iron Age campaign setting?

A core of nobility, deeply hidden. It is clung to and protected by the few true heroes, mocked but longed for by the antiheroes and despised by the villains who seek to corrupt or destroy it.

Re: Parry. A third defense option.

Your proposed maneuver is unbalanced in favor of the defender.

Average DEF is 2-3x the average DC of attacks. Each DC does 3.5 pts of damage. Half of 3.5(1.75) will almost always be less than the DEF of the target. So, barring above average rolls against below average DEF, the proposed manuver will always negate the incoming attack. In addition, you propose to ignore advantages on the attack, which negates Armor Piercing and possibly Penetrating. Those advantages are designed to let smaller die attacks affect larger DEF's. Since your proposal says you are using your DEF to ward off the attack, how are the DEF NOT affected by the attack which strikes them?

Re: Links and Advice

Talk it out with your players.

As GM you are the ultimate authority but not solely responsible for the balance of the campaign.

Perhaps the powergamers are'nt completely conscious of the strain they're causing. Most will be willing to reign it in somewhat when you bring it up as a problem for you rather than with them.

Maybe the other players don't mind and just want to build their characters in different ways. (Not likely but I have seen it)

Throw in some noncombat challenges from time to time.

Split the party. Let the combat monsters take on the bosses while the others deal with lieutenants and agents.

But above all, communicate.

Re: Justice League-type DC/Champions campaign. Advice, please.

Good news, thanks. Now, pray tell, what would lowering CON and raising PD/ED do for the character? I'm all "ears".

Qualifier: Only my opinion. 50 CON is on the highside, as written she is not stunned by a 20d6 attack on avg and it looks like your campaign avg will be less. Raising PD & ED will make her less vulnerable to small attacks. As I read her defenses she has 21PD/ED. That makes 8d6(high powered agents?) a true nuisance and leaves her paticularly vulnerable to 8-10 die autofires.

Re: Justice League-type DC/Champions campaign. Advice, please.

Looks like you're doing fine. I might lower her CON by 10 and add 5 to PD & ED but that's a minor thing . Just keep your builds consistent within your campaign.

Re: Justice League-type DC/Champions campaign. Advice, please.

The links in Hyper-Man's sig go to some very good 6e writeups. Some of them are a bit complex for some new to the system.

Re: Justice League-type DC/Champions campaign. Advice, please.

It's all relative. The reason I don't champion a certain point level here is because there is no set point level for a fun campaign and any fun campaign is a good one. Since you're going to be running 6th, you'll have to raise points to account for the lack of figured stats and the additional OCV & DCV stats.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

Just finished Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Bujold. Rate it an 8.5 of 10. This is part of a long episodic series but not a good place to start.

The book is set between the last 2 novels of the Miles Vorkosigan series and features Miles' cousin Ivan. Light spy/action in the style and tone of A Civil Campaign . Ivan encouters a damsel in distress and comes up with a unique solution to her immediate troubles. Needless to say, complications ensue and he is forced to deal with the consequences good and bad.

Re: Justice League-type DC/Champions campaign. Advice, please.

Sometimes objects (especially vehicles) will cause problems with genre simulation. Getting hit by a speeding car(12-14 DC's) can be a problem for bricks in low to medium point builds when in the source material, cars bounce often without doing any stun or knockback. Destroying a vehicle or even a large tree or wall may take several hits from a charcter doing 12 dc's which is fine unless you're trying to model iconic heroes at that level. Military vehicles, bank vaults and the like can take this even further. Don't get too caught up in this, theres nothing wrong with handwaving these situations until you have some more experience with rules.

Re: Justice League-type DC/Champions campaign. Advice, please.

Determine the baseline of "real" technology in your world. By this i mean, stat out your machine guns, tanks, and other armaments with a focus on the heavier man portable stuff. It doesn't have to be realistic just consistent. Then compare it to what the PCs and NPCs have.

Determine how much of a threat you want standard law enforcement and criminals to be. The longer Supers have been active in your world the better equipped they will be. An ambush by a SWAT team should be a real challenge in high threat universes and an annoyance in low threat situations.

If you find that real weaponry is more dangerous than you'd like or more commonly, IME, that real objects are too tough, you have several options.

1- Raise the points

2- Give supers Damage Negation or Reduction as a campaign setting.

3- Give real things limitations or vulnerabilites against supers

4- Some combination of 1, 2 and 3.

Re: Superhero settings vs People with Powers settings

Reed doesn"t use money on material things often. They always have money. They own a skyscraper in Manhattan for example.

Re: Body and Stun Reserve

Ok, checked with Hero Designer and it is rules legal.

So buy Stun linked to Cannot be Stunned and BODY linked to Does not Bleed as Compound Powers and then flavor vith your limitations as to what does not get stopped. Add limited recovery/regeneration and I think it covers all you wanted. More complex than a new power but I don't see this as something that will be more than rarely used.

Re: Body and Stun Reserve

Also i'm not just worried about CON stunning, that is one example of how this would prevent a first phase Alpha Strike taking down a villain - but it would STILL have a significant effect in weakening his defences for future attacks. As psyber624 pointed out - nothing in the RAW works quite like this.

Another alternative, not RAW legal, would be to use the Automaton powers with charges or ablative. Better yet link Takes no Stun to a set amount of STUN and does not bleed to a set amount of BODY.

Re: The Powerpuff Women (or "Grown Up in Townsville")

That's some serious oversharing.

Re: Since CoH is gone...

Just went dark. Was a fun 6+ years.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

I finished Cold Days this morning. I give it a 9.5 out of 10. Some of the scenes reuniting Harry with the gang are lacking but some are pertfect and its missing just a bit on the humor. Book revolves around Harry's first mission as the Winter Knight and a reveal of the raised stakes he'll be facing from now on

Reveals(no Spoilers)

- The Purpose of Demonreach and Harry's task there.

- Summer and Winter's role in the cosmology of the Dresdenverse.(They're not what I thought at all)

- Rashid's title is explained

Absent

- No White Council besides Rashid.

- No Lara (my personal favorite recurring villain)

- Suprises

- There are some holes in Harry's powerup that are a big suprise

- The ending plot twist is an OMG!!! moment

This book does a good job of blending the old interactions and relationships while basically relaunching the series. Harry's new adventures will have more powerful foes and apocalyptic consequences.

Re: Body and Stun Reserve

What I'm getting is you want another power to replace Damage Reduction. The Reserve would be an additive defense to STUN and BODY instead of the multiplier that Damage Reduction gives. It has the advantage of increased granularity but I don't think it does more than buying extra CON, PD, ED, BODY and STUN with limitations or applying ablative to Reduction.

Re: Questions about a Battle for the Cyberrealm Campaign

Mechanon is a robotic master villain who seeks the eradication of all organic life on Earth, and may have the means to achieve it. Cybermind is a mutant "cyberkinetic" and considered the foremost computer hacker on Earth, but has for several years been in a comatose state while held in America's superprison, Stronghold. AFAIK Modem is a VIPER villain from a previous incarnation of the Champions Universe, not introduced into current official continuity to date. Maybe psyber624 is thinking of a character from Champions Online who I haven't seen yet, which is very possible. There are several other robot or cyborg villains who might play a role.

Sorry, I meant Automaton from CV part 3 but drew a blank on the name. Professor Paradigm is another great suggestion.

Re: Questions about a Battle for the Cyberrealm Campaign

There is no CU Cyber realm that I recall but you might want to consult DShomsak.

Gyre is a Technomage from Arcane Adversaries, no knowledge of an appropriate demon tho. Bromion might work .

No conflict that i know of. Tron and the Matrix may be enough in the Collective Subconsious to have started populating your Cyber Realm tho.

There are several tech based CU villains that may be interested already. Cybermind, Mechanon and Modem come to mind right away.

Mystic World for the magic angle, Ultimate Supermage possibly.

Sounds good to me. I could see this as a cross/mixture of Tron, the Matrix, .Hack and even Magical Knight Rayearth

Re: Case study: What if they succeed?

Teleios would also be good to use. He avoids the spotlight and has the resources for undercover forces. Start a few Children of the Damned colonies across the world with accelerated maturity and you're set.

Re: Case study: What if they succeed?

Winning by the approved above board methods means they are not acting as villains at the time. They may(and usually do) abuse their newfound station and fall but they got there legitimately so are at worst politicians/tycoons with questionable morals until then.

Re: Case study: What if they succeed?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_(comics)

This is the best example of this I've seen in the literature. I've also toyed around with something less dark. A nobler villain that allied with the heroes against a greater threat is the last man standing after the climatic battle. He places the heroes in medical hibernation until they are healed five years later and then releases them into the New World Order. He then gives them for a month of orientation and asks that they join the Imperial Knights to stabilize trouble spots and be watchdogs over regional governors(heroes and villains who have helped in the rebuilding).

Re: Superhero settings vs People with Powers settings

Don't forget the role of the authorities.

Superheroes tend to range from openly supported and popular with the government and media to a few loners and antiheroes that operate on the fringe.

People with powers are lucky to have the backing of a shadowy organization and are usually hiding out from the government and media.