Grailknight

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.

Re: He's not Bigfoot! He's just a really tall, hairy guy! Try Shapeshift vs Sight group, limitation-not vs those who truly believe in Bigfoot. Limitation value is up to you but this should cover it .

Re: Paralysed poison Here is a version with your suggested changes. This is perfectly legal by RAW(copied and pasted from HDv3). It will will drain an average of 112 points from each Char over the course of 3+ turns. This version will take down most supers and cripple even the Doc D's of the world. Drain SPD, OCV, DCV & DEX 1d6, Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per 20 Minutes; +1 1/2), Expanded Effect (x4 Characteristics or Powers simultaneously) (+1 1/2), Damage Over Time, Target's defenses only apply once, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times) (32 damage increments, damage occurs every Segment, +5) (90 Active Points) Effective, well yeah but abusive enough to make even Gary or Champsguy pause. (Total of +8 in advantages) An example of things you can do but shouldn't in the Hero system.

Re: Paralysed poison I went with SPD Drain because : 1 Damage Over Time is the 6th default mechanic for poisons and actually does model them realistically. 2 Drain of STR or DEX would work just as well in 5th but with the removal of Negative Characterisics, the target will have a 9 or less chance to move every phase. 0 SPD takes that chance away. 3 Entangle is too all or nothing. If you make it too strong it lasts forever, too weak and the breakout can happen immediately. 4 A broken entangle is gone and has no lasting effect, going from totally immobile to 100 percent healthy. Drain fades gradually and can be mitigated by Aid or fixed by Healing. Seems more poison-like to me but YMMV. Be very careful with Damage Over Time. I find it works great at modeling poisons, crushing environmental damage and slow transformations but it lends to some abusive builds at the faster damage increments. Doubly so when the defense only applies once option is added.

Re: Paralysed poison 1d6 Drain vs SPD, Damage over time with 12 increments firing per segment, lockout and defenses apply only once(+4), delayed return rate-5 pts per 20 min(+1.5) cost 65 pts. Should stop a Fantasy Hero character or DNPC after a turn for a couple of hours.

How do you increase the max for Aid? Absorbtion and Healing both have it in the power description but cannot Aid in 6th1.

Re: I'm still not sure how to make a Gestalt character - 4th edition. Have the Gestalt buy Multiform linked to Duplication. That way they automatically split and recombine at any instance of use.

Re: "Active" Drain Actually, you may be overthinking this. What you want is more a limitation on Drain so it does not affect Unified or Linked Powers. (I'd go with -1/4 but it may be worth -1/2 in some campaigns.) Your point 2 is actually the way Drains already work per the FAQ. Never dealt with the END cost question but I see no reason your point 1 would not be the rules default.

Re: How to Build : a Lucky Stealer Power Well by RAW you have to have Luck to have the ability to apply an adjustment power to it. Limited Luck tied to a linked Drain/Aid would work legally but is useless unless someone has Luck.

Re: Silver Age Superman I recognize Missle Deflection as a necessary point saving but can't see it as valid for the character. Supes could be napping on the beach and the shots would still bounce off. Mind you this is a nitpick. I guess it bothers me because mechanically it will fail if facing too many enemies firing at once. Still, only a nitpick and i'd probalby use it myself if pressed for points.

Re: Silver Age Superman While I applaud your effort, I feel making SA Superman on 250 is a lost cause. The character you posted covers the most of the bases well. He can be a representative Superman clone as long as other npc's (hero or villain) are written keeping him as the gold standard in his niches. (Strongest and toughest, 2nd best in everything else) But there are several problems if you want to say he's SA Superman or for that matter any Superman except possibly early TAS. First, SA Superman has ALL his powers ALL the time. He can lift an aircraft carrier out of the water, weld the hull with heat vision and listen for Lois' cry for help on Mt. Everest simultaneously. Using powers one at a time is Ultraboy's thing not Supes. Second, PC's and NPC's are balanced to each other and also relative to the environment. SA Supes swallows hand grenades, uses battleship bombardments as a massage and swims in the molten core of the planet. Nothing conventional even breaks his concentration . Your version isn't tough enough to take a tank shell unscathed and his heat vision is matched by Viper's off the shelf blasters. He's not super enough compared to conventional tech and not really powerful enough to do "the jobs for Superman." I think this was the the main objection that was in the other threads only no one including me expressed it clearly. Third,and this goes more to balance, if Superman is 250 pts then Green Arrow and Hawkman are ??? Fourth, Superman has many foes he can't drop in 2 shots. Just off the top of my head: Darkseid, Doomsday, Bizarro, Brainiac, and Validus. Hugh's affrimation of massey is correct but for the wrong reason. He gave you the 6th rule on VPP's while you appear to be using 5th. Under 5th you cannot exceed the active value of the pool no matter the real cost of the power. I love the creativity but you need to up the points to make SA Supes .

Re: Silver Age Superman Heat Vision Duplication (robots)

Re: Clothesline a someone running by you I think in the example Mechanon killed the speedster. Though it's not part of his writeup I think the Martial throw or Killing throw manuvers are probalbly the best way to do this. He just has to have suprise or win the dex roll to go first.

Re: Things That Exist in a Superhero Universe Active deities and pantheons that proclaim their divinity and perform incredible feats but don't attract any meaningful numbers of new followers. Corporations that don't throw huge sums of money at the inventors of world changing technology.

Re: Things That Exist in a Superhero Universe Agencies that spend more money researching the heroes than the far more numerous criminals they oppose. Intelligence organizations that are riddled with double agents and and that are completely ineffectual against known spies.

Re: The "parasite" or "symbiote" alien race This sounds more like what Possession was made for in APG1. Maybe make it with visible outside of mental group in some cases and limitations on how easy the possessor can leave the host.

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) Purse strap and left shoe

Re: Summon: Am I missing Something Here...? As a GM NPC it doesn't matter that the power used is over or under balanced, just that is appropiate for the scenario. It is good that as a new GM that you discover things you consider unbalanced so you can watch for them on PC's. Each iteration of the game has opened up more options and left the balancing to the user. Summon is far from the worst offender and as long as you, the Gm, keep control you'll be fine.

Re: Question Probably should get the core rules back. I would consider soft cover to save costs.

Re: Material Girl I would just use a large multipower with variable slots. Look at the max possible def she will get from surrounding objects and then the max possible attack. Add those plus another 25-40% for misc movement and set your reserve from that. Movement, desolid and all other misc powers will not be in full use most of the time. The rest is all special effects from an OIHID form that she can be damaged out of with a linked teleport(?) for snapping back to initial location. Variable power pool would also be an option but Multiform and Duplication would be too rigid to me. (right material for max of a power may not be present but something of lesser quality is available).

Re: Mindstorm (First 6th edition character) Good concept with a couple of accounting flaws. Telepathy-human class of mind is default so no -1/2 limitation. Psychokinetic Defense Bubble-Only cost end to activate is a +1/4 advantage not a limitation.

Does a desolid character with affects real world take damage from their target's damage shield?

Re: Spider powers activate! Clairsentience with a trigger and limited to the locations of webs only.

Re: Order of the Stick And now we know.

Re: Order of the Stick New one. Roy is on the comeback trail.