Grailknight

I plan to buy SOB but I do have some reservations. 1-Downloads have not been my friend in the past, I would love to buy SOB, USM and PRIMUS but my connection has poor quality and downloads fail more often than not. 2-$12 won't break me but it is more than I expected to pay for something I have to print and which can be lost if I have PC trouble. I would definitely pay $12-18 for such products on CD although I doubt this is really affordable for DOJ at this point. 3-Please rethink your stategy of not publishing old characters and creating minimal new characters in publications. I buy modules for new character writeups. Working up ways to fit in these NEW characters is the source of most of my campaign plots and stimulates my creativity. The main selling point of a supplement is what it ADDS to the existing material and in HERO history this has mainly been characters. Also, on a personal rant, descriptions which say use character X with Y changed set off my buttons. If a character is going to be used in a module then he should be interesting enough to warrant a writeup.

IMO, the main question of this debate centers around the interpretation of "costs END" and the use of STR for comparison. "Costs END" is normally applied to CHAR and powers that do not cost END to use. STR is the only Char which normally costs to use, applying "cost END" means that you would need to spend END each phase to HAVE the extra STR even if you didn't use it. If you bought any other CHAR like DEX or PD with costs END then you would expect to pay END every phase for the use of that extra ability. SPD is only problematic because of the associated game mechanics and in many ways is subject to different rules just as STR is. That said, I would treat the extra speed as an all or nothing power like an Ultra slot and make it cost one END on each phase the character is entitled to move.(Whether from natural or boosted SPD). This means no REC while the power is on.

FLCL makes perfect sense when compared to Excel.

I think that Monolith has the right idea but you should model this as more of a vulnerability. The character loses [n-1]END for every n times he uses the power in the timeframe. Unless you have another attack power or large amounts of END , you'll knock yourself out even if you're not attacked. Remember 1d6 STUN for every -2 END.

First off let me apologize for my earlier rant, it had been a hard day at work:) Secondly by the rules in FREd, you get to add STR to a HA up to the number of base DC's in HA. No prorating is done so .. 20 STR + 4d6 HA double knockback, armor piercing and transdimensional yields an 8d6 double KB, AP and transdimensional attack. The power is very open to abuse but that's why you have a GM:). It does simulate quite a few in-genre effects but probalby should have a STOP sign or Magnifying Glass on it under the official damage add rules.

As I remember from some classes long ago, people on hallucinogens are also susceptible to outside influences so... Try using a linked Ego Drain and Mental Illusion and buy the drain with asightly reduced fade rate or Use a Transform with the partial transform rules and speed up the healing rate on the time chart.

I'm glad that i'm not the only person that doesn't like the current rules for adding advantaged HAs to STR. I've hated this power since 4th and 5th made it worse with the rules for adding damage. [although to be fair, 5th changed the cost to 5 pts. per die to balance it.] Despite my dislike, I do see that it is a valid way to represent many gernre effects. Reading this topic got me thinking so I reread the power in FREd and came up with a possible solution. HA is not a separate power, HA is a disadvantage! I will just use the mandatory HA disadvantage at its -1/2 value and then apply it to additional STR. I think all the problems and gnashed teeth come from regarding this as a separate power that has special rules for adding to damage. If you make it a disadvantage, all the justifications for STR adds go away because PARTIALLY LIMITED STR IS NOT GOING TO GIVE ADVANTAGES TO YOUR NON-LIMITED STR! Of course, I could be way off base here but this seems to be an elegant solution that is even implied in the HA writeup.

I like the Succor option but there is another way given in Ultimate Mentalist. Mentalists can combine their powers to achieve a greater effect. Each character should buy the summon at a base power level. The combined power gets base value + 25% of the value of each additional contributor. This gives a set result unlike the Succor which requires some die rolls to get to full power.

Hero X is struck 3 times by an 8d6 Autofire attack and takes 9, 8 and 9 points of STUN damage. Hero X has a CON of 25. Is Hero X stunned?

You can do this best with a Drain, but the Char you drain should depend on special effect. Too weak to move-Drain STR Lack of motor control-Drain DEX Both of these let the target use mental and some defensive powers. Complete paralysis-Drain SPD Having 3 PC drainers made me very handy with these rules in my old campaign.

Because I'd rather buy Invisibility to sight with no fringe at 0 END and get the same effect vs everyone at once. It costs more but can't be stopped by LOS or range and my opponent can't dive for cover to evade it.

Actually while desolid is a valid way to model this in other situations , in this specific example its pprobalby not the way to go because -All the characters have this ability to some extent with Neo and the Agents representing the pinnacle. -They can all be shot by anyone using any weapon. There is no special ammo needed to hit them, just a successful ofr failed action on their part. -The number of shots fired and how rapidly does have an affect on whether they are struck. Given all this, I'd use missle deflection as the power of choice for modeling the Matrix.

Or you could be truly evil... Build it as a Damage Shield with usable by others and a trigger. For truer evil add variable special effect to mimic the hero's power.

Well if there will be 30 agent types then I guess I won't complain about the reduced number of villains:) Some other things I'd like would be: 1] A Supreme Serpent who part of Viper and motivated by the goals that Viper espouses. The alien computer was a neat concept but it took away from perceived threat IMO. The overall goal of Viper should be the vision of its leader(s). 2] Don't make the Supreme Serpent someone who has appeared elsewhere in the CU. Give me an original with original motivation and background. 3]Focus more on the worldwide scope of Viper and especially how it works in Third World nations. An organization with the resources that 4th Ed Viper possessed would own many of these smaller countries outright and could do so legitimately. (There's a campaign twist for you, Hermit:) ) Viper would then take on rouge nation status on the world stage but would be harder than ever to completely wipe out. Nests would be more like large terrorist cells. The last Viper supplement was one of best books for 4th Ed so I feel confident that you'll deliver the goods this time as well.

I second Zornwil's motion. Perhaps we could do a monthly poll to see which topic was expounded upon .

The correct answer is no. If you want them to make an attack roll every time they damage the target, then its just a plain EB. the igniting is just a special effect.

It depends on the campaign feel you're going for. The present levels seem too low to me for my older campaign but are correct for my newer one. Old campaign was using the DC universe type of adventures, Newer campaign real world tech and renegade mutants. It really depends on how much of a threat normals are to the characters, PCs and villains both.

I've done this before in my campaign and it works for me but you'll have to decide for yourself. 1d6 spd drain uncontrolled continuous 0 end penetrating. 5pts/hr return. Stopped by anti toxin or after(House Rule) 1 phase per 5 pts in the power. Multiple bites add +1 per die in base power and 1 phase per 10pts. 45 active pts. One bite will stop a normal in 12-15 seconds and keep him down for 2-3 hrs. Multiple Bites can even drop supers but they may have time to escape or defeat their opponent. Hope this helps.

Doesn't it always? See Metarule #6. Actually, my main objection to multiform is that while the character is in robot form, the other body doesn't exist. Even if a villain found your base and machine they couldn't do anything to you except stop you from changing back. Even this option isn't there if you didn't take focus as a limtation. With duplication, they could kidnap or harm your helpless form whether they found the base or the robot auxillaries. While it does have a higher base cost it lends itself to quite a few readymade limitations. This is based on how I'm interpreting the special effect from the description of the character. Thanks for the thread. I now have a good idea on how to play Matrix Hero:cool:

Two questions If a character is drained to negative EGO and then attacked by a mental power is the level of effect taken fron the current EGO or from 0? Does the effect of a mental power override the basic rule that a character with negative EGO obeys any given command?

I tend toward using Duplication on this because it fits the description of the imagined character better than Multiform. Buy it with cannot recombine and a limit of only one active body at once. Concentration, 0 DCV throughout should be an approximate value for this. I can't see Multiform because your alternate body always exists and could be attacked even if the character has no ability to control it.

Should the cost of noncombat movement multiples be doubled if a character has NCM? I can't find any reference in 5th but HD allows it at normal cost.

Harbringer After reading Steve's comments, I can see Dark Champions in a more forgiving light. I always thought the characters fit the feel that was desired but I had real problems with the power levels used. I would like to see Harbringer in a version that is lower powered to fit street level campaigns. JmOZ, You hit upon my main problem with DC, the outrageous skill levels. If it were just Harbringer and Panathanos, it would be okay beacuse they represent the pinnacle a character can attain, but you repeatedly see characters with +3 combat, +3 specific weapon, and +4 hit locations. Overall DC was higher powered than most 4th edition campaign supplements because the attacks were at the same power level with much higher ocv's. If Steve had been allowed to write it as a standalone universe, I like to think that he'd have kept the levels more in check.