Grailknight

HRRH is the baseline sense to justify being able to eavesdrop on any form of radio traffic...police broadcasts, standard radio/TV, whatever.  Once the radio is located, HRRH allows the listening of anything going in/out.
 
The problem with cell phones is there's hundreds or thousands of calls on the same frequency, so you can't simply tune to that frequency...trivial with HRRH...and pick out a specific 
 
Telepathy, when it comes to computers, is reading the data stored on the computer, IMO.  This isn't telepathy, it's not reading the data on the computer, it's reading the transmissions.  
 
Why would it require a Sys Ops roll?  What system is being operated?  It makes no sense to make it a Sys Ops roll, if the purpose is just to cut costs.  I'd rather use a power skill, but overall, it's not worth it.  The mind scan wasn't terribly expensive...and even the RSR Sys Ops would take the active point penalty.
 
Plus, in a case like this, it's not the active points in the power that matters, it's the size of the haystack that's concealing the needle you're trying to find.  That's what Mind Scan's # of minds modifier captures.
 
 
Yes, those aspects of Mind Scan work nicely.  I'm not worried about attacking through the Scan;  the purpose for it is to justify that a particular cell phone can be located, and listened to.  
 
The writeup at this point doesn't use Mind Scan per se.
HRRP (Radio Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Rapid:  x100, Targeting, Telescopic:  +24, Tracking (55 points)
+10 PER with HRRP (10 Active Points); Only to offset # of sources (a la Mind Scan # of minds) (-1/4)
and for breaking signal coding
Cryptography 21-
 
The Mind Scan was an initial thought for the location aspect...and it still can work.  I think this buys me the aspects of locating and tracking that a maintained Mind Scan would have, and it's mechanically cleaner, IMO.    
 

I just want to go on record here as finding this horrific and shocking.  Anyone doing 18 damage classes in a heroic game has really lost the plot in my book.

It could be.  But its hardly unreasonable to expect a character who could fly in Issue 17 to fly again in issue 18 when they encounter traps on the ground.  If this causes the story not to work, that's not because of unrealistic expectations of a reader, but poor writing on the part of the comic book.  Things have changed quite a bit, I agree.  Back in the Silver Age, readers were less interested in continuity than gee whiz fun.  Today, people have read, and played games, and talked about it and won't put up with what readers used to.

But I don't really call that a problem for anyone but lazy and unimaginative writers.
 
 
Yeah he had 6 character sheets: one for each element and one for his normal form which was sort of a ninja.  Unfortunately because of the way multiform worked in 5th edition (and as far as I know still today) basically he ended up with 6 different characters all of whom are weaker than every other character in the game for the dubious advantage of variety.  And since he had no control over which element he'd show up as, the advantage was even more questionable.

This just sprang up in the past week: 
 
“Localizers” upset over The Ancient Magus’ Bride manga’s AI translation - Niche Gamer
 
It seems that western anime and manga companies are switching to AI over using localizing translators. For manga, this will enable the content to be released outside its country of origin in much shorter times and will cut into piracy. That's a good thing for creators and distributors as it keeps the money in the industry.
 
For anime though, it will cause a massive change in the dubbed product. For several years. localizers have become increasingly strident about pushing their agendas into the dubbed scripts of new releases. Many jokes or references do have to be changed for a foreign audience, but the changes have pushed farther and farther to the point of completely changing the meaning of scenes and the overall story experience.
 
It's gotten so bad in some cases that the anime producers have pulled distribution licenses due to disputes between the localizers and the creators. When pushed back on this by fans, the localizers have reacted ... poorly. And I mean Disney Star Wars, Rings of Power and Wheel of Time levels of contempt, bile, character assassination and hatred spewed toward the fandom. This has resulted in the fandom being somewhat ... unsympathetic to the news that these people's jobs are on the line.
 
The thing is that some their jobs will still be available, just changed as the content producers will still need them to editorialize what the AI produces. But they will have to stick to the original meaning and not insert their fanfic and this has begun the cries of oppression and sexism that some extremists see in any everyday conversation.

Just saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and can't understand the negative press. Was it Oscar quality acting and writing? No. Did it have good action, a cohesive plot and characters with understandable motivations? Yes, to all three.
 
The worst thing I can say about this movie is that it redoes the plotline of the first with Orm in Mera's role and sibling rivalry instead of romantic tension. But it does so many good things to counteract that. It only teases a long fight scene against run of the mill thugs, The things they do fight are credible threats either in numbers or power, the humor is kept in check and doesn't seem forced, and the evil masterplan is over the top only in its timescale.
 
Best of all, the characters remain consistent in personality and in powers. Black Manta is given a powerup through Faustian bargain, but remains true to his vendetta against Arthur without slipping into melodramatic villainy. Orm has plenty of reasons to hate Arthur from his perspective but does still act for Atlantis" benefit as he sees it and comes to realize that he doesn't really know Arthur. Arthur realizes that he's a flawed king, but he keeps on plugging away as best he can. The rest of the cast is used fairly well and not overly distracting in any way.
 
Is it the best superhero movie out there? No, but it's a very solid entry in the genre an if DC had more like it, they wouldn't be in such a state. It's easily as good as any GotG movie and very similar with a more serious tone. Solid 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Had that in my Radio Shack days also. More commonly we gave the customers back their items in a plastic bag with all the wildlife that had moved in enclosed.

Just saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and can't understand the negative press. Was it Oscar quality acting and writing? No. Did it have good action, a cohesive plot and characters with understandable motivations? Yes, to all three.
 
The worst thing I can say about this movie is that it redoes the plotline of the first with Orm in Mera's role and sibling rivalry instead of romantic tension. But it does so many good things to counteract that. It only teases a long fight scene against run of the mill thugs, The things they do fight are credible threats either in numbers or power, the humor is kept in check and doesn't seem forced, and the evil masterplan is over the top only in its timescale.
 
Best of all, the characters remain consistent in personality and in powers. Black Manta is given a powerup through Faustian bargain, but remains true to his vendetta against Arthur without slipping into melodramatic villainy. Orm has plenty of reasons to hate Arthur from his perspective but does still act for Atlantis" benefit as he sees it and comes to realize that he doesn't really know Arthur. Arthur realizes that he's a flawed king, but he keeps on plugging away as best he can. The rest of the cast is used fairly well and not overly distracting in any way.
 
Is it the best superhero movie out there? No, but it's a very solid entry in the genre an if DC had more like it, they wouldn't be in such a state. It's easily as good as any GotG movie and very similar with a more serious tone. Solid 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Back in my Circuit City days, it was fairly common to get TV/VCR combos which had been "fed" things by small children. Service would send the objects back in an accessory bag attached to the device. One object sent back was a desiccated peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Possibly the best cosplay of the year--

Let's be honest here - if Trump was on every state's ballot, there were no ongoing criminal trials involving him, and he were to lose the 2024 election - there would still be alternate slates of electors, election challenges, CONSTANT objection to seating delegates when the time comes to certify the delegates, as well as CONSTANT baseless claims of a stolen election in the years following the election.
 
As support to this claim, I submit as evidence:  the 2020 election and the last 3 years.
 
When dealing with a toddler prone to tantrums, giving in is not the way to go.  You nip that **** in the bud.

Technically you would need to affects real world.  Doing it this way will be complicated, confusing and expensive.  There are a lot of ways that are easier and cheaper to do.
 
It also depends on what you want to stop.  Since Clinging uses ground movement to move up the wall you could target that with Change Environment.    -1m or movement is only 1 point.  30 points would get you a -30 to ground movement which is probably enough to stop anyone from climbing.  This would not stop someone from clinging in place, but would prevent the target from moving on the wall.  If I were GM and the character bought enough movement to stop any upward movement I would probably allow it to stop someone from clinging in place.  This also works well if you just want to make the wall difficult to climb.   
 
Instead of a suppress clinging you could use dispel clinging.  Put it in a damage shield and it affects anyone touching the wall.  Dispel is fairly cheap and 10d6 would only cost 30 points before the damage shield.  
 

Found this awesome post on Facebook, dunno the author to give credit.  Bold emphasis mine
 
Who is the best Marvel movie or TV Marvel villain? Hands down, David Tennant's Kilgrave from Jessica Jones' first season, the perfect embodiment of sexual and domestic violence. He's one of those rare villains who leaves you with unease long after you turn off the TV, and it's because he was there before you turned it on. He's not the best villain because of his personality, though his glee and charm is a large part of it. He's not the best villain because of the scope of his villainy. He's not out to destroy any cities or conquer any galaxies. He's not even out to take down a hero, although that's what he's going to do along the way. You see, Kilgrave's power is this: You have to do anything he wants you to do. Anything at all. Maybe he wants your jacket. Maybe he wants you to have sex with him. Maybe he wants you to become his lover and live with him happily, forever and ever, in a lovely little house for the two of you. Maybe he wants you to murder your mom. You know those intrusive thoughts, the ones you would never in a million years do, the ones that make you wonder if you're a monster? The ones that say, jump over the railing. Hold the match to your sleeve. The dog sure looks happy; why don't you kick its brains in? Kilgrave whispers the very worst things to you, and you do them. Kilgrave makes it your fault when he does what he does to you. Makes it your idea. Does it with your hands. Makes your body something bad. And he makes the people you depend upon blame you for it. So when Kilgrave uses his powers on you, you aren't a victim. You are a villain. And you're utterly, eternally alone in your hurt and your horror. And it doesn't end when it ends. He's got no master plan or secret agenda. He's just following his whims. If he decides he really likes you, he'll bring the trauma back over. And over. And over. He can leave an idea in your head that never goes away, an idea that sits there where you can't see it until it suddenly shows up at the worst possible moment. Creating a villain who generates such revulsion and horror in the audience is like capturing lightning in a bottle. As Dorothy Sayers told us, it’s almost impossible to write the Devil without making the audience root for him, because those attributes that make a villain an opponent worthy of writing about are virtues, or are at least the personality traits that make a character fascinating. If your villain isn’t powerful, you’ve got no story. If your villain isn’t talented, you’ve got no story. If your villain isn’t persistent, isn’t charismatic, doesn’t have a good reason to do what they do . . . no story. There is a sense in which it's very hard for us to tell honest stories about evil, because real evil isn't extremely watchable. So instead of making legitimately evil villains, we make villains who are heroes on the wrong side, or villains who are heroes with a streak of malice, or we just take the hero, run through a list of their strengths, and come up with a foil for each bullet point. Those methods make engaging villains. Those are the villains you love to see, because they thrill you at the same time that they horrify you: the Darth Vaders and the Hannibal Lectors, the Moriartys and the Lex Luthors. Those bad guys may not have our allegiance, but they have our attention, our fascination, the stamp of the viewer's approval. But to write a villain who elicits horror in the audience, who’s a perfect counterpoint to all the hero’s strengths, and to have the audience feel sick when he’s on the screen—that’s extraordinary. And in this case, it’s achieved by tapping into a kind of violence that has only rarely been addressed on the screen, and even more rarely shown from the victim’s point of view. It’s not the “violent rape” that politicians discuss, the kind that grabs you in an alleyway with a stranger’s hands. It’s the kind that gets up close and personal in all the other ways, in ways that nobody can see from the outside. And its perpetrator is an emotional toddler, raging for anything and everything they want, right now, as if their whims were as essential as oxygen. There is absolutely nothing appealing about Kilgrave. Zilch. Even his charm isn't directed toward us; it's directed toward the other characters, the ones Jessica needs to believe her and help her, and so we hate his charm. He convinces the audience that he’s powerful, maybe too powerful to be defeated, and we’re right there in Jessica’s misery with her, feeling isolated and despairing. Kilgrave's comic-book villain in Jessica Jones does what speculative fiction does best: turns a mirror on reality. You can make a villain who is stronger than other villains, who rules a bigger empire or has a bigger weapon or is out to kill more people than any other villain ever written. But all you're doing is playing the game of "Oh, yeah? My bad guy is bad times a hundred. No; times a million. Times infinity plus one." Kilgrave tells us what bad really is, and it rings true. Anybody who's had to take out an order of protection knows Kilgrave already. Anybody who's undergone a rape kit knows Kilgrave already. He's the rarest sort of screen villain: the one we were afraid of before he was written.

No, we don't.  That's the individual GM's job, and it's specific to the campaign he plans to run.  If he wants kaiju to be a terrifying unstoppable menace they probably aren't controllable at all.  If he wants the PCs and villains to be elite psychics who use kaiju as proxies to fight each other, they certainly are.  If he wants to do a Pokemon arc where some cheating psychic is manipulating tournament betting by mind-controlling the actual Pokemon in the arena that's a very different story than one where psychics (including psychic Pokemon) can mind-slave human beings and make them do whatever they desire - which is going be lot more awful than just throwing Pokemon matches unless the censors get involved.
 
I reiterate my previous point:    Generic point costs are never going to cover all the options when your game engine is trying to be universally useful.  You need to adjust for your campaign. 

I loved the Adam Warren runs on Dirty Pair especially Start the Violence!. Oh, both series are available on Crunchyroll with commercials, or without if you have a premium account.

Because with Figured Characteristics, you got a baseline to work with. Without that being the intention of the writer's, the rules still hinted that a Brick with STR 65 CON 33 BODY 15 should have REC 20 END 66 STUN 65 at a minimum. Character creation had some built-in paradigms, flawed though they were.
 
6th Edition took those away and gave minimal guidance on what values were common to certain character types. No Characteristic could be assumed adequate at its staring value. I agree that you should have been doing so in the earlier editions also, but it was possible to leave characters like my example with the minimums derived. You can't do that now and have a viable character. It's a small extra step but it is extra.
 
Many of us older players who've been doing this since First Edition do this as second nature. I've got 40+ years of Hero to draw on and I think you have similar experience. I can do Hero without a book. But it doesn't come naturally to newer players, it has to be learned.

Hero is not overly complicated. It is overly frontloaded. 

Didn't hurt that they were probably a creation of Alex Toth (who definitely made Birdman, who they shared a half-hour slot with) - I can see some slight similarities between the trio and Space Angel, another of his works that revolved around a MMF crew, even if they were powerless.  Also unusual for the amount of continuity over the twenty episodes - there are two villains that recur twice, and each the trio run into other members of their respective alien species at one point or another.  That's pretty good for early HB supers, honestly.
Hey now, surely you mean the Lovely Angels there.  The gals would be very disappointed to hear you calling them by that name.  
 
Have to credit them with my lasting fondness for Adam Warren's work over the years.

And for the anime style take...
 

And for the anime style take...
 

Or this ...
 

 
 
Both are shows about a team of agents backed by  a galaxy-wide police force. Dirty Pair is high tech James Bond while Kiddy Grade's operatives are super powered espers.

Watch the four Rebuild movies on Amazon to get the complete experience. The creator went back into depression over the course of the first three and recovered during the planning and making of the fourth. The animation is spectacular, and it actually tells you what the plan was at the end while giving closure to the characters.

I forgot about Unified Power - good call!
 
 
There's a bit of comfort building an unusual ability multiple ways and getting similar costs.  Whichever choice is made is at least in the ballpark.
 
 
I have always allowed a form of "standard effect" that two combined/linked/connected powers use the same rolls. That speeds up gameplay nicely.
 
Actually, another easy simplifier for this power would be putting the Knockback element on Standard Effect.  If it's a Linked Blast (say 4d6, double knockback), Standard Effect is 8 on the Knockback Dice, so just subtract 2d6 from that 8 (or even apply a standard 7 or 8 and the Undead are always pushed back 2 meters or just knocked down).  The Knockback now becomes very easy to present as just an add-on to the Healing.
 
I think that "player's standpoint" element is key.  Some players don't care to mine the build intricacies - they don't need to see two powers to run the character. If they are happy with someone else digging through the build complexities, and the player and GM share a common view of how the construct works in gameplay, then only put the necessities on the character sheet.  The chain of advantages and limitations (including limitations on an advantage) will also look complex. In d20, we would just write "Healing Blast" and maybe a bit of how it works.  A Hero "for play" character sheet would go a long way to reducing perceived complexity at the gaming table.