CptPatriot

Re: Endurance Reserves

That post doesn't address persistent vs. non-persistent powers. Until Steve flat out says END Reserve makes non-persistent powers persistent' date=' I'm not inclined to give out a +1/2 Advantage for free.[/quote']

 

But you can't buy the persistant advantage unless the power is 0 END Cost.

 

On the other hand, the rules for Constant powers are clear:

A character can maintain a Constant Power over time. Once a character has turned a Constant Power on, all he has to do is spend END each Phase to keep it activated. Constant Powers include Powers like Force Field, Flight, Invisibility, and any power bought with the Continuous Advantage (page 257).

Re: Endurance Reserves

Steve responded to that issue in the forums @ [thread]15074[/thread]

Re: Endurance Reserves

Force Field isn't a Persistent power, so it's going to go off if you go unconscious. Running it from an END Reserve doesn't give it the Persistent Advantage for free. So, that assumption is wrong.

 

The only thing an END Reserve does for a KO'd character is continue to take its recoveries, because it's independent from the character's personal REC, which doesn't work when KO'd.

 

The Limitation Nonpersistent (Under Duration in the Limitation section) for -1/4 will make normally Persistent powers non-persistent.

But the rules say this about Endurance reserves:

An Endurance Reserve is “independent” of the character. Powers that draw END from an Endurance Reserve can keep doing so, and thus keep functioning, even if the character is Stunned, Knocked Out, asleep, or the like — the Reserve doesn’t lose its END in those situations. Similarly, an Endurance Reserve can keep using its REC to Recover its END even if the character is Knocked Out, can’t breathe, or the like.

Since Steve is likely quite busy at work with this question, I'll ask y'all:

My question is regarding Endurance Reserves and Powers drawing on them.

 

Normally, if you had, say a force field, powered by an END Reserve, it would stay on when you go unconscious.

 

Now, if you wanted your Powers powered by your reserve to cut off when you are stunned or KO'd...

 

1) What kind of limitation would you use to represent that?

2) Where would you place it, on the power(s) that draws from the reserve, or the reserve itself?

Hello, Steve. Hope things are going well for you.

My question is regarding Endurance Reserves and Powers drawing on them.

Normally, if you had, say a force field, powered by an END Reserve, it would stay on when you go unconscious.

Now, if you wanted your Powers powered by your reserve to cut off when you are stunned or KO'd...

1) What kind of limitation would you use to represent that?

2) Where would you place it, on the power(s) that draws from the reserve, or the reserve itself?

I was thinking about building a telekinetic defensive power that would push away attacks by giving the user and the surrounding area a DCV bonus. The idea behind it is that direct attacks have to defeat the bonus to DCV directly and area of effect attacks would have to hit a DCV of 7.

Here is the power as I wrote it up, any comments?

+4 with DCV, Usable As Attack (+1), Area Of Effect (4" Radius; +1)

Re: The Genesis of Captain Patriot

Non-physical skills' date=' including social skills, would have been harder to acquire without positing some kind of direct mental programming. Which makes it hard to rationalize him successfully surviving on his own after only 6 chronological years - he'd basically be a street urchin with an adult's body, trained to be a killing machine.[/quote']

 

You are correct. But I was just learning about what it meant to make a solid concept at that time and it was better than my Ultraman character, who got his powers reading a Superman comic while a radioactive meteorite overflew him.

Re: How did you handle the change in the Champions Universe between the 4th Ed & 5th

Oh, was the question about reality/continuity or system?

 

I've never used anything printed as canon. Always used my own world.

I was referring to reality/continuity, but the other way is just as interesting to read.

Re: The Genesis of Captain Patriot

So, let me make sure I understand.

 

1. Physically mature after 6 years of growth acceleration.

2. Trained for 10 years post-acceleration.

 

Correct?

Not quite.

1. Physically Mature after 6 years of growth acceleration using some sort of drug
   
2. Trained during the growth cycle,
   
3. They attempted escaped shortly after the acceleration was stopped
   
4. He survived on his own for 9-10 years
   

Re: How did you handle the change in the Champions Universe between the 4th Ed & 5th

I think when I was first getting into Champions, I was treating the CU like a campaign setting and trying to keep my backgrounds closely tied with the 'established' game universe in the same way that if I was playing Marvel Superheroes or DC Heroes, and tying in character with their universes. I hadn't realized at the time, that people didn't use the CU that way.

Re: The Genesis of Captain Patriot

When you say "eugenics"' date=' I take that as "selective breeding". Given that pure eugenics takes generations (plural) to achieve significant results, are you adding genetic engineering to speed up the process? Even so, you are looking at 18-20 years to get a mature supersoldier from a newborn. The advantage there is the opportunity to "train from birth" - to focus the education and activities of the proto-supersoldier children towards their intended profession. The disadvantage is the lead time from "placing an order" to having operational supersoldiers.[/quote']

 

You are correct, what I failed to mention was they were also accelerating the growth of the cells. Captain Patriot also received the same accelerated growth to maturity, though perhaps not as fast. The 'brothers' were approximately 6 years old when the acceleration was stopped. They were receiving their training from the moment they could hold a weapon.

 

So, at the time Captain Patriot escaped from the facility, he was a physically mature male. Also, I had Captain Patriot as living among people for at least 10 years at game start, so chronologically, he's only 16 years old. I did this so he would have some social skills, but he did have a harder time trying to learn them as he didn't have people to properly learn the traits. His mental age is about equivalent of a high school attendee though he had to pretend to be an adult for most of the time he spent around people. He simply acted like a soldier would around others and left before they could learn the truth about him.

Re: The Genesis of Captain Patriot

Actually, Shelley's PRIMUS book made an official change to Cyberline. "What is called Cyberline is, in fact, a genetic re-engineering of agents.Dr. Julius Merrill, who would later be known for his contributions to the field of the paranormal genetic research, began a series of clandestine experiments for the Pentagon, to develop “super soldiers” in 1954. The genetic material of a soldier of the Korean War, Isaac Rosenberg, was used as the basis for Cyberline... Merrill spent years analyzing Rosenberg’s DNA, essentially pioneering the field of paranormal genetic research, though many of his findings remain secret to this day. After many trials and even more error, he finally managed to refine his technique. Cyberline consists of the key portion of Rosenberg’s DNA, delivered by a virus; when a cell is infected with the virus, Rosenberg’s DNA inserts into a key segment of chromosome nine." (PRIMUS p. 80)

 

 

 

This was retained for the 5e CU. See Champions Universe, p. 116

 

 

 

Naturally, you can use whichever you prefer.

I realize that, I just didn't remember the description they originally used to describe it before her book came out. Her method appears to be a form of gene therapy. While the Millennium process is eugenic in nature.

Re: The Genesis of Captain Patriot

Ah. My bad. I missed the edition difference. What version of Cyberline are you thinking of?

It is an obvious one for a patriot archetype as well.

 

Overall, are you going to "reset/retcon" for the 5e/6e CU?

Personally, I would like to see how others handled the universe change to keep a sense of continuity with other 'parallel' Champions 4th Edition Universes.

The question speaks for itself.

How did you handle the change in the Champions Universe between the 4th Ed & 5th Ed?

Did you just do a retcon?

Was there some sort of universal event that shifted the universe seemlessly?

What did you do?

Re: The Genesis of Captain Patriot

Dark' date=' but interesting. I assume that the "Sister" became a Hunted or NPC?[/quote']

 

The 'sister' became the primary hunted representing the Millennium Corp think tank. So, he felt obligated to only defeat her and not risk killing her.

 

1. Was this a different supersoldier process from the ones listed in Champions Universe? I commend you to p. 38 of Champions Universe for detailed discussion of the Perseus treatment' date=' and p. 40 of the same for Project Yeoman, a Perseus derivative; both are contemporary to the pre-PRIMUS time period (Perseus went into production in 1969; Yeoman in 1977, Cyberline/PRIMUS in 1986) you are referencing.[/quote']

 

Actually, these references you are using with Perseus and Project Yeoman are just 5th Edition Champions Universe(CU) references, while I was using the 4th Edition version. I looked at these projects and compared it to what I remember about how they did it. Perseus and later Project Yeoman used drug and radiation treatments to induce superpowers, what I am gonna dub, the Millennium process, used advanced eugenics/genetic manipulation.

 

2. Is there any connection between this character and the WWII hero by the same name (Champions Universe pp. 84-87)? Is this a legacy hero' date=' intentionally or unintentionally?[/quote']

 

Actually, I came up with the name before I did my research and discovered there was a Captain Patriot in the CU. Since I liked the name and wasn't gonna change it, I said that he adopted the name after the incident at the facility as a tactic to increase support for him and put himself in a more favorable light.

 

...Was the corporation burned with fire?

Just the one research facility, they lost the Millennium process during the fire. Since the game I was playing with back in the '90s was a shared universe, we explained it away as they harvested her egg cells, so they could continue to breed more supersoldiers. Since she had no more relevant role in the breeding process, they used her since she was the only first gen supersoldier they had access to.

Captain Patriot came out during a time I was just learning the Hero System 4th Edition back in 1992. In order to learn how to make characters, since Champions and the Hero System was my very first point based game system, I made 250 point versions of various superheroes.

I had just finished attempting to make Superman, who I called Ultraman, and decided to make my second character after my favorite comic book character, Captain America.

After recreating Cap as best as I could on 250 points, I needed a new biography for my creation because I like Cap, but I didn't want to run him as Capt. America.

Reading up on the Champions Universe, I came up with that a think tank called the Millennium Corporation was experimenting and Eric Hunter was one of five genetically created supersoldiers being created around the time the government was looking into a supersoldier program. This was before the formation of PRIMUS.

One of the five was a woman, and thus was rejected for consideration as a soldier, though the potential use as a breeder was taken into consideration. The remaining four were intensively trained in hand to hand combat. During their training, where they were being introduced to the use of a shield and were trying out a prototype shield based on an experimental polymer resin which was practically unbreakable, one of the scientists caught wind that the government already decided to go with the Cyberline program and they lost their chance to get their prototype supersoldiers into action, so they decided they would mind wipe them to become corporate espionage agents, something their patriotic psychological training would not allow.

They were informed and the scientist left to get their 'sister' while they would clear a path to the exit. The corporate heads sent in their security team of fifty men, loaded to bear, to take on the four supersoldiers. The subsequent battle did huge amounts of collateral damage, but in the end, Eric was the last supersoldier. The facility they had been based in suffered a titanic explosion so he had no idea if the scientist that warned him was even alive.

Knowing that the Corporation would be after him, he decided to make a very public appearance and be the hero they trained him to be.

Comments are appreciated and welcome.

Re: Eve-Online tabletop edition?

To tell the truth, I was fascinated by some of the stories that have come out from EVE Online, but I know almost nothing about the game universe or, for that matter, the tech.

Is there anything in the Star Hero you can use before you decide to model the tech in Hero terms?

Re: Champions Online - Server Names

So, who have we gotten together in our SuperGroup now?

Re: Champions Online - Server Names

What the heck, I'll join a Supergroup based on the dedicated Hero Gamers.

Re: The April Fool

"Cygnia, nOOOOOOO! Damn you, Steve Long ninja's! Maybe I should tell you guys. I used to have lots of fun with Merry and the rest of the gang, until the Champions happened with the extradimensional Version Wars when they retconned him from existence. What? You don't know about the Version Wars?"

I tried to pull an April Fool's joke when something occurred to me.

How about we try to write up the April Fool?

I challenge everyone to send a write up on the April Fool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day

Bio: For hundred's of years, pranks delivered upon this day has manifested an entity who becomes the physical embodiment of the April Fool!

Have fun, guys!

I'm trying to understand Rapid Fire but I'm unclear about the OCV modifiers.

Hero tries to fire his Energy Blast.

If Hero wants to fire three times using Rapid Fire at either one target or three targets in adjacent hexes, Hero would take -2 for each shot after the first, for a total -4 OCV modifier.

Now, say that Energy Blast also has the Autofire advantage and Hero has the Rapid Autofire skill.

Does this allow Hero to fire his Autofire attack three times at the same target at the -4 OCV modifier?

Does this allow Hero to fire his Autofire attack multiple targets in adjacent hexes at -2 OCV modifier for each additional shot after the first or do you also add the -1 OCV modifier for each hex in the line?

Thanks for your time, Steve.

Re: Atmospheric reentry

According to Star Hero, page 284:

Re: Seeker vs. Nighthawk- THE REMATCH!

I had no problem with the C:NM Champions, they are just very different than what I grew accustomed to reading about.

I think I liked Quantum best.

Re: DC-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act?

I'm generally on the side that says that mandatory superhuman registration is probably a civil rights violation.

 

As a devil's advocate, though, how about the requirement in the United States that all male citizens of a certain age must register for the draft? Isn't that singling them out for something intrinsic (being male) that they did not choose?

Probably because when the draft laws were originally established, women were the weaker sex, to be protected.

My original point in this post was that if you were put in a position to draft such a law, how would you draft it? Would you put in provisions for only offensive powers? What provisions do you put in?