TaxiMan

Re: Critique this character please This character smells bad, looks ugly, feels as soft as a cactus, and sounds like shrieking cats at 2 a.m.! He's a drooling idiot with the social graces of a diseased camel! His DNA is only working with two bases, it couldn't figure out the other two! He's lazy, eats like a pig and associates with perverts! Worst of all, at night he sneaks into .... Oh. "Critique". I thought it said "Criticize". Sorry.

Re: Metamorphosis I think the new Shapeshift is weird, though I've finally understood it. It should be called 'Perfect Images' IMO. Add UAA and some AOE and you have the power Images, but nothing can penetrate the image. It's Images, Self-Only, No PER Roll To Detect, Limited Function (limited to sense groups). The T1000 from Terminator II would have it because it can mimic policemen, not because it can grow swords out of its hands. In its silver state, it doesn't need Shapeshift at all, only an assortment of other Powers. So if I have Shapeshift vs. Touch, can I change how much I feel like I weigh?

Re: Continuous Attack Faster than Character's Speed? You could buy an attack for each segment, and add 'Lim: delayed X segments' to the later attacks... Fire the whole thing off as a MPA.

Re: Continuous Attack Faster than Character's Speed? OK, I posted fast & didn't provide an example. That means I didn't check the repercussions. If you: Setattack power DC = {12 * [desired DC/segment] / SPD} and define it as acting per segment then we're doing what I recommended earlier. However, the AP will be huge and it deserves a limitation (after all, one big attack is better than a bunch of little ones). Using the Limited Power rules (e.g. "power loses half its effectiveness = -1"), I get the following limitations. The effectiveness is calculated as SPD/12 & compared to the Limited Power ratios. SPD : Lim value 1,2 : -2 3,4 : -1 1/2 5-7 : -1 8 : -1/2 9 : -1/4 10-12 : -0 Let's try it. If I have SPD 7 and want to do 2d6 killing per phase, here's how I'd do it: X DC = {12 * 6 DC / 7} = 10.3; round that however you feel as GM, let's say 'round down' in this case so it's 10 DC. So for 50 real points, a SPD 7 character can do 2d6K / segment. It'll cost him 3 END / segment, and he can't do anything else since he's firing this power constantly. So for 50 points he gets a 2d6 KA that happens twice (on average) per phase, and that burns up his entire phase and costs 6 END. Seems harsh, I could buy 2x attacks, MPA and add "entire phase" to get something cheaper. But still, it's close...?

Re: Continuous Attack Faster than Character's Speed?

Re: WWYCD: Demon: Man of the Year

Re: Need an immortal name - suggestions? PC hero, with a lot of the lesser-used traits - a bevy of followers, massive wealth, mega-skills (scholar, traveler, linguist), base, that sort of thing. No super powers to speak of, though DEX is 30. Combat-wise, he's got a 10d6 martial attack as his best offense but FW and 2x Overall levels so he can dish it out. Defenses are 24 and he has an uncanny ability to be in the right position (funky move power). The immortality thing is background / justification / for fun, since he keeps it a secret from everyone including superhero allies. After I get all his extras (base, followers) statted, I'll post him for your review / critique. Thanks for the ideas!

Re: Need an immortal name - suggestions? Can you mix & match those names, are they all patronymic?

Re: N3 Really cool! I like his background story and he seems like a really fun and tight character design. This character is fun out of combat (and I like that!), and tactically challenging in combat. Not for beginning players! He would be really rewarding to play him well. I'm sad you never got to play him. From a point-whoring perspective, I love the +20 INT construct. He gains +4 to all his (considerable) INT-based skills. I really dislike the standard '5 cp for +1 to Intelligence based skills' thing. I mean, for 5 cp, I can bump up my INT! Talk about temptation to destroy a character concept... I also like the Overall levels coupled with lots of skills and Find Weakness. I've done the same thing, it's really effective. [any chance of stealing the .HDC file?]

I've a character who is 8,000 years old, and he needs a normal name. I'm going for Asian influences, since the Middle East and Asia are the two 'interesting' places to be 2-5,000 years ago. Like the Highlander, he's rich and knows a lot about history - but who is he? He needs a name that is normal / ordinary, since he doesn't want to stand out in a crowd. But I want something interesting, that adds some flavor to his background. A modern name that is a derivative of an ancient name would be cool! Suggestions?

Re: Help with a concept Concerning the earlier comment that an NND hurt GB because he didn't have a 'force field' - A NND should often be interpreted as being dependent upon a Special Effect - not a Power name. So if a NND, not against force fields hit GB, his Armor defined as a force field WOULD protect him. However, he doesn't have armor. Notice I (and many others) capitalize terms when using a Hero power name, and leave it lower case when talking about a special effect. In most cases, I rule that NND's are defended against by special effects, not Powers.

Re: Help with a concept The effect is that his defenses don't wear him out and are available all the time; it glows when using strength? It's Armor, "Glows When Using STR or Under Attack" (like Visible, -1/4 or -0) Don't get hung up on the name of the power, it's Armor.

Re: Labs in Bases... Hey Brainstorm! Excellent posts, well thought out & articulated. I hope you post tons more, I like the way you think. But... Could you please reduce the average paragraph? I tend to speed-read, and a sea of text makes my eyes hurt. Your posts are by no means bad in any way, I just ask as a favor.

Re: Desolidification or Tunnelling? So if someone were in the bubble going through a mountain, what happens if they step away from the bubble? If this can be used as an attack power (via trickery?), there's something missing in the discussion.

Re: "Neat" Pictures The maggots expel "eggs" at escape velocity. The adult forms don't travel. Shoot out enough eggs and viola! Shrunken planet.

Re: City of Heroes Power Builds Aid END 1d6 can only add up to 6 * (2 END / 1 cp) before maxing out...?

Re: New Powers Speaking of 6th edition, one change I've contemplated is to give powers an extra stat: Active Cost. For example, I could have a power "Regeneration: 7cp / BODY, 25AC". With this you could cost powers appropriately, but not have them be hosed when adv. and lims get applied. It's sort of already done for HA.

Re: New Powers I believe almost any power can be modeled in Hero terms. However, my thought was to take some of the overly-complex builds for common usages, throw away the overly-complex structure, figure cost & give it a new name. Teleportation gate? Regeneration? Man, those are nasty builds that require looking at the book every time I use them. I like the idea of a mind-hopper, but won't use one because the power is a mess.

Re: New Powers One red flag for candidate powers is if they involve a VPP for multiform or other weirdness!

Ok, so 6th edition is a long time away but what new powers would you add to Hero? I'm thinking broad-use powers, not highly specific. Or (and this probably is the majority of powers), powers that are often used or desired but have really clunky builds in Hero. I'd list Regeneration (bring it back!) Jerico-effect Invulnerability So it's been discussed a thousand times before, but what do you want? [This should be turned into a poll after we make the list!]

Re: How Fast Can I Go? So how much damage do you take doing a Mach 1,000 move-through of miles of ocean water? Does your head get eroded in nanoseconds?

Re: Blowing up a mountain You could define the typical objects that have X amount of BODY, in a table. When someone does an attack, check the BODY done, look at the table, and describe the results. That way, a missed shot doing 15 BODY is "the blast flies past him as he dodges with nearly invisible speed! it races on, and blows the top quarter of a mountian into ash! the explosion raises a mushroom cloud a mile high." Aw heck, that's probably what you're shooting for anyway.

Re: Determining Gravitic Pull Plot device it is, but don't you need Affects Physical on the 155 STR?

Re: what to do with a psychic gorilla Great idea! Rep!

Re: What would your character think about.... But that's real! It's the best way for the advanced computers to transmit a flood of information to humans that evolved in an atmosphere. In a heartbeat we can tell threat direction and get a rough idea of distance. Besides, the ships are thousands of miles apart from each other, only detectable by super-tech sensors. (Oh - the "windshields" are holographic flat panel displays.) Edit - I mean the computer generates the sound inside the ship.