Gaelinic

Re: Difference between Ultraviolet Perception and Nightvision? What you're describing is not an active sense. From what I remember, the ability did not transmit in order to perceive. It was just described as a special effect of the infravision. That's why I'd just make it visible. But if it's only visible for people with infravision it might not be worth a limitation at all.

Re: A few more rules questions Thanks for providing a response. Steve responded to this question. But your example provides further clarification. Now that I understand, I personally think its unnecessarily complicated. How can an attacker know how the defender bought his powers? It seems like the rule, as explained, forces players to think in gamespeak rather than in genre. Artificial barriers exist to the character with find weakness that don't reflect the action of the scene. Initially, when I got Steve's response, I was going to enforce the rule as explained. However, I had not thought about the implications until reading your response. Basically, if a defender purchased the power in a different way, the attacker with find weakness might not get the ability to use his power. It just seems to encourage players to use the rules to outmaneuver their GM when creating their character. I think I'd just let the player tell him if he's using find weakness on normal defense or resistant defense. I'd allow the total number of armor or force field to be halved for purposes of normal defense. Hmmmm . . . well, now I'm back to what my original concern in which find weakness becomes more effective and cheaper than armor piercing. Maybe, the answer is in damage resistance. I'll enforce the rule as written but maybe move damage resistance over to resistant defenses for purposes of finding their weakness. With regard to Force Wall, would it be an attack action to place a field around a bunch of innocents to protect them or to defend them against an attack? Also, could a character abort to putting up a Force Wall around this innocents? How about around himself? I'm about to post my mega sized rule question thread. I'd appreciate your input in that one as well. After reading the rules, I just get the impression that the system somehow got more complicated since 4th edition. It's like the designer must have thought, "Those damn players are getting away with too much. Let's put a stop to that." So now every power or ability has been codified with quantifiers to regulate every seen or unforseen circumstance. To create the ability or power "the right way" you have to have the right advantages or limitations, which, now more than ever, skyrocket the original price of your "simple" ability. I really loved my old Champs campaign I ran for two years. But in getting through the powers section, I just get the feeling that in order to let players create the abilities they want, I'm either going to have to expand the active cost limits, which can really thow the damage caps for a loop, or look at each player's PC and artificially impose limits on powers based on subjective feelings. And the latter option is not the reason for choosing to play Hero in the first place. The lure of Hero is its clear boundaries for the environment, objects, powers, damage caps, etc. I like knowing how much a character can move, how much damage he can do, how much it takes to break a wall, etc. You always knew exacty what you could do and how it related to the world around you. The world was interactive and destructible. I don't get that from other rule systems. However, the new rules with the strange enforcement of advantages and limitations, now make you think of your world like a lawyer. By clearly defining everything, the simple point cost structure now inflates the cost to purchase any abilitiess you want to recreate from the comics. And then, you just end up going back to, as I mentioned above, allowing uneven constructs of powers and abilities just to satisfy concepts. Yet, those same constructs may go beyond your artificial imposition of caps. I liked damage caps and active point caps. But they don't work now in order to create useful powers. The clearest example of this, and my biggest qualm, was the change in damge shield that now requires continuous. Why can't damage shield just mean what that ability does? Why add another quantifier to this? Buying a power now with damage shield either makes your power completely useless, if you strictly stick to active point costs (i.e. not enough dice of damage), or extremely expensive by breaking the active point costs. I also thought at one time about running Star Wars in Hero. I mean the system can create any power, right? However, the more I thought about it, the less inclined I am to realize that dream. You realize that Jedi are just too powerful with your gamer's toolkit and cannot exist with other heroic level characters within point limits. Or, if you impose artificial limitations like activation rolls, you create a game that does not, by any stretch of the imagination, meet the the conventions of the genre. When did you ever see a Jedi fail to activate his force powers? Anyway, I guess this rant should go in another thread. But to end this on a positive note, I still plan on running a Galactic Champs game. Supers without Hero just doesn't seem right. SAS is too arbitrary and unclear. MnM has the capricious D20 die that is so unforgiving. Thanks you all for reading thus far and providing guidance.

Re: Difference between Ultraviolet Perception and Nightvision? It would be a visible effect for a zero endurance costing power. So you'd take a limitation, visible.

Re: Question about Two Perks Hi. I was wondering if you ever confirmed this point cost total? Thanks.

Re: A few more rules questions I posted the last three questions with Steve Long. Just in case you were interested, his response to number two is 15. You only halve the normal or resistant portion of the defense, depending on which you specify. Thanks.

Hello, 1) I understand that Find Weakness halves the defenses of Normal Defense or Resistant Defense. And, you can choose between which defense you want to halve each action. However, I am unclear how Find Weakness works for a total normal defense that combines resistant with PD/ED. For example, let's say Superninja has Find Weakness and he encounters Stoneman who has 10 pd/ed and 10 PD/ED armor. According to the rules, Stoneman has a total of 20 pd/ed against normal damage. If Superninja decides to Find Weakness on Stoneman's normal defenses and succeeds, are Stoneman's total defenses against normal damage 15 pd/ed or are they 10 pd/ed? If they are 15 pd/ed, does Superninja have to specify that he is halving Stoneman's armor with another Find Weakness roll? Also, the rules on page 174 indicate that a character with find weakness has to target normal defenses (PD or ED, including damage resistance). Does this mean that Superninja has to declare before using Find Weakness whether he is attempting to halve the PD or the ED of his opponent each time he rolls? 2)Does Find Weakness work against inanimate objects like walls, items, or vehicles as it does against characters? 3) How long does it take to activate Force Wall? Is it a zero phase action, attack action, half action, etc.? Thank you.

1) How do you create spider-man's webs in an area to entangle someone between segments if they walk into a hex or touch the area? He doesn't pay endurance for his power so continuous doesn't seem to apply. Thanks. 2) I understand that Find Weakness halves the defenses of Normal Defense or Resistant Defense. And, you can choose between which defense you want to halve each action. However, I am unclear how Find Weakness works for a total normal defense that combines resistant with PD/ED. For example, let's say Superninja has Find Weakness and he encounters Stoneman who has 10 pd/ed and 10 PD/ED armor. According to the rules, Stoneman has a total of 20 pd/ed against normal damage. If Superninja decides to Find Weakness on Stoneman's normal defenses and succeeds, are Stoneman's total defenses against normal damage 15 pd/ed or are they 10 pd/ed? If they are 15 pd/ed, does Superninja have to specify that he is halving Stoneman's armor with another Find Weakness roll? Also, the rules on page 174 indicate that a character with find weakness has to target normal defenses (PD or ED, including damage resistance). Does this mean that Superninja has to declare before using Find Weakness whether he is attempting to halve the PD or the ED of his opponent each time he rolls? 3)Does Find Weakness work against inanimate objects like walls, items, or vehicles as it does against characters? 4) How long does it take to activate Force Wall? Is it a zero phase action, attack action, half action, etc.? Thank you.

Re: Difference between Ultraviolet Perception and Nightvision? According to the FAQ, Nightvision works in total natural darkness including caves. I just don't see why someone would buy Ultravision since the absence of any light is already offset by Nightvision. But I thank you all for your contributions.

Can someone explain the difference between Ultraviolet Perception and Nightvision in terms of their game effects? They both cost the same points and seem to provide similar effects. However, for the same point cost, it seems that Nightvision is a better ability since it allows you to see in dark buildings, sewers, and caves. Ultraviolet Perception would seem to indicate that you need some source of UV light to still see. I'm just wondering why you would purchase one over the other. Thanks.

1) When purchasing the Multiple Combat Effects adder, does it allow you to purchase only one additional combat effect for your change environment? Or does a single expenditure of +5 points allow you to purchase multiple combat effects for your change environment? So in other words if your character purchased CE with -3 Per and purchased Multiple Combat Effects (5 points), can he only purchase one additional combat effect to whatever other level he want to spend? Or for those 5 points can he purchase combat effects from any and all other combat effects he decides to buy? 2) Under the Combat Effects Cost list, +/- one Temperature Level costs 3 points. Does that mean that if a character spends buys his CE with Temperature change and spends an additional 6 points, he can choose anytime he activates the power to raise or lower the temperature in a given area by three levels? Or does he have to choose at the time of creation whether he raises or lowers the CE by 3 levels? Thanks.

Re: A Question about Adjustment Powers Let me just clarify. In my examples, Strongman and Absorbo only lost 10 stun in that fight by the end of the turn. So they still had 20 extra Stun obtained through Aid (Strongman) or Absorption (Absorbo). The question is if the fade rate is 5/turn, how much of that extra 20 stun, if any, do they lose at the end of the turn. This issue wasn't addressed in that section of the book. I know I'm overanalyzing here but I just wanted to know in case this occurs in my game. Thanks.

When positively adjusting expendable characteristics like END, Stun, and Body, if the character loses those stats during the course of combat, how do you adjudicate the fade rate for the adjusted portion? This may be easier to explain through an example. Let's say Medic has Aid with a 5/turn fade rate. Medi Aids Strongman by giving him 30 points of Stun, then Strongman person loses 10 points of Stun in the fight. At the end of the turn (post segment 12), how much (if any) Stun is Strongman supposed lose? Does he lose five stun? Does he not lose any since 10 stun was lost in the fight? Also, would these rules apply to Absorbtion? Using the same numbers, if Absorbo added the same amount of Stun to himself and lost the same amount in a fight, how much, if any, Stun would he lose at the end of the turn. Thanks.

Hello, I've been away for more than three years. I had given up on Hero. However, I've been getting the urge to run supers again and just can't get myself to run SAS. I have too many fond memories of Champs. So I'm rereading the rules and had a couple of questions. I've posted them on the 5th edition Rules questions with Steve Long, but I'm not sure if the second one is really clear. Did I miss the boat on that description? Is it much more straight forward than I'm thinking? Thanks. I'm also posting questions as they come up. I just don't have the patience to wait and find out my question is answered about 400 pages into the text. But I appreciate your patience with my quetions. 1) What is the difference between Deep Cover and Secret Identity? 2) Is the cost structure for Followers and Vehicles/Bases different? The reason I'm asking this last one is because the example given of the Champion base on page 85 does not match my understanding of the rules. I thought any points spent to create a base or vehicle costing more than the total character points of the main character (i.e. Base and Disads) cost 1/1. So, in the example given of the Champions base the first 250 would be 1/5 then the additional 40 (from disads) would be 1/1. Now going over the Follower example, I'm newly confused. It lists Jacko's base points and disads at 175. The first 100 points cost 1/5 to create him. But if he were created on 250 his first 100 points are at 1/5 and the following 50 are 1/1. There is no mention of remaining 100 points within that 250. But the example seems to suggest that since Jacko (Base and Disad totals) costs more than Captain Australia (Base and Disads totals), Jacko's additional 50 points should be 1/1. Is this somehow different for base and vehicles? Thanks.

Hello, 1) What is the difference between Deep Cover and Secret Identity? 2) Is the cost structure for Followers and Vehicles/Bases different? The reason I'm asking this last one is because the example given of the Champion base on page 85 does not match my understanding of the rules. I thought any points spent to create a base or vehicle costing more than the total character points of the main character (i.e. Base and Disads) cost 1/1. So, in the example given of the Champions base the first 250 would be 1/5 then the additional 40 (from disads) would be 1/1. Now going over the Follower example, I'm newly confused. It lists Jacko's base points and disads at 175. The first 100 points cost 1/5 to create him. But if he were created on 250 his first 100 points are at 1/5 and the following 50 are 1/1. There is no mention of remaining 100 points within that 250. But the example seems to suggest that since Jacko (Base and Disad totals) costs more than Captain Australia (Base and Disads totals), Jacko's additional 50 points should be 1/1. Is this somehow different for base and vehicles? Thanks.

Great. That really helps. All I was looking for was ways to build the powers to make them cost less while still being effective. Sure, I was hoping for a fully stated character but your help on those few powers have already got me thinking of ways to tack on limitations that make the powers cost less. I appreciate it.