KA.

Re: Nero Wolfe Just wanted to say that I bought the set of DVDs. They are excellent, and I don't have a crush on Timothy Hutton. I also picked up a complete set of the books in paperback on eBay a couple of months ago. Well worth reading for background detail, although they are not "pulp". KA.

Re: Reality Storm: Update Hey, when did these guys get bought out by Cybergames? Sorry! Cheap Shot! Genuinely looking forward to buying Reality Storm when it comes out. KA.

Kid Viper! Or "Bobby" (Sorry, obscure G.I. Joe reference.) Actually, how about something like BackBiter or Serpent's Tooth. (Not trying to steal from an upcoming product, but the whole "ungrateful child" reference is just too strong to ignore.) Or, you could go in the opposite direction with something like Mongoose. KA.

ChocolateMousje, I am going to do a little more research on Regeneration. It seems like this has been priced out of the market! I can understand not wanting your average Fantasy Hero peasant to buy it, but considering how hard it is for most Champions characters to take a lot of BODY, it seems to be ridiculously expensive for something that is a purely defensive power. As far as the Life Support for Space, I would definitely include Radiation. Once you get outside the atmosphere, I think there is some rather harsh stuff out there. I'm not really sure about "poisons" since, if you aren't breathing they shouldn't be getting inside you anyway, so I removed that and diseases. I put back a more limited form of Eat and Sleep because I don't think they are going to come into play very much, but since he doesn't travel that fast, if he wanted to fly to, say, the Moon, I am not sure how long it would take. I don't think falling asleep in space would be very safe , and snacking opportunities are also going to be rare. Having saved a few points due to Southern Cross's suggestions, I put some Damage Resistance inside the multipower. I can have a small amount up while using an Energy Blast and have quite a bit of Resistant Defense for more dangerous situations. I put the Charges on the Normal Energy Blast because I see it as actually "using" the dust from the Meteor. It "comes back" over time, but he can't just keep blasting it out there all day, there is only so much. The other Blast (explosion) is more like shorting a battery and making a big "pop". So I only seeing him able to do that a few times a day. As he gains experience, I may buy these limitations down, but for now they "feel" right. I am seriously thinking about redoing the Disadvantages too. I may use the "Novice Hero". I thought about a Vulnerability to Magnetic Attacks, but with this GM I am hesitant. I have a feeling I may as well just add on "Hunted by Magneto 14 or less", if I take one! But, I will consider it. Thanks for your time. KA.

Well, thanks a lot Southern Cross! Now I have to start a whole new thread on how to spend One Point on this character! Just kidding! Don't know how I missed that when I was first building him. I try not to fudge things too much, but Astronomy certainly seems like it should be based on INT to me. Power Skill : Well that's what I get for not reading all the details. I knew what it was for from reading a lot of posts on it, but I didn't realize that you could base it on whatever you want (within reason), until I read the entry in Fred just now. I think that what I would really use it for is Brick Tricks, which would be STR based. That gives him a '17 or less' roll, which is way too high for a Hero who is just getting started! So, I am going to buy it STR based, but only as a Familiarity. That way it will be '8 or less' for now, and as he gets some experience, it will go up. Nice Catch! Thanks, KA.

Here are some places on the web to read pulp stories. http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Sax_Rohmer/ Has a couple of reprints of Fu Manchu novels http://www.spaceports.com/~deshadow/ A fantastic collection of stories from The Shadow Magazine Enjoy. KA.

ChocolateMousje: Thanks for pointing out the problem with the Regeneration. Some of the problems with this character are a result of his being upgraded from 4th Ed. Hero Creator to 5th Ed. Hero Designer. Regeneration definitely lost something in the translation. I don't think there are any other characters in any of our campaigns that use it, so I didn't really notice how much it had changed for 5th Ed. Also, it is not really intended to be that much of a help to the character, I really intended it as more of a limiting factor, but I didn't want to build it in a way that gave him points (like a limitation on the multipower or a physical limitation) because I thought that would sort of defeat the purpose. (okay, from here on in, read at your own risk! I try not to be excessively verbose when posting, but it seems like I didn't provide enough detail, so now I am going to. Please feel free to stop reading when you begin to die from boredom.) I was looking for something like the feel of when Spiderman first got the symbiote costume. The meteor entity is not evil in any way, but it is sort of a "mother hen". It feels responsible for "killing" the character in the first place, so it is going to make darned sure that he doesn't die again on "it's watch". So, if the character takes a certain amount of BODY damage, it starts trying to heal him using nearly all of its resources, it won't let him use any offensive powers, and it doesn't care what the circumstances are. (I built a few extra points into the multipower to allow for a little flight, or a bit of life support, in case the injury took place while flying or under water, but that is about it.) Anyway, that is what I was trying to do with that. I wasn't trying to make the character "unkillable", I was trying to create something that would limit his options because he wasn't in full "control" of his powers. Also, he is not able to just turn the Regen "on" when he wants to, to keep from getting knocked below 15 BODY, it ONLY works when he is below 15 BODY. Not that that is that big a limitation or anything, but considering that it nearly locks out his other powers . . . Life Support Again, it appears that I didn't explain this very well. The Life Support was intended to allow him to fly to the edges of, if not beyond, the atmosphere of the Earth. As an astronomy student, the ability to see the stars without the interference of the atmosphere would be very rewarding. He doesn't walk around for weeks at a time with full Life Support going, the only time he would use it is if he wanted to fly really high, go under water for something, etc., which is why it is in a Multipower and not an Elemental Control or just purchased normally. He is not going to go for weeks without sleep and then switch to another slot and fall into a narcoleptic coma! But I bought about every form of life support I could think to try to cover all the bases as far as what might happen in space. If I just bought Self Contained Breathing, then if I flew into the atmosphere I would be told I was dead from the Vacuum. If I bought Vacuum, I would then be dead from Radiation. If I bought Radiation , I would die from the Cold, or the Heat, or the Temperature change. If I bought those too, then I might die from the change in Pressure upon re-entry. After buying High Pressure, I would die from some kind of "Poisonous" trace elements in the atmosphere, and if I lived through that I would be killed by some kind of "Upper Atmosphere" disease organism. So, I bought everything! Need Not Eat or Sleep, were just added in as part of the package. Really wasn't planning on this guy going for days without rest or food, (maybe during finals, he is a college student:)) but if he did, I would expect him to have to spend a lot of time eating and sleeping to catch up. What I was trying to create is a character with a lot of power, but not a lot of control over it. He is a starting hero, and has only had his powers for a few weeks. That is why he has the Ultra Slots. He doesn't know how to fire a blast and do a lot of other things at the same time, he is still learning. As he gets more experience, I won't be adding new powers, or increasing the current ones, I will be giving him more control over them by changing the Ultra's to Multi's. The OIF part is a little weird, I agree, but it is because I didn't want to spend 8 pages on the full origin story. When the meteor struck him, he was crushed (flat) and tiny pieces of the meteor lodged in him. Permanently. And merged with his blood. They are what healed him but they have pretty much "burned out". The clothing he was wearing at the time became infused with a mixture of meteor fragments and his blood (there was plenty of both around at the time). The meteor was able to "repair" that too. It can either look like the outfit he was wearing, or the "costume" form which looks like a speckled blue shiny bodysuit, but it can't just turn into anything. The combination of the meteor fragments in the costume, bound to his blood that is mixed in there somewhere, give him the extra powers. The costume can be taken off, stolen, whatever, and in that case he would lose all the OIF powers until he got it back. The Instant Change only works when he is wearing the clothes he was crushed in. Since they have been repaired, they look fine, but he can't put on a business suit and go to an interview and instantly change into Meteor. As far as the power levels... The first time we played with this GM (one of my players, new to the system, teenaged, and a bit power-mad), our characters were on the way to a bank that was being robbed. We were attacked by snipers. The snipers had 6d6 Armor Piercing RKA's. They also had Find Weakness. They also had enough levels to hit us nearly every time they fired, Dodging gave them a 50-50 chance of hitting. There were four of them and two of us. They weren't the main threat, they were just something that shot us in the back on the way in! The first shot KO'd the other character (down to -6 Stun in one shot, also lost a fair amount of BODY). My character (the first version of Meteor) managed to fly him to safety before he was shot again, but I took a round in the process, which KO'd me just as he was coming to. He got us behind cover, and through a combination of blind luck and superior tactics we actually managed to live through it and defeat the villains. So far, no campaign limits have been set for this second attempt, but the GM has promised to tone things down a bit. So, I didn't go full paranoid buying Power Defense and Lack of Weakness and Hardening everything x2, because that didn't fit my concept of the character, but as far as building something approaching a Combat Monster, I plead Self Defense! NOTE: You know, you actually did help me finish this character. Once I rebuilt the Regeneration properly it was 90 active points. Wanting to have a few points left for a small amount of Flight or Life Support, in case I was wounded under those circumstances, I boosted the Multipower Reserve to 100. That put me one point over 350, so I got rid of "Need not Sleep or Eat" and that made me come out even. Here is the new version. Meteor Player: Val Char Cost 40/70 STR 10 30 DEX 30 25 CON 10 25 BODY 10 18 INT 8 14 EGO 8 22 PRE 2 18 COM 0 39/45 PD 2 39/45 ED 5 6 SPD 20 25 REC 4 50 END 0 50 STUN -8 6" RUN02" SWIM08"/14" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 101 Cost Power END 67 Multipower (Costume): Multipower, 100-point reserve, all slots: (100 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) 8m 1) Armor (20 PD/20 ED) (60 Active Points) 4m 2) Density Increase (6400 kg mass, +30 STR, +6 PD/ED, -6" KB) (30 Active Points) 3 6u 3) Energy Blast 18d6 (vs. PD), 16 Charges (+0) (90 Active Points) 3u 4) Energy Blast 10d6 (vs. ED), STUN Only (+0), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Explosion (+1/2) (87 Active Points); 6 Charges (-3/4), No Range (-1/2) 5m 5) Flight 20" (40 Active Points) 4 5m 6) Total Life Support: Life Support , Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents, Immunity: All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents, Safe in High Pressure, Safe in High Radiation, Safe in Intense Cold, Safe in Intense Heat, Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum, Self-Contained Breathing (39 Active Points) 3u 7) Regeneration (No Control below 15 Body): Healing 2d6 (max. Healed Points: 12) (Can Heal Limbs, Resurrection), Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (90 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-1), Self Only (-1/2) Costume Powers, all slots: OIF (-1/2) 94 1) Costume Characteristics: (Total: 142 Active Cost, 94 Real Cost) +20 STR (Real Cost: 20) plus +10 DEX (Real Cost: 30) plus +10 CON (Real Cost: 20) plus +10 BODY (Real Cost: 20) plus +10 PRE (Real Cost: 10) plus +8 COM (Real Cost: 4) plus +9 PD (Real Cost: 9) plus +9 ED (Real Cost: 9) plus +10 REC (Real Cost: 20) 2 11 2) Space Senses: (Total: 20 Active Cost, 11 Real Cost) Infrared Perception (Real Cost: 5) plus Ultraviolet Perception (Real Cost: 5) plus Radio Perception/Transmission (10 Active Points); Costs Endurance Costs END Every Phase (-1/2) (Real Cost: 7) 1 5 Instant Change (same clothes only) Powers Cost: 211 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver Meteor Fighting 4 1) Meteoric Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 5 2) Meteor Kick: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, STR +4d6 Strike [Notes: 12d6 - 18d6] 4 3) Meteor Punch: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, STR +2d6 Strike [Notes: 10d6 - 16d6] 3 4) Meteor Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, STR +v/5, Target Falls [Notes: 8d6 - 14d6 + v/5] Martial Arts Cost: 16 Cost Skill 4 Astronomy 13- 3 Computer Programming 13- 3 Electronics 13- 3 Mechanics 13- 3 Power (Meteor Powers) 11- 3 Science (INT-based) 13- Skills Cost: 19 Cost Talent 3 Bump Of Direction Talents Cost: 3 Total Character Cost: 350 Val Disadvantages 15 Code of Chivalry: Common, Strong 15 Code Against Killing: Common, Strong 15 Dependent NPC (Girlfriend): 11- (Occasionally), Normal 15 Dependent NPC (Professor) : 11- (Occasionally), Incompetent (-20 points or lower), Useful noncombat position or skills 20 Honorable: Common, Total 15 Hunted by Green Dragon: 11- (Frequently), As Powerful, Harshly Punish 15 Hunted by Viper: 8- (Occasionally), As Powerful, Harshly Punish, Extensive Non-Combat Influence 10 Protective of the Innocent: (Common; Moderate) 10 Reputation (Honorable Hero): Frequently (11-) 5 Rivalry (w/ Co-worker): Professional (; Rival is As Powerful; Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry) 15 Secret Identity: Frequently (11-), Major Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0 Thanks again, KA.

Hello again, I am here to plead for your help. I usually GM Champions, but I am going to get an opportunity to play soon. My character is nearly complete, but after shaving off a couple of things I don't like, I have 6 points that I just don't know what to do with. Please take a careful look and give me some suggestions for things that you think would add to this character. Notes: 1) Some of the powers may look a bit weird, but they have already been okayed by the GM, so, while I invite comments, there is no need to debate what is already here from a "legality" standpoint. 2) In our world "Instant Change" is its own power and costs 5 points. 3) As far as where to spend the points, anything goes! I was thinking of another slot for the Multipower, something to distinguish him from all the other flying bricks out there, but if you truly think some skills or combat levels would be better, go for it. 4) For that matter, if someone wants to do a complete redesign, have at it. The character is not yet "written in stone" because I haven't played him. (Well, I did in the past, but this is a "reset" of the universe anyway, and some changes have already been made.) 5) Please suffer through the description below. I am looking for things that fit the concept, not just generic ways to make the character more "effective" in combat. Thanks in advance and let's begin: Preface: the original character concept, and the origin story, were written months before Champions Universe came out. I didn't "steal" the idea from MeteorMan, and DOJ sure as heck didn't steal it from me, just a bad case of synchronicity. (If anyone feels like reading the 8 page origin story I wrote, feel free to email me for a copy.) Larry Jacobs is an Astronomy major, attending Capital City University. He has a part time job at the University Observatory, assisting Professor Brown. Due to a Viper plot, Larry was hit by a meteor with unknown properties. Viper used a magnetic device to attract the meteor to a certain spot, because they wanted to destroy the Observatory. Larry heroically tried to take the device outside, and so he was literally crushed by the meteor instead. The meteor was not just a piece of rock, it was a living entity, using the meteor as a sort of "seed pod". After its impact with Larry, it felt responsible for killing him, so it decided to "repair" him. Not only was he healed, he was transformed into a near perfect human specimen, more than human in several ways. The dust of the meteor mingled with Larry's blood to form a living "costume". When Larry is touching this costume he has great powers, the rest of the time he is fairly normal. His powers are a combination of: Physical Enhancement (My new body worked great!) Powers that the "Meteor" had (Life Support, Flight, Density Increase, Enhanced Senses) Powers from using parts of the "Meteor" itself. (Energy Blast is a small "meteor" that he throws. Area Effect is an Explosion of Fragments. Armor is a coating of "rock". The Regeneration is a function of the Meteor itself. Larry is able to communicate with the Entity in a limited way, but if he takes too much Body damage, the Meteor focuses everything on healing him no matter what the circumstances are. If he ends up getting injured in front of witnesses, his Secret ID will be blown permanently, since everyone will see him heal before their eyes. Also, he can't really choose to "sacrifice himself", because if he takes too much damage his multipower is going to be channeled into healing him, he can't just decide he wants Armor or Flight instead. Anyway, here he is, you have 6 points to spend, GO! Meteor Val Char Cost 40/70 STR 10 30 DEX 30 25 CON 10 25 BODY 10 18 INT 8 14 EGO 8 22 PRE 2 18 COM 0 39/45 PD 2 39/45 ED 5 6 SPD 20 25 REC 4 50 END 0 50 STUN -8 6" RUN02" SWIM08"/14" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 101 Cost Power END 60 Multipower (Costume): Multipower, 90-point reserve, all slots: (90 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) 8m 1) Armor (20 PD/20 ED) (60 Active Points) 4m 2) Density Increase (6400 kg mass, +30 STR, +6 PD/ED, -6" KB) (30 Active Points) 3 6u 3) Energy Blast 18d6 (vs. PD), 16 Charges (+0) (90 Active Points) 3u 4) Energy Blast 10d6 (vs. ED), STUN Only (+0), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Explosion (+1/2) (87 Active Points); 6 Charges (-3/4), No Range (-1/2) 5m 5) Flight 20" (40 Active Points) 4 6m 6) Total Life Support: Life Support , Eating: Character does not eat, Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents, Immunity: All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents, Safe in High Pressure, Safe in High Radiation, Safe in Intense Cold, Safe in Intense Heat, Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum, Self-Contained Breathing, Sleeping: Character does not sleep (45 Active Points) 3u 7) Regeneration (No Control below 15 Body): Healing 6d6 (max. Healed Points: 36) (Resurrection) (80 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-1) 7 Costume Powers, all slots: OIF (-1/2) 94 1) Costume Characteristics: (Total: 142 Active Cost, 94 Real Cost) +20 STR (Real Cost: 20) plus +10 DEX (Real Cost: 30) plus +10 CON (Real Cost: 20) plus +10 BODY (Real Cost: 20) plus +10 PRE (Real Cost: 10) plus +8 COM (Real Cost: 4) plus +9 PD (Real Cost: 9) plus +9 ED (Real Cost: 9) plus +10 REC (Real Cost: 20) 211 2) Space Senses: (Total: 20 Active Cost, 11 Real Cost) Infrared Perception (Real Cost: 5) plus Ultraviolet Perception (Real Cost: 5) plus Radio Perception/Transmission (10 Active Points); Costs Endurance Costs END Every Phase (-1/2) (Real Cost: 7) 15 Instant Change (same clothes only) Powers Cost: 205 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver Meteor Fighting 4 1) Meteoric Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 5 2) Meteor Kick: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, STR +4d6 Strike [Notes: 12d6 - 18d6] 4 3) Meteor Punch: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, STR +2d6 Strike [Notes: 10d6 - 16d6] 3 4) Meteor Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, STR +v/5, Target Falls [Notes: 8d6 - 14d6 + v/5] Martial Arts Cost: 16 Cost Skill 4 Astronomy 13- 3 Computer Programming 13- 3 Electronics 13- 3 Mechanics 13- 3 Power (Meteor Powers) 11- 3 Science (INT-based) 13- Skills Cost: 19 Cost Talent 3 Bump Of Direction Talents Cost: 3 Total Character Cost: 344 Val Disadvantages 15 Code of Chivalry: Common, Strong 15 Code Against Killing: Common, Strong 15 Dependent NPC (Girlfriend): 11- (Occasionally), Normal 15 Dependent NPC (Professor) : 11- (Occasionally), Incompetent (-20 points or lower), Useful noncombat position or skills 20 Honorable: Common, Total 15 Hunted by Green Dragon: 11- (Frequently), As Powerful, Harshly Punish 15 Hunted by Viper: 8- (Occasionally), As Powerful, Harshly Punish, Extensive Non-Combat Influence 10 Protective of the Innocent: (Common; Moderate) 10 Reputation (Honorable Hero): Frequently (11-) 5 Rivalry (w/ Co-worker): Professional (; Rival is As Powerful; Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry) 15 Secret Identity: Frequently (11-), Major Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0

Zornwill, Thanks for the reply. Something that I left out of the equation, are my policies on the initial creation of the character. Usually, I let the players build a character, go over it with them to make sure that nothing is abusive, and then we play a couple of sessions. They face some goons, they face some other supers, and they face some skill use/roleplaying. After all that, they can retool the character nearly from scratch. Add powers, remove/modify things that don't seem to work, add skills, you name it. I do ask them to stick to the same character concept and basic idea, but other than that, pretty much anything goes. If they really were totally unhappy with their character, I might even make it into an NPC and let them start again, making a different character to play, but still having the first character "exist" for the sake of continuity. By the end of the process, there are usually not too many things that pop up that "should have been there all along", but if one did, I would let them buy it without the "skill roll". I think that may be part of what disturbed me about the multipower slot phenomenon. I work pretty hard with the players to come up with characters that fit their concept and fit in with my world. And with characters that fit into a team, where each member is allowed to "shine". I try to develop plotlines, if not actual plots, that are cohesive and make some sense in the long run. But I think that the amount of change possible by adding a few points into multipower slots can be too much of a random factor. Let's say that the Mayor's daughter is kidnapped. What no one knows is that she was kidnapped by the Cult of the Apocalypse, a group that worships nuclear weapons as a path to God. The indoctrination will be a lengthy process, but she isn't going to be physically harmed. After several scenarios spent searching for her, the PC's are forced to move on to other business, most dramatically, the recent theft of a nuclear device. Eventually, the daughter appears in front of City Hall, holding a deadman switch attached to the Nuke. She is fully indoctrinated into the Cult, and wants to "enlighten" the entire city! The GM is expecting some juicy roleplaying and wants the players to figure out a clever solution to this problem. They can't hurt the Mayor's daughter, they can't let her nuke the city, they can't make a mistake that causes them to accidentally nuke the city. Then Ice Lad's player speaks up: "Okay. I'm going to use my Brain Freeze attack." GM: "What?" Ice Lad: "You know, that new slot in my multipower, I bought it last week. It's a combination NND and Entangle. She'll be harmessly knocked out, and her hand will be frozen to the deadman switch so she can't let go. I'll just keep doing it until the Military shows up and disconnects the bomb." GM: "Uuuuhhhhh. Well, guess that's it for tonight." Group: "We've only been playing for 15 minutes!" Now I know that example is rather slanted and a bit silly, but it is hard to plan anything long-term, when the characters are constantly adding major powers. I also have a problem when the person with the multipower turns into "Captain Everything" after a few sessions. It is like the "Why does the rest of the Justice League show up when Superman can do everything?" question. Imagine you have a player like Hawkgirl. Fast Flight and HTH attack. A couple of sessions pass and then: Hawkgirl:"I am going to fly down and rescue the girl who fell off the building!" Multiman:"I got it. I bought a Flight slot this week and I'm just as fast as you are!" Later: Eyeblast Man:"I'm going to use my Ocular Blast to knock down the door to the Viper Lab." Multiman:"I got it. I bought an Energy Blast slot two weeks ago, it is just as strong as yours." Now I have no problem with characters with multipowers. And they can put anything that makes sense into them when they are building the character. That is not a problem, and part of the game. But later it can turn into "Anything you can do, I can do better!" for all the players that went with a more basic concept. Anyway, I may find out in play that the modifiers are too harsh and that I have to back off them a bit. If I do, or if things work well, I will report back here and let everyone who is interested know how it works out. KA

Tech, That would be bad, and wrong, and a violation of Hero Games intellectual property rights. And besides that, no one could send it to you without your email address . . . unless you sent them an email first. KA

I think SMG is a good actress, and perhaps even a decent person, but she is not right for Supergirl. The problem is not her acting, it is her size, she is just too darned skinny. I am getting so tired of having these walking toothpicks presented as the paragons of the female (and male) form. I am not advocating Anna Nicole Smith for the role, but I think someone who looks like they have had a decent meal in the last three years would be nice. Buffy is just not "buff" enough to play the part. They left Krypton because it was going to explode, not because of a famine! Buffy was supposed to have strength from a "supernatural" source, so for her the "skinny girl who is super strong" bit worked great, but Supergirl is supposed to be actually filled out and strong looking, and by that I do not mean someone who looks like a skeleton covered with beef jerky (like some of the "fitness" women look). Just my cranky opinion, KA

Thanks for the kind words Ghost, I agree about the GM being able to add a power that seems appropriate from time to time, although I usually do it with either XP that has just been earned or by allowing the player to reapportion their points to get the powers they are missing. I don't usually just give them things, but I will occasionally give them a few extra XP to cover the cost of something I think they should have. KA

Re: Superhero Showdown #10: Justice Leauge v. X-Men I think the X-Men will win. First, Martian Manhunter will attempt to read the X-men's minds to discover their battle plan. The ensuing confusion over which timeline/reality/writer/spinoff this is, will cause his head to explode. Next, drawing on the collective power of a million fanboys, Wolverine will decapitate Superman with his claws. Not because it makes any sense, or fits in with any previous data, but because it is so kewwwlllll. Batman will gouge his ears out with a Batarang after listening to a few minutes of hopelessly confusing melodrama between Jean and Cyclops. "I love you, Jean, but I need to sacrifice you to save the world. On the other hand, I think I loved your doppleganger more, or was that the real you." "I love you too Scott, with a love that will last for all . . . Oh, sorry, I was fantasizing about Wolverine. Anyway, I love you with a love that . . . You know, evil is cool. Maybe I could get in a three-way with Emma Frost and Mastermind. Oops, sorry Scott. I love you with a . . ." Wonder Woman will finally "come out" and be KO'd after a passionate kiss with Rogue. Aquaman will look around, realize that there are no fish nearby to talk to, and will ask the Flash to get him the heck out of there. Plastic Man, being a former criminal, will finally get in touch with his inner angst and join the X-men only to be horribly killed in the next issue for trying to inject some humor into their apocalyptic world view. KA

First, let me thank everyone for their suggestions. To clarify things a bit, this isn't really a case where the players are trying to buy inappropriate powers for their characters. Neither is it anything I consider a "flaw" in the Hero System. I think the fact that it works so well and covers so many things occasionally makes me expect it to cover every possible contingency. I was just looking for some sort of "fair" mechanic for determining how often a character can add powers to their Multipower. Not to give me the "right" to say no to inappropriate powers, but to have a systematic way of handling the entire question. I think Lord Liaden has pointed me in the right direction, but I would still like some input from everyone on what I am about to propose. These are guidelines I am going to present in my campaign (once they are "hashed out", of course), but since I both GM and play, and my co-GM's often adopt things that I propose, I want to make sure that they are fair. 1) A Power Skill is a prerequisite for adding new powers. Consider this. Some characters just get powers. If you find an alien Power Scepter that does three things: Flight, Force Field, Energy Blast; what are the odds that you could just "hotwire" it and make it start Tunneling or projecting a Flash Attack or whatever. Sure, maybe Reed Richards could, but he has tons of scientific knowledge. I am talking about Jack Gordon - Rookie Cop, who found the thing in an alley somewhere. So, in order to "add" new powers, you first have to understand how the existing powers work. How do we measure that understanding? Power Skill. So, unless you built your powers yourself (and already have the skills as part of your background) you have to at least buy Power Skill to start adding things. 2) You must make a Power Skill Roll to add a new power. Here is where I could really use some help! I would like to work out some reasonable modifiers for this. I am thinking about something like: Advantage/Limitation to Existing Power......Base Power Skill Roll - (Active Points/10) Add New Power...............................Base Roll - (Active Points/5) Downtime Sessions spent Researching.........+2/Session (Cumulative) Each Additional Attempt.....................+1/Attempt (Cumulative) Power Skill Roll attempts can only be made between sessions during "downtime" not on the battlefield. Also, this applies only to those with Multipowers, it has no effect on things like VPP's. Examples: Light Lad has a Light-based multipower with the following specifications: Light Powers: Multipower, 40-point reserve (40 pts.) 4u 1) Energy Blast 8d6 (vs. ED) (40 Active Points) 4u 2) Flash 8d6 (Sight Group) (40 Active Points) 4u 3) Force Field (20 PD/20 ED) (40 Active Points) and after a few sessions the Player wants to add an Area Effect Energy Blast: 4u 4) Energy Blast 4d6 (vs. ED), Area Of Effect (2" Radius; +1) (40 Active Points) Assuming the player had the 4 XP to spend, he could attempt to make his Power Skill Roll at -4 (40 AP / 10). If he makes it, he can buy the new Slot, if he fails, he can try again next Downtime with a +1 for making a second attempt. If he had chosen to wait a while first, spending three Downtime sessions in "research" he could have had a +6 modifier to the Roll.(+2 for each session prior to making the Roll.) As you can see, with the positive modifiers, sooner or later he is bound to make it, either through research or just by getting subsequent roll bonuses. The point is that it will take some time and effort. It is not preventing the character from adding a power, or forcing him to spend his points on something he doesn't want, it just keeps him from adding a new power every session. Now let's say that Light Lad wants to add a Force Wall. 4u 5) Force Wall (8 PD/8 ED) (40 Active Points) Since this is a New Power, his initial Roll is at -8 (40 AP / 5), but again that can be offset by spending a few sessions doing Research. The more I look at this the better I like it. I like the "random" factor of rolling, because it allows for a character to make a "breakthrough" and figure it out the first time (very in genre for comics) but it also makes the usual process take some time (also in genre). What does everyone else think? KA

Thanks Hugh, That sounds reasonable to me. If I don't see a compelling argument against it, that is how I am going to do it. KA.

First, thanks for the input. Here is an initial try at creating this. I think there needs to be some Entangle that starts immediately, otherwise, anyone would break out the first Segment they were trapped, so I went for a Compund Power. Increasing Entangle: (Total: 120 Active Cost, 75 Real Cost) Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF (Real Cost: 40) plus Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF, Continuous (+1) (80 Active Points); Extra Time: Extra Segment (-1/2), Conditional Power: Cancelled if Main Entangle is Escaped. (-1/2), Gradual Effect 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1/4) (Real Cost: 35) My idea is that the main Entangle will be 4d6 then, after a 1 segment Delay, 1d6 of Entangle will be added on (without any further attack rolls since it is Continuous) every 3 segments (1 turn / 4 Dice = 1 Die every 3 Segments) up to a maximum of 8d6. If they break out at any point they don't suffer from the rest of the effect, which is how I justified buying Continuous only on the Extra Dice, not the Main Entangle, since they may never come into play at all. What do you think? Balanced? Abusive? Overpriced? Thanks again, KA

Hello, I am restarting my Champions campaign, and a topic has come up that I find troubling. (If there is already a published answer to this that I missed, please excuse me. I buy all the books as they come out, but I don't always have a lot of time for reading.) You have a player with a Multipower, possibly with a few Limitations on the Base and the Slots. Over the course of an adventure, the player earns 3 or 4 XP. Now he has the choice of either buying a new Skill, (hopefully non-combat, making the GM happy) or having a brand new Power! Many players, unless they are very mature, are going to go for the new Multipower slot time and again! I have done this myself as a player, but it somehow seems "wrong" when I really think about it. If Gadget Man, the Man of 1000 Gadgets wants to add in something new after each adventure, that is okay, and in concept, but usually Superheroes don't just pop up with something new every issue! I mean, unless you are going through a new writer or something, Thor doesn't just pop up and say: "Base Villain, feel the Wrath of My Autofire, Armor-Piercing Hammer Attack!" Yes, heroes do change over time, but a Character with a multipower can add a new, powerful power every week, while it may take months for Mr. Elemental Control to ever get anything. The Character with no Power Frameworks may never get anything new during the entire campaign. I don't want to outlaw the frameworks, as they make perfectly good sense when constructing new characters, but I would like some way to handle this imbalance so that neither the Multipower, nor the Non-Multipower players feel "screwed". Has anyone else come up with a solution for this? I know that I have the right, as GM, to just tell Mr. Multipower "No, you can't buy that." But I would like to come up with some sort of guidelines that are fair to everyone. Thanks for any help or suggestions, KA.

Hi there, One of my players would like to have an Entangle that gets stronger if you don't break out of it within a certain amount of time (segments, phases, we can work that out later) . Sort of like glue that "hardens". He wants to fire it at an opponent, and if they don't break out, it gets stronger and stronger (up to some predetermined limit, of course). He does not want to keep shooting new "layers" at the enemy, just have the existing Entangle get harder to break out of. Can anyone come up with an elegant way of doing this? My first thought is, Entangle with Cumulative and Continuous, but is that the way to go, and how exactly would it work? Thanks, KA.

Popeye NEVER stays down. Lobo looks a lot like Bluto. You do the math. Lobo goes down! KA

Was this game set in Appalachia by any chance? KA

Kolava, I will have a hard time adding to the excellent information already posted, but I will give it a try. 1) Weapons - I don't know what kind of powers your heroes have, but if they need an AK-47 to fight with, I don't think they put enough points into attack powers. Also, gritty or not, turning loose with an autofire killing attack should be a bad idea for a super who calls himself a "hero". Due to variations in the individual weapons, lack of experience with that model, etc. it would be entirely reasonable to have "misfires", "runaways" (weapon keeps firing until the clip is empty), and "accidental discharges", when heroes go playing with unfamiliar automatic weapons that have probably not been maintained properly. Also, even in "gritty" campaigns, it is not usually the norm to slaughter everyone you fight. Even if you use your powers to beat the crap out of them, or wound them severely, just emptying a clip into them seems pretty over the top. In addition, there is a major lack of "cool" in doing things this way. Superheroes who use guns usually go for something custom that they built themselves, or had made for them, they don't just grab any "Saturday night special" laying on the ground and start blasting. Cops in the real world never do that in real firefights. They want to use a weapon that they know they can depend on, not something that some junkie has been "improving". Who knows what will happen when you pull the trigger? Another alternative: In action movies, the thugs shoot at the hero all day long and never hit him. Maybe it is not poor marksmanship, maybe it is poor quality, poorly maintained guns! You could even build it this way when you are constructing thugs. Instead of giving them normal weapons and fairly low OCV's, give them weapons with penalties and high OCV's! (Hope the heroes don't ever drop their weapons! A thug with a high OCV and a good weapon is going to start mowing down PC's!) Now when your players start grabbing every gun that gets dropped, they will be unpleasantly surprised to find themselves missing a lot. The other problem the players will face is a lot of bad reputation. If your players spend a lot of time shooting people down, there are bound to be members of the press who don't like them much already. Imagine what they could do with a few pictures of your players toting guns that came from: a) Viper Illegal arms dealers c) Hostile countries It would be pretty hard to explain that you "just picked up" a weapon that had been used in a recent murder, or bore the Viper logo. Especially when everyone saw you using it on the 6 o'clock news. (Sorry that the biased reporter edited out the shot of you picking it up and made it look like you brought it to the fight.) 2) Wealth: Please refer the Hero 5th, page 348, specifically Meta-Rules 4, 5, and 6. To paraphrase: Meta-Rule 4 - The cost of powers should support game balance, the more useful, the more it should cost. Meta-Rule 5 - One power should not be used to do what another power already does. Meta-Rule 6 - If there are two ways to do something, the more expensive way is (usually) the proper way to go. What this adds up to is, just because you buy Wealth, you cannot say: "Okay, I am using all my Character Points to buy up my Characteristics, and I am using my Wealth to buy a suit of armor just like Iron Man!" That doesn't cut it, in several ways. Rule 4 - 15 points of Wealth cannot buy 100 points of Autofire Armor-Piercing RKA's. Obviously, allowing this does NOT support game balance. Rule 5 - There is already a power for doing a Killing Attack at Range. It is Ranged Killing Attack. You can't buy Wealth and say "I am using it to buy a gun." Since a gun is a Ranged Killing Attack, and there is already a way to buy it, you are expected to pay the points for it. Rule 6 - Even though there are exceptions, (Obviously you could create some bloated construct that cost 100 points to get a 1 d6 Energy Blast. That is not what this rule is telling you to do.) the spirit of this is quite clear. You can't buy a few points in "Change Environment" and say that the effect is "fire" and then use this as a Flamethrower. You have to buy an RKA with Area Effect, Sticky, etc. Wealth is more of a "social" perk. It means that you can hire a lawyer if you need one, you get invited to the Mayor's parties, or you can get in to talk to the head of a huge corporation without an appointment. It is not for buying powers, or things that recreate powers, you buy those with points. 3) It sounds like your players are going through the "Monty Haul" stage of roleplaying. They want to get everything, kill everything, get away with anything, and rule the world. The D&D equivalent is when new players start up and want all the "kewl" stuff, and the GM wants to make them happy, so the next thing you know everyone is riding on dragons and has a quiver full of Artifacts strapped on their backs. After a while, this wears off, and the players realize that what makes it fun in the challenge. It sounds like your players are at that point. Now is the time to take control, enforce some campaign rules, and create something that makes you and your players happy in a way that will last. Good luck, and feel free to ask more questions. KA.

Okay, I finally decided to weigh in on this. The question as to movement after attack is not one of "right or wrong", it is, what are the results? If I said that, in my family, when we play checkers, each person gets to move two checkers on their turn, instead of just one, I would not expect to be told that I was a "blasphemer", but I would expect someone to tell me that what I was playing was no longer "checkers". I might enjoy it more, but the problem is, once I am used to playing this way, I can basically only play with other members of my family, or people that I "convert" to my new game. That can be a problem, unless you are the GM, and you plan to game with the same people "forever". Otherwise, you are teaching them a mode of play that will not be compatible with other Hero players. This is not some kind of sin, but it is not necessarily the best way to go either. KA

L.L., I was going to tease you about naming him Kraven, but actually I kind of like your variation on the theme. Hunter1, My suggestion would be to go against type. Most people would expect a bounty hunter to be a rugged, ill-tempered, Lobo/Wolverine type. If I were making this character, I would give him more of a James Bond persona. (From the Novels, not so much the Movies, or Sean Connery more than, say, Roger Moore) A cool, efficient, highly professional, hunter of Villains. In a game system called "The Arcanum" (fantasy) they had various "hunter" character classes: Bounty Hunter, Witch Hunter, etc. They had abilities to help them knock out a target rather than kill. You could do something like this with NND attacks, Drains, various Entangles, etc. In addition, you could take Martial Arts, with grappling, submission-type holds, NND strikes, and so on. KA

I think you mean, weird as it sounds, batman as in: (from Merriam Webster's M-W.com) Main Entry: bat·man Pronunciation: 'bat-m&n Function: noun Etymology: French bât packsaddle Date: 1755 : an orderly of a British military officer By the way, I think I can recommend some fantasy titles you might enjoy: Eunuchorn by Munk - story of a unicorn who loses his horn and has no desire whatsoever . . . to retrieve it. Armless Antoine on The Island of Solitude by Bishop - tale about a man without arms, shipwrecked alone on a magical island. The Swordless Knight by M.P. Tent - The story of a knight, trying to recover his lost 'sword'. Sadly, he never does. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I am being a jerk and I know it. I don't like soft-core porn masquerading as fantasy either. On the other hand, the idea of guys running around killing things without ever showing any interest in normal sexual relations, makes me a bit uncomfortable too. It is more like a glorification of serial killing than anything I would find "heroic". I read plenty of books without any real sexual content. I like the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, I like Tolkien, but when you get to more of the "kill things with swords" type stories, a total lack of normal sexual interest (not rape, and not pornography, but enough to let us know that the hero is not the next Hannibal Lector) can be disturbing too. And sorry again for teasing you. Sometimes this stuff pops into my head and I can't seem to keep it off the keyboard. KA.

Just to add a few ideas on what would "Flash" touch (at least as far as the hands): Heavy Vibration Being Burned Frostbite Restriction of Circulation (hands "fall asleep") Actually, this sounds like a good construct for a lot of fairly common effects. The Martial Arts thing where you hit the wrist to Disarm someone, could be taken to the next level by adding a Flash to Touch (it stays numb for a while). Just throwing stuff out there. KA