KA.

There is another thread going concering the origin of Teleios. According to canon, Teleios woke up one morning after a hard night of research with the answers he was looking for written in his own handwriting on his desk. Did it come to him in a dream? Did his future self come back in time to give him the answers? Is this just another excuse for KA. to go off on a wild tangent? You betcha! The Following exchange took place . . . nexus Am I alone in the sick desire to have Foxbat turn out to be the greatest master villain in the Champions U? His master plan includes every unexplained or mysterious event in the setting, a plan so vast and all encompassing it cannot fail to lead to his dominance of the Universe. He is the inevitable something Capt Chronos is futility trying to stop.... without knowing his interference is part of the plan too. and he's doing it all in plain sight, even announcing it and chuckling AT not with his detractors. KA. I think I am going to go with Foxbat. Foxbat is the Keyser Soze, or perhaps more appropriately the Verbal Kint, of the Champions universe. All of his supposed "idiocy" and "insanity" is just a smokescreen. He is actually the most brilliant, dangerous Supervillain in the world. nexus The module should open with the PC investigating the murder of a well known if someone shady superhero in Hudson City. He was severely beaten and hurled to his death through the his apartment window.... KA. "On Friday night, a Crusader died in Hudson City." "Do it? Nighthawk, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-plan if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago." Which leads us to this . . . With an eye toward the ridiculous, using the Champions Universe past or present, fill out the rest of the Watchmen cast. To get things started, I present the following . . . The Comedian = Crusader Why? Well, according to Underworld Enemies, Crusader fell on hard times as he got older, had done some dirty work for the government, and was even thrown off the roof of a building by an unknown assailant! Foxbat = Ozymandias Why? Because he is the only logical candidate. He is such an egomaniac that he warns everyone about his Master Plan, and yet he is sure he will carry it out. I am pretty firm on the first two, but I have a couple of suggestions for Rorshach . . . 1) The Harbinger of Justice, mainly for the proper attitude. 2) A totally burned out Seeker. He has been Seeking so long that he has gone a bit mad, and learned to take a few "shortcuts" in his pursuit of the Truth. Okay, that's my start, let's take a look at what the rest of you think. KA.

Re: The Reason Behind Teleios "On Friday night, a Crusader died in Hudson City." "Do it? Nighthawk, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-plan if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago." KA.

Re: The Reason Behind Teleios I think I am going to go with Foxbat. Foxbat is the Keyser Soze, or perhaps more appropriately the Verbal Kint, of the Champions universe. All of his supposed "idiocy" and "insanity" is just a smokescreen. He is actually the most brilliant, dangerous Supervillain in the world. KA.

Re: Abilities stopped by an item You may also want to have a snappy incantation that the character uses when he takes off the ring. You would not have to take a Limitation for it, it would just add some flavor. May I suggest . . . Begone! Demon Hunting Dude Free the Evil Hand so Rude Let Those who Loiter and Malinger Be Frightened of my Flaming Finger KA.

Re: Abilities stopped by an item I would just buy the entire Multipower of Demonic Powers with the Gestures Limitation -1/4. The "Gesture" would be removing the ring. If, for some reason, he was tied up and could not remove the ring, he would not have access to the powers. If the change into the Demon only slowly occurred when the ring was off, and any changes were reversed as soon as the ring was put back on, I would just call it a Physical Limitation. (And make sure to stat out the Demon, and make sure that turning into the Demon is not an advantage in combat.) If the change happens more quickly, you could set it up as a Berserk, and then also have a Accidental Change that happens when Berserk. That way you would have the uncontrolled ticked-off Demon on your hands that you probably should have. KA.

Re: Quick Question Phoenix, Please don't take this the wrong way, because I truly intend it as good natured ribbing, but I got a laugh out of the title of your thread. "Quick Question" Wouldn't it have been a lot quicker to title the thread: "What book is the Harbinger of Justice in?" That way, if anyone scanning through thread titles knew the answer, they would just post it right then. I've probably done the same thing myself from time to time, it just struck me as funny. On a slightly more serious note, I have had times when I got frustrated trying to find "that really cool thread I was reading last week about the guy who was on his way home and fought off a group of muggers" and after searching for an hour or so I realize the title of the thread was "Last Night . . ." I guess it is a tribute to the quality of this board that we often have so many good threads going that it can be hard to keep track of them all, but choosing a good title can help people find your thread if they want to read it later. KA.

Re: KA.'s Idea Thread 2) Life Plus Twenty. I have heard of a lot of desperate criminals sentenced to "Life Plus Twenty" or "Life Plus Fifty" or even "Life Plus One Hundred". Now technically this sounds like the criminal still owes a debt to society, even after they die in prison. In a certain prison in Louisiana, the Warden takes this commitment seriously. With the application of a bit of voodoo, some inmates go on serving time long after death. They could be used for various tasks: Riot Control Hunting Down Escapees Guard Training Etc. KA.

Disclaimer: I hope this thread doesn't seem too egocentric, but on the other hand, this is the Internet and the two basic reasons things exist here are to either generate profit or stroke someone's ego, so what the heck . . . From time to time I have what seems, to me anyway, to be a good idea. I often will just post it in whatever thread I happen to be reading at the time. I had a couple of decent ideas yesterday, and I thought, why not start a thread and just put all my ideas in the same place? Either I will have enough ideas, and enough responses, to keep the thread going, or it will fade into the underbrush like so many other threads. 1) The Fountain of Truth. Someone, most likely a villain (Dr. Destroyer?) who is obsessed with immortality, has heard rumors of a magical fountain. He follows some vague clues and finds the fountain (a fairly ordinary looking stream). He is disappointed until he sees an elderly woman approach the fountain and take a deep drink. A few moments later, she transforms, becoming younger and more vibrant. The villain waits for her to leave and then either takes some water for analysis, takes a drink, whatever. The water will test as magical, or whatever fits the campaign (mutagenic), but the exact properties cannot be determined by anything other than having a human drink it. The point is this, this in not the Fountain of Youth, it is the Fountain of Truth. The elderly woman in question was sweet and kind, what some would call "young at heart" so the effect of the Fountain was to make her younger, healthier, more vibrant. As some have said about alcohol, it makes you more of whatever you already are. Now if what you are is a greedy, uncaring, monster . . . The actions you take just before drinking the water also have an effect on the outcome. The lady in question just wanted a drink, and was doing her best not to disturb the stream or the plant life nearby, she had no idea about the Fountain's properties. On the other hand, if someone were to steal all the water, or hurt someone to find the location, etc. etc. they would be guaranteed a bad outcome. KA.

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" Exactly. KA.

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" Thank you for restating this. I hope that the following does not come off as snarky, but the more I read this thread the more irritated I get. There are two different concepts being used interchangeably here, and I, for one, do not believe them to be the same thing. A character can have a secret ID: Meaning that they wear a mask and do not tell people who they are Nobody knows who they are, and unless there is a plot-specific reason for someone to learn, or attempt to learn, who they are, no one cares. A character can have a public ID: They do not wear a mask and people are able to recognize them. They do not get sued all the time, or have mobs of fans descend on them in the middle of a fight, or have villains blow up their home every other day. Why? Because these are just ASPECTS OF THE CHARACTER! Now if a person designs a character with the Secret ID DISADVANTAGE, then that character is going to suffer from problems associated with having a Secret ID. Why? Because they took a DIASADVANTAGE in exchange for character points. Think of it like this. When you are designing a character's personality, you may decide that he is fairly patriotic, and generally kind-hearted, and doesn't really happen to like spiders all that much. But those may just be flavor to differentiate the character from all the other drones with Armor, 15" of Flight and a 12d6 Energy Blast. Unless you actually buy DISADVANTAGES like: Psychological Limitation: Patriot, Common, Total - 20 points Psychological Limitation: Kind Hearted, willing to sacrifice self to help others, Common, Total - 20 points Psychological Limitation: Fear of Spiders, Common, Total - 20 points Then it would not make sense, or be fair (in my opinion) if every other session the GM came up with things like: "Well Captain Courageous, what are you going to do now? The Anti-American just got finished bad mouthing the good old U.S.A. You want to attack him, but out of the corner of your eye you notice that a boy scout is trying to pull himself free from the wreckage of a collapsed, abandoned tool shed. You want to rescue him, but, you realize that the tool shed is no doubt the home of several poisonous Brown Recluse spiders. Mwaaa Haa Haa! Now make three Ego rolls at -3 or collapse in a heap due to the tremendous psychological pressure!" If you don't take something as a Disadvantage, then generally speaking it should not have a major effect on your character. I don't have a problem with virtually anything as a story arc. Ex: Captain Hero foils a plot by Dr. Revenge to kill all the members of the jury that convicted him the first time. Dr. Revenge breaks out of prison and starts plotting his, well, revenge, on Captain Hero. But once that story is resolved, Dr. Revenge should not show up as a "Hunted, 15 or less" for Captain Hero. By the same token, if a character does not buy the Public ID or Secret ID Disadvantage, then that does not mean that they are "invisible" or "don't exist", or that the GM gets to just tag them with one of those Disadvatages for free. It just means that they choose (even if it is just as simple as wearing a mask or not) if they want a public ID or secret ID, and either way they don't have any particular problems in that area. Any other treatment seems completely unfair to me. What if you designed a character with few, if any, Psychological Limitations, and during the campaign the GM just decided that you were morbidly afraid of broccoli? And started using it as a major plot point in adventures? What if the GM calmly informed you that your character just went Berserk and was now trying to kill his team-mates? I can understand that a character might pick up a Hunted, if he declared war on some Villain or Organization, but other than that I don't like the idea of just "assigning" someone a Disadvantage that they didn't buy. KA.

Re: How to Simulate: Martial Arts Masters NND attacks? Nice. And exactly the kind of idea I was looking for. I'm not sure if I communicated it all that well, but I didn't want these types to be able to actually harm someone like Superman, but to be able to have some sort of effect on them just as a bit of flavor. Thanks, Sean, and to everyone who posted. KA.

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" Public ID and Secret ID are Disadvantages. To me that means that you are getting additional character points in exchange for whatever problems that decision may cause your character. If you do not choose either of those Disadvantages, then you should not be, to any great degree, caused to suffer because of your Identity. I see it sort of like a power. If I buy an Energy Blast with the Limitation "Charges" then there should be a number of occasions during the campaign when I run out, or have to conserve them, or can't recharge them, etc. I got extra points, dice of damage, whatever, in exchange for putting up with the problems. A character that just has "Energy Blast" with no Limitations, should not run into those kind of problems on any sort of regular basis. And I would think a GM was being unfair if they imposed those sorts of Limitations. By the same token, I don't think a character without Secret or Public ID should be given "Public ID" (and all the problems that go with it) by default, as soon as the campaign starts. I think the character should be able to have a "secret ID" that they do not get any points for, and also is not the source of any real problems. They should not have nosy reporters following them around all the time, or their significant other constantly asking inconvenient questions, or any of the other problems which are common for characters who got the extra points for taking the Secret ID Disadvantage. I think this concept is reflected in the comics. Some characters have people who are constantly trying to find out who they really are, others do not. The only time the issue comes up is as part of some story arc like Identity Crisis where some Villain is specifically going after the loved ones of Superheroes. It a case like that, I can see the character being part of that plot, but otherwise I do not think they should have to deal with those sorts of problems. I realize that in-game actions can change things. If a character goes to a Viper Nest, blows it up, hacks into the Serpentine Network, posts all their future plans to the Champions Team message board, and then proceeds to leave their Driver's License at the scene, they can expect a visit to their home in the near future. But as long as a character is reasonably discreet, and takes neither Secret nor Public ID Disadvantages, I just see them as having a "secret ID" without most of the problems that other characters receive in exchange for the extra points. KA.

Re: How to Simulate: Martial Arts Masters NND attacks?

We've all seen this in films of various genres. A little old man (usually) who is a Master of some particular Martial Art can put a hurtin' on anybody. I did not post this in the Champions forum, because it applies to many genres, but even in the Superhero Genre it seems to apply. Now I am not talking about a little old guy being able to take out Superman with an single kick, but the idea that, based on his massive skills, ancient wisdom, and general cool factor, the little old guy can at least make Superman say "ouch". Now with Superman having tons of STUN, the little old guy would never be able to actually do any real damage, but he should be able to get some STUN through (based on the examples I have seen). First, does anyone else have a good way of simulating this? Second, I did think of one possible way to do it. What about an NND attack, where the defense was knowledge of a particular Martial Art? (With maybe something exotic like Desolidification as an alternative defense, just to make the defense options as a whole be a little more common) That way, if Master Po applies the joint lock on you, you are going to take some STUN, no matter what your defenses are, unless you know the proper escape move. And the only way to know that is to have studied Kung Fu. I didn't want to go with Martial Arts Masters having enough damage classes to make Superman say "ouch" because that would also have them able to punch a hole in a tank. Anyway, that's the question, how would you handle this? KA.

Re: I need a simple Bank map As far as I can tell they don't have plans for businesses, as such, but this site has loads of free plans for all kinds of houses, many of which could serve as businesses with just a few label changes. http://www.eplans.com/ KA.

Re: Hex grid Board for use in Champions?? One other piece of advice. Whatever you get, buy a sheet of thin plexiglass at the hardware store and cover your mat with it. Then you can use dry-erase markers to draw buildings, streets, walls, etc, without hurting your mat. I know some of them say you can write on them, but they are expensive and plexiglass is cheap. It also does not mind having a coke spilled on it. KA.

Re: teleporter attacking fliers I have a few questions about how this is working. Let me begin by saying that most of what follows depends on how realistic your campaign is. In some campaigns all of this could be completely normal. 1) How the heck does the Martial Artist wind up in the correct place to hit? I know that movement happens "instantly", but it still seems like you would need to make a DEX roll, a Teleportation roll, or something to land in the exact right spot to land a blow on someone flying. Either that or suffer an OCV penalty (at least after the first time you did it. I guess if it was a Surprise then things would cancel out). 2) Does the character have a Psych Lim like "Thrillseeker" or perhaps "Insane"? I know that heroes are supposed to do "heroic" things, but unless something major was at stake (saving a hostage, stopping a villain that was about to destroy the world, etc) I can't see anyone Teleporting into a situation that they had no good way to deal with. What if he gets KO'ed and falls to the ground? What if the flyer has some type of precognition or Danger Sense and does a Move Through on him just as he pops into place? What if the Flyer grabs him and does a power dive into the ground, releasing the Teleporter just before they hit, with the Teleporter having no way to get rid of the extra velocity? To make it the worst of both worlds, what if the Flyer performs a Grab and is strong enough to Squeeze the teleporter unconscious, and then does the Power Dive? As a GM, I am not saying that all these terrible things should happen to the character , but if there is any realism at all in the campaign, the character should realize that they could happen and act appropriately. Again, it seems like even a hero, in their right mind, would not take such a rash action unless lives were on the line. 3) Falling I think the character should be at 1/2 DVC against anyone who is at some range, since they are moving. On the other hand, if they don't have any form of Gliding, or Skydiving Skill, or something to allow them some maneuverablity in the air, they should pretty much be a sitting duck for a Flyer who can match speeds with them. Think about it. One character is falling in one direction (straight down), and the other character is able to match speed, staying safely one hex away, from an opponent who has no control over his movements other than flailing his arms. Probably DCV 3, the same as a hex. Again, if you run a swashbuckling campaign, none of this may apply. I do not think this is something that should be discouraged in the game, it sounds fun and exciting. But I do think that, unless the character has some other abilities to make it safer, that it should be seen as a last-ditch, do-or-die, stunt, not something done every other adventure. KA.

Re: Idea/Suggestion: Offline Character Generator Add my name to the list of those asking to please make this product available ASAP. KA.

Re: GMing Luck I agree with Sean Waters (no big surprise there ) I think that if a Player wants to have luck be a huge factor in their characters' abilities, that is fine, but it should probably be used more as a SFX. Just buying big gobs of Luck seems like the road to a lot of serious game balance issues. It is sort of like a character buying 50 points of INT, and then just saying: "Oh, I'm in combat? Well my character is so smart that he just figures out a way to not take damage, and then he whips up some kind of weapon out of things he finds laying around the battlefield." Uhhhmmmm . . . No! Having a character roleplay that sort of thing during a specific adventure where he is "stripped of all his equipment" is one thing, (making appropriate rolls along the way) but having that be the normal order of business is another. It just seems like a "get out of jail free" card to me. The other player's have to commit to saying: "I buy this much PD and this much ED and put this many points into Energy Blast" while Lucky Pierre just says "I have 10 dice of Luck, everything just works out." At the very least I would try to persuade the Player into spending most of those points on some type of Variable Power Pool so there would at least be some kind of boundaries on the effects that could be created, perhaps using Luck as a "Power Skill" to help determine how positive the effects from the VPP were. That could lead to some fun and creative stuff going on. Ex. The VPP is being used for Energy Defense against a Heat Blast. The Luck Roll comes out good. The Character notices a handy mirror and manages to deflect most of the attack, only getting singed fingers for his trouble (the few points of Stun that made it thought the defenses). If the Luck Roll came out bad. An airplane flying overhead is forced to jettison the contents of all the onboard toilets at the same time. A partially-frozen blue slush douses the Character just as the blast is about to hit. It protects the Character from most of the heat, but . . . yuck. KA.

Re: Buying Souls/Demonic Pacts My thoughts as well, By making it a Physical Limitation, you eliminate things like Ego Rolls that really should not apply in this case. I would just make it an even trade by saying that the person that sells their soul gets the point value of the Limitations to use to buy Skills, Stats, whatever. You could even set it up by Package Deals: Package 1 Physical Limitation: Soul Owned by Demon 20 points. Sold my Soul Benefits : 20 points of Skills, Characteristics, etc. Package 2 Physical Limitation: Soul Owned by Demon 20 points. Physical Limitation: Working for Demon while on Earth, Subject to Demon's Orders 20 Points Sold my Soul Benefits : 30 points of Skills, Characteristics, etc. And so on: Notice that the point totals for Package 2 don't add up. Basically I think the more points you want the more screwed you should be. The Basic package just means that your soul is owned but the Demon won't be demanding constant services. You will have various side effects though, you will Detect as Evil, you may make others uncomfortable, you won't feel too good if you have to attend church for some reason, etc. However, the more points you want, the more you have to give up. Eventually you will end up nothing but a powerful puppet of the Demon that owns you. As far as what your player should pay to be able to make these deals, I would say that the GM should fix a cost based on some type of Transform. I would also say that the GM should have it set up so that this doesn't just turn into a VPP for your character. Ex: You are stuck in an elevator and the building is on fire. You get the muscular guy next to you to "Sell his Soul" right then and there, granting him 20 points of STR. Oddly enough, just what he would need to bust both of you out. KA.

Re: Enemies for Teen Champions game CoreBrute, I think I understand your frustration at the answers you have been getting, but your question is not an easy one to answer without knowing a lot more about the character's themselves and the exact type of villains you want to use. For example, If your heroes do not all have Resistant Defenses, then a relatively low powered villain with a Ranged Killing Attack (early version of Lazer) could easily kill one of them in one shot. On the other hand, a Teleporting Martial Artist like Cheshire Cat might be a fairly competitive threat. Again, assuming a lack of resistant defenses, a group of mooks with machine guns could pose a deadly threat. I do have a suggestion that may prove useful. Get these characters into a danger room! Even if your characters' background does not include the funds for a full scale X-men Deluxe Danger Room, surely the gadgeteer could come up with some kind of cheap VR helmet type arrangement to allow the characters to practice. Why does that matter? Because it gives YOU a chance to practice! You can pit your PC's against any threat you are considering. Note: Just use the power levels, dice of damage, defenses, etc. Don't actually have them fight the cool villain you want them to fight later, just a "robot" that happens to have those same qualities, with different SFX. This can give the players a chance to learn tactics, and it can also give you a chance to find out what they can handle without the embarassment of: "Gee, I expected the Viper agents to be able to escape after they kidnapped the Mayor's daughter, but they all got taken out in the first round. Well, there goes this week's adventure." or the even more inconvenient "Sorry that Mechanon Jr. killed all you guys. I guess we better start making up some new chararacters." You can declare that "Danger Room" damage is "Stun Only" even if the characters in the room get "killed". I also have a suggestion, without any actual writeups, for a villain group to oppose your players. How about a more obnoxious version of The Power Rangers. If your group is the typical bunch of "outcasts" then pit them against a group of white-toothed, shiny haired, good looking, popular kids, who just happen to fanatically believe in some twisted idealogy that causes them to do evil that they believe is "good". Giving them all kinds of teamwork skills, and the ability to form a gigantic butt-kicking robot would just add to the fun. They can have hokey battle cries and cool matching uniforms and irritate the crap out of your players. KA.

Re: Conan vs. Elric Conan is exhausted after killing off a few hundred soldiers. A monstrous storm begins sweeping in from the West and Conan seeks shelter in a nearby cave. Searching for an underground stream to slake his thirst, he finds the body of a long-dead warrior clad in weird and ornate armor. Under the dead warrior's body is a strangely carved black sword. How? Why? Who the heck knows? It's a Conan story! Later, Elric is sitting around somewhere downing "herbs" and angsting about killing off his latest travelling companion. He sees a big fellow loping along and decides it is time to feed Stormbringer. Oddly enough, Stormbringer seems a bit hesitant for some reason. As the big fellow draws near, Elric notices that while he does not look the slightest bit Melnibonean, his armor and sword do. Elric starts in trying to get some interdimensional God of Bumblebees to send a plague of honey-scented fury at the interloper, when Conan runs up, draws his new sword, feints low left, backswings high right, and takes off Elric's head, just as Elric begins to say "Mournblade?" Conan feels a shiver of power from the sword in his hand and immediately drops it. "Foul sorcery! . . . Still these two swords should buy a week's worth of wine and wenches." Conan wraps the two swords in Elric's cloak and sets off looking for a city. KA.

Re: I killed a fellow PC last night... I didn't mean the "I don't have any friends!" as a cop-out. I was thinking of the PC's that will occasionally show up in a game that are such "loners" that they never really bond with any of the other PCs. If just seemed like it could make for kind of a cool moment if a Wolverine type, given that type of command, would actually have to pause while the realization hit them that nobody on the team actually was their friend, because of their own actions. It wasn't nearly as emotional as the above, but in one campaign we had a PC called Apathy Man. He obviously didn't do a lot, but he was also very hard to damage, because things like pain meant nothing to him. On one occasion we encountered an evil sorcerer based on Elric, who had a soul-stealing sword. At which point the question came up "Does Apathy Man have a soul to steal?" Anyway, again, I was not looking for a cop out, just a simulation of what I usually see in all but Iron Age comics, Mind Control does not actually end up in a character dying. They get badly wounded, knocked out, etc. but they don't usually actually die. Of course player's have control over their own character's, but I would not want to cause PC on PC homicide in a campaign I was running. Your mileage may vary, KA.

Re: I killed a fellow PC last night... I don't mean to be nitpicking here, but was the command actually "Kill your friends"? That seems like (allowing for Psych Lims) something that you would have a fairly good chance to resist. Is "Kill your friends" something that your character would generally be likely to want to do? Not that I don't agree with the general complaint that PC's who are Mind Controlled often try to avoid doing what they are told, but in anything other than an Iron Age campaign, it seems like there should be a way to avoid one PC killing another. I generally see NPC mind-control on a PC, like making a deal with the Devil. You had better make very sure of the specifics. For example, the command given to Enforcer84's character was something that the character might be somewhat inclined to do. It sounds like this was the last session of a campaign that was ending anyway, so it may not really matter. But if I knew the campaign was going to go on, I might have tried to find a way out rather than kill another PC. One response, if the character has not had close relationships with the other PC's, would be to go catatonic for the duration of the fight. After the Vampire was defeated, the character could have a moment of angry realization "I just realized . . . I don't have any friends!" It would still have taken him out of the fight, and could be a great opportunity for growth. KA.

Re: Champions Action Figures...?