Lucius

And look! There's a Star Wreck Role Playing Game and it's free! http://rpg.starwreck.com/ Instead of character abilities, characters have INabilities - apparently the main "Characteristics" are Stupidity, Obliviousness, Clumsiness, Repulsiveness and Weakness. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says that sounds like it's right up my alley.

If she is neither flesh nor wood when sleeping, what do you think she becomes? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary is sure she sleeps like a log

If you absolutely positively have to cram a high Active Point Power into a low Active Point Multipower: Try applying a Custom Adder with a negative value Lucius Alexander Cramming a high Active Point palindromedary into a low Active Point tagline

I have two suggestions. 1) Instead of imposing the Incantations, Gestures, etc. Limitations, use Increased END Cost: X10 in Certain Circumstances, and define the circumstances as failing to use the incantations, gestures, extra time, etc. At that high an END cost, the mage is very likely to be burning STUN for END. 2) Instead of imposing the Incantations, Gestures, etc. Limitations, use Extreme Side Effects, automatic (so, whether the spell succeeds or not, whether the magic roll fails or not) "whenever the character does some specific act" and define the specific act as failing to use the incantations, gestures, extra time, etc. You can scale it so that the more "shortcuts" taken, the worse the Side Effects. Of course, you could also drop the "automatic" aspect and then the Side Effects hit only on a failed roll. And a third. 3) You can always use both of the above. That would give a combined -4 1/2 Limitation, so hopefully players won't squawk about not getting to count the Incantations etc. as Limitations. Lucius Alexander Side Effects: Palindromedary

I walk without a cut Through a stained glass wall Lucius Alexander While the palindromedary searches for the time

I'm fond of saying that the complexity of Hero is all "front loaded" in the character creation process. The major drawback of a Variable Power Pool is that it potentially brings that creation process into the middle of game play. Lucius Alexander Variable Power Poolindromedary

When his name was razed from all monuments and documents and ceremonially cursed, it was magically forgotten even by the Gods, even by himself. The only place it remained was written on the walls of his tomb, as part of a curse to keep him safely sealed away. It was when one of the archeologists read the name aloud and then said "Well ______, we're going to get you out of that sarcophagus" that full awareness and the ability to move and act returned to the accursed one, who promptly slew the archeologists. To stop him, the player characters must recover the name (probably from the tomb walls, although anyone able to talk to the ghost of the archeologist could learn it that way) and use it to tell the accursed one to return to his sarcophagus and stay there. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says meanwhile the old dead king will answer to "Hai Yu"

Note that it is quite possible to have more than one "slot" of a Multipower in action at one time. Multipowers are often built in such a way that this can't be done, or if it can the different powers are not at full effect all at once, but it is possible to build a Multipower that can have two or abilities on at full power simultaneously. Lucius Alexander Variable Palindromedary Pool

(Total: 8 Active Cost, 1 Real Cost) Stretching 0m, x3 body dimension (8 Active Points); Very Limited Body Part (-1), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (INT Drain; -1/2), Cannot Do Damage (Unless you're doing it wrong; -1/2), Costs END To Maintain (Full END Cost; -1/2), Limited Power Refractory Period, must wait between activations (-1/2), Variable Limitations (requires -1 worth of Limitations; Some combination of; Gestures, Extra Time, Concentration, No Conscious Control, Charm Skill Roll (by appropriate other person) or Conditional (appropriate stimuli) etc; -1/2), no Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No Velocity Damage (-1/4), Restrainable (Turn it off by turning him off; -1/4), Always Direct (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) As I said, depends on what you're doing with it. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary has Y chromosome and Y-not? chromosome.

Just don't say it again. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says it would be wise also to refrain from mentioning the name of the legendary demon pharaoh who reigned for three unhallowed and unhistoried midnights...

Lucius Alexander Crossposting with a palindromedary

Sometimes I think Drake and Fermi were asking the wrong question. Given the sheer number of things I hear about that are capable of destroying or sterilizing entire solar systems maybe the question isn't "Where is everybody?" but "How are we still standing?" Lucius Alexander The palindromedary wonders how many potentially civilization-destroying disasters are possible that we don't even know about yet.

The real question is, what does the character DO with the giant sized whatever? If it's a case of cartoon hero's fist grows gigantic while he is winding up for a spectacular fight ending punch, it may just be part of the "special effects" of a Haymaker maneuver, not something to spend points on just something to put in the visual description of what the character is doing. If your legs grow long and you run and jump better, get Running and Leaping with a Limitation, maybe with Perceivable (people can see the long legs.) If your eyes or ears get bigger and you gain a bonus to Perception, buy Enhanced Senses, again perhaps with Perceivable. Again, for a cartoon type character, these might just be "special effects" of moving to Noncombat Movement or of taking extra time for a Perception bonus. But if you just want to be able to inflate various parts of your body, I think you should look into Stretching. If various body parts change size but the character gains no benefit but people start looking and remarking on the freak, you have a Complication: Distinctive Features. If no one even notices, you just have a note on the character sheet. Lucius Alexander Expanding a palindromedary's hump

Swiped from various elderly characters I have done. I get tired faster than I used to....: +10 STR (10 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; Only In Certain Circumstances (more than casual STR) Very Common; -1/4) I can run - if I have to: Running +7m (2m/9m total) (7 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Characteristic (DEX) roll, -1 per 5 Active Points modifier; Must be made each Phase/use, Only if making Full Move; -1 1/4), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; Only In Certain Circumstances (Full Move) Very Common; -1/4), Side Effects (Fall prone if activation roll fails; -1/4) I can run really fast - if I really have to: Running 0m (2m/9m total), x4 Noncombat (5 Active Points); 1 Recoverable (1 phase to catch breath and brace for another spurt) Continuing Charge lasting 1 Turn (-3/4), Costs Endurance (Despite being on Charges; -1/2) Hope I land on my right leg: Leaping +4m (4m forward, 2m upward) (2 Active Points); Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Choice of : land prone (Breakfall to stand up right away) or take 3d6 STUN damage (Breakfall to halve damage); -1/2) Vulnerability: 2 x STUN Attacks striking the left knee (location 15, 1-3 on 1d6) (and probably any legsweep, too) (Uncommon) But he remains an old man with a weak constution, and when he expends all of either STUN or END he experiences a medical emergency, suffering 1d6 damage (doing BOD if he is already unconscous) every Segment until either he gets a RECovery and is at positive STUN or END, or someone makes a Paramedics roll. Susceptibility: Being at zero END or zero STUN 1d6 damage per Segment (Uncommon) Lucius Alexander The palindromedary ate Aunt May

You can apply a Cost Multiplier to Defenses, to bring the cost back down. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says this may lead to unstoppable zombies

In 6th edition, one can use Damage Over Time but it would mean buying two attacks and linking them (Damage over Time, oddly, can't do damage the phase it hits.) Lucius Alexander The palindromedary saw a chain but didn't think the chain saw anything

Mind if I crosspost this? Lucius Alexander The palinromedary says we want to take it to the Haiku Thread

That could be a full time job right there... Lucius Alexander Like cleaning up after a palindromedary

So.....not one who rides a ghost, but a ghost who rides...? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says that distinguishes him nicely from the Phantom, who is The Ghost Who Walks, and somewhere out there is probably a Ghost Who Just Stands There too.

? Skill Levels with Tracking, Usable as Attack? Lucius Alexander which way did the palindromedary go?

I've only used this in Fantasy not supers games, but because I like the idea of magicians having a "mana pool" or store of power to draw from, and like the idea of linking magic use to a Skill, and don't like the mandatory Active Point Penalties for Requires a Skill Roll.... I give the magic user an END Reserve named "Mana" in which the END has a Limitation: Requires a Skill Roll. To cast a spell requires mana which requires a Skill Roll, but the roll is not penalized by the Active Points of the spell - but by the Active Points of the END used, meaning there is a penalty only for spells with an overwhelming END cost. Lucius Alexander Power Skill: Palindromedary

Attempting to merge them is likely to just result in yet another sect. And I think "sect" is a great word to say especially in the plural. Lucius Alexander The Temple of the Palindromedary welcomes all denominations - anything from the one to the one hundred dollar bill

Not a complete character, but here is a Ghost Riding Power Ghost Riding: (Total: 230 Active Cost, 151 Real Cost) Possession (Mind Control Effect Roll 55; Telepathy Effect Roll 35), Affects Desolidified One Special Effect of Desolidification (+1/4), No Feedback (+1/2), Transdimensional (Related Group of Dimensions; +3/4) (175 Active Points); Limited Class Of Minds [subset of a class] (Ghosts; -1/2) (Real Cost: 117) <b>plus</b> Extra-Dimensional Movement (Single Dimension: "Inside" the possessed spirit), Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger requires a Turn or more to reset, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; Trigger event: When possessing; +1/4) (25 Active Points); Linked (Possession; Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value; -3/4) (Real Cost: 14) <b>plus</b> Mind Scan 1d6, One Way Link (+1), Cumulative (96 points; +1 1/2), Damage Over Time, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times), Target's defenses only apply once (13-16 damage increments, damage occurs every 5 Minutes, +2 1/2) (30 Active Points); Limited Class Of Minds [subset of a class] (Ghosts; -1/2) (Real Cost: 20) Many spiritualist mediums claim to be possessed by the spirits of the departed, but the Ghost Rider turns that paradigm around, psychically seeking out ghosts order to possess them. The Rider's body dematerializes when in possession of a ghost. Once in the spectral saddle, the Ghost Rider typically rides a ghost right out of its haunted house and into the appropriate afterlife, then dismounts, rematerializing in the physical world. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary Rider

This is not such a good power to use in combat. It's a good power to get TO a combat if the combat is far away. It is good to get AWAY from a combat. There is an optional rule to use velocity based DCV but to get that DCV you must be moving that velocity, which means you're not participating in the combat, you're a blur flashing across the battlefield while combat is going on. The single most useful thing for a speedster is probably SPD. Buying up Running won't get more actions in combat, but buying up SPD both gets more actions in a Turn and lets you move faster (because you are moving more often.) A problem with excessive SPD is that as the character with lots of it takes action after action while everyone else sits and waits, this can lead to others feeling left out or bored or to the high SPD person feeling the pressure to act and the spotlight is on them all the time with no time to think about what to do next. If you would like suggestions for more combat useful speedster abilities: A more modest amount of Running with the Trigger Advantage. This allows movement after an attack, so you can run out, attack, then get back under cover. Watch out for people who were set and waiting for you to run out, though. OCV with the Limitation that it Costs END: "Moving too fast to react to" DCV with the Limitation that it costs END: "Moving too fast to target" Damage Negation, or other defenses, only vs your own velocity damage. This could let you do a Move Through and wipe someone else out without being wiped out yourself. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary with Defense Maneuver

It's been a long time since I have played in or run a superhero Hero game, but I have always thought the Variable Power Pool is perfect for magic for the same reasons it's great for gadgeteers. Just as "technology" is not just knowing how to operate some extensive but finite set of given gadgets, "magic" is not just memorizing a list of incantatory spells or possessing a collection of unique and mysteriously powerful artifacts. Both are a set of methods and approaches that incorporate specialized knowledge but are adaptable to whatever situation that needs to be addressed or problem that needs to be solved. In fact, the moment I fell in love with Hero is the moment I saw the Gadget Pool (ancestor to the Variable Power Pool) because I instantly saw it as the perfect way to do magic in a game. Lucius Alexander That was before I had a palindromedary, but I already had the incantation for one.