Lucius

It is an ill wind that blows no minds Lucius Alexander The palindromedary notes that many people seem to mind being blown

Me: I mean, here I am supposed to be close to graduating with an Interdepartmental Major in English and Religious Studies, and I find I don't have a definition of "Literature" that I'm satisfied with and I don't have a definition of "Religion" that I'm satisfied with either." Barry Childs-Helton: You're doing good. Most people are graduate students before they realize that they can't define the basic terms of their own disciplines. On a separate occasion, many years earlier in my life: Me: You haven't really understood a subject, until it has blown your mind at least once. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary now blows my mind by asking if that applies to people as well as to subjects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster%27s_rule It works, sort of. "Foster's Rule" posits that large animals become smaller when faced with the food and space constraints of islands or other constricted environments (an oasis for example is very much like an island in that generations of a species can live there without any of them ever leaving nor arriving from outside.) Small animals on the other hand tend to become larger. The smaller the island, the more extreme the effects. This is the world's largest dwarf palindromedary and the world's smallest giant palindromedary.

If you're asking me, the answer is, most of it I suppose, but not gathered together in a convenient place. It wouldn't be anywhere online except here on herogames.com though, if that's what you mean. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary wonders how Markdoc does it.

Notebooks full of blank lined paper are often available in convenience stores and anywhere stationary or school or office supplies are sold. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary likes Hero Designer

Somebody was smoking kraken Lucius Alexander Of course, that's the opinion of a guy who regularly rides a palindromedary....

You might try defining armor as Damage Negation. I am sympathetic to the idea of distinguishing weapons, but keep in mind Alexander's First Law of Weapon Tables. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary wonders if weapons tables come with weapons chairs

My first thought, honestly, was "plague ships!" Lucius Alexander The palindromedary suspects bioterrorism

"Of course, and I love doing so! Do you know how many cancer patients I have turned into perfectly healthy dinosaurs?" Lucius Alexander I want to cure cancer AND turn people into palindromedaries!

She can now. After an incident involving getting burned, I said "I'm going to go slather on some of Mother Ettindam's Unguent." Then I wrote it up. Mike said I would have to have an Alchemy Skill in addition to buying the Power. So I put it as "Granma's Cooking" Power Skill: Alchemy Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says it also took a long time before Mike noticed "Knowledge Skill: Carnal"

Well, one reason to do it that way is because that's what the rule says. As for why the rule says that, I think the book said "If you're vulnerable to something it's going to hurt." To put it another way, if you are say a werewolf and buy enough defenses to be effectively bulletproof to small calibers, then if you apply Defense before Vulnerability, you're STILL bulletproof even to silver bullets - if you take no damage from a 1d6+1 Killing Attack (lead) then you take no damage from a 1d6+1 Killing Attack (silver.) By applying Vulnerability before Defenses, you can effectively ignore small blade and bullet attacks, but could be hurt by similar attacks using silver blades or silver bullets. So it makes sense to me although I am sure you can find lycanthropes who will howl that it's not fair. Lucius Alexander Applying a post before a palindromedary tagline

Well, it also makes a difference if you're using superheroic or heroic assumptions. I'd probably do spiked knuckles as a small killing attack. To use in conjunction with Boxing, I'd say you need the Weapons Element. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary claims to be superheroic at one end

The simplest answer is to write, somewhere on the character sheet probably at the top after the name "Secret ID: Clark Parker" (or "Peter Wayne" or "Bruce Kent" or whatever.) If you have a written background you can put as much detail as you like into your normal life, life before becoming a superhero, etc. If you want something more elaborate than that, it depends on what you want exactly. For example, many superheroes take a Complication that represents the fact they have a secret to keep. If you envision the character occasionally having to make excuses and sneak off to change into costume, this is the way to go. Another alternative is to create a List of Skills with a title like "Secret ID" and include things like Acting or Disguise that help you maintain that identity and whatever Skills you associate with that "normal life" - if your secret ID is a medical doctor for example, you might have Science Skill: Medicine, Professional Skill: Physician and Paramedics (First Aid.) You could use such skills while in costume but might be reluctant to for fear of someone figuring out "Hey, that superhero must have had medical training, there's a clue to his real identity..." Now, if you are thinking of the situation in which the superhero and the normal identity are something like Iron Man vs Tony Stark or Bruce Banner vs the Hulk or Captain Marvell and whoever he was when not being Capt. Marvell, that gets more complex and there are a couple of ways to do it. You might want to look at the Powers Shapeshifting and Multiform, and the Limitation of Only in Alternative ID. If you explain exactly what you mean by "alternative identity" and what benefits or drawbacks it would provide the character and how you see it playing out in the game, we can help you better. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary consumes radioactive peppers to become The Green Lama (don't tell anyone, it's a secret)

I think you're on your own. This is certainly one way to use Hero System but I don't know anyone else who thinks like you do. Lucius Alexander Power Skill: palindromedary

Stormwalker: Use lightning to detonate a missile before it's launched, hopefully setting off a chain reaction to bring the machine down (or blow it up) before it gets into the city. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary eats it.

If you're buying the movement as Flight, that has a turn mode. You can modify turn mode with a Skill Level in Flight. By giving a ship Skill Levels you can increase its maneuverability. Someone with high Combat Piloting might be allowed to buy Skill Levels that modify turn mode too. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says technically you could give those Skill Levels to someone without any Combat Piloting but that doesn't make sense.

Spirits. I need to redo the above with the Naked Advantage. Markdoc makes a habit of being right. Lucius Alexander And the Palindromedary Secret Society.

? A platform is a structure consisting of a raised horizontal surface plus the attached supports that elevate it above the ground or floor. The ability to build one would be Professional Skill: Carpenter but I don't see how it helps you share Science Skills unless you stand on it to give a scientific lecture and impart your knowledge to whoever is listening. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says that if "share Science Skills" means allowing others to be able to know all you know and do all you can do pertaining to a given Science, you may want a Naked Advantage: Usable by Other. This could permit you to stand next to someone and let them not only use a microscope but recognize what they see.

So, sitting still on top of a pedestal for extended periods is not necessarily a good idea? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary claims I'm just emulating idleness

I'm pretty sure that the rigging and sails, which don't increase carrying capacity (STR) after all, are no included in Size. But I can try to dig out the Ultimate Vehicle book and see what it says. Also, for a ship, I'd at least consider using the Base rules and make it a Base with Movement Powers. A sailing ship is after all a place where people can and would live for extended periods. In that case, the masts, sails, and rigging would be part of the "Grounds" outside of the Bases normal bounds but still "part" of it. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary stands on deck and looks up at the rigging and observes that actually, it looks like an enormous Bulky Obvious and probably Accessible Focus for the Vehicle's Movement.

Don Quixote, knight. A Man of La Mancha barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the thaumaturgy. We can make him better than he was. Better. Braver. Nobler. Don Quixote is - the Six Million Real Man Lucius Alexander A man barely relevant. Gentlemen, we can recontextualize him. We have the palindromedaries. We can make him better than he was. Better. Smarter. Funnier.

Martial Arts are very "point efficient." You get a lot of bang for the buck so to speak. I've long thought that either there is, or there should be, considered to be a kind of "implied Limitation" similar to the Real Weapon Limitation that restricts Martial Arts. But it's probably best to leave finding the exact right balance and way to approach it to each individual gaming table. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary proposes that there may be Target Elements as well as Weapon Elements

Depending on how many points you are able or want to spend, you can also buy base defenses and then buy Damage Reduction with a Limitation: vs last attack. Other options to consider: Life Support, Limited to only work if you've just been exposed to that attack or condition. (you could start to drown, then start breathing water.) Bonus damage to your attacks, Limited to "only if failed to penetrate defenses" and "only vs target the character just failed to hurt." Combat Skill Levels with Extra Time. As the fight goes on, you adapt to this particular set of opponents. "Exotic Defenses" like Power Defense, Flash Defense, etc that only work if you've recently been hit with that kind of attack. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary claims to be evolving and involving at the same time

The Six Million Dollar Man from UNCLE Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says those are the same genre so it doesn't count.

Lucius Alexander The palindromedary links to the whole essay: http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/36926-lucius-alexanders-yule-essay/page-3 The 2013 version is still the most recent.