Lucius

I just posted this in Mr. Long's question and answer forum; but I think the implications are so punning, I mean, stunning, I had to share it with everyone else and get their reactions.... 2. If an Automaton has the Takes No STUN power, the loss of powers/abilities he can suffer can remove abilities bought as Inherent, or which are innately Inherent. __________________ Steve Long HERO System Line Developer Which means - or seems to imply - that one of the powers that can be lost is the inherent "Takes No STUN" power. When it goes out, several things happen: The automaton's defenses suddenly triple; It acquires a STUN total based on STR, BOD, & CON and can now be knocked out; If CON was bought down to 0 (and that's how I build robots & zombies, I don't know about anyone else) the automaton is now stunned with every hit; It stops losing functions. Very Interesting. Who decides what powers get "knocked out?" The "owner" of the automaton (i.e. the player, if it belongs to a player character as a follower)? The attacker? Or, the attacker only if it was a "called shot?" How would one make such called shots? The Game Operations Director? Lucius Alexander? The palindromedary?

2. If an Automaton has the Takes No STUN power, the loss of powers/abilities he can suffer can remove abilities bought as Inherent, or which are innately Inherent. __________________ Steve Long HERO System Line Developer Which means - or seems to imply - that one of the powers that can be lost is the inherent "Takes No STUN" power. When it goes out, several things happen: The automaton's defenses suddenly triple; It acquires a STUN total based on STR, BOD, & CON and can now be knocked out; If CON was bought down to 0 (and that's how I build robots & zombies, I don't know about anyone else) the automaton is now stunned with every hit; It stops losing functions. Very Interesting. Who decides what powers get "knocked out?" The "owner" of the automaton (i.e. the player, if it belongs to a player character as a follower)? The attacker? Or, the attacker only if it was a "called shot?" How would one make such called shots? The Game Operations Director? Lucius Alexander? The palindromedary?

What Would Stormwalker Do: think of the children As I said, of all the characters I've ever played (that this COULD happen to) I think Stormwalker would be the most interesting. ***************************************************************** The clouds above Stormwalker's head darken and expand as he listens. The air is still, but grows cooler. Finally he speaks. "What you ask of me is impious. I don't expect you to understand that, and in fact, it would not necessarily dissuade me - although I hope it always gives me pause. But the reason I will not help you is that it is futile." The clouds weave about his form. "You think you are merely fighting a single mortal. Someone whose own child was hurt, and so hunts those who hurt children. But if you capture this one, two more will appear. You might as well be fighting the Hydra." A strand of cloud rears up, snakelike, then divides, and divides again, until Stormwalker is surrounded by waving tentacles of mist. "You are not facing one mortal, nor a group of them. You are up against the Furies." A low rumble of thunder punctuates the word "Furies." "The Furies are ancient. They are the avengers, the spirits of blood-feud. They are relentless in pursuit. They feed on the suffering and blood of the guilty. Only one thing has ever stopped them, and permitted mortal civilizations to exist, and that is the Pact." At mention of the Pact, the drifting fogsnakes dissipate. "One version of the Myth says the Goddess Athena made the Pact. You may know that one. Aeschylus wrote a play. In fact, the Pact was made in different times and places, by Gods and kings and priestesses. In essence, the Pact means that the Furies will not pursue and punish those who are under the King's Protection. Yes, I know, we don't have a literal king - that doesn't matter. Read 'State' if you will, or better yet, 'Law.' But the Pact holds only so long as the king undertakes to establish justice. The specific version of the Pact covering this land dates to when those words - 'establish justice' - were written in the Preamble to the Constitution. And don't think some members of the Constitutional Convention didn't know Who was watching and listening. Why do you think after fighting to be rid of one king, some people wanted to set up George Washington as another? They weren't sure they didn't need a literal king to have a valid Pact." Stormwalker smiles at the way they are looking at him. "You don't believe in the Furies, and the Pact? Then look at what happens in the criminal underworld, look at the violence of gang wars. The old word is 'outlaw.' These are people who have repudiated the Pact, who have put themselves outside the protection of the Law, and left themselves at the mercy - no. At the mercilessness of the Furies, alternately possessed and pursued by Them. The outlaw's life is miserable and often short, consumed in the cycle of violence and revenge. Even those you call supervillains have more to fear from one another than from people like me. I for one have never yet killed - although it has been prophesied that I will." He frowns. "The Kindly Ones (as they are known when restrained by the Pact) are usually content to let the king - or other mortal institutions- deal with finding and punishing the guilty. As long as it gets done. You don't have to catch every wrongdoer, you don't have to punish each one of them, and you can and should permit considerations of reason, of mercy in your system. And after all, mortal law can only be an approximation of true Justice. BUT IT MUST AT LEAST BE AN APPROXIMATION!" A flash, a smell of ozone, a crack of thunder that somehow does not drown out Stormwalker's last words. "Forgive the display, but I confess, stupidity makes me angry. Trying to divide something into three equal halves is stupid. Passing a law to change the value of Pi, or to repeal gravity, is stupid. And it is stupid to think you can do without Justice, and not expect Vengeance and Feud to appear. You WILL have one or the other; there is no 'None of the Above' on this question. If this mortal's targets had been duly slain by law, after exhaustive investigation and a fair trail established their guilt beyond doubt, the Kindly Ones would have remained Kindly. Indeed, if they had merely been confined, prevented from doing harm, and perhaps studied by healers in hopes of learning to predict or prevent their evil in future, that may have sufficed. I do not know. But for child-violators to be loosed, even among a populace warned of their presence, seems an obvious violation of the Pact. The wrath of the Furies will follow, and if you want me to stop that, you may as well ask me to stop the Moon in Her orbit. That would be easier." "We ask for help; we get mythology" grouses the liaison as the clouds begin to clear. "Mythology is as real as physics, and its consequences as ineluctable," counters Stormwalker. "I will give you advice. You cannot stop the Furies, but there are ways to slow them down. One way would be to get rid of the Register. I don't think that will stop this mortal, who probably already has a list made out. But it will make it harder for those who come after. The Furies can tell by smelling you what you're guilty of, but their mortal agents cannot, and even a Fury will find you faster if She has an address than if She's just randomly sniffing around.....if it comes to that. Meanwhile, I will help in so far as this; Give me a list of what you regard as likely potential victims. If some of them are persons I already have a duty towards, I may take steps to protect them; although I'll also be asking how they got on that list." Lucius Alexander The character of Stormwalker is copyright Palindromedary Enterprises, 1991

An appropriate Limitation on Limited CON ? Well, as I recall, just limiting it so it doesn't effect figured characteristics is worth -1/2 and this HAS to be worth more than that. On the other hand, other than being part of how Energy Defense, Recover, Stun, AND Endurance are figured, it's not used that much....thus the perception that preventing being stunned is much of what it's good for. So I'd say -1 at least, but probably not more than that. Maybe just - 3/4 if the Game Operations Director is being miserly. Lucius Alexander Did the palindromedary eat my tagline?

Growing Up Polytheistic

New Haiku Now Damn insomnia. It may be good for haiku But I need my rest. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary snidely remarks that it doesn't even look that good for haiku.

It Costs Too Much! Which matters if, and only if, you are playing in their "universe." I personally am not so sure that Aid isn't currently overpriced; although the poll I am running on the matter seems to say that the price change hasn't made a difference (perhaps because it's also END free now.) I think part of the problem people are having is not so much that some things are "overpriced" as because "Active Point Limits" to campaigns are just plain a bad idea. That is what leads to things like somebody taking, say, a 6d6 Radius or 8d6 Explosive blast, and finding that it's not doing much - because everyone's defenses are set for that straight up 12d6 direct attack. Now, if you want to limit DAMAGE, and say "no attacks over 12d6" or whatever, THAT might make sense. Then you can go ahead and take your Damage Shield up to a level where it's a credible threat (paying full points for the privelige of course.) Lucius Alexander The palindromedary thinks I mispelled "privilege" there.......

Re: WWYCD: think of the children Hm....yes, that's a lot of "sex offenders" but what does it take to get on the sex offender registry? For example, not long ago I read about a case...let me see if I remember it right... A child was doing something foolish or dangerous, like running into the street. And adult grabbed her arm, and refused to let go until he had finished a stern lecture. He got convicted of, I think the term was "restraint" or "restraint of a child." That's considered a sexual offense, believe it or not, and got that person on the Registry. Personally, I wish we would scrap this "register sex offenders" BS and have a "violent offenders registry." I could care less if my neighbor is a serial foot fetishist (not that I wouldn't be seriously annoyed if he stole my shoes) but I DO care if he has a habit of committing armed robbery, assault and battery, rape, or pedophilia. Beat me to it. No, a "crime against nature" is not necessarily bad, but could be. That said, it's true that pedophilia has an absolutely appalling recidivism rate, and even if the vigilante is being very careful to strike only repeat offenders who have committed genuine crimes against children, there are apt to be a lot of targets in a city this size. Of all my characters, Stormwalker would have the most interesting response to this situation. Unfortunately, I don't think I have enough time right now. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary is reminding me I have a DNPC to attend to.....

A recent question, combined with the fact I'm playing around with a couple of robot characters, made me think of this. I suppose it could apply to other character types too, but specifically for automata..... An automaton with the "Takes No Stun" power at 45 base points, will lose a power, pt of speed, 10 pts of STR, or whatever, each time it takes BODy damage. Could the automaton use the "5 pts for a duplicate power" rule and have "Back-up systems?" Say, 3 PD 3 ED armor (27 pts) Back up armor (5 pts) to represent "layered" armor, or just the fact that it will take TWO "hits" that do BODy to take the armor out? Also, I have some questions about Inherent. First, can the "Lose a function each time a hit does BODy" rule take out an inherent power? If so, what if the "Takes No Stun" power itself is eliminated? (I think that could get really complicated really quickly......) and could an Automaton buy something with the inherent advantage to keep it from being "knocked out" (If so, I imagine the Game Operations Director would be VERY careful what to allow that for....armor maybe, but probably not any attack power...or the automaton could just buy everything "Inherent" and get around that part of the disadvantage of taking "Takes no Stun") Second, normal senses are considered inherent for normal characters. Are they inherent for Automata? Third, is anything else considered inherent for either normal characters or automata? Lucius Alexander Is having a palindromedary inherent in being Lucius Alexander?

Re: Personal Immunity...to What exactly? That's something like I was saying when I suggested a slightly higher limitation to use it that way. Frankly, I'll agree that it's more than a "little" odd. Well, I did say that perhaps there should be an advantage, "counter-immunity" to get around "personal immunity" and attack a mage with the latter. It would get to be like multiple stackings of "armor piercing" and "hardened defenses" in that case. Or, since "variable special effects" is the one automatic advantage (on top of "variable advantages") maybe the right kind of skill roll - Analyze Spell perhaps - would let you figure out how to blast past the personal immunity, after seeing one your spells bounce once. I appreciate that. I just thought, based on what you said - "limit all spells to 'can't be used against someone with the same spell' " that you hadn't quite understood. I very much appreciate everyone's feedback though, it's been interesting. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary is reminding me I have a duty to attend to....

Re: Personal Immunity...to What exactly? *blink* *blink* I never would have thought of that. I'll have to give it some consideration. I never thought of using a Variable Power Pool and then limiting the hell out of it to restrict it to a very specific type of power. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary thinks it looks logical, but the palindromedary is often counter-intuitive.

Multipower, Hard to Switch Slots Yeah, limitations on the Pool; End to switch slots "Concentrate" to switch slots Extra time to switch slots All at less than "normal" values because "switching slots" is usually an "instant" action, not a "constant" power. I'm tempted to put in "Can't move while switching slots" (not even the 1" Concentrate allows) because you turn OFF one movement slot before the other can turn ON, but that might be trying to squeeze more juice out than this lemon has.... As for the shapeshift, yeah, I think I caught myself trying to buy a needless power to cover what any reasonable Game Operations Director would define as "special effects." Lucius Alexander The palindromedary threatens to kick me if I don't learn to "keep it simple, stupid!" Lucius Alexander

I'm toying with some robot characters and want to give them a movement multipower. One slot is wheeled transport - high running, a side effects: double knockback, etc. One is with legs - slower running, add climbing, knockback resistance (A set of four legs, kind of spiderlike. One is "anchored" - slowed to a crawl, higher knockback resistance, maybe clinging... One is Ground Effect - a limited Flight etc. Now, I want it to cost some time and effort to "change configuration" to use each of these. I bought a shapeshift power to represent these different deployments, and was thinking of putting a limit on the multipower pool "must use shapeshift to change slots." The shapeshift has concentrate (lower DCV) and costs END and some extra time.... I'm overthinking this, aren't I? Should I just put those limitations (time to change slots, concentration, and END cost....) on the multipower pool, and make the "shape shift" just special effects? Lucius Alexander Maybe I should ask the palindromedary....

War HERO I'm told Fantasy Hero has the Mass Combat rules. (for some reason.) How workable are they for modern units and battles? LA p

Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel Well, at first I thought "That's easy, brianca and I can just move in." Then I saw the awe-inspiring posts other people came up with and knew I had to take it more seriously. Here is my resident candidate: The Girl of Your Dreams AKA Deja Vu Girl Definitely not classically beautiful; I see her as perhaps a more exotic beauty, but most likely a very ordinary but pleasant girl-next-door type. Someone who is compelling, but not for any easily explained reason. Perhaps she works in the hotel, or as a waitress in a restaurant nearby. When the player character first sees her, she looks hauntingly familiar. The same effect will be noticed when she speaks - the voice, a turn of phrase, seem to have been heard before. If the character is psychic, has a PS: Psychology, or is otherwise the sort of person to pay attention to and remember their own dreams, they will recall having dreamed of her - but probably not until after the conversation. Otherwise, they will only remember the dream with an INT roll at a penalty. After the first meeting the characters (or perhaps you will pick just one of the player characters) will dream of her and remember. Sometimes, the dreams will seem prophetic ; such as dreaming that she drops a tray of food at work, and then seeing it happen the next day. Some dreams seem very mundane, or the character wakes with a strange feeling "she was there in my dreams again." Sometimes they are surreal and mysterious; she appears in a playboy bunny suit that morphs into a furry all-over easter bunny type costume, while insisting that the goldfish don't need to be salted. If approached about the dreams, she may respond "I'm flattered that I seem to have made an impression." But if the character insists that the dreams must be meaningful, or attempts to get closer to her or get to know her better, she will start to react badly, obviously thinking the player character is a nutcase who has somehow become fixated on her because of some bizzarre dreams he (or she) had. And, really, who can blame her? Lucius Alexander Trying to muffle both of the palindromedary's mouths to keep it from revealing that very old story about MY dreamgirl.....

Metallic Alloys? So if my character has a goofy origin (silver age) Psych limit: hates Nazis (gold age) and is having problems in his relationship with his DNPC because of Phys limit: Erectile Dysfunction (bronze age) do I have an electrum age superhero? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary remarks that the more Lucius reads of all this, the less seriously he seems to be taking any of it.....

Newbie: Building a Power I built a magick staff once that had 3 charges of a damaging power, and 3 charges of a healing power. Each charge recovered by using a charge of the opposite power, so at any given time there were only 3 charges. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary thinks that sounds vaguely Druidic....

A supernatural hot spot Change Environment, Temperature Increase. Oh, wait, you're using the word "hot" metaphorically. How about Change Environment, Hospitable to Spirits. Makes it look and feel inviting to them. Or Change Environment, Haunting Effects. With a little TK for the poltergeist phenomena. It's a start, anyway. Or the already suggested idea of a disadvantage, like you'd put a disadvantage on a base. "Haunted 14 or less" rather than "Hunted 14 or less." If you go with Summon, how about making it "No Conscious Control" meaning that NO ONE is actually controlling or directing it....gives you leeway to use less powerful summoned entities, or greater power when called for... Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says: We enter the circle after dark and are consumed by fire.

Metallic Ages? The more I read, the less I understand. What does it mean if someone says "I have a golden age character" or "I'm running a silver age game" or "this character is kind of golden age but with an iron age aspect...." Lucius Alexander The palindromedary suggests we should just go back to playing Fantasy Hero, where bronze age and iron age just mean what the weapons and armor are made of.....

We Got an Official Answer

OK, I have some ignorant questions..... What is Golden Age? What is Silver Age? What is Bronze Age? What is Iron Age? And is there a Brass Age, a Copper Age, a Plutonium Age, a Stainless Steel Age etc. That I haven't heard of yet? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary surmises that Bronze Age probably comes from combining Tin Age and Copper Age.....

Chronicles of Gor Um...okay, so a 360 is a piece of computer gaming hardware, and somehow the way you were talking about it I got the impression it was your intimate partner.... I'm not even going to review your posts and try to figure out how I got that impression or what it was you were actually saying. I'm just glad you have an understanding wife. As for the Tuchuks, I'd like to see them for myself, but supposedly the only place anyone ever sees them is the Pennsic war. It's probably going to be a few years yet before I can manage that, if ever. But like Burning Man, it's on the list of things I'd like to see before I die. Lucius Alexander I have seen the palindromedary, going forth and forth, and how many can say that?

Personal Immunity...to What exactly? Um. No. I'm not talking about "I have this spell, so no one else can use this spell against me." I'm talking about a spell with Variable Advantage, and one of the advantages you can take is Personal Immunity. You can also not take it. In fact, most of the time, you wouldn't. Most of the time, you could probably find something more useful to do with that +1/4 worth of advantage than stick it in Personal Immunity, unless say you're also taking Explosion or Area Effect and don't want to get caught in your own blast. Only if you're paranoid about being ambushed by one of your own order would you routinely walk around with the spell configured that way; probably also with a Trigger set to automatically counterattack whoever tried to blast you. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary is wondering why everyone is making it out to be so much more than it is.....

Move By/ Move Through Yes. (sorry, couldn't resist.) I think what Kyle was thinking of (correct me if I'm wrong) is the way some people choose to do Flash-type "speedsters" with a teleport built the way he described it. Perhaps, looking at it that way, I can see why he thinks it makes sense. For me, I think such a character should have been built with a movement multipower that includes either running or flight that could be used when you want to do a move-by or move-through. However, the Ultimate Martial Artist includes the option of creating "move-by/move-through" like manuevers - I mean, moves you can do after making a full move - and I could see putting such manuevers in a "speedster tricks" martial art. I think they also have rules for putting advantages on martial arts mauevers. This is getting into the "very very optional" territory, but you could perhaps have such moves, and put the advantage on them of "range" and a limitation "only to hit targets that were in your path this phase." It would still be problematic to add velocity - teleportation isn't supposed to HAVE velocity, as I understand it. Finally, you could have an attack with no range, but an area effect, such as "Line" or "Any Area" but defined so that the area has to be the hexes you would have passed through. Can someone tell me the point of Teleportation, Must have a Clear Path, anyway? I'm still not sure I understand the reason for buying such a power as opposed to, say, Flight, Must be in Contact with a Surface. I just know it's been done. Lucius Alexander An ancient incantation to summon a palindromedary: Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas.

We Got an Official Answer Well, I just read Mr. Long's definitive answer, and it seems that, yes, you CAN pick up multiple objects that are each at the limit of your TeleKinetic STR. That strikes me as problematic, but then, TeleKinesis has ALWAYS had certain problems. Someone just said "they don't want to step on Flight's toes" (now there's an image for you.....) and Mr. Waters said something about wanting TK to "feel different" than just ranged STRength...but notice, putting range on STR is expressly forbidden, on grounds that that "steps on the toes" of TeleKinesis, implying that they didn't think there would be much difference. If there IS a lot of difference, it should be allowed, because it wouldn't be doing the exact same thing. (If you have ranged STR, doesn't that mean you can step on someone's toes from across the room?) As far as I'm concerned, I think I'm just not going to have TK in the game. Characters in a game I run will either buy STR usable at range, or Flight, usable on other. I think TK is a kind of "fossil," something that's there because it was written in at the beginning, but that really ought to have been represented as an advantage on other powers - namely Flight, and/or STRength. Lucius Alexander Then again, muses the palindromedary, maybe having STR be only 1 pt is another kind of "fossil" due to the fact that you want bricks to be able to buy lots of it......