Lucius

As long as your character has no abilities that call for OMCV.
 
The moment you do, your OMCV will drop to 3.
 
While you're at it, would you like a free "Smash Goblins" Power for a game that features no Goblins whatsoever?  Note that the power vanishes if Goblins do actually appear in the world, so you'll never really get to smash a Goblin with it.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary says you can pay for the 0 pt Smash Goblin power by taking a 0 pt "Hates Goblins" Complication. But that wold be pointless.
 
 
 

I think, almost certainly. Even naming it Comeliness doesn't make it a Characteristic. The same people who have a problem with it now would have the same problem, it's just that instead of saying "Bring back COM!" they'd be saying "Make COMeliness a Characteristic again!"
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary remembers....
 

I'd go back to the source material:
C.S. Lewis' Jabberwocky
 
The word vorpal appears twice:
 
"He took his vorpal sword in hand;
   Long time the manxome foe he sought—"
 
"One, two! One, two! And through and through
   The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
   He went galumphing back."
 
Gygax decided "vorpal" meant "tends to behead easily" but that is not at all obvious to me from the poem; in fact, the meaning of "vorpal" is pretty obscure and before I encountered the word again in D&D I always thought it referenced some imaginary metal like adamantium or mithril. It could also reasonably be a style of blade, like longsword or broadsword.
 
Note that "He left it dead and with its head He went galumphing back" could easily mean he slew the monster, than beheaded it post-mortem; there's no reason I see to conclude that he definitely slew it by cutting off the head.
 
All the poem tells us is that if you go "one two! one two!" with it, it will go "through and through" and go "snicker-snack!"  This does not really distinguish it from any other sword in the hands of a capable warrior courageous enough to brave "the jaws that bite" and nimble enough to evade "the claws that catch." At most, it suggests that the sword easily cuts through the hide, flesh, and bone of a jabberwock. Or of "The Jabberwock" as it seems possible the monster was singular and unique.
 
So perhaps I'd give a "vorpal" weapon a combination of Armor Piercing, Penetrating, Reduced Negation, and some extra damage.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
And on a palindromedary I went galumphing along.
 

 

An enchanted shield that can heal up to three times a day.
 
The Serpent Shield:  (Total: 35 Active Cost, 8 Real Cost) +3 DCV (15 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Restrainable (-1/2), Conditional Power Only for front and left (-1/2), Nonpersistent (-1/4) (Real Cost: 5) <b>plus</b> Healing Simplified 2d6 (20 Active Points); 4 clips of 1 Charge (Increased Reloading Time: 1 Hour; -2 3/4), One Use At A Time (-1), OIF (-1/2), Costs Endurance (-1/2) (Real Cost: 3)
 
Runes painted onto these barbaric garments from the hide of a a pawari (a moose like creature) grant a +1 bonus to Survival Skill rolls in addition to being 1 pt of Resistant Protection from attacks.
 
Pawari Hide Armor:  (Total: 5 Active Cost, 3 Real Cost) Resistant Protection (1 PD/1 ED) (3 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) <b>plus</b> +1 with Survival (2 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) (Real Cost: 1)
 
Ulro Zandar, the Phantom Sword or the Sword of Ghosts
 
Ulro Zandar, the Sword of Ghosts:  (Total: 115 Active Cost, 31 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6-1, Autofire (2 shots; +1/4), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2), Transdimensional (Related Group of Dimensions; +3/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1) (87 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 9 with 2 hands, 12 with 1 hand (-1/2), -2 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/2), Incantations (Requires Incantations throughout; -1/2), Required Hands One-And-A-Half-Handed (-1/4), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 22) <b>plus</b> Reach 2m, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (3 Active Points); OAF (-1), Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2), Always Direct (-1/4), Limited Body Parts (-1/4), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) <b>plus</b> +1 With OCV (2 Active Points); Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) <b>plus</b> Weapon Master:  +1d6 ([limited group]) (20 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Attack roll, -1 per 5 Active Points modifier; Must be made each Phase/use; -1 1/2), Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 6) <b>plus</b> +1 with OCV or DCV (3 Active Points); Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1)
 
The Amulet of Comprehension: supremely useful for a wide ranging Turakian Age hero
 
Amulet of Comprehension:  (Total: 21 Active Cost, 10 Real Cost) Universal Translator 14- (21 Active Points); Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), IIF (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) (Real Cost: 10)
 
Lucius Alexander
 
I sent a palindromedary to fetch these
 
 

Q: How come vampires in old folklore stories sometimes go about in broad daylight?
 
A: Someone has set us up the bomb
 
Lucius Alexander
 
And now for something completely different: A palindromedary

I think, almost certainly. Even naming it Comeliness doesn't make it a Characteristic. The same people who have a problem with it now would have the same problem, it's just that instead of saying "Bring back COM!" they'd be saying "Make COMeliness a Characteristic again!"
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary remembers....
 

That would solve nothing.
 
Normal Human Maximum is not even a solution in search of a problem; it's a problem pretending to be a solution in search of a problem.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
What was it Markdoc said about applying to Pixies and Ogres but not to Pachyderms and Palindromedaries?

Old Man presents a chart about children living in single parent households
 
 
Toxxus presents a chart about nonmarital birth rates.
 
Old Man and Toxxus are talking about two different things but I get the impression Toxxus somehow thinks they're talking about the same thing.
 
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary also thinks different people may have different definitions of "liberalism."
 
 

The very name of Egypt derives from an ancient name for the city of Memphis meaning "Home of the Soul of Ptah."
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Riding a palindromedary on the PATH of PTAH.

I'm sure you don't care but arguing "this makes the rules too big" is not an absurdity. Saying it is doesn't make it one. It remains the case that neither character sheets nor rule books can be made infinite. You know that, I know that, we all know that, so no, I don't know why I'm bothering to point it out.
 
I'm sure you care even less but "we shouldn't add new stuff" is as far as I can see a strawman. Who but you is saying that?
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary isn't sure why I'm bothering either.
 
 
 
 

As amusing as seeing someone look at Hero's very long list of Characteristics and say "What this game needs is yet ANOTHER characteristic!" Or look at the two volumes of core rules and say "What this game needs is still MORE optional rules!"
 
Neither character sheets nor rulebooks are infinite.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
What this post needs is a palindromedary tagline

As amusing as seeing someone look at Hero's very long list of Characteristics and say "What this game needs is yet ANOTHER characteristic!" Or look at the two volumes of core rules and say "What this game needs is still MORE optional rules!"
 
Neither character sheets nor rulebooks are infinite.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
What this post needs is a palindromedary tagline

Psychological Complication:  I feel pretty, oh so pretty..... (Common; Strong) 15 pts
 
Lucius Alexander
 
And a pretty palindromedary
 
 
 

Striking Appearance isn't a Characteristic. It appears only on the character sheets of players who wanted it and paid for it.
 
But if having the last word in a pointless argument makes you feel better, feel free to ignore this post. I already regret making it.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary regretted being in this tagline before it was composed.

As amusing as seeing someone look at Hero's very long list of Characteristics and say "What this game needs is yet ANOTHER characteristic!" Or look at the two volumes of core rules and say "What this game needs is still MORE optional rules!"
 
Neither character sheets nor rulebooks are infinite.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
What this post needs is a palindromedary tagline

Not exactly a quote, but an interesting event overall, and I can't really think of a more relevant place to put it.
 
My youth group game is the only "weekly" game I have, after all, the other two being a bi-weekly game and an "at least every four weeks; more if possible" game.
 
I picked up a set of these:
 
 https://www.amazon.com/Oojami-Giant-Wooden-Carrying-Canvas/dp/B072KGYFLF/ref=sr_1_8?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxYnMwq2o4gIVksDICh01aw9UEAAYASAAEgK7a_D_BwE&hvadid=328191546198&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9011003&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=4774527260171532108&hvtargid=kwd-314746230900&hydadcr=2335_9913328&keywords=large+dice+wooden&qid=1558295080&s=gateway&sr=8-8
 
 
Not _exactly_ those, but similar.
 
For those not wanting to follow links posted by relative strangers on the internet, it leads to a set of wooden dice roughly 3-1/2" on a side.  They are essentially waste cuts and drops from hardwood 4x4s, evened up and finished into "yard dice" or "lawn dice" or  (creatively)  "Yardzee" dice.  Went to Statesboro yesterday (wife wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and get some new brushes) and I saw the set of five (yeah, the set I bought only had 5 pieces, but then, it rang up at ten bucks, so I'm good   ) and picked it up.  On the way home we stopped and she bought a car, but this isn't that story.  In fact, all I will say about that story is that, after nearly two decades of road tripping in the Leviathan, she now claims she wants something that rides better.  (the nerve of some people!)
 
 
So, in honor of the last of the bearable summer weather  (by this time next week, central GA will be Hell's own bakery), I decided to do something to get us out into the weather and enjoy the last breeze we're going to have until January.  
 
We used three of the dice as "Skill check" dice-- forgive the non-HERO-ness of the term, but over the years, I have found people pick up on the roll for Skills and Roll to Hit if they learn them to be "Skill Checks."  Don't know why, unless it just helps them group the mechanics in their head.  Now make no mistake, rolling three of those dice isn't possible.  You end up sort of backsnap-tossing it into the air to give it random spins, etc, and wait for it to land.  (I know: I played around with the viability of this idea last night when we got home and the wife was tired of driving her new car.)
 
I don't know why-- probably for _me_, as things conspire to keep me out of pretty weather but locked outside in rain, blast-ovens, of near-freezing temperatures with shocking regularity-- but I really wanted this to be a fun thing to do.
 
So I grabbed a few paint paddles-- the little balsa or white-wood slats they give you when you buy a can of paint-- and selected tomorrow's (today's) bad guys and a few random NPC-types, ad of course, the Heroes themselves, then printed the character portraits (remember I still use 2e, and our character sheets are _way_ more fun than anything that's come after 4e) and glued them the paint paddles.
 
Today's game featured the all-new fair-weather attack technique of "Bowl to Hit."  When a character wished to make an attack, his target's wood-and-paper effigy was stuck in the dirt roughly eight feet away.  The player had three shots (roll 3d6, right? )  he would fire off his three dice toward his target.  If at any time he hit the target with one of the dice, bingo!  Automatic hit.  :D.  If he did _not_ hit the target but the total of the three dice said he made it, then he hit.  If he both hit the target _and_ made his roll, then a random good thing happened: extra damage, automatic Stunning, or some such thing as that.
 
If there were _multiple_ opponents, then multiple targets were set up.  You might hit an opponent totally different from the one you were aiming at!  And of course, the die total might say "nope; seems you hit the _both_!    
 
And if there were innocent bystanders, well things got....  dicey..... (wow. That hurt more than I thought it would) 
 
It was really funny watching them just _sling_ the dice at the villains, but when there were civilians, they'd oh-so-carefully line up their shots, roll the die, and wince at every odd tumble.....      "There."  I proclaimed.  "Now you have a _much_ better idea of what it's like to actually be a super-hero-- to know how much power you have, and how easily you could accidentally hurt someone.  You understand the worry and fear your character's should have when fighting out in the open, and you understand why you might want to restrain the amount of power you use when something bad happens at the mall or the amusement park. "  Most of them found that to be eye-opening, as most of them (the oldest is in ninth grade right now) get their ideas of superheroes from movies, which don't seem to put a lot of emphasis on internal struggle or watching out for the civilians.
 
 
Yeah, this story goes nowhere, and only has a single quote, and it's by the world's worst Superhero Sensei, but still: it was a blast, and I wanted to share it.
 
 
Y'all have fun.
 
 
 
Duke
 

Who takes an extra 2d6 STUN every time you hit her, against which she has no defense.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
She would probably faint if a palindromedary tried to bite her.

Fail, or try not. There is no do.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary sadly eyes the empty two liter bottle and says there is no Dew.
 

I understand you to mean "Highly attractive to massey." If you say "she's a 10" I know you are attracted and that's literally ALL I know. I don't know anything about what she actually looks like and I certainly don't know how attractive I personally would find her.
 
 
This is why Striking Appearance includes a PRE bonus.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary proposes something pretty and friable has Crumbliness

Psychological Complication:  I feel pretty, oh so pretty..... (Common; Strong) 15 pts
 
Lucius Alexander
 
And a pretty palindromedary
 
 
 

Psychological Complication:  I feel pretty, oh so pretty..... (Common; Strong) 15 pts
 
Lucius Alexander
 
And a pretty palindromedary
 
 
 

This is one I share with my students, especially at the end of the semester when everything becomes due:
 

More Actions without SPD:  (Total: 22 Active Cost, 22 Real Cost) Naked Advantage: Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger requires a Turn or more to reset, Trigger can expire (it has a time limit), Two activation conditions apply simultaneously; +1/4) for up to 90 Active Points (22 Active Points) (Real Cost: 22)
Still More Actions without SPD:  (Total: 22 Active Cost, 22 Real Cost) Naked Advantage: Autofire (3 shots; +1/4) for up to 90 Active Points (22 Active Points) (Real Cost: 22)
 
Halving Defenses without Armor Piercing:  (Total: 60 Active Cost, 40 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6, Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Half normal ; +1) (60 Active Points); No STR Bonus (-1/2) (Real Cost: 40)
 
One Way:  (Total: 40 Active Cost, 16 Real Cost) Physical Damage Reduction, 50% (20 Active Points); Limited Power Only for calculating if character is stunned (-1 1/2) (Real Cost: 😎 <b>plus</b> Energy Damage Reduction, 50% (20 Active Points); Limited Power Only for calculating if character is stunned (-1 1/2) (Real Cost: 😎
Another Way:  (Total: 15 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) Cannot Be Stunned (15 Active Points); Nonpersistent (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12)
 
Can't Keep Me Down:  (Total: 80 Active Cost, 23 Real Cost) Aid  STUN 3d6+1 (standard effect: 10 points), 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: Unconsciousness; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Expanded Effect (x2 Characteristics or Powers simultaneously) (STUN and END; +1/2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1 3/4) (80 Active Points); One Use At A Time (-1), Only to Aid Self (-1), Only Restores To Starting Values (-1/2) (Real Cost: 23)
 
Wall? What Wall?:  (Total: 60 Active Cost, 24 Real Cost) +60 STR (60 Active Points); Limited Power Only for casual STR, only for breaking walls (-1 1/2) (Real Cost: 24)
 
 
Lucius Alexander
 
 
You, me, and the palindromedary