Ura-Maru

Re: Names needed For the villain: All must fear . . . The Mighty END BOSS!! Or "The L33TIST!" Assuming you want your players to kill him, of course. --- "Fight, Megaman! For everlasting peace!"

Re: JSA - Day One Remember, there are really three ‘Golden Ages.’ Actual Golden Age: As seen in actual golden age comics! Simplistic black-and-white worldview, heroes do pretty much whatever they want, because they’re the good guys. Killing, torture, anything. Good and Evil are divinely mandated, and have no bearing on the character’s actions. Random Bad Stuff never happens. Nostalgic Golden Age: As Described By Comic Book Fans Who Didn’t Actually Read Them, And Flashbacks From The Silver Age! Simplistic black-and-white worldview, heroes are purer than pure, and spectacularly dull. Despite being in the active military, they rarely if ever kill anyone. Random Bad Stuff never happens. Retro Golden Age: As Shown In Iron Age Flashbacks! Essentially, Bronze, or even Iron Age moral and plot complexity, but set during the Golden Age. There’s still a bit of bright Silver sheen on the good guys, but even they can make mistakes and occasionally shoot the wrong guy. They kill people, but occasionally feel bad about it. Random Bad Stuff can happen. Guess which one I prefer? Though the important thing is that everyone knows which Golden Age they’re in. --- I’d cut out NCM. All it does is punish some people’s character concepts.

Re: Power Build: "Portal" power Then you don’t want to call it ‘Defined Origin.’ That's not the effect you’re describing. That’s the other kind of Indirect. I’m picking nits because it looks like you’re correct. I misremembered it. While it doesn’t say you can go through solid objects with the Doesn’t Pass Space, it doesn’t say you can’t, either. Using it as the ‘other’ 1/4 of full Indirect seems reasonable. It DOES say you can’t pull things through, though. Maybe that was what I was thinking of. So maybe you DO need and extra +1/4 to do that! Ha! --- You shouldn’t have to buy ‘No Noncombat’ ‘No Indirect’ ‘No Extra Damage’ on 90% of the uses for a power . . .

Re: Super Hearing Full Analyze, at least. Maybe with a Knowledge: Biorhythms skill roll. I mean, Analyze would let you tell the difference between a CD spinning at 32 and 48, but you’d need Knowledge: Computers to know which brands use the different drives. Alternatively, Detect Biorhythms, Hearing Group, Discriminatory. --- “He’s not breathing . . . His Heart’s not beating . . . Just to make sure . . .â€

Re: Strength Cost: 1 point or 2 Even at 2 points per, Strength is a pretty good buy. Even without the figured and the ‘wear heavy armor’ sides, it’s so much more flexible then any other single attack power. I mean, seriously. If you grab, it’s a limited entangle with a damage shield. If you have a rock, it’s an EB with a couple of limitations. If you have a pointy stick, it’s a KA. If you have a BIG stick, it’s an AOE attack. It can bust you out of grabs and entangles without arguing with the GM first. It’s a floor wax. It’s a dessert topping. Plus, it’s lockpicking. The only argument against upping the cost that has any real merit is the ‘But bricks can’t take Power Frameworks!’ Well, it has merit in supers games. (Well, except for the fact that a lot of bricks DO have power frameworks . . .) But in most Heroic games, no one can take power frameworks anyway, so no problems there. --- Basing SPD on Int instead of Dex is a good idea, especially if you assume Spd is ‘Reflexes.’ The only reason I haven’t is I’m trying to get my chops back before I start messing with everything. Actually, I’d change it’s name to ‘Perception’ and using it for Initiative, as well as Speed. Have Int skills work off of skill levels instead of a true stat. That’s worth one point, easy. That would also stop Int ‘bragging rights’ wars. To make it worth 2 points, do something with ranged attacks. Either acting as ‘free’ Ranged Skill Levels, a bonus for Brace and Set, or an alternate ‘OCV’ for braced attacks. --- As Hero slowly turns into Fallout . . . Well, the parts of Fallout that D&D didn’t rip off, anyway.

Re: Power Build: "Portal" power I don’t think so. ‘Common Origin’ (Actually, it’s ‘Defined Origin,’ mistake mine) Indirect can’t pass through barriers without breaking them. The special effect is pretty clearly the +3/4, Any Origin, Any Direction version. I might be talked down to only paying an additional +1/4 for it, though, as you get the +1/2 ‘Defined Origin Point, Any Direction’ version for free with base Stretching. --- “They call him Johnny Longbow†“Oh! Is he seeing anyone!â€

Re: Power Build: "Portal" power Stretching is only sorta indirect, the ‘Common origin, any direction’ kind. I’d say you’d have to buy it as actual indirect. Still, it’s the way to go. It lets you flip switches, stab people with foci you just found, grab things, grope supervillainesses, and take damage from her invisible damage shield. So, Stretching, does not cross intervening space. (you’ve already got the first half for free, so I’d only insist on an extra +1/4 or +1/2 for the indirect). 59 (88) Holey Space, Nighthawk! 10†Stretching, Does Not Cross Intervening Space (+1/4) Indirect: Any Origin, Any Direction (+1/2), No Stretching Damage (-1/4), Range Modifier Applies (-1/4) I gave a price break for indirect, because you sorta already paid for part of it. Kinda pricey, but you could probably get by with half of that, maybe with an extra x2 noncombat. Or just enough to fit in a multipower with your missile reflection . . . --- Come to think of it, Stretching could use a top-down rewrite as well. Stretching damage is silly.

Re: character concept Wait. Put the multipower up to 40 active points. (That’ll cost 4 points) Kick the healing down to 4d6, and put it there, instead. Take the Rock Hard Fists out of the multipower, and just buy 2d6 HA, No End outside of all the frameworks for 10 points. Assuming a 16 base Str, that’ll give you a 10d6 punch total, when fully pumped up. Or 14d6 with a Move By. Or something totally obscene with a move through. If you get he multipower, of course. Dammit, it’s too late to count points. --- Anyway, the ‘Elemental Gifts’ multipower should have a 34 active point cost, not 35.

Re: character concept Well, using the theme you mentioned, trying to stay away from the oh-so-tempting multipower with a bazillion slots. 25 (25)Elemental Control: Elemental Control (Sorry, couldn’t resist) 35 (60:35) Fire Burns! 12d6 EB 17 (50:25) Strength Of Earth! 4d6 Succor: Str, Con, Body & Stun simultaneously (+1), Half End (+1/4), Full Phase (-1/2) 10 (50:25)Gift Of Earth! 5d6 Simplified Healing, x3 End,(-1) Full Phase (-1/2) 25 (50:25) Shield Of Water! 20 PD/20 ED Force Field, Half End (+1/4) 17 (50:25) Flowing Water! Desolidification, Half End (+1/4), Can’t Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2) 25 (50:25) Ride The Winds! 20” Flight, 1/2 End (+1/4) 16 (60:35) Master Of The Winds! 20 pts Telekinesis, AOE: Hex Doubled, selective (+1) Affects Whole Object (-1/4), x3 End (-1) 15 (38) Focused Fire Variable Advantage on up to 10d6 EB: +1/2 Limited (+3/4), Full Phase (-1/2), x3 End (-1) Armor Piercing Indirect: Defined Origin, Any Direction No Range Penalties (Or Damage Shield) Explosion 185 points, all together. 175 if you can live with a 10d6 ‘main attack.’ Ouch. Would be considerably cheaper to put the ‘Fire’ Healing, and Desolidification into a multipower. Even if you give each ‘variable advantage’ option it’s own mulitpower slot. And you could toss an NND in there, and maybe a Force Wall. Blaugh. A Killing Attack with an Extra Stun multiple is a better model for fire, but you may not want that as your primary attack. The naked advantage on the fire slot has a pretty high active points cost, double check that this is ok. PD&ED would be better for the Succor, but combined with the Force Field, that would produce an unstoppable tank. It’ll still let you turn into a demi-brick in two phases, though, which ain’t bad at all. It’s going to add 24 pts to Str total, so make sure you’re base strength ends with either a 1 or a 6. To Man, AOE TK just totally sucks, point-value wise. The last slot lets you pick up 4 people, and fly them at 8” (No noncombat doubling, though) 15 (50:25) Ride With Me! 10” Flight Usable By Others: 8 Targets (+1/4), Ranged (+1/2), x3 End (-1) might be better, but then you can’t pick up random stuff or whisk away unconscious teammates or innocents. Optional Extras: (You can probably afford at least one of these) 19 (34)Elemental Gifts 34 point Multipower, All Full Phase (1/2), Concentrate: Half DCV To Activate (-1/4) 1 (33) Bright Flame Sight Group Images, +4, 4” radius (+1/2) Only to Make Light (-1) 2 (30) Stone Hard Fists +4d6 HA, No End (+1/2), HA (-1/2) 2 (34) Blinding Fog Change Environment, -4 To Sight Group Per. Rolls, 16” radius 2 (33) Whispers On The Wind Clairsentience, Hearing Group and Speech, 4x range. (The last is technically a sense, and might not be allowed in a multipower) 4 (4) The Blessings of Fire: Safe Environment: Intense Heat, High Radiation 6 (6) The Blessings of Earth: No Need to Eat, No Need To Sleep 3 (3) The Blessings of Water: Safe Environment: Cold, High Pressure 10 (10) The Blessings of Air: Self Contained Breathing 30 Elemental Sense Group, Targeting, Discriminatory 10 Fire Sense/Water Sense Sense Emotions (Fire for aggression and other ‘bad’ emotions, Water for protective, nurturing, and other ‘good’ ones) 10 Earth Sense Sense Life 10 Air Sense Sense Objects --- Ok, that last one’s real expensive. Cool, though. Edited to fix a couple of numbers.

Re: Odd combination of Missile Reflection and Damage Shield; wondering about cost I think the ‘official’ way would be something like: 100 (100) My Name Is Riekianzie, Vampire Hunter, And Killing Men Like You Is My Greatest Pleasure! Variable Power Pool, 100 point base 60 (150) MNIRVH,AMLYIMGP! Pool Control Cost, Zero Phase Action To Change (+1), No Skill Roll Required (+1), Trigger: When A HTH Attack Is Blocked, No Time, Resets Automatically (+1), Only To Mimic Melee Attacks Blocked That Phase (-1 1/2) That’ll let you mimic up to 50 active points of an attack thrown at you. (You need the other 50 pts to make up the Triggers +1 cost) You might be able to squeeze in some other pool disads . . . I don’t use pools if I can possibly help it, so I’m not that familiar with them. AND it fits on the character sheet. I loathe that use of ‘Trigger.’ Another alternative would be tacking an extra advantage on Damage Shield to let it work with Block. The +3/4 total for ‘maneuver other than grab’ is too little. +1 to +1 ½ sounds about right. I’d probably just say to hell with it and allow ‘Usable Against Melee Attacks’ as a +2 advantage on missile Reflection. --- Missile Deflection could use a top-down rebuild, to be honest.

Re: Critique My Metamorph Actually, I guess maybe it isn’t too much after all, if that’s the way you’d prefer to do it. I’ve not blinked at +8d6 ‘flat of the sword’ attacks, after all. (The +8d6 ‘rifle butt’ from that old 4e bad guy was too much, though. ) I liked the idea more of ‘grabbing and SQEEZING!!,' but the other way works just as well. It’s you’re character, after all, not mine. --- I still think you should have a power called ‘Go Squishy.’ I don’t care what it does, I just like the name.

Re: Critique My Metamorph If you’re going to stick with the armor, I’d lose the Combat Luck, and lose the ‘costs End’ on the armor. 6/6 armor will stop most bullets and slow down bigger attacks to a point where your regeneration should be able to handle them. You’re going to be pretty hard to put down. High DCV, not terrible defense, and damage reduction on top of it. Beware of mobs, though. 7d6 HA seems a bit much for the punch effect. I’d make it 4d6 tops. You can justify No End, though, since you’ve taken it on the stretching. I know you really want it, but I’d lose the Mental Defense and buy either some of the weirder life supports or an enhanced sense to reflect the ‘compound mind’ thing. The Force Wall is going to be real small. An unexpanded force wall is only 3 sides of a hex. The Multipower might work better so: 46 Streching Tricks! 46 pt Multipower 2u (30) Big Fist 4d6 HA, No End (+1/2), HA (-1/2) 3u (30) Natural Weaponry 1d6+1 HKA, (2d6+1 w’ Str) No End (+1/2) 2u (40) Go Squishy Desolidification, Does Not Protect Against Energy (-1/2), Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects[/b] (-1/2), Concentration: 1/2 DCV (-1/4) 1u (10) Molding To Surface Clinging, Not Vs. Knockback (-1/4) 1u (6) Go With The Flow +6†Superleap 4u (36) Shapeshifting Shape Shift (Sight, Radio and Touch Groups, any shape) 2u (46) Body Barrier Force Wall, 6 PD/6 ED, Opeque to Sight Group (10), +3†size, Feedback (-1), No Range (-1/2) 9m (45) Wraparound +45 Str, only to Grab, Escape, and Crush (-1/2) That will let you use the clinging, the superleap, and the ‘weapon’ options at the same time. By making the Wraparound a meta instead of an ultra, you can still use most of it while moving or clinging. And the Delsolid now lets you do the ‘Sandman Trick’ with incoming punches. *(I don’t think you can take ‘No Figured Characteristics’ for stats in a multipower. I wouldn’t allow it, anyway) That will give you a 3 (Str)+ 4 (HA) + 2 (Streching) =9d6 punch. That’s a bit weak, but that’s ok. You’re main attack is going to be grabbing and SQUEEZING!!! 3 + 9 = 12d6 Crush. And with the Extra Limbs & Streching, once you’ve got a hold on one person, you can grab another, and start squeezing HIM, too. Continue until you run out of End. To be really scary, add (outside the multipower) 10 You Can’t Get Away! +20 Str, No End (+1/2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) Only to Hold A Grabbed Target (-1) and 6 +2 w Grab, Grab By, and Crush (Remember, 2 3 pt skill levels can add +1d6 damage) That’s tough, but I’d allow it. (-1 might be to much for the ‘only to hold’ bit, though. To be REALLY disgusting, add a ‘Putting Myself Back Together!’ Self Only Healing slot in the multipower. You’re GM may throw stuff at you if you try, though. I still think a vulnerability/susceptibility to fire or sonics would be appropriate . . . --- “I didn’t want to do this. I mean, I _REALLY_ didn’t want to do this! But you’ve left me no choice!â€

Re: Critique My Metamorph Just a quick “Seconded!†to “I don’t really like using Entangle to represent grabbing someone.†But then, I have issues around the way Entangle, Force Wall, and Grab overlap. Strength bought with Only to Grab, Escape, and Crush (-1/2) and No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) is dirt cheap. You could probably fit it outside the mulitpower, which would let you grab, hold, and damage shield, which currently, you can’t do. It would also let you grab foci and plot devices from the bad guys, which is good. You’ll want to get some skill levels with Grab if you go that route, though. Grab only affects two limbs, so you’d have to sweep to get four. --- “I have stretching powers!â€

Re: Rough Draft PC I was looking at the first writup (The second wasn’t up yet when I started) Better, but still needs a bit of work. Gestures isn’t appropriate for the Tazer Fists. They don’t use gestures any more than punching does. Generally, Gestures is inappropriate for supers games. And if it wasn’t, ‘Hitting Someone’ isn’t enough to justify it. (Actually, I think it’s inappropriate for all games, but that’s not germane) On the good side, though, Drains are stopped only by Power Defense, so you don’t need AP. It probably should be a NND, though. Scepter: A OAF multipower would be better. Aside from being more efficient, most GMs are very wary about allowing ‘gadget’ ECs. Again, gestures isn’t appropriate, nor is both OIHID and an OIF, generally you get one or the other. Oh, and I’d suggest getting STR to a multiple of 5 after the armors on, just because I hate dealing with half dice. Defenses as a whole are still low, as is speed. You’re not fast enough to block and dodge, nor can you take even one average (physical) hit. Combat is going to go: Phase 12: Hit and stunned Phase 3: Hit and knocked out. If you block on phase 12, you might delay being knocked out until phase 5. Or phase 4 if the bad guy has a speed of 6. Even if they miss with the first attack, they’ll get a second (and possibly a third) more than a phase before you do. This will result in you using your phase 4 action to unstun, and then getting knocked out on phase 5 or 6. Most of the other stuff still applies, I’m afraid. --- “I’m not Strikeman! I’m the White Hawk! You’ve gotta believe me!â€

Re: Funny idea for a character Bastard!!’s Dark Schneider did that a lot, too. Though only Gara took the extra step of actually talking to the audience. You’d get a Hero version of ‘Order of the Stick’ Actually, most gamers do this anyway. (“Dammit! I spent 20 points on EGO, and it’s never been used once!â€) It would just be a matter of having the character say what the player is. The player would have to have some restraint, though. That kind of thing is funny if done periodically, but it gets old REAL fast when it’s done constantly. And it can spoil the atmoshphere when anyone is trying to be serious. Actually, almost any kind of ‘delusional idiot’ character tends to totally wreck any seriousness or depth that a game might have otherwise had. One of the consistent problems I’ve had with supers games is that there’s often that one guy who goes out of his way to show how stupid the whole idea of superheroes are by playing a super-friends-esqe spoiler-type. This type of thing can exacerbate that. Summary: Done as a running gag ‘wiseass character’ by a good player: Might Be Fun Done as a ‘delusional idiot’ by a bad player: No. --- “It’s no good attacking if you’re off screen when you do it! Watch this, folks!â€

Re: Critique My Metamorph Very, VERY good for a first character. Just some tweaking suggestions. You probably want ‘Feedback’ on the Entangle. Actually, it might be worth adding five more points to the multipower to kick it up to 5d6, as I’m assuming that you intended that as his main attack power. Otherwise, damage might be a bit low. You also might want to switch the Force Wall to 7 pd/7 ed, to match the defenses of the character. I’d give him another 3†leap, so he could do the ‘stretch and flow across’ bit. Maybe Clinging as well. Instead of the Missile Deflection, you might want to take 3 or 4 Defensive Skill levels, maybe with Costs End. (Missile Deflection as it’s own action, like a Block that can effect ranged attacks, so it’s not as ‘reflexive’ as you might want it to be) I’d either increase the energy Damage Reduction to 50%, or buy another 8 points of ED. You probably want to buy regeneration-style healing, maybe with ‘not vs. some types of damage.’ That would mean you’d have to replace ‘the Specialized Medical Attention’ limitation with something else, though. I’m afraid that ‘No Sense Of Smell’ isn’t an ‘All The Time’ disadvantage. It may technically be in effect all the time, but it’s only limiting occasionally, if that. If he breathes through his skin, a 'Can't Hold His Breath' phys lim would be appropriate. --- "Honey = Hummingbird"

Re: Telemechanics/Computer prog. question Off of my ‘in-progress’ super-geek telekinetic . . . 9 (34) Get Me Some Mountain Dew! 34 Point Multipower, Extra Time: 1 Turn, no other powers (-1 1/2), Concentrate: 1/2 DCV Throughout (-1/2), Must Have ‘Access’ (-1/2), Requires a Skill Roll: Computer Programming(usually) (-1/2), Side Effects: Major (-3/4) 1u (34) Found The Data 3d6 Telepathy, Machine Class, Cumulative: x8 (144 pts total) (+1 1/4) 1u (34) Hacking 3d6 Mind Control, Machine Class, Cumulative: x8 (144 pts total) (+1 1/4) 1u (34) If I Change The Parameters . . . 3d6 Mental Illusions, Machine Class, Cumulative: x8 (144 pts total) (+1 1/4) 1u (33) I Reprogrammed It! 1d6 Minor Transform: Mind, BOECV (+1), Works Against Ego, Not Body (+1/4), Improved Results (+1), Limited Group: Computers and Robots (-1/2) 1u (30) It’s A Custom Job, Of Course 1 1/2 d6 Minor Transform: Body, Improved Results (+1), Limited Group: Computers and Robots (-1/2), Requires Spare Parts (-1/4) 4 (9) They Call This A Security System? Invisible to Mental Sense Group on Get Me Some Mountain Dew! Multipower, Invisible Effects On Target (+1), Increase Extra Time to 20 Minutes (-3/4) 7 (23) Think You Can Hide, Eh? 2d6 Mind Scan: Machine Class, Cumulative: x8 (96 pts total) (+1 1/4), Extra Time: 5 Minutes (-2), OIF: Any Networked Computer (-1/2), Target Must Be Connected To Exterior Network (-3/4) I went with Minor transform because I was thinking of making reasonable changes to the programmings ‘world view’, not turning a kill-bot into a sexaroid. As it’s a non-combat power anyway, though, switching to a Major Transform doesn’t really cost much. Yeah, I know, a Fantasy Hero-esqe level of limitations. They stop being meaningful when you stack them that high. I suppose Concentrate on a noncombat power is not a real limitation. It’s still better than ‘gestures,’ though. Alternatively, (and more realistically) drop most of them and kick up Extra Time to an hour, at least. Side effects are programming or commanding whatever you’re messing with to do something that you didn’t intend. (By tradition, this is usually ‘Kill All Humans,’ but that would probably be an extreme side effect, not major) Considering how many ‘computer programming’ rolls you’re going to have to make, that had better be 17- or more. I’d allow taking off the ‘Requires a Skill Roll’ limitation and then just rolling Computer Programming ONCE to check for side effects, but I’m not sure if that’s ‘book legal’ or not. If you’re a cyberkenitic, you’ll probably want to buy off most of the limitations, and maybe buy up the effect so it works faster. Images or Mental Illusions will let you mess with video cameras. You might need a Transform or good Telepathy to change what’s already recorded. Transform’s better than Mind Control for making lasting, reliable programming changes. Mind Controls cheaper, and appropriate for quick fix hacking, but they’ll always be that breakout roll . . . I’d take both. --- “I prefer the kind of hackers that spit a lot . . .â€

Re: Power help: Hyper-Dexterity? Most of the relevant ‘super skills’ from DC are ways to simulate super-high OCV without actually buying it. If a super-dex type actually HAS upper-edge Dex, he doesn’t need them. Except maybe No Range Penalties, but that’s almost as much perception as dex. I wouldn’t go over the top with cute stuff. High end Dex and Spd, a few combat skill levels on top of that. Maybe overall levels, instead. A good Per roll, possibly with Danger Sense. (Saw It At The Last Second!) I probably would go with damage reduction, with a few limitations, but then, I tend to give it to most high-end martial artists (Don’t much like combat luck) Missile deflection as well. Going to want a very good Dive For Cover roll. Find Weakness is good. If you don’t use hit locations, maybe some extra DC or HA with ‘requires a skill roll’ (find weakness or Analyze Combat) If you really wanted, you could throw in some of the classic speedster bits. A Desolid ‘super dodge,’ some HA+Advantages, (AOE selective, invisible, autofire or a big reduced penetration attack) a ‘where’d he go?’ Teleport . . . but I’d keep it under control. Once you start dropping things into a multipower, it can be hard to stop. Selling movement back to 1†seems unnecessarily harsh unless all the other martial arts types do it too. --- “So fast . . . at that size, it’s not possible!â€

Re: Help: Using Extra-Dimensional Movement as a defensive power If the character is going to use this often, he should probably buy his ‘safe dimension’ (or part of it, anyway) as a base. After watching Eat Man ’98 too many times, I actually came up with a whole family of supers who’s only real power was xdimensioning themselves or stuff back and forth from their pocket dimensions. --- If nothing else, it’s a FANTASTIC place to park your car.

Re: Okay, my friends. Give me your Ch'i Attacks of unusual nature. Villains brainwashing martial artists and using them as terrorists. You also need a savage beast, either metaphorically or literally. And somebody who looks like they wandered in from the wrong game. And one of those ‘I’m just too damn cool’ guys with long black hair and narrow eyes. And a real cheap bastard so scrubs with no skill can win just by button mashing. --- They never made a sequel to the Fatal Fury movie/OAVs. Pisses me off. Geese was finally ready to get back into action, too. “If that bastard gets any more powerful, then I don’t want to know about it!â€

Re: Is a Jedi reasonable in a Marvel Avengers campaign? “I HATE that cliché!†-shoots Gestalt Bennie in the foot- Saddles> I’d definitely go with the ‘coincidentally jedi-like abilities’ homage-type. The other options all are too goofy. 1) Delusional Idiot Who Thinks He’s A Jedi: It doesn’t matter if you CAN kick Dr. D’s butt. You’re still a delusional idiot, who probably shouldn’t be allowed to drive, let alone swing an AP HKA around. 2) Psychic Projection of a Delusional Idiot: See above. Plus, you don’t really exist. 3) Traveler from the Star Wars Dimension: Just @#$ing great. Does this mean there’s a Corvette Summer Dimension as well? Just kill me now and have done. 4) I Came Out Of A TV: No. Unless you’re a Norse goddess, at least. And even then, think twice. Homage/rip-off is fine, though. I mean, that’s how comics work, anyway. Spidey never asked Kraven how many times he’d seen ‘The Most Dangerous Game,’ did he? So you want: Glowing Sword Sword Skills Samurai-movie directiorial bits Minor TK (superleap) Noncombat Mentalist Suite. So work back from that and find a special effect that works. Mentalist is too obvious, though. How about the unquiet ghost of a late-Tokugawa-era ronin? That will get you all of the above, and maybe Desolidification, too. Possibly possessing a modern teenager, if you want to have feet. --- Apparently, Japanese ghosts not having feet is basically the same as western vampires having fangs and dying when exposed to sunlight. It’s not in the actual myths, but was added by artists later. Plus, my spellchecker has ‘Tokugawa’, but not ‘ronin.’ Freaky.

Re: Rough Draft PC Starting from the top: Stat Problems: Not too bad, depending on what kind of campagn you’re looking at. A easy way to help with the non-figured stats is to think of five points as a ‘full point’ and 3 points as a ‘half point.’ The figured characteristics aren’t done correctly. The base PD and ED should be 3, the base Spd 2.9, Rec 6, End 34, and Stun 32. You’re going to want a higher speed, by the way. And higher defenses. If this is for a champs game, I’d put the base PD and ED around 10-12 or so, maybe more. And I’d suggest buying both Dex and Con up a bit, outside of the OIHID suit. When you get cornered by a couple of thugs and you don’t have your armor with you, they’ll keep you standing up long enough to take them out. 20 or 23, and a five or six Spd. A bit lower if you want to invest in a lot of skill levels. And a professional model (and a bad@ss power-armor anime chick) should have a higher Presence. At least 15, and possibly more. Power Problems: (A lot I’m afraid) Bad News: You really, really don’t want to put everything in the multipower. Aside from the fact you’re going to be filled with holes as soon as you turn your nightvision on, the special effect don’t make any sense. Why does your armor disappear when you look through the visor? Bad News: The end reserve in the multipower doesn’t make any sense, either. You’d only be able to use it when that slot was ‘turned on’ . . . At which point you’re weak, vulnerable, really don’t want to be in smashing range. Bad News: You can’t usually put senses in a power framework. Good News: You don’t need Discriminatory and Targeting and the rest for Nightvision. Nightvision is in the sight sense group, so you get those for free. Good News: You don’t have to take the +1/4 ‘End Reserve’ limitation on the powers that use the reserve. That’s only if they can use either the characters end or the reserve end. As long as they can only use one, the cost is the same. Bad News: You can’t put Life Support in a power framework, either. Bad News: Nor vehicles, nor automatons. And Summons are iffy. In short, you’re going to want/have to take the Armor, senses, End Reserve, and probably the stats out of the multipower. Which is pretty much everything. Oh, and you don’t need or want x4 AP on anything. Actually, because of the way HA’s work with STR, this would give you a tiny 2d6 attack, that would pierce armor very well, then do 1 or 2 stun, if you were very lucky. It looks like what you want is a NND attack there. What might be closer to what you’d want for the core suit is: (I’m assuming you’re trying to build a slim ‘hard suit,’ rather than the Iorn Man-esque ‘power armor,’) 12 (15) Mesh Armor 5 PD, 5 ED Armor, OIHID (-1/4) 7 (13) Dynamo Power! +13 STR, No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), OIHID (-1/4) 2 (3) Ruby Visor Nightvision, OIHID (-1/4) 4 (5) Ruby Visor 5 points Sight Group Flash Defense, OIHID (-1/4) 8 (10) Dynamo Battery 50 Point End Reserve, 5 REC, OIHID (-1/4) 16 (20) Dynamo Power! 20 Point Multipower, OIHID (-1/4) 4m (20) Power Mesh! 10/10 Force Field, OIHID (-1/4) 2 End 4m (20) Speed Boost! 10†Running, OIHID (-1/4) 2 End 2m (20) Dynamo Punch! +4d6 HA, OIHID (-1/4), HA Limitation (-1/2) 2 End 2m (20) Tazer Punch! 4d6 EB, NND (+1), No Range (-1/2), OIHID (-1/4). 2 End 2m (20) Strength Boost! +20 STR, OIHID (-1/4) only for Grabs, Escapes, or Lifting (-3/4) 2 End 12 (30) The Queens Scepter (basic) +4d6 Hand Attack, No End (+1/2), HA Limitation (-1/2) OAF (-1) 14 (38) The Queens Scepter (Dynamo!) Double Knockback on up to 10d6, x3 End (-3/4), OAF (-1) All together, that’s only 89 points, and you can trim off a few buy making the multipower slots Ultras, and adding a few disadvantages here and there. You should still have some left to buy Life Support, (the only disad you can really justify for it is OIHID, I’m afraid) and the vehicle/automaton. The latter’s going to be a bit complicated, I’m afraid. The easiest way is probably to buy two followers, one vehicle-like and one automaton. That will cost 55 points, though, (no limitations or power frameworks). Skill Problems Bad: You have 3 Extra DCs with martial arts, but no martial arts!! Replace them with 3 Manuvers, and ‘Use Art with Clubs (Scepter!)’ I’d suggest: Martial Strike, (This will give you a suited base attack, if you use your Dynamo Punch or Scepter, of 12d6, about average for a standard supers game) Martial Block, and either Disarm, Grab, Escape, or Dodge. Bad News: Two point skill levels with a –1 ‘single weapon’ limitation are a horrible, horrible idea. Not for this character, they shouldn’t exist at all. Replace with a 5 pt HTH level, or a 3 point ‘martial manuvers’ level, or a 3 pt Scepter skill level. Or more, depending on where your Dex ends up. (Or one overall skill level. See Below) Good News: Otherwise, not bad at all. But you can save a lot of points. Instead of buying up each skill +2 or +3, (for a cost of four to six points each), you can buy skill levels, or stats, for much less. You’ve spent 42 points buying up skills, you could buy 5 All Skills 8 point levels, or four Overall levels for the same price!! If you kick the Dex and the PRE up to 18+, that will give you a base 13- for both Dex and Pre skills. A single Overall skill level (10 pts) will give you 14- in all your skills. (and a nice boost to your OCV, DCV, or ECV, as needed!) Two more 3 point skill levels, in Combat Driving, Mechanics, and Navigation (or Electronics) will ensure your place as the preeminent gearhead of your campaign. Perks/ Talents Problems None, really. You probably don’t need to pay for rep as an Auto Model, though. An International Driver’s License might be nice, if you have the spare points, but not necessary. And you might want to buy up the roll for ‘Combat Sense.’ If you’re going to dump that many points into it, you might as well add a couple more to make sure it works most of the time. Disad Problems NCM shouldn’t exist. Not your fault, but there it is. And you DON’T want to be stuck at Spd 4 without a LOT of defenses. Trust me on this. I hope that came across as constructive criticism. --- “It’s a Cobra! A SHELBY Cobra!!â€

Re: I know I have seen this lim before Lets try to isolate the disagreement. a) When you make a half move, you get the full benefit that 6†of movement would get you. +3†to your half move. Under these circumstances, you are not limited at all. When you make a full move, you get no benefit. Under these circumstances, you are limited. c) Point A comes into effect several times a session. d) Point B comes into effect considerably less often e) Therefore, the power is not limited far more often than it is limited. f) So, it’s not worth –1. At what point are we disagreeing? Sure, you can give me a forced example where having the limitation gives a very bad result. You can do that with ANY limitation at all. (Well, except for x2 End for martial artists and bricks. And ‘Real Weapon,’ usually. Those are freebees) You can’t just say, ‘well, at most it gives you half the numerical value.’ That’s meaningless, if you don’t take into account how often it comes up, and how limiting it is when it does. Say I buy 8/8, armor, and give the top half a 15- activation roll. On a 15-, it gives the same protection as 4/4 Armor. That doesn’t make the limitation worth –1, though. --- “A man’s got to know his limits . . .â€

Re: Liefeld's Titans That's not the one I was thinking of, but it makes it's point well enough. There were a few others, including a painfully obvious Patlabor 'homage.' Funny, though. I mean, the Cap one is generic enough to pass, and who's going to catch a swipe from an obscure manga or an old issue of G.I. Joe . . . but did he REALLY think no one was going to notice Lee's Helecarrier and Miller's Ronin? --- Stealing from Eat-Man? That's low, man. Just low.

Re: I know I have seen this lim before And how often is that going to matter? Out of, say, 10 games, how often will you actually be limited by this? Maybe twice? vs. how many half moves did you make during those 10 games? Sounds like –1/4 to me. Or –1/2 if you run a lot. –1 is a BIG limitation. If you really think combat and non-combat movement should cost the same, why do you allow doubling NCM for five points? I didn’t say they couldn’t take it, I said it wasn’t worth –1. It was an analogy. ‘While from a pure numerical perspective, this reduces the effectiveness by half, in practice it’s almost no limitation at all’ I guess that’s better than ‘This is about ROLE PLAYING, not WINNING! How DARE you even bring up balance issues!' But not much. Yes, people have chased people in my games, but generally across rooftops, through alleys and caves, or in traffic, and usually with at least some danger that someone might shoot back. I have never tracked phases outside of combat when ‘racing the clock.’ I have had characters running madly to get to the bad guys, but generally I’ve estimated how far they were and how long it would take everyone to get there. I have never said ‘You’re 12,593 inches away. How long does it take you to get there?’ I’ve had people make mad NCM dashes from combat, but generally, either they get away because one side can’t pursue, or they get chased, at which point we’re usually not using NCM anymore. I cannot, however, recall a single situation where moving an extra +6†noncombat would have made a significant difference, though I do remember it being used from time to time. I can recall several cases where a bigger full move would have helped a lot . . . but not enough to be worth a –1 disadvantage. I’m not arguing it’s not worth a limitation at all. I’m arguing that it’s not worth –1. --- The last bit (with the +5†Running) was to Prestidigitator and Duke Bushido, not you. They’re arguing it’s not worth anything. You’re arguing it’s worth –1. I think you’re all dangerous extremists.