Doc Samson

Re: 2013, year of the snake I picture a twisting plot that starts with VIPER seemingly launching terrorist attacks against their enemies but as the heroes investigate they start to find that something is not right. These attacks have not only brought the heroes down on VIPER but some of them (the characters discover after further investigation) have actually harmed the interests of members of VIPER's leadership. The plot begins to unfold as the heroes uncover that VIPER is in the throws of a civil war against an extremist faction that seeks to take control! Will the heroes let them fight it out, assuring VIPER's downfall but costing the lives of innocents, or will they come to the aid of their enemies against the fanatics that seek to take the reins of the world's most nefarious criminal organization?

Re: 12 months 12 Characters. February The Spellcaster I can't find the exact image, but she looks to me to be Madelyne Pryor, aka the Goblyn Queen, from the X-Men comic. Do a google images search for Goblyn Queen and you will find a many pics of who I mean.

Re: Hydroforce I would be flattered for one of my characters to be used in your game.

Re: Hydroforce A multiform would be a good idea, thanks. I think the reason that I am shy of them is the multiple character sheet thing. It was hard to manage a multiform on Herocentral (insert tears here that Herocentral is still down) for example.

Hi all. I got the idea for this character today while surfing during lunch. The concept was spawned from trying to make up a character with moon powers and I ended up with a psychologist (full moons and what not) who can change into various water forms (the moon controls the tides and stuff). Maybe after I tidy it up a bit I'll try to find a game for it. Hydroforce (aka Moonchild) Arlen Calder CHARACTERISTICS Val Char Points Roll Notes 20/60 STR 10 13- / 21- HTH Damage 4d6/12d6 END [2] 18 DEX 16 13- 21/30 CON 11 13- / 15- 18 INT 8 13- PER Roll 13- 20 EGO 10 13- 20 PRE 10 13- PRE Attack: 4d6 8 OCV 25 8 DCV 25 3 OMCV 0 7 DMCV 12 5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 10/33 PD 8 10/33 PD (0/15 rPD) 10/33 ED 8 10/33 ED (0/15 rED) 10 REC 6 50 END 6 10 BODY 0 50 STUN 15 Run 12m/15m,[24m/30m NC] Swim 4m[8m NC] H. Leap 4m/25m V. Leap 2m/12 1/2m Flight 15m[120m NC] 200 Total Characteristics Points SKILLS Cost Name Psychology Training 3 1) Charm 13- 3 2) Criminology 13- 3 3) Interrogation 13- 3 4) Oratory 13- 3 5) Persuasion 13- 3 6) Science Skill: Psychology 13- 3 7) +1 with any three pre-defined Skills (Criminology, PER, and SS: Psychology) 10 Unarmed Combat: +2 with a large group of attacks 31 Total Skills Cost PERKS Cost Name 1 Superhero Psychologist: Positive Reputation (A medium-sized group (a city)) 11-, +1/+1d6 1 Total Perks Cost TALENTS Cost Name 1 Stubborn: Resistance (+1 to roll) 3 Impressive: +1/+1d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all characters) 3 Aquatic Movement: Environmental Movement (no penalties while in water) (4 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Only in Water Form; -1/2) 1 Icewalking: Environmental Movement (no penalties on slippery surfaces) (2 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Only in Ice Form; -1/2) 8 Total Talents Cost POWERS Cost Power END 121 Water Forms: Multipower, 121-point reserve (Note: these are compound powers where the secondary powers are linked to a primary power per the rules for having multiple powers together in a single MP slot) 9f 1) Ice Form: (Total: 120 Active Cost, 86 Real Cost) Density Increase (29,200 kg mass, +40 STR, +8 PD/ED, -16m KB), Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4), Persistent (+1/4) (48 Active Points); Perceivable (-1/4) (Real Cost: 38)+9 CON (9 Active Points); Linked (Density Increase; -1/2) (Real Cost: 6)Resistant Protection (15 PD/15 ED) (45 Active Points); Linked (Density Increase; -1/2) (Real Cost: 30)Running +3m (12m/15m total) (3 Active Points); Linked (Density Increase; -1/2) (Real Cost: 2)Clinging (normal STR), Area of Effect (Surface - Damage Shield) (+1/2) (15 Active Points); Linked (Density Increase; -1/2) (Real Cost: 10) 5 9f 2) Water Form: (Total: 121 Active Cost, 86 Real Cost) Shape Shift (Water) (Touch Group) (Real Cost: 5)Hand-To-Hand Attack +6d6 (30 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4), Linked (Shape Shift (Water); -1/4) (Real Cost: 20)Healing BODY 1 point, Can Heal Limbs, Decreased Re-use Duration (1 Turn; +1 1/2) (20 Active Points); Self Only (-1), Linked (Shape Shift (Water); -1/4) (Real Cost: 9)Leaping +21m (4m/25m forward, 2m/12 1/2m upward), Usable [As Swimming] (+1/4) (13 Active Points); Linked (Shape Shift (Water); -1/4) (Real Cost: 10)Resistant Protection (15 PD/15 ED) (45 Active Points); Linked (Shape Shift (Water); -1/4) (Real Cost: 36)Stretching 8m (8 Active Points); Linked (Shape Shift (Water); -1/4) (Real Cost: 6) 8 8f 3) Steam/ Vapor Form: (Total: 121 Active Cost, 76 Real Cost) Desolidification (affected by Air/ Wind, Gravity, and Water) (40 Active Points); Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2) (Real Cost: 27)Blast 3d6, Area Of Effect (1m Surface; personal; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Affects Physical World (+2) (56 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Linked (Desolidification; -1/4) (Real Cost: 32)Flight 15m, x8 Noncombat (25 Active Points); Linked (Desolidification; -1/2) (Real Cost: 17) 12 5 Infrared Perception (Sight Group) 0 8 Life Support (Expanded Breathing (Water); Safe in High Pressure; Safe in Intense Cold) 0 160 Total Powers Cost COMPLICATIONS Cost Complication 5 Distinctive Features: Crystalline blue eyes and white hair (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 0 Hunted: Firewalker Infrequently (As Pow; Limited Geographical Area; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find; Watching) 15 Psychological Complication: Hunts Mentally Ill and Criminally Insane Supervillains (Very Common; Moderate) 15 Psychological Complication: Strong Willed (Very Common; Moderate) 15 Social Complication: Public Identity Frequently, Major 5 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect Gravity (Uncommon) 10 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x STUN Fire and Heat (Common) 10 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY Fire and Heat (Common) 75 Total Disadvantages Cost EXPERIENCE POINTS Total Points: 400 Total XP Earned: 0 XP Spent: 0 XP Unspent: 0 Base Points: 400 Complication Points: 75 APPEARANCE Hair Color: White Eye Color: Blue Height: 1.91 m : 6' 3" Weight: 114.00 kg : 251 lbs Description: Due to beneficial side effect of his power, Hydroforce is tall, muscular, and in exceptional health. His costume is blue and white with a tsunami hazard symbol (a wave) on the chest. BACKGROUND Arlen Calder's father was a psychologist and his mother was one of his father's patients before they married. Some details of their relationship were a secret to Arlen until his power became active. Arlen followed in his father's foosteps and also became a psychcologist. One day while he was performing counceling sessions at the city's prison, he was attacked by one of the inmates. Unbeknownst to Arlen, his patient was a pyrokinetic who had repressed their power and memories after a childhood tragedy. When the prisoner's power suddenly manifested, Arlen's latent powers also activated saving him. He soon discovered that his mother had been possessed by a water spirit known as an ondine and that his father saved her. The prisoner would later become the sometime superhero/ sometime supervillain known as Firewalker. PERSONALITY Perhaps out of a feeling of responsibility for Firewalker, Arlen chose to become a superhero and use his powers to help those he cannot help as a psychologist. Secretly, he also enjoys testing his abilities against supervillains in combat. QUOTE "You're in over your head now!" POWERS/TACTICS Hydroforce has practiced manipulating his forms in combat and utilizes tactics that take advantage of his verstaility. He also uses his psychology training to support his teamates both in and out of combat. CAMPAIGN_USE Hydroforce prefers using his ice form to fill the role of the team's brick but will use his other forms when the ice form's great mass is not convenient.

Re: Psiclone I would use probably build it as: VPP, Multiform Only, Must Touch Target, Only to change into the target but without the target's mental or physical powers, Personality Loss, Nonpersistent, Affects Body Only

Re: Looking for Rule of "X" Examples Here is the rule of X that I used for several campaign with good results. We calculate offensive X and defensive X separately so that a player is not tempted to have them too lopsided. Offensive X = the number of Active Points in the character’s most powerful attack divided by 5 (including all powers that stack with primarily offensive powers such as HA or HKA) + the character’s highest possible OCV with his most powerful attack (including all Combat Skill Levels for OCV and bonuses from Martial Maneuvers) + the character’s SPD For example, a brick with a 60 STR , an OCV of 10, and a SPD of 5 would equal an offensive X of 12 + 10 + 5 = 27 Defensive X = the total Active Points in the character’s most powerful defense divided by 5 (including powers that stack with primarily defensive powers such as Damage Reduction or Damage Negation) + the character’s STUN divided by 10 + the character’s highest possible DCV (including all Combat Skill Levels for DCV and bonuses from Martial Maneuvers) + the character’s SPD The same brick with a PD of 30, 60 STUN, a DCV of 10, and a SPD of 5 would equal a defensive X of 6 + 6 + 10 + 5 = 27 Note: We do not allow Adjustment Powers from other players to exceed these limits. For a 400 point game I typically use X values ranging from 27 to 30. I hope this helps.

Re: My Orcs Organized Response Crew

Re: My Orcs Offensive Reconnaissance Core?

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster Ouch, as I wrote above it's not a character, it was just a starting point. Tough crowd... I agree unified may not be the best way to build whirling but linking things to running (which I think was suggested in the 5e Ultimate Speedster) means the Linked powers won't work if he spins in place (which didn't make sense to me).

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster It was just a starting point. Tough crowd:p...

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster Hi all. I used Unified to model a much less streamlined limitation in one of the powers books. It was something along the lines of powers only work while spinning or moving. As a GM, I wouldn't want to have to constantly ask the player if he was spinning so I though it would be neater to say that if anything inhibits the character ability to spin, it effects all his power with a SFX of spinning. In game terms, unified power does this in relation to adjustment powers. I could probably create the same effect using restrainable but then having a power that enhances a character's ability to escape would be cheesy I thought. Also, as Hyper-Man pointed out, Unified is kind of the 6e version of an Elemental Control which both rewards and limits character's who pretty much have one giant power that they use for a lot of different effects.

Re: Hero Central Down for?? Thank again for everything Dan.

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster I didn't know we were allowed to throw full characters out! Here is my template for a Whirling Speedster I haven't played yet. He doesn't have any personality or background yet so right now he is just a starting point for characteristics and powers. (EDIT) Back to the drawing board

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster I agree with psyber624 and Ghostdancer. I like a minimal amount of superhuman STR for non-brick melees. I would vote for 35 STR with a special effect of it being an adaptation to the great speed.

Re: Using Powers to simulate team tactics The closest I have come was to buy Teamwork (with a few levels) UOO so that no one had a reason not to coordinate.

Re: The Villain City City of Villains had an interesting idea with the city being its own island government run by supervillains.

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster I'm not sure why but I always liked the "whirling" type speedster like Whirlwind from Marvel Comics, maybe because the Champion's powers books always listed whirling as an alternative speedster special effect. While I understand that a speedster does not necessarily need a high SPD to fit the concept, I like it as a mechanic to set them apart from archetypes that fit a similar role in combat (like Martial Artists). As such, my Speedsters usually have DEX, SPDs, and CVs in the superhuman range (based on the chart in the rulebooks). I recommend a DEX of 31, a SPD of 8, and CVs of 11 as a starting point. Running fits the Whirling speedster and opens up the door for movement tricks like Tunneling (the character can spin fast enough to drill through the ground) and maybe Leaping (the character can lift off by extending his or her arms like a helicopter).

Re: Teleport In Giant Robot? If the little boy is still in play while the robot is around, you might also consider Duplication so that the GM doesn't have to run your follower as an NPC for you (I loved the idea behind Summon and Follower until I had a few in my group and I had to play them in addition to running the story). If the little boy were the base character, the sfx of Duplication could be the robot teleporting to you. Duplication also has an advantage that would allow you to buy the robot as an automaton or a vehicle if you wanted. possible inspirational material -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juston_Seyfert edit: I like this idea too and as a GM I also find it pleasing point wise. For example, in a 400 pt. game the player could build the Duplicate on 400 pts. (with a cost of 160 pts. including the Alterred Duplicates Advantage) leaving 240 pts. for the little boy base form. I think this would be plenty for a lot of fun noncombat stuff like INT, Tech/ Science Skills, and maybe Healing (Duplicate only) so that he can make repairs to the robot. Even better, maybe he could have a small VPP so that he could make small changes to the robot on the fly (like "I gave him a giant flashlight!" Images, UOO, Only to create light).

Re: Links and Advice I am going to risk getting flamed to death and mention Champions the New Millennium (fuzion rules). The best thing imho that appeared in the game was the rule of X. I would have loved to see this become part of character creation instead of a mere suggestion in 6e2. For the reasons mentioned by the OP, APs caps don't do all that much for balancing. My groups typically consist of a mix of RPers and dice rollers. While the dice rollers enjoy RPing even when their characters aren't built for it, my experience has shown me that RPers don't like being second class citizens in combat. For us, imposing a rule of X in character creation solved much (but not all) of this issue. Here is an example rule of X we would use in a typical "50 AP" game. Rule of X = 25 This means that a character's total offensive value, or Offensive X = the number of Active Points in the character’s most powerful attack divided by 5 (including all powers that stack with primarily offensive powers such as HA or HKA) + the character’s highest possible OCV with his most powerful attack (including all Combat Skill Levels for OCV and bonuses from Martial Maneuvers) + the character’s SPD = 25 The character's total defensive value, or Defensive X = the total Active Points in the character’s most powerful defense divided by 5 (including powers that stack with primarily defensive powers such as Damage Reduction or Damage Negation) + the character’s STUN divided by 10 + the character’s highest possible DCV (including all Combat Skill Levels for DCV and bonuses from Martial Maneuvers) + the character’s SPD = 25 Note: Adjustment Powers may not be used to exceed these limits (I can't say I like this house rule but without it a simple STR Aid on the brick can ruin your game. Our support players still make great use of STUN and END Aids). We have tested this system on teams with a "Captain America" and a "Thor" (or Batman and Superman if that's your flavor) and found for the most part it works. For example, in a rule of x = 30 game, our Thor might be something like 60 STR + 3d6 HA (Focus: hammer) + 8 OCV + 2 CSLs + 5 SPD = 30. Our Cap might look something like 30 STR + 3d6 HA (Focus: Shield) + 4d6 Offensive Strike + 10 OCV + 2 CSLs -2 Offensive Strike + 7 SPD = 30. Your not going to confuse getting haymakered by Thor with getting hit by Cap but the players will feel they matter equally in combat. I know this doesn't address all aspects of your questions but I hope it helps.

Re: Help with a character: Singularity Not to go off on a tangent but I have been permanently damaged by a player who had a naked UAA (he was like an Impossible Man/ Mister Mxyzptlk type character). He would apply it to random powers like Extra Limbs then force villains to beat themselves unconscious. I finally had enough when he used it on a Healing Damage Shield, causing the villain to heal the group as they attacked him. My head is starting to hurt just thinking about that character.

Re: Help with a character: Singularity A couple of random thoughts based on comic book physics and wormhole type effects: Attack - I liked your idea of Telekinesis, Only to grab targets, pull them to a specified point, and to squeeze them once they are there Defense - Deflection and Reflection (create defensive worm holes where the other end is in a position to direct an attack at a target you choose) Movement - Teleportation, Gate (In addition to movement, I also like the idea of opening a gate and then using Telekinesis to drag someone into it more than UAA, which as you pointed out isn't usually very fun for players) Miscellaneous - Naked Advantage, Indirect for STR (you create small wormholes that you can reach though to grab things, manipulate objects, ect.) Sense - Clairsentience (you can create a small wormhole to another point and look through it)

Re: Tremorsense I don't think you need Discriminatory (Touch Group gets this free) or 360 degree (Normal Touch gets this for free).

Re: Penalty Skill Levels vs. Growth Thanks much

Can Defensive Penalty Skill levels be used to reduce the OCV bonus received by those attacking a character with Growth? I am thinking the answer is no because Growth does not impose a penalty to DCV.