Rhino

Re: Unified Power Yeah. The only practical downside is vs. drains, etc. That really doesn't justify a unified power limitation on the cost of the pool itself. However, I think it might be worth -1/4 on each of the slots. The effect on the real cost of the slots is not very significant in any event.

Re: Unified Power I think I saw the limitation applied to a focus built multipowers used by a villain from one of the CV books. I do believe that the main impact of unified would be that drains would work on all the slots, but I am not sure of that either.

Is it appropriate to select the Unified Power limitation for a multipower and all its slots when the multipower is a "ray gun" built with OAF and charges and all of the slots are merely different settings?

Re: Disintegration Setting on Retro Ray Gun In the absence of anything more elegant, I decided to go with two separate slots to represent the disintegration setting on the retro ray gun. The first is a vanilla 4d6 killing attack with no knock back that does not work vs. force fields. The second is 2m of tunneling through up to 16 pd material that is usable on others and ranged with a 0 pt limitation that it only creates the tunnel and does not provide for movement.

Re: Rare Vs. Uncommon AVAD Defense It seems that when it is an NND, the default defense is Rare unless a really good argument can be made for something else. A good argument could be made that force fields should be merely uncommon in the Champions Universe, but not a really good argument. I can see it going either way, but I want my character to be consistent with canon material.

Re: Disintegration Setting on Retro Ray Gun This is interesting. However, the disintegration setting is part of a multipower with charges. How does this interact with the Constant? Rather than power defensse as the AVAD defense, I am going with force fields as the AVAD defense for all the settings.

Re: Rare Vs. Uncommon AVAD Defense Thanks! I will go with that.

In the default Champions Universe, if an attack has AVAD NND and the defense is any defense defined as a "force field", would the AVAD cost be based upon going from very common to rare or very common to uncommon? My gut tells me uncommon, but because that is to my character's advantage, I distrust my gut.

Re: Disintegration Setting on Retro Ray Gun The default setting is the Champions Universe. I am thinking that does not work vs. force fields should be a -1/4, although I could see it being a -0. I am thinking of building the tunneling with usable on others and ranged. Do you think this is the correct way to do it. Normally ranged is verbotten on a self only power. That's why I added the usable on others. Perhaps I don't need that. Should I also add a limitation that it creates the tunnel only and does not provide for the movement?

Re: Disintegration Setting on Retro Ray Gun It's for a character. The primary use of the disintegration would be to make human sized holes in walls and armor plate and such. I think 60 active points of ranged tunneling would work for that. How would I build ranged tunneling? The secondary use would be to attack robots and the like (maybe giant insects or dinosaursetc. as well). I don't really want it to be a one-hit kill on a big baddie. I want to fight those guys with my mace. I usually GM, so I guess I am asking for a certain amount of trust that I won't break genre conventions and use the killing attack unless it is appropriate. I am thinking that 4d6 killing vs. ED with no knockback and a 0 point limitation that it does not work vs. a force field should do it for the secondary use. (Do you think the limitation that it does not work vs. a force field should be a -1/4 limitation?) Do you think I should reduce the dice in killing to get some AP?

Re: Disintegration Setting on Retro Ray Gun Ranged tunneling ... I like it. Just another slot in the multipower. Now what would work against vehicle armor plating?

Re: Disintegration Setting on Retro Ray Gun It's a champions game with a super heroic setting. The character doesn't use the disintegration setting on people. He would use it to disintegrate a hole in a wall or disintegrate robots, etc. I was thinking of using change environment (puts holes in stuff) linked to a killing attack of more modest means to reflect its capability to breach walls with ease, but it would be less effective vs robots, etc. that are characters, not environments. Hmm. This might work. I don't want it to be a dimensional teleport type of effect, but an actual disintegration effect.

I am trying to build the disintegration setting on a retro style ray gun Multipower with a 60 active point cap. The other settings are all AVAD NND (resistant power defined as force field.) I tried building the killing attack with the same AVAD NND, but realized that with the +1 for doing Body it would be anemic within the active point cap. Now I simply have it at 4d6 killing vs. ed with a limitation that it does not work vs. things protected by force fields for -0. I want the classic disintegration feel where it really doesn't matter how much pd the target has. Any suggestions?

In the default Champions Universe, what value would you assign to the AVAD limitation for a Blast where the alternate defense is any resistant protection defined as a force field?

Re: Complete Newcomer to the System I appreciated the character (Thomas Covenant) more on the second read. I also appreciated the second series more the second time around. I can't recommend the third series enough. As I get older, I appreciate his curmudgeonliness (if that's not a word it should be) more and more. However, different strokes for different folks. I agree with the critique of the Wheel of Time. Way tooooooo much repetitive, trivial detail.

Re: Complete Newcomer to the System Yeah, I like the superhero genre the best as well. However, sometimes I enjoy a gritty fantasy, al la Thieves World. What I have noticed is that it can really get complicated to model a superhero in HERO (as in any game system). If you have new gm and players it can be a bit daunting unless you really try hard to keep it simple. BTW - thread hijack here, but the last couple posts got me thinking about how the superhero genre bleands into the high fantasy genre sometimes, i.e. Jordan's The Wheel of Time and Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I just started reading Against All Things Ending, the third book in the 4 book series The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It is awesome! I highly recommend it.

Re: A Boy Scout - First HERO System Character IMO it is frequently better not to stat out mundane equipment, although some people really seem to enjoy it. IMO, for actually playing the game (as opposed to playing with the system) statting everything out distracts from the actual play.

Re: Complete Newcomer to the System I have played quite a bit of GURPS and quite a bit of HERO over the years. I have found that although the systems contain many similarities (i.e., paying points for characterisitics, talents, skills and powers, etc., and getting additional points for taking disadvantages), the HERO system has been playtested more and is more elegant in its implementation. I particularly prefer comparing CVs to DCVs (modified by maneuvers) in order to arrive at a "To Hit Number" as opposed to rolling an indepoendant attack roll and an independent defense roll. IMO, the latest version of GURPS really tried to do what HERO system was already doing; ie., modeling powers through using building blocks of their most basic game effect and then modifying them with advantages, limitations and special effects to simulate the desired power/ability/equipment. HERO was just more polished. If your group likes GURPS, they should enjoy HERO, although you will be working against their preferences and prejudices. IMO, people always like the sytem they are playing more than a proposed new one. Both HERO and GURPS have a very deep deep end. Best to start in the shallow end. You already bought the big books, but you might want to consider teaching the game to your players using the Basic book. Also, creating and playing heroic level characters is usually easier in HERO, IMO. Of course, IMO HERO really starts to surpass GURPS with the superheroic level of play. What genre and type of game are you looking to run?

Re: VPPs in 6th One of the things I realized during a discussion in a related thread i started was that VPPs are too cheap if used to recreate Skills and Martial Maneuvers.

Re: VPP for Skills and Martial Arts Maneuvers Dang! Back to the drawing board. I will use the multipower approach for building a buffet of ingredients used to build martial arts maneuvers. I will buy a selection of skills that he currently uses. I will need to use experience to get him where I want him. I am thinking that he probably is suffering from some form of amnesia. Or just can't remember that far back. I just saw some old video from my days in college. I could not remember any of it.

Re: VPP for Skills and Martial Arts Maneuvers Yeah, there are several ways to simulate a lifetime of martial arts experience. I kitted out a standard array of martial arts maneuvers at 21 points. These will cover 80-90% of the situations I would face. The VPP costs 23 points. The issue is whether the ability to utilize other martial maneuvers within the inconvenience parameters of the VPP rules needs to cost more than 2 points. Probably. I suppose I could pay for an advantage on the VPP for the ability to work on martial maneuvers. Perhaps +1/2. This would also work on the skills VPP. Any thoughts?

Re: VPP for Skills and Martial Arts Maneuvers Yeah, it could be really cheesy. That's why my guilt ridden conscience had me post about it. A couple of points. First, I really like the martial maneuver aspect of combat, with all the modifications to ocv, dcv, and special effects and limitations based on the maneiver selected. I want to keep that. In fact, I want to be able to use them all! The VPP accomodates that desire. 23 points gets me 21 points of martial arts maneuvers that I can shuffle between fights (even during combat by giving up a phase and making a roll). It does seem too good a deal, but I really like the way it captures the concept. I imagine that the character can only readily remember the fighting style he has been regualrly studying and using the last 50 years. It takes him a moment of deep reflection to recall the other maneuvers. I decided it would be better to have to VPPs. One for Skills I Should Know at 21 base +4 control and the other for Martial Maneuvers at 21 base +6 control. Also, I took some 12 point skill levels with the limitation, only on Skills I should be really good at, to reflect differences in the character's ability to do different things. However, based upon the obvious utility and point effectiveness of this build compared to buying a boatload of skills and martial arts maneuvers I feel the need to throw it out to the hive mind.

I was trying to build a Superheroic character based on the concept that he was immortal (with additional modifications by aliens/time travelers/sorcerors in the distant past). Anyhow, when I started trying to buy a set of skills that any immortal would have and a set of martial arts maneuvers that any immortal martial artist would have, well ... I quickly ran out of points without getting anywhere close to my concept. My solution was to buy a VPP with 21 base points and a control cost of 6, with a limitation it was only usable as skills and martial arts maneuvers. I called it Memories of the Ages. The thought was that it simulated his need to search through all his memories from long ago to try and find the right one. I gave the limitation a -1/2 value. Any thoughts? Is it legal? Is it appropriate?

Re: Combined Attack vs. Multiple Attack Would a Combined Attack with a sword and a gun incur penalties for off-hand use unless the character had Ambidexterity? As a design issue, doesn't a Combined Attack seem extremely effective? Why do anything else?

I'm also having trouble getting my head around this particular distinction. Can someone give some examples that explain the difference? Is using a sword (HKA) and a pistol (RKA) at the same time a Combined Attack or a Multiple Attack? Why?