massey

Where did you find this? I'd like to listen to it if it's available.

As a player, I'd just be satisfied with mooks taking Body. He's got 5 PD? [Arnold] He'll live. [/Arnold]

Sounds like you want characters with no CvK in your game.

How common are super powers? How often do people with super powers not have super defenses? Is the villain dressed up in a costume? In the standard Champions-style campaign, villains can virtually always take a hit. Even Viper agents will only take one or two Body from a standard 12D6 attack. You can't expect players to behave in a way that is not rational given the circumstances of the world. Supervillains don't get broken bones when they fight heroes. And for some reason they always seem to be able to give heroes a good fight. If you want players to start pulling their punches you have to give them a lot of encounters where they will seriously injure the enemies if they don't.

That's cuz he's "Helios", not Superman. I'm thinking I might be able to squeeze another +1/4 in there and that would bump his power loss down to 5 pts per 6 hours. He also doesn't have life support, but if I can put a +1 on the Aid, it will let me add Adders, which would let me give him a 2 pt Life Support and jack it up to Full. I might be able to afford that if I lower it to 3D6 or so and keep the total the same. Consider it a work in progress.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you kill a thread.

I don't know how to format this right and I don't know how to upload files. Hopefully this will be clear enough to understand. Helios aka Bill Bannister Val Char Cost 20/100/150 STR 10 12/38 DEX 6 15/55 CON 10 10/30 BODY 0 18 INT 8 10/30 EGO 0 10/50 PRE 0 14 COM 2 5/45 PD 1 5/45 ED 2 2/10 SPD 0 8/48 REC 2 30/190 END 0 30/110 STUN 2 6"/46" RUN 0 2"/42" SWIM 0 4"/60" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 43 Cost Power 225 Helio-X Treatment: Aid 5d6, Can Add Maximum Of 80 Points, Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1), all super powers simultaneously (+2), Multiple Special Effects (All special effects simultaneously; +2) (450 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), Can only charge in direct yellow sunlight (-1/4), Only 1/2 effect to Body, Ego, Pre, Swim, Senses, Leaping, Extra Effort Str (-1/4) 5 Radio Earbud: Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); IIF Fragile (-1/2), Activation Roll 14- (Can you hear me now?; -1/2) 9 Multipower, 11-point reserve, (11 Active Points); all slots Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 1) Extra Effort: +10 STR (10 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 2) Killing Attack - Ranged 1/2d6 (10 Active Points); No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 3) Killing Attack - Ranged 1 point, Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Invisible to Nromal Sight (+1/4), Penetrating (+1/2) (10 Active Points); No Knockback (-1/4), Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 4) Telekinesis (7 STR) (11 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 5) Dispel 3d6, any fire power one at a time (+1/4) (11 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 6) Energy Blast 1d6, Double Knockback (+3/4) (9 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) [Notes: Full charge provides: +50 Str, 6D6 RKA, 3D6-1 Indirect RKA, 60 Str TK, 24D6 Dispel, 10D6 x2 KB EB] Helio-X Treatment, all slots Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 2 1) Damage Resistance (2 PD/2 ED); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 2 2) Knockback Resistance -1"; Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 2 3) +1 PER with all Sense Groups (3 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 8 4) N-Ray Perception (Sight Group) (10 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 5 5) +2 versus Range Modifier for Hearing Group and Sight Group (6 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) [Notes: Full charge provides: 42/42 Damage Resistance, 21" Knockback Resistance, +14 perception, +27 vs range mods] 10 Helio-X Treatment: Multipower, 12-point reserve, (12 Active Points); all slots Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 1) Flight 6" (12 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 1u 2) Flight 2", MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4) (7 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) [Notes: Full charge provides: 46" Flight, 25" Flight Megascale 1"=10 km] Helio-X Treatment (full charge) 0 1) +80 STR (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 0 2) +26 DEX (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 0 3) +40 CON (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 0 4) +20 BODY (Calculated Aid Effects); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 0 5) +20 EGO (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 6) +40 PRE (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 7) +40 PD (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 8) +40 ED (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 9) +8 SPD (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 10) +40 REC (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 11) +160 END (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 12) +80 STUN (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 13) Running +40" (6"/46" total), Calculated Aid Effects 0 14) Swimming +40" (2"/42" total) (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 15) Leaping +40" (4"/60" forward, 2"/30" upward) (Calculated Aid Effects) 0 16) Damage Resistance (40 PD/40 ED) (Calculated Aid Effects) Powers Cost: 276 Cost Skill 3 Computer Programming 13- 3 Deduction 13- 3 Disguise 13- 3 Navigation 13- 3 Paramedics 13- 3 AK: Earth 13- 3 Scientist 2 1) SS: Biology 13- (3 Active Points) 2 2) SS: Chemistry 13- (3 Active Points) 2 3) SS: Electrical Engineering 13- (3 Active Points) 2 4) SS: Mechanical Engineering 13- (3 Active Points) 2 5) SS: Physics 13- (3 Active Points) Skills Cost: 31 Total Character Cost: 350 ---- The character begins with 20 Str, 12 Dex, 15 Con, 18 Int, 14 Com, and 5 PD and ED. He also has a handful of skills. This is his secret identity as Bill Bannister, mild mannered something-or-other. His primary power is an Aid with +5 in Advantages. This represents his ability to absorb solar energy. All of his powers except his Aid are listed with the "only in hero ID" limitation. This represents the fact that unless he actually absorbs solar radiation, these powers are not available. Bill Bannister with no solar charge is a totally normal human. Once he has absorbed enough solar radiation, his powers become active (usually a phase worth of the Aid is plenty). The Aid affects every power he has, boosting most of his characteristics to superhuman levels. Some of his powers (defenses, by rule, and other abilities as listed under the Aid) only receive half effect. This is to try to place him square in the Superman power range on all his stats (I don't want him to have a 50 Ego or a 90 Pre). Groups of powers, as well as his two multipowers, are listed with notes that say "full charge provides:" followed by a list of abilities. This is merely a helpful list to show what the characters powers will be once the Aid has reached its maximum. At the bottom of the power list is a large group of characteristics. This was created in Hero Designer so that the stats would calculate properly and show up on the first page. The only part of the writeup I am unsure of is the first slot of one of his multipowers. I bought an additional +10 Str with increased end x2 ("Extra Effort Str"). His Strength already benefits from the Aid, This is purchased separately to represent when Superman needs to lift mountains and push tectonic plates. A GM could very well rule that this is not a separate power from his normal Str and thus can't be Aided twice. I'd be fine with that. So yes, Virginia, you can build Superman on 350 points. But you shouldn't.

Can't say for sure. Depends upon the standards of the campaign, what the GM makes you pay for, which Superman source material you're using, and how cheesy you want to get with his power construction. I will say, I tinkered around with a writeup last night where I squeezed a Superman-style character into 350. I'll post the hero designer file when I get back home, but it made the rules cry You should probably not use what can be squeezed out of an abusive power construction when you decide how many points a given character should be. Are you paying for the Fortress of Solitude? Are you using the official Champions versions of nuclear bombs? Ideally, you'd select Superman from a particular era, read all the issues from that time frame, and write him up. So you could take late-80s John Byrne Superman, or late 90s Grant Morrison JLA Superman, or new 52 Superman. Each of those will probably have small differences in how they operate. Are you trying to just do a generic writeup, that covers the character as a concept rather than from any specific period? Are you ignoring certain elements of the background? Remember that certain members of the X-Men travelled through the Seige Perilous, which rendered them permanently invisible to machines. Most writers don't seem to remember that, and I never see anyone include it in a character writeup.

I'm always cautious about unified origins. If I could like the post from Dean Shomshak twice, I would. Creating too detailed of a backstory for the world feels artificial to me. That's my own personal preference. I'm perfectly fine with the classic origins, though. You got powers because a wizard gave them to you. Or you got exposed to radiation. That's fine with me.

Unbeatable villains who teleport away? I've played in those games before. I slap the GM.

That's exactly the type of game I don't want to play. I think the market for that type of pseudo-realism is limited.

Yes, but what I'm saying is that Superman didn't fight anyone with super-powers for years and years. He fought nazis, saboteurs, mobsters, street thugs, and the occasional mad scientist. In Lex Luthor's first appearance he had a helicopter and some goons. 1938 Superman was still the most powerful hero on the planet. In his own comics he was basically the only guy with super-powers. I doubt that when someone says "I want to play Superman", they expect to be handed a character who can't fly and doesn't have x-ray vision. I also believe it's disingenuous to hand them a character who is going to get beaten up by Ogre and pretend that you've given them what they wanted. I guess you could also give them a character sheet and say they're Post-Crisis Superman as a teenager, when his powers didn't develop until he was grown. You could also give the player Superman after he was exposed to gold kryptonite or Superman who lives on a red sun world. At the end of the day, none of these things are giving the player the "Superman experience".

How much noise do you think someone makes standing still? Do you think if Superman uses his muscles that they make loud crackling sounds?

No more so than someone's running.

I have to say I love this idea. Play them as obnoxiously as possible. They should use game terms in combat. It's also okay if their names show a distinct lack of creativity, or class. "Kill Man" and "Stab Klaw" could work. Depending upon your group and the style of play (what they're comfortable with), they can be really really offensive and racist. "Rape Man" or "Captain Racial Slur" would also work.

In one of our campaigns, we had Old Glory. He started as an anime-styled patriotic two fisted hero that had martial art techniques with his cape, and could throw Ken and Ryu style chi blasts from his hands (which were streams of red, white, and blue energy, of course). His player had... interesting character ideas. So then that player dropped out of the game, and was replaced by a player who had a whole lot of crippling psych lims. That guy was nuts. He took over the character, and Old Glory gradually began to change. He lost his patriotic chi powers, and started carrying around sharpened railroad spikes that he would throw at villains, and carried a pair of hatchets that were painted to look like little American flags. And he started talking to himself. Well, he really only did that because the player talked to himself. So that guy eventually left, and we decided that Old Glory must have had a nervous breakdown in 'Nam. He's psychologically tied to the mood of the country. When Americans are happy and cheerful, with faith in their nation, Old Glory is sane. When Americans are disillusioned with their nation, he goes off his rocker and brings out the axes again.

We play a combination of 4th and 5th edition. Our house rules: If you roll a 3 to hit, it's maximum damage, both stun and body. We use a flat x3 stun multiplier on killing attacks. Damage shield does not need the continuous advantage. If you do 50 or more stun past defenses in one attack (including a coordinated attack), the target takes a body. This lets characters with big attacks and high defenses gradually beat each other to death (Superman / Doomsday type battles).

An overall bronze age feel. I do not want to see a deconstructionist take on a superhero universe. There's a very, very solid chance that the person writing the game supplement is not Alan Moore, so please don't try to write like him. Build a world that will not disintegrate on itself. If Dr. Destroyer can shoot 10D6 RKAs then there needs to be a hero who can take a 10D6 RKA. The villain's evil master plan cannot be "stroll down Main Street and kill waves of heroes with my standard attacks when they show up to stop me." I'd like to see at least half a dozen named hero teams with fleshed out characters. The Champions are in New York (show character sheets), the Guardians are in L.A. (show character sheets), the Liberty League operates out of Philadelphia, etc. Each character should have a writeup as a starting character and as an experienced character. So we would see the 350 point Defender as an example character, but then we would see the "real" Defender who is 514 points. Villains who have ties to the universe and who are scaled appropriately to the characters they interact with. Ultron fights the Avengers. He was created by Hank Pym (tied to the universe). He created the Vision (tied to the universe). It takes the entire team of the Avengers to defeat Ultron, because he's specifically written for them. Mechanon (or whatever new equivalent) should be likewise tied in and scaled appropriately. The Teen Champions (all written on 250 points, we'll say) would have their own villains scaled for them. Sabretooth fights Wolverine, he does not wander into New York and pick a fight with the Fantastic Four. So we should have "Villains to Challenge 250s", "Villains to Challenge 350s" and "Villains to Challenge 450s". We kind of have that now but I think there needs to be more focus on giving GMs lots of villain encounters for different power level heroes.

Oh yes. In fact, we have used this in our campaign. Except we have him riding around with 1970s Robin. You see when they appeared in 1940, Billy Batson and Dick Grayson would have been the same age. So naturally they became friends, And then in '53 they were hanging out when Dr. Sivana trapped them both in Suspendium. So when they are freed in 1973, they're both about 21 or 22, and they decide to go "finding America" by riding around together in a van. Makes perfect sense.

The only reason anything happens in comics is because the writer decides it should happen. So? I've read about the first 50 issues or so of the Authority, I think I have a pretty good handle on how powerful the character is. He's an Almost-Superman who loses his charge a lot faster in heavy combat. But the point with Apollo applies to a ton of modern characters. Pick almost any character who 1) starts out as an adult, and 2) was created in the last 20 years. Chances are they start out at their normal power level. The DC characters in the 1940s, and the Marvel characters in the 1960s, were basically the first heroes in their published universes (yeah I know about Cap and the Sub-Mariner, but they get re-introduced after the FF and Spidey have already set the stage). Yeah you can build beginning Superman on 250, but he's going to spend the first 10 years of his career fighting bank robbers and no one else has any super powers. He's the only guy in the world built on more than 100 points. Probably doesn't fit very well into your Champions campaign world.

Oh, and a way to do Supes on 250, if you really have to. Solar Charging: Aid 5d6, Can Add Maximum Of 80 Points, Only 1/2 effect to Body, Ego, Pre (-0), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1), all kryptonian powers simultaneously (+2) (300 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), Can only charge in direct sunlight (-1/4) Real cost: 171 points -- Give your guy a tiny multipower with movement in it (Flight, megascale Flight, Tunnelling, etc) and another tiny multipower with heat vision and superbreath. Put a -1/4 "only when has some sort of solar charge" on them. Give him a package of inherent super-abilities (like +2 telescopic vision, +1 Per roll, 2/2 damage resistance, 1" kb resistance) on the same limitation. With some decent starting physical stats (like 20 Str, 12 Dex, 15 Con, 5 PD and ED, that sort of thing) you'll make a convincing Superman. The only things you'll be lacking are the exotic senses because they don't benefit from Aid. So you'll have to buy your X-Ray Vision separately.

Pat him on the shoulder. "That's okay, Ogre. I forgive you."

It does go directly to your point. Apollo is actually less powerful than pre-52 Superman. He got his butt whooped by Captain Atom in their crossover. It's not that Apollo is that powerful, it's that he starts out at that power level. You can't pull out a 1938 comic with Apollo in it and tell a player "See? You can play this guy. You can leap an 1/8th of a mile and everything." I think it's disingenuous. It's like someone saying they want to play Batman and you give them the character sheet of a rich 8 year old whose parents have just been killed. "See, Batman started here too."

Radio transmit will let you do that. You'll probably want a few Area Knowledge skills (so the info will pop up if there's a Starbucks around the corner or something) as well.