Manic Typist

Jeeze, you took my nasty idea and made it an even nastier bomb. Where in the power build does it list what the Trigger condition is? Maybe I'm blind. I'm definitely sleep deprived, but I thought that was where it was supposed to go... Also, shouldn't you add Incantations if you have to utter a malediction?

I've never used graph paper for math. I assume there is a valid utility there, and perhaps either I was never trained to take advantage or never rose to a level where I need it. I was usually content with my simple sketches of not to scale graphs, for instance. Lined paper for writing has pros and cons- it does help offer a certain structure and scale. It also does tend to distort lettering and size at the same time. People could potentially write better without it, based on their skill and the kind of use they intend. However, for the original point of maps... I still don't see much utility. Besides making those who prefer them (for whatever reason) happy, which is fine.

None of that is easier with a grid. I assume you mean draw a map when you say "jot lines on a grid." I can do so on a blank surface just as easily. A printed out grid map will reveal just as much as a non-grid map, so that's a non-issue. I can only see estimating distances as easier with a grid if you mean, quite literally, estimating and not measuring. I can tell a distance on a grid (esp. short ranges like you said) at a glance fairly easily- my eyes can quickly count the 10 grid spaces. However, measuring in either requires the application of a tool for counting/measuring (even if it's just your finger), and at that point they are equal except that grids can create weird space distortions. I'm not saying grids are wrong, or inferior. I just don't get the preference for them given that they seem to create problems/questions that don't exist sans grid. I don't see (except in the example of quick estimates) the value-add that comes from grids. It eludes me, and I seek to understand.

Fair point. So, a "simple" build would use Trigger but only activate once. Subsequent healing would NOT cause additional damage, so as long as you survive the initial surprise... you have a better chance assuming more healing can be found. Hm. Can you combine Trigger with Charges? Each Charge after the first has an additional Trigger that the previous Charge must be expended before it can be activated?

Ok, so it's equipment with the Real Equipment limitation.

I've never understood the compulsion to lay down hexes/squares on a good map, when either a printed image or a table top with props does fine and avoids having to worry about forcing terrain to match the grid. Do peopler really object to just doing away with the grid, and using a ruler/string?

Agreed- I think it should be restricted to a particular enemy, or small kind of enemy, so that players know what to expect after they first encounter the enemy. So, is this build straightforward or does anyone see something tricky about the Trigger condition?

Based on a discussion about Healing in the other forum, an idea popped into my head for a power construct whereby a latent threat (a poison or perhaps a spell) becomes active if a PC receives an application of (presumably) magical healing. Imagine nasty critters designed by enterprising villains to deal with pesky groups of adventurers. Is there anything more to this build than a linked attack that requires a successfully Body wound which causes a secret roll to determine if any "poison" successfully made it into the PC, with a Trigger NND slapped on there? How would you deal with making the poison able to last, say a week or so, before it passes from the system? Most importantly, do you think this would be an interesting, memorable, fun-contributing type threat to add to your games? For me, I can imagine my reaction as a player upon my PC's second encounter with these creatures, and it is positive. They would be disproportionately "scary" and signal that this combat is a serious fight that will require my full attention, but that's me.

I like that approach. It suggests a magic system where the healing spell is sort of providing a temporary stand in for the body while the body has a chance to heal- like a cast around a broken limb, or an internal mesh. Hm. Would you consider pushing the fade rate to a yearly basis to be an attempt to gain a limitation on a power that isn't limiting though?

There are spirit rules??

Stealth, á la nuclear submarines/nuclear triad of today's geopolitical landscape.

A question occurred to me based upon another thread, where the consensus seems to have emerged (correctly) that Change Environment can, potentially, be used to mitigate the efficacy of Invisibility based upon the SFX of CE and Invisibility. A light-bending SFX would be revealed by a bag of flour dispersed into the air- but another "magic" effect that renders everything touched by the character (within reason) Invisible (perhaps after 1 Segment?) would not- but that person's position would be given away by standing knee deep in "muck" (two obvious holes in the much where the legs go)- but in turn that person (might, based on my read) still be invisible if the SFX were a mental command of "do not notice me." That last one intrigues me. Are mental SFX like that the one the "best" in terms of offering the least vulnerability on the fringes? For that last example, I am inclined as a GM to give opposing rolls to perceivers more or less as you would given normal sense rolls versus "regular" invisibility, with appropriate modifiers as per usual. In this case, it would be for Perception or perhaps Deduction to (like Harry Dresden has done in similar situations) notice "Hey, I can't seem to get my eyes to rest on that corner of the room. I keep looking past a certain space...why can't I look there?" So they cannot perceive the PC but they CAN notice their own behavior has changed- if they make the roll, like someone might hear an Invisible to Sight person walking around. However, would that mean that you could instead build invisibility as a limited form of Mind Control (One command: Do Not Notice Me)? Normally you shouldn't build one Power using another, but is this substantially different enough to warrant the deviation? If you fail to beat the EGO roll then you don't notice that you're not noticing something, etc. Thoughts?

I'd always understood that you could just as easily toss the flour into the air, and if the invisible opponent walks through it then the flour clings to them/moves accordingly. So, a bunch of sand in air would hamper your visibility but reveal them at short range.

I used to think I was just having a vivid nightmare, until my (now) wife heard me describe it and figured it out. Hasn't happened since.

...that's exactly what I'm saying. I then attempted to translate it into the preferred language of his players, who interpret penalties as adding to the 3d6 roll. So a -1 Penalty from a weapon would be 3d6+1 roll for success (assuming no other modifiers). If you had 3 PSLs, however, it would be 3d6+0, with the remaining 2 PSLs not being relevant. Where I was unclear was that I was still allowing for the OTHER negatives from the original example, that would NOT be covered by Penalty Skill levels. My bad. I meant to make it clear that the other 2 PSLs could not counteract some other kind of -2 modifier unless it was specifically relevant to what the PSLs had been purchased for. And that's why it could get a bit confusing if you turn all the negatives into pluses added to the roll, although it might just work better for that group.

Sure there is! If you want them to, then they should! You don't, so they shouldn't. I've never played in a HERO setting, so I have no idea what the standard abilities of a Turakian age Troll are, so I was indirectly inquiring to see if you'd discovered anything you "missed" on comparison to the setting book's writeup.

Very nice! Have you considered their primitive, evolutionary history? Before learning to create weapons, did they use to hide out in overhangs and reach down with their long arms through snow and wind and snatch up their prey? Or perhaps they would jump down on unsuspecting victims from above in the (presumably) hilly/mountainous arctic landscape? If so, that might suggest upping their breakfall. I also note that you've not adopted the traditional Regeneration ability so common for Trolls.

Well. It does matter somewhat. If you have 3 Penalty Skill levels to offset the use of a certain type of weapon... but the weapon your are wielding only imposes a penalty of -1.... then you only use 1 of your PSLs. So, to use their terms, they'd still add +2 to the roll. Or am I wrong about PSLs? The point I am trying to make is about the difference between PSLs and CSLs, or other Skill bonuses.

Tremors could be modeled as a trip maneuver?

I think the idea wasn't that there was a strong connection to the NPC, but rather it was a canary in a coal mine. It provides a clear indication that there is danger and you need to consider changing your environment.

I've always liked figurines, but never liked using hexes/squares. I just treat everything as inches and it seems to work fine with a tape measure.

Heh, you guys ever experience hypnopompic sleep paralysis? That will make you seem like all your nightmares are true.

I almost feel like... he was joking... and botched the delivery?

How so? He singlehandedly killed 13 people who were coming to ambush HIM. He killed 77 people singlehandedly- all either trained assassins themselves or people used to violence and otherwise "in the life." This would make him one of the most prolific killers in United States history, if you exclude soldiers in combat zones. And those killers who exceed this record- serial killers mostly- did so over a far longer period of time and to a much more vulnerable population.

Exactly my point- I found that thread, and realized that posts referred to files which were no longer present. Hence this thread.