Alcibiades

Re: A base with stuff, or just a bunh of Immobile Foci? So, per rules, if you have a Summon as part of a base, you can't send the critter off somewhere else after you summon it?

Hi, I'm building a character based on Lovecraft (both the person, and the mythos). He's a part-ghoul crimefighter. Anyway, I want him to have thinly-veiled homages to various mystical artifacts found in Lovecraft's stories -- the Silver Key (Extra-Dimensional Movement to the Dreamzone), Shining Trapezohedron (Summon some kind of shadow monster), etc. This stuff is in his sanctum (a base) and he can only use them there, normally. That point savings for buying a power in a Base is tremendous though. It doesn't seem right that you should get a 300-point Summon for 6 points (60 points for the Summon, -1 for OAF = 30/5 = 6). So basically my question is: is it better to buy these kind of things as 1) part of a base or 2) Immobile Foci, which are located at the base? The latter costs a lot more, but they seem functionally equivalent (?).

Re: Fire and forget (really, really forget) He's just guessing. He doesn't actually know who/what will be there, if anything. He pulls the tiigger; in x time, the bullet emerges from the place in empty space where the gun formerly was.

Re: Fire and forget (really, really forget) The character fires the gun at point x (say, down a hallway through which he thinks that pursuers will come, or at one side of a building to create a distraction). The bullet moves through time 5 minutes (or however far) in the future, and the shot takes place down the hallway or at the side of the building at that time. Which raises the question of what it's OCV would be, since nobody is aiming it at the time that it takes effect.

Re: Fire and forget (really, really forget) Hmmm. How would I make it possible to vary the onset time? Variable Advantages with several different Extra Time advantages?

Re: Fire and forget (really, really forget) But won't the gun still be the source of the attack in that case, rather than the place from which you fired it?

Re: Most PCs... At least in the 6E book example limitations for a VPP, Attack Powers Only is a -1/4 Limitation, not -1.

I'm a bit perplezed. I want to be able to fire my magic shotgun, and then the actual shot occur after a period of time, despite my having moved from the area (the actual shot having moved forward in time after I pulled the trigger). So, say, I aim the gun down a hall and pull the trigger, move away, and in 10 minutes the shot occurs in the hall where I was standing before. I'm not sure how I would do this. Some kind of Time Delay in 5E, but that doesn't seem to exist in 6th (which I am just now looking at). Any ideas?

Hi! (I'm using 5E, but I don't imagine the rules are different in 6E). If I have an autofire Dispel attack, does Autofire cost an extra +1? On the one hand, it seems like it should, because Dispel isn't an attack that is resisted by PD or ED; on the other hand, it seems like it shouldn't, since it's not an attack that does damage (and moreover the different Dispels don't add to each other, since it's all or nothing). Thank you!

Re: CROSS: Secret Agents of the Vatican Source Book Please give Benedict superpowers. Please please.

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof I'm not seeing the optional rule -- but then it seems that my copy of 5th ed. isn't revised; it doesn't have that many pages.

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof Yeah weapons are generally bought 0 ENd, even in the Champions books.

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof Hmmm. So Pushing does not count as added DCs?

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield I think there are examples of putting a Force Wall up on top of somebody. Isn't there a Mobile option for it somewhere?

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof I had not thought about the END aspect (but that's only, what, 1 END?). I have a feeling that Hreo is violating its own rule implicitly in its writeups. For instance, using my previous Black Mask example (near the beginning of Champions Universe), he's got a STR of 15 and a 1d6 HKA (0 END cost, which would matter if Reduced END Cost added to DCs, which I don't think it does) in his sword. Already doubled to 2d6. Then, he has Fencing, which includes: Lunge -2 OCV +0 DCV Weapon + 4 DC A maneuver that exists apparently only to give Black Mask the opportunity to voluntarily reduce his OCV. Both the Swipe and Pounce maneuvers for Red in Tooth and Claw in the Bestiary are utterly useless for almost all of the published animals in the same book, barring ravens and foxes. Maybe it is assumed that the character is doing an MPA of a strike + an HKA (is this legal?), in which case it gets the Normal Damage for the martial maneuver + the HKA?

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof Yeah they should, but in RAW they don't as far as I can see, barring that bit that griffinman01 pointed out. Since the published characters and MAs seem to imply that griffinman01's "optional" rule is actually generally used (at least in the Champions product line -- I haven't looked at FH etc.), should I assume that they are generally used?

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof The problem is not the character is weak, it's that he's too strong for the MA to do anything.

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof My example was mistated; I meant a 1d6 HKA, already doubled due to 15 STR. meaning that the DCs from the martial maneuvers do nothing.

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof I think this was what I was missing. This makes sense, it would make +4 DCs with knives and rapiers do something.

Re: 5E (not 6, 5): adding damage and armed martial arts, the uselessness thereof I'm thinking that it must be the case that DCs added from martial maneuvers are not actually DCs adding to the base damage, but increase the base damage itself, which then cannot be more than doubled ( so that 1d6 sword with martial strike has a base damage of 1d6+1, which then can be raised up to 3d6-1). Otherwise there is a whole series of published characters and martial arts styles that make no sense, because they are full of maneuvers that do nothing.

(A 5E question, not 6 -- I know 6E has changed the rules for killing attacks somewhat. Despite what my mistyped post heading says.) I'm confused by a couple of things regarding adding damage, killing attacks, and martial arts. (I really think this part of the rules could have been better worded -- in particular, a definition of "base DC" would be helpful.) This is for a superheroic campaign, should that matter. I think this question might be kind of complicated. First, p. 271 of Fred says that the damage done by a killing attack cannot be more than double the base DCs of the attack. I assume that "base DCs" means the amount of dice in the attack purchased (or weapon carried if not purchased with character points). So a wolf from the Bestiary does 1/2d6 with its bite (2 DCs) as its base damage, doubled by its STR to 1d6+1 (4 DCs). However, a little bit down, it is stated that unarmed martial maneuvers are an exception to this. So, the question is: is a claw or bite (as in the case of the wolf) an unarmed attack? If the wolf has Wolf Kung Fu and has purchased +2 DCs for it (halved to 1 for being a killing attack), does this raise its bite attack by zero (since it's already at double the base of 1/2d6) or up to 1 1/2d6 (from increasing the base damage up to 1d6 + 10 from STR)? In addition, assuming that this is the case, do the DCs from martial maneuvers act in the same way, so that if the wolf had no extra DCs for the martial art but did a Martial Strike it would have the same effect? Second, regardless of how the question above is answered, the doubling rule, if taken RAW, seems to make some armed martial arts maneuvers from UMA and published characters completely useless -- in particular common ones like Lunge (aka Offensive Strike). For instance, Black Mask from Champions Universe has a 1d6 HKA (his sword), a 15 STR, and the Lunge maneuver, which gives him +4 DCs. His damage with the sword is already at double the base 1d6 = 2d6 from his strength, seemingly making the maneuver pointless. This is even worse in the case of, say, the Knifefighting martial arts on UMA pg. 54. I assume that a knife has a base damage of 1/2d6 (2 DCs), meaning that it takes a mere 10 STR to double it; thus for all characters other than very physically weak ones, the maneuvers that add DCs do nothing as far as damage is concerned. In both cases above, I suppose the question boils down to: do martial arts increase the base DCs of an attack, or contribute to doubling the damage of the base DCs of the attack? If it is the former, Black Mask's Lunge would do 3 DCs for the base attack + 2 DCs for the sword (4 halved from being a KA) = 5 DCs + 3 DCs from 15 STR = 8 DCs = 2 1/2d6; if it is the latter, he'll do 2d6 regardless of what maneuver he does because the 15 STR already doubles the base. I'm smacking my head against the wall here trying to figure out how to make things work, so help would be appreciated!

Re: Turning into a pack of wolves I decided to go with this power on the main character: 25 The Sacred Beasts: Multiform to 300-point polar bear, killer whale, raven, or pack of wolves; true 7 form is human form), four forms (70 Active Points), Costs END (-1/2), Variable Limitations (Personality Loss (1 Hour; -1), OIF (Magical Talismans; -1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), and Extra Time (Full Phase; -1/2) (-2 ½) or Personality Loss (5 Minutes; -1 1/2) and Side Effects (new form acquires the disadvantages Enraged in Combat (very common, 14-, 8-, 30 points, Major Side Effect, automatically occurs; -1)) (-2 ½); -1 1/4) And this for the wolf pack: Pack of 5 Polar Wolves Form Val Char Cost Roll Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 STR 10 11- Lift 100 kg; 1d6 [1] 17 DEX 21 12- OCV: 6/DCV: 6 15 CON 10 13- 10 BODY 0 11- 10 INT 0 13- PER Roll: 11-/15- 10 EGO 0 11- ECV: 3 15 PRE 5 12- PRE Attack: 3d6 8 COM -1 10- 5 PD 3 Total: 11 PD (7 rPD) 3 ED 0 Total: 9 ED (7 ED) 3 SPD 3 Phases: 4, 8, 12 6 REC 0 30 END 0 23 STUN 0 ------------------------- Total Cost: 51 Movement: Running: 8"/16" Cost Powers ------------------------- 8 Bite: HKA½d6 (1d6+1 with STR), Reduced Penetration (-1/4) 1 1 Tough Skin: Damage Resistance (1 PD/1 ED) 2 Swift: Running +2" (2" total) 1 12 Wolf's Senses: +4 to PER with all Sense Groups but Sight Group 5 Wolf's Eyes: Ultraviolet Vision 5 Wolf's Nose I: Tracking for Smell 5 Wolf's Nose II: Discriminatory for Smell 3 Wolf's Ears I: Ultrasonic Perception (Hearing Group) 2 Spirits of the North: Life Support: Safe Environment (Extreme Cold) 5 Blessed by the Animal Spirits: Life Support (Immunity: Zootoxins) 10 Mystic Talismans I: 25% Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant (15 Active Points), OIF (-1/2) 10 Mystic Talismans II: 25% Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant (15 Active Points), OIF (-1/2) 3 Magical Talismans III: 5 Power Defense (5 Active Points), OIF (-1/2) 3 Magical Talismans IV: 5 Mental Defense (7 total) (5 Active Points), OIF (-1/2) 12 Magical Talismans V: 6 PD 6 ED Armor (18 Active Points), OIF (-1/2) 63 A Pack of Wolves I: Duplication, creates 4 269-point Duplicates (63 Active Points), Cannot Recombine (-0) 10 A Pack of Wolves II: Mind Link with Other Duplicates (with duplicates, 4 minds) (20 Active Points), Only with Others who Have Mind Link (-1) 3 Pack Hunter I: +1 with HTH (5 Active Points), Must Be within 5" of Another Duplicate (-1/2) 2 Pack Hunter II: Lightning Reflexes (+2 DEX to go first with all actions) (3 Active Points), Must Be within 5" of Another Duplicate (-1/2) ----------------------------------------- 164 Martial Arts – Red in Tooth and Claw ---------------------------------------------- 4 1) Avoid Harm: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 4 2) Chomp/Swipe: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 4d6 Strike 3 3) Holding Bite: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab One Limb, 20 STR to hold 3 4) Knockdown: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +1 DCV, 2d6 Strike; Target Falls 5 5) Pounce: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 6d6 Strike ----------------------------------------------- 19 Cost Perquisites --------------------------- 1 Environmental Movement: No penalties to move on slippery surfaces --------------------------- 1 Cost Skills ----------------------------- 10 +2 Hand-to-Hand 3 +1 with Navigation, Survival, and Tracking 2 AK: Northern Siberia 11- 2 CK: The Chukchi 11- 2 Concealment 11- 2 KS: Shamanism 11- 2 KS: The Spirit World 11- 2 LNG: English 2 LNG: Russian 2 Navigation (Land) 11- 3 Stealth 12- 2 Tracking 11- -------------------------------- 34 Total Cost: 269 I break my 60-AP power cap by 3 points, but what can you do. Thanks everybody!

Re: Turning into a pack of wolves Aha. I see. I'll just get me an alpha wolf then who costs like 5 more points. In the case of Deuce, her Duplicate is actually _stronger_.

Re: Turning into a pack of wolves Yeah it gives you 8x dupes but I don't want that many. I don't see the published characters paying for the cost of Duplication. If you look at Deuce in Millennium City, she's paid only for the duplicate form, not including any cost of Duplication, unless my math is wrong. EDIT: The aforementioned Elemental Man in the Duplication power description does the same thing. He's 350 points and has a 250-point Duplicate, for which he pays 50 points (250/5 = 50).

Re: Turning into a pack of wolves What I have is a 350-point character with 4 alternate forms, each based on somewhere between 200 and 300 points. One of these is a 212-point wolf, which I want to make into 6 wolves via Duplication, all of which are identical (except for only the first one having the Duplication). So the original wolf would buy Duplication based on a 212-point character, correct? Making the Duplication cost 57 points (212/5 = 42 + 15 for x8 duplicates) and the form cost 212 + 57 = 269 points? I'm confused because the text of the power specifically states that the cost is based on the original character including the cost of Duplication, but none of the published characters seemt to do this.