Duke Bushido

Re: Detect Vulnerability

Re: Feints well, guess it catches the Brits, too! I am so tempted to lay out some of my more exotic ravings, but well, for one, it's just not the place. And secondly, over-use weakens effectiveness.....

Re: Feints **** ****. Sorry, Sean--- it was too tempting! I'll clean it up if it posts, though.

Re: Feints Hmmmm.. would Feint be a skill, or would it be a specific Martial Maneuver; one which puts the opponent at a specific DCV disadvantage for the remainder of the phase? Or perhaps for his next phase? Or perhaps for the 'feinter' to gain an OCV advantage on a counter-strike? That is, if you feel the need to include 'feint' in your campaign. Like someone else above (Mitchell?), I've always considered such as feinting to be part of the 'sfx' of melee-- a nearly missed blow, a nearly made dodge, etc.

Re: Alien Power Armour

Re: DnD's Spiked Chain The biggest issue I see with the spike chain is the number of hits in the 'attack of opportunity.' I don't know, never having hit anyone with a _spiked_ chain, but I know for a fact that if you hit them with a drive chain, the chain goes limp and you have to start the swing all over again. I can't see the spiked chain doing any better. I mean, it's spiked. Suppose it lodges in a body? Then the dead guy has your weapon! Seriously, I've had to spend a minute getting a knife unstuck just dressing deer, and the deer certainly wasn't dodging (or breathing, for that matter). Granted, I could be completely and totally wrong, also. I thought about some of the neat '-fu' stuff with ropes and chains, but even then, from what I see, as soon as you smack someone, you've got to regain momentum to the weapon before you can smack 'em again. What am I missing?

Re: Converted Spells: Magic Books of Faerûn W:eek:W! Much Rep to AlHazred, both for the work, and for so kindly putting it up here where it can be.... appropriated.....

Re: Filthy Rich Burghers Well, they like fairies, elves, were-thingies, fire balls, change self, and lots of other things, too. Few, I think, are historically verifiable. No, not being a jerk-- not in my nature. I would just like to take a minute to suggest that D&D is based entirely on the fiction of the genre, and not on any particular time period, or for that matter-- any kind of reality at all. And perhaps it's the American in me, with the American fond remembrance of the adventures of a wild and unsettled frontier (most of which, coincidentally enough, are also fictions ), but I rather like the small city trend. It was probably the only part of D&D I really cared for: it let the adventures have a greater impact on the town, and the lives of the people in it. In short, they kept the fun-factor up a bit, and provided a great reason to move on. "They don't have that here. Let's try down the coast." "Uhm, I think the city gaurd made us. Fetch the horses." "Wow! The governor's in danger, and we're the only people here with the skill sets and power to help!" etc. Small towns: Keeping life fresh, one street at a time....

Re: Good News For Time Travelers! I FEEL SO FREAKIN' VALIDATED!!!! Party at my place; let's go!!!!!

Re: Cool site for Star Wars/Star Trek ship sizes/volumes This reminds me of a recurring problem I've had for years, made worse with the publication of Fire, Fusion, and Steel some years ago...... I have tried, off and on, to find some way to both ensure that my deckplans, etc, for Star HERO campaigns were accurate to the size of the ship, etc. I have tried for years to figure out how to appropriately describe a ship's size. I have tried for years, after figuring out the deckplans, etc, to design a ship with the right amount of 'size' to cover everything. Perhaps it is the Traveller geek in me; I don't know. But I've never been able to reconcile all these things perfectly to the HERO system. Now I'll be the first to admit that the new vehicle rules didn't sink in, so I stuck with the old ones. So the problem could be one of my own devising. But has anyone out there ever successfully reconciled vehicle volume against hexes against size? I can do fine if I want a one-floor starship with two-meter ceilings. But I'd really like to do better than that........ HELP!!!!

Re: Hand Attacks Question Just to toss out ideas here for the speedster and his flurry of flying fists---- why not get reall gross and put Autofire on your STR? Or your Martial Strike?

Re: Bye all I think he's the one they trip so the others can escape!

Re: Weird power build Sorry, Mitchell--- I forgot the appropriate smilies on the EDM crack: it was another swipe at the running McJoke: EDM to the universe where the arrow is already where it's supposed to be, etc..... "Hunh. I rolled an 18 on my PS: Comedian. What's that mean?" "Well, for one it means your EDM crack won't go over well....." That sort of thing. And you're right; I was looking at summon the wrong way, figuring that the arrow would be 'summoned' to the recipient, message attached, etc. Apparently I missed the completely obvious... Ooops.

Re: I don't quite grok the Multiform rules.

Re: A new look at shields And let me just add that never before had I ever realized that shield-geeks were so damned C:cool::cool:L! That was some great reading, guys! Thanks!

Re: DnD's Spiked Chain I'll probably get noggined for this, but I'd like to suggest stepping back for a minute for those folks who want to suggest that K Shrike is somehow wasting his time. I don't have a problem with folks pointing out that what he's got is not book-legal, and I don't imagine he does either, beyond the redundancy: it's a fair bet he already knew it wasn't book legal. He does it this way because it's better for what he's trying to do, and that's enough. Now generally I don't think a grown man needs anyone batting for him, and that's not what I'm doing here. What I would like to do right here is point out that KS himself has been in a very long discussion of another not-book-legal build just this week, and I don't think at any time he ever called the other ideas anything more than 'not book legal.' I think it would be proper to extend that same courtesy back to someone who has conducted himself quite civilly through what could have been a very ugly conversation. Besides, his justifications for the changes he has made are excellent, and the aspect I find most intriguing is that they were not cost-driven, but model-driven. His changes, as I understand them (he's got a big site, and I didn't look through all of it) are all intended to more-perfectly model his setting, The most unusual aspect of his changes is that they really don't seem to affect game balance at all. Most of them amount to no more than one or two 'free' pips of BODY damage. But in a world with shields, clubs, archers, etc, I don't see a lot of bonus utility there. I like the changes. I wouldn't use them myself as most of fantasy isn't that realism-driven. But I do like them, and I might try something similar for our group after one of us can swing Pulp Hero. I was inspired just a little bit. Though I did learn that I don't want to tell anyone how we handle heroic-level campaigns here . Like Shrike, we were motivated by the quest for granularity, but we went in a different direction. But I don't want to be told that I'm wasting my time, so I'm keeping mum. At any rate, sorry for the interruption. I just wanted to get off my chest the idea that chastising him personally is counter-productive. And that I liked the ideas. Continue, and feel free to ignore me. I'll just read quietly over here in the corner.

Re: Weird power build Give the arrow EDM and the movement is taken care of. I wouldn't even give it images, but instead a further limit that all the arrow can do is pass on a message. But I don't know how to sensibly make the summon target someone else each time. And while I think this is a neat build, in terms of utility, I think I'd go with a very specific Mind Scan. Or possibly even some kind of very limited Clairsentience, UBO only, etc., treating the arrow as nothing more than the special effect (assume it's irreparably broken when it hits, or gets stuck in a tree, or magically vanishes--- oooh! It magically returns to the sender when the message is removed. After all, he may want to use it again. Yeah. That works. I think I might persue this more when I get back into town.

Re: I don't quite grok the Multiform rules. Hmmm.... I have yet to really play with this, but I was tossing around some brain-builds at work yesterday, and something occured to me: The bulk of HERO's Advantages and Limitations seem to place priority on combat (okay, that didn't occur to me yesterday; we've all known that for years, and I even commented on it earlier in the week). What did occur to me is that this tendency might be useable as a justification for making NIHID a bigger bonus that OIHID, say from a =1/4 to possibly even a -1/2, or even -3/4 if your campaign is detective-light and slug-fest heavy. Obviously the effect this will have on the build depends strongly on the conception of the base character, but I think it can be used to more accurately model the 'single altered form' MF in which the base character is essentially a vehicle for getting the alter to new locales. I have yet to build a character to play test the utility of this, but RadioKAOS, if you already have a character handy, try reworking the base form along these lines and see if it 'works better.' I'm hitting the door to go work on the new house, and will see you folks next week.

Re: Improvisation and Embellishment

Re: Weird power build Summon to someone else? Oh, wait; I see where you're going. I'll have to look at the rules on that one, but so far, seems like a neat approach!

Re: Can someone explain.... You might want to make sure your GM sees that, and understands the ramifications, just so that there are no issues with it later on. oh yeah; speedster. Almost forgot! That's a great build you've got going so far; enjoy the game!

Re: Can someone explain.... Your powers construct looks great, but if I may offer a suggestion: I think you've neglected endurance management. You might want to consider reduced Endurance on at least the running, or perhaps designing an Endurance Reserve that will run these powers. If not, you're liable to get very tired, very quickly.

Re: Can someone explain.... Well well well! All these years, and I find something basic-- speedster tricks-- that I never thought of before! Finally, a use for those new high-munchkin-potential Desolid constructs: Desolid: only at full move, only whatever else fits conception. Use this to simulate super-fast dodging past opponents who are trying to take a swing at you......... Neat! Thanks, Tiree! Profit, there is one other great reason to put your movement powers into a multi-power rather than an EC (But I understand the temptation; I loved the EC back when I started playing. It was elegant, and it was easier to cypher out before you really grasped the system), and that is Adjustment powers. Let's say that you run into a character who could Transfer or Drain whatever your special effect is. With a multipower, he might be able to target your powers one at a time. With an EC, he can take everything you've got, and in a hurry. Just thought I'd toss that out there, since no one else had yet.

Re: Can someone explain.... Uhm, Mitchell.... They call them "Cartoons" now. Funny word, but the more you use it, the more natural it comes.....

Re: Alien Race ideas?? And here we go-- briefly, as I'm not feeling too sporty, and think I'll retire earlier than normal. Got a big day tomorrow anyway. Tiny bit of background: our longest-running Star HERO campaign began as a shared universe, were all seven then-members of the group took turns running different campaigns in the same universe. Thus, it's a big place, and there are a lot of influences as well as inspirations. Some of it was 'borrowed' originally to wean players from other sci-fi games, some of it was just too cool to pass up, and some of it was truly inspired. Some of it was done for convenience, and some for impediment or as experimentation. In short, it's about as varied as anything I've found in print. So here's a general theme for aliens, and the justification: borrowed from a now-defunct (but then locally popular) game, the earliest days of deep-space exploration required a lot of specialization, as it was found that enough support for humans to adapt was not possible. So genetically-altered beings sharing animal and human traits were shipped to colonize the stars. (For the record, I really hated this, and it wasn't my idea.) Most failed, but today there are now six 'alien' races based on terrestrial animal stock: two big cats, bears, frogs, dogs, porpoises, and I'd have to check my notes for the other. They are easy to make: run through a bestiary or fantasy race list, you'll most likely find a 'perfect' example for any of these, particularly cats and dogs. Energy beings are neat for an encounter. Period. Your players may think it's neat to play one, but he and the party will most likely decide it's less cool after a few sessions. We've tried it more than once, as the encounters were always interesting, but it tends to flop (for us) as a player thing, or even too many encounters (YMMV). There is one 'energy' being that's been popular through the years, though, even though playing one is impossible. (they are what our group calls 'wierds.') They are black. As in 'light is getting sucked into that' black. A few bright bands or blocks of red and green light float here and there just off their surface, almost like holographic adornments. They have a dorsal flare of this light effect that runs from their forehead to the small of their backs and it rises high above their heads. They are strikingly humanoid in shape, but the uniqueness of their surface-- if that's what it be-- makes it completely impossible to determine and details. No one knows anything about them, except that they are more common near certain stars. There seems to be no common element among the stars, and these 'black phantoms' can appear anywhere. They are rare, but startiling. Often, a door will open and one (or even a family) will be there, looking around, and walk off-- often as not through a wall. They seem to take absolutely no notice of the world around them (and resist all attempts at getting their attention), but often appear to be studying or indicating something that is flatly not there. They do not register on any kind of detecting equipment other than video, and then only to normal sight, and are completely soundless. No IR, UV, or energy signatures of any kind. Maybe they'll turn out to be important, but maybe not. I can't remember the name but one of the GMs adopted a dark-skinned man-with-a-snake-tail-instead-of-legs as an alien race. At first I thought it was a joke about one of my supers (who was the same thing), but it turns out that it was ported from a sci-fi comic book that was popular at the time. There is a silicate based race. They are very big, very strong, and when they decide to think about something, they are pretty much useless until they've thought it through. They 'feed' by absorbing raw mineral from the ground, and like to spend a great deal of time laying about in the soil. They are rather slow (SPD 1 for the truly active). They live a very long time (several thousand years), but as they age ==== well, they 'start' life as 'toddlers' who are roughly five feet tall. They grow and live for the next two hundred years or so, getting to be up to twenty feet tall, and thinking more and more. As they grow, the become less active and more pensive. Eventually, they will cease to move at all, lost in thinking, and grow and grow until they are more or less sentient boulders. Groups of them grow together once they stop interacting with the rest of the universe. Like tree trunks, two that have 'settled' close together will intertwine. Oddly, they are, as adults, perhaps the most knowledgeable beings in the universe. They will spend the rest of their lives growing (on a geologic scale) and thinking, adding their knowledge to the gestalt mind of all the joined adults in the same 'cluster' and when they die they are absorbed again as nutrients. The GM who created this race never gave a lot of thought as to where babies come from..... There is no real way to communicate with an adult, and infants are really only interested in finding out 'what' and 'why' and don't really make good PCs. So far, most of what I've told you is GM-type info, as the rest of the universe knows this race only as the child-like 'infants.' But I can put it up here without too much concern, and the campaign has moved well beyond this race. Of course, there is a wide variety of races-- most suitable for at least well-moderated PC use, but they are all more or less of 'typical' sci-fi fare, and so I didn't bother to bring them up. Should you get one hundred submissions, you might well run the range of what I have to offer, at least in essence. There is one race that was a lot of fun when one of the players talked me into letting him use one as a PC........ Short version. Really, really short version, as I can't give you a book-legal 5E version if I wanted to. On earth, it seems that every ancient culture had legends of a terrifying unknown. A thing that was never clearly defined, but always held to be an eater of flesh, an ambigous, shadowy, twisted version of mankind. Well it seems that these legends exist in the ancient cultures of every sentient race in the universe. And always, it is described as a vague representation of that race itself. Turns out there's a good reason for this. The Grey Men (in the human tongue) are actually the second-oldest race in the universe. They are a highly-evolved parasite. A giant mult-cellular protoplasm, they feed by first carefully 'stinging' prey with a powerful neuro toxin that affects a staggering number of creatures, regardless of origin. Almost any carbon-based lifeform is affected. The poison will, within a few hours, render the victim unconscious. The Grey Men feed by engulfing the victim completely and slowly disolving them. Neural tissues run into the nervous system of the prey and within hours the Grey Man will have control of the victim's body. As he dissolves the outer layers of his prey, he will mimic the outward appearance of that prey. A man-sized victim will sustain a Grey Man for roughly a year, thrice that with very careful resource and energy management. During the digestion, the Grey Man imprints the DNA of the victim into his own, and can replicate it perfectly. The Grey Man will, as needed, slough off any 'unneeded' mass, retaining only a chemical pool that contains its own DNA and instincts. When the victim is disolved (skeleton last, as the Grey Men cannot replicate the mineral content of most skeletons in sufficient quantities to produce their own), it is still medically verifiable as a living member of that race-- even the original person, if DNA records are available, though he will show 'some kind of chemical anomoly, possibly exposure to something?' on a very close scrutiny. Grey Men avoid each other at all costs, instinctively knowing the danger of 'over farming' and the investigations it will bring. But when they do encounter another of their own species, they are possesed of an overpowering urge to mate. The two flow together, share zygotes, and separate, leaving a small puddle of primordial ooze that will, if fortunate, become another Grey Man. Each individual Grey Man must evolve its own sentience. When created, it is an instinct-driven creature, knowing only that it must feed. It is very common for them to feed on the young of a creature and replace that offspring, being cared for by the parents, until the skeleton is disolved and another form must be sought. It is the duplication of brain structure that leads to the development of intelligence in these creatures; the more complex the structure, the greater the chance of the creature developing sentience. Most do not make it, or rather, have not yet. The Grey Men are essentially immortal, and there is no way to know what will ultimately happen. Their simple physiology, based more on chemistry than on organization of tissue, means that while they can be killed, there is little chance of them dying of natural causes. In fact, they can, when faced with starvation, encyst themselves in a much harder membrane that resists the most extreme or terrestrial temperatures, and even the voids of space. In this form, their nutritional needs are cut to 1/1,000 of what they are when the Grey Man is active. In this form, they develop additional sense that allow them to detect movement and chemical processes for a nearly continental range. Because their form will perfectly mimic the form they are consuming, they will have senses that are, for practical purposes, identical to that form's own. They don't seem to mind the change in senses with varying forms, but this is possibly because they rely more an an active mindscan to percieve the world, an ability that they will retain in any form. Regardless of their form, they are limited in their physical abilities. In their normal form, a roughly shapeless blob, they can create, maintain, and control up to eight pseudopods. They cannot in any form control more than eight limbs (though with a skeleton to build around, they can maintain the presence of them). They are also limited to Char Lim of 25 in any form, regardless of what the prey originally possesed. And if the prey had lower stats than the Grey Man, they will instinctively mimic this lower stat. Grey Men retain the ability to assume any form that they have used in the past, but cannot assume 'new' forms without first digesting a DNA blueprint. This helps them to maintain an established identity for years, even though they may have to 'eat' many times throughout the course of their lives. They cannot assume any form for which they do not currently posses a skeleton. The skeleton need not be 'exact'-- it can be smaller, taller, or from a slightly different race, but it must be extremely close. The race itself: because of the way they are born and 'reared', a Grey Man may go his entire life without realizing what he is. In fact, the one time I allowed a player to use this race as a PC (and I am glad I did! This was the most gifted and enjoyable player I have ever had in any group. Same guy that didn't abuse MF, actually. I think he liked shape-shifters. Before him, the 'grey men' existed only as a campaign legend amongst aboriginals, and he did most of the work over the years on the 'real' story of the Grey Men) anyway, the one PC I had as a Grey Man believed himself to be a normal human until the day he _didn't_ black out before a feeding. He spent the next ten years believing that he was some kind of horrible monster, and it was only from hearing the Grey Men legend during a first contact that he began to research the legend. Now this really is the 'short' version. There are two hand-written spiral-bound notebooks in my game cabinet that detail this one race and, to a lesser extent, the one PC to come from that race. And during that character's tenure, none of the other PCs (or even players) ever suspected his 'secret.' They just noticed that this player changed characters more often than the rest of them.... He was a most interesting PC indeed, and while the race may be of no use, or possibly even no interest, to you, I thank you for the chance to share it and the memories it has brought. And now for a quick peek around the board before going to bed.....