Amorkca

Congratulations on being the winner. I was waiting for that one more entery, and got distracted by things. The current distraction is Dome City.
 
Anyways, this group is called The Omegas. Father Omaga is a speedster who can run up walls and across water. Mother Omaga shoots energy bolts from her forehead and can fly. Miss. Omaga is superhumanly strong and nigh invulnerable, which ticks her off cause she wanted something cool and feminine as a power, like force fields and invisability. And finally there is Kid Omaga, who is hyper intelligence and hyper dexterous.
 
This family won there powers from the gameshow So You Want To Be A Superhero. They are contracted to use there powers for the greater good, or they will be repossessed.

Well, if this is a get to know you style game, then you might consider the heroes being kidnapped and put in some alternate dimension with no obvious way to know where they are or how to get home...
 
This should immediately give them some kind of motivation to help each other.  I am tempted to suggest that the kidnapping is the result of a child's nightmares, not a coordinated attack, that the child has seen them and had a nightmare about them getting beaten by some strange enemy and the childs latent mental powers dragging each of the heroes into this alternate dimension while they sleep...
 
Doc

I remember facing a villain whose standard MO was to
 
1) Make himself Invisible,
2) Project an Image of himself,
3) Use all his Attack powers bought with Indirect - they come from the Image.
 
So all attacks against him have no effect at all.  You have to figure out how he's doing it, and be able to see and target the invisible guy to defeat him.

Variable Advantages is exactly what you need to buy for your strength.  At +1 you can take use Armor Piercing, No END, Invisible [Sight] ("My hands are so face you'll never see the blow").

Flux's fellow PRIMUS officer and frequent partner, Black Bow.
 

Has someone thought of talking to the San Angelo people?  Maybe invite them to this discussion.  They have a setting that could be put to good use!

I got a sudden inspiration yesterday and had to build this character. Her name is Flux, and she's the PRIMUS agent assigned to work with Campaign City's superheroes.
 

Zero. We took them all out on the way in.

If (and it might not be; I may have missed the actual thrust here) the point is to simplify or reduce the size of the rules book(s), this apparently can't happen.
 
While I personally (this often-overlooked term is a word that indicates I'm offering an opinion and not just trying to stir up hate and discontent that leads to a thread-derailing argument of hurt feelings and wounded pride) think that a considerable amount of the rules bloat came from a shift in attitude of the rules themselves.  Someone else on these boards stated it more concisely than I could have:  the rules have gone from "permissive" to "restrictive."  That is, once upon a time, powers and skills and such included whatever you expected them to include-- put another way, whatever you and your group / GM expected them to.   Then came the creep-in of "NO!"  Bits and pieces were slowly pulled out and teased apart and suddenly became advantages and adders and modifiers, all of which had to be explained, costed, and demonstrated.   One small example is "Change Orientation" for Teleport.  Used to be assumed, now it costs money.  A recently-discussed second option is "Rapid" for perception.  What was once just a schtick now costs points, and from that same recent discussion, it seems like it can cost a hell of a lot of them for what, if actually role-played to meet the description, would absolutely wreck everyone else's good time in addition to being totally impossible to do.   (we don't make people with flight by life support vs cold to fly higher than a kilometer or so, but we _do_ make speedsters pay for the ability to see where they're going?!  Crap; I shouldn't have said that.  Edition 7 will now include "able to survive the use of your power" as a separate element for half the powers now....)
 
Once upon a time, you assumed things like "can see where he's going" and "can fly at least 3km up because there's air for him to breathe there" were already included (and you didn't bother with math about the energy expenditures for parabolic travel versus plowing flat over the ground at a height of ten meters, nor the loss of distance traveled in the same time between the two techniques.   That'll have to wait for either 7e or APG 9 or wherever it is we decide additional complexity should go.)
 
 
 
Agreed, but given the creep toward restrictive build rules -- i.e., "No; not unless you also buy this and this and this and this, (which made the 5e out-of-nowhere inclusion of "Growth Momentum" really glaring.  All other editions recognized that there was no inherent momentum in "I get bigger," and characters wanting it built it as a separate attack (or extra damage) with "Growth Momentum" as a separate attack.  I didn't mind the inclusion of it, but it seemed to weird next to new rules that were pulling stuff _out_ of "this power comes with" and turning it into "costs extra.")  it won't work.  If you are going to design a rules set that requires those options to build what the player envisions, then you are going to have to actually present those options.
 
Now it might seem that I'm being really hard on the new overall attitude of the rules, but I'm _not_.  I'm pointing out one of the main reasons that the rules _are_ so big and _why_ there are so many options presented.
 
Here's the edge you have to walk to write a set  of rules for this game:
 
Keep it short and brief.  Okay, one paragraph each for powers.  Let's be kind and say "no more than three paragraphs each for powers."   If you want to limit the size of those paragraphs to less than a page each, you'll have to include "not written by a lawyer" or possibly even specify "must be written by a mathematician  (Why is that word so hard to type?!!!)."   I can't _fully_ endorse either of those things, though:  lawyers are trained for keen and specific use of verbiage, and tend to be careful about selecting their words and ensuring that contradictions either don't exist or are well-explained (which leads to the verbosity, of course, but now we know why that's not always bad) and I don't know of anything I've read written by a mathematician (I am so done typing that word!  We're going back to AMG: amazing math guy), but if playing with numbers is your real joy, well there are likely to be great and lengthy sessions of tear-out and build-in of the various elements to seek the mythical "perfect balance" between Swimming and  Ranged Killing Attack. I can't see that _not_ ending up with more and lengthier "power does include this, but if you want any of the following sixty-two elements, you must by the appropriate advantages, so let's explain them, too."
 
 
Now I started out saying that this shift in the attitude of permissive / restrictive rules is _part_ of the bloat.
 
 
The rest of it is us.
 
You heard me:  It's us.  The players.  We _had_ the very thing we're sitting here crying about not having.  First edition was 56 pages start to finish (+10 if you add the covers and eight character sheets).  2e was eighty pages (which included a selection of villains to get off to a quick start).  3e was 96 pages (boxed set) and had _no_ character sheet (it was printed on the rear cover of the separate 40=page Campaign Book in the boxed set).
 
Third edition gained ever more rules spread through supplements, adventures, etc, all of which were specific to situations presented in those supplements and adventures and eventually even entirely new games build using Champions rules with custom tweaks for the game being presented.
 
4e, as we all know, was little more than gathering _all_ that material in one place.  All of it from all the supplements and previous editions and hammering it all into one cohesive rules set that would cover _everything_.  You would never need another rules set again, because it was all here.   The the genre books came out and totally wrecked that idea:  Here, have new characteristics!  Have new Talents and Skills!  Have new modifiers for other powers!  Have some Kung Phooey!
 
5e was lather, rinse, repeat, meaning that it had the ground work of 6e already laid in.....
 
 
So why this constant growth?
 
 
Us.  We weren't happy with what we had.  We had questions.  We had problems.  We didn't want to answer all of them ourselves.   We have this super-anal fetish to make sure we're doing our thing exactly the same way someone else is doing their thing (or vice-versa).  We might be having the time of our lives, but we're not happy until we know it's a book-legal time of our lives.  (Yes; I know every time someone mentions this inherent need to be book legal, we pay great homage to the idea that "the game is yours!  Change it how you want!"  Then we run off to some other thread to make sure it's all nice and book legal. )
 
 
There were _so many_ great points you raised, and I wanted to address so many more, but I have _got_ to get going, so if I may simply offer a poor wrap-up of what I've started  (I _am_ sorry to lurch off like this, but the pop-up says Hugh has replied, and it made me glance at the time, and I really have to be somewhere in just a few minutes):
 
 
We wanted more rules.  Some people figured out their own vehicle rules, for example.  Others didn't.  Others _wouldn't_, and demanded to know how to do that "officially."   
 
We ran into situations we weren't sure how to handle.  We wanted rules for that.  We developed the habit of building the entire world in HERO stats (what was the DEF of Granny's screen porch again?  Doesn't it take x4 BOD from fire-based attacks?)
 
We _wanted_ rules.  We asked for them.  We begged for them, and lamented the lack of new ones all through the long years of 4e when everything HERO-related stopped, and we turned to the internet and our fellow fans for new ideas.  We wanted to hard limits to help the different kinds of players work well at the same tables.  We wanted to be able to mathematically simulate (and to price in character points) every single aspect of the world we were building, and wanted it all to be precisely relevant tot he world in which we live.  Hell, I'm not claiming I'm exempt!  I _love_ building stuff in HERO terms!  
 
We just wanted lots and lots of rules.
 
 
Well now we've got them.  
 
 
Yet look at the number of "how do I...?" threads.  There are still issues that are not clear.  There are still problems.  Yes; I personally think the restrictiveness creeping into the massive rules tomes is part of that problem, but I also don't see a solution in simply doing away with it and stating "Okay, just decide that a power features all its elements automatically, and take Limitations on any of them you don't want in your build."  Honestly, either way still gives advantage to the clever or the highly-motivated.
 
Obviously simpler rules ins't the answer:  I don't think the PDFs of 1, 2, or 3e in the HERO store are selling like hotcakes.  I'm pretty sure even Sidekick isn't doing anything appreciable, nor even HERO Basic (Sidekick 6e, dammit!    )
 
Look also at the fact that in the subsequent books, bloat wasn't just in the build rules.  It wasn't just in the breaking things rules.  It wasn't just in combat or movement.
 
There was more and more bloat in the "tell me about the world I'm going to be playing in" sections, too.   People have _always_ wanted playable-out-of-the-box worlds.  People have _always_ wanted pre-build adventures.   Given the amount of time it takes to create from whole-cloth in the new rules (much, much more to select from when you're building _anything_, after all), people need them more than ever.
 
 
But not everyone.  Not at this point.  Most of us have game worlds and game groups with long-established histories at this point.  Let's face it:  new players aren't happening as fast as the old ones are dying off.   There's not a big enough market to support it anymore.
 
 
So let's try this:
 
Fan-built adventures.   Post 'em here.  Co-operate and build one together.   Get with Jason and see if you can toss them into the store: a buck a piece, even.   I won't lie:  I've got three groups I have to run, and a  job  that eats up over 70 hours a week.  I'd buy even a passable adventure in a heartbeat.  As much as it shames me to say it, I've been recycling from group to group for over a year now, simply because I don't have the time to come up with new stuff like I used to.
Now I really, really have to go.  I wish I could have addressed more, but such is life.
 

There are some 3rd edition books like Danger International and Western Hero I think should be redone for 6th.  Yes, Dark Champions kind of covers DI, but DI was specifically about spies and mercenaries with a specific flair of James Bond kind of approach, and I think its a niche that is still unfilled.

If a character has Multiform, and is in his base form when granted a UBO power (e.g Flight), then changes to another form, does he maintain use of the UBO power in his new form, or is that only in the form in which he received it?

I really shouldn't wander away from this forum in the future.  I totally missed that this existed and had been thinking I needed to build something like it myself.  Thanks.

CCCC2 - Card 54 Nearly Invulnerable 
 
shows:
30.  Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant 50%
30.  Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant 50%
30. Mental Damage Reduction, 50%
10. Mental Defense (10 points total)
Total Cost: 100
 
the second line should be Energy...
 
Also: The HD file shows it as Physical twice; needs to be changed to Energy

Found the Character File for #4Dextrous! and #5Fast! are not giving the correct info (according to HD)
 
For example #4 Dextrous - Dex 23 should only cost 26 its but is listed on the card and in the HD file as 32 pts. Speed of 5 should only add 30 pts but file shows 40 pts. PD should be 8 pts and shows 10.
Total card shows 165 pts - should only be 147.
 
#5 Fast! - Spd on the card costs 80 pts but should only be 50; Rec of 15 should be 11 shows 16; End 60 should be 8 shows 10
Total card should be 150 shows 187.
 
The thing I find funny is that when I create these files manually, I get the correct numbers - but somehow whoever created the HDC files managed to get the card and file numbers to match.  How is this even possible?
 
Will there be an Errata? At least the HD files should be corrected...
 
At first I wondered if the Original File had been made with 5e rules; but I can't duplicate the Dex issue - a 5e character with Dex 23 would cost 39 points...
 
Now I have to go through and verify all the cards... OCD is a pain...
 
The Dex cost in the Dextrous! file costs 4 points per dex above 20; hence the cost of 32 - has Characteristic Maxima been enabled somewhere?
 
Ok - All of the HDC Character files have Characteristic Maxima in effect; not sure where this is happening, so how do we easily correct this?
 

Coming out around the end of summer is a new project called Hero's Resource. Will be groups and organizations that heroes can turn to for some help. First issue will have to superhero teams that PCs can trust for some help. Here's the cover
 
 

A lot depends on what you want to achieve. For 20 points, you could buy a Multipower with a 10 point pool, and five variable slots.  Let's make those:
 
(a)  +2 OCV
(b)  +2 DCV
(c)  +10 STR
(d)  1/2d6 HKA
(e)  1d6 HTH Attack, NND
 
I can now match or beat each of the following MA maneuvers (core rules only):
 
 - Killing Strike (cost 4 points, and mine has no OCV penalty)
 - Martial Dodge (cost 4 points)
 
and I am pretty close to
 
 - Martial Disarm (no +1 DCV, but no -1 OCV either; 4 points)
 - Nerve Strike (no +1 DCV but no -1 OCV; 4 points)
 
That matches 16 of my 20 points spent.
 
And I have a lot of other options Martial Arts would not have given me, as well as (I suspect) being able to beat, match or come close to other Martial maneuvers in HSMA.
 
I don't get 0 END on my extra DCs, and I should limit the first three slots to only be for HTH combat effects, of course.
 
What if we spend 40 points (20 point pool and 4 point slots)?
 
(a)  +4 OCV
(b)  +4 DCV
(c)  +20 STR
(d)  1d6+1 HKA
(e)  2d6 HTH Attack, NND
 
I can duplicate a Defensive Strike (5 points), Martial Block (4 points), Martial Escape (with +20 STR, or +1 OCV or DCV; 4 points), Martial Grab (with an extra OCV, DCV or +5 STR, plus my STR also adds to Squeezing or Throwing; 3 points), Martial Strike (4 points) and I can almost match an Offensive Strike (+4d6 means no +4 DCV, but no -2 OCV penalty either; 5 points).  My Martial Disarm and Nerve Strike are now better than the originals, as are the Killing Strike and Martial Dodge. 
 
That's another 25 points of maneuvers, plus 16 earlier = 41 points.  I get more versatility (and likely a lot of those minor variations in HSMA; as I recall, many swap the OCV and DCV modifiers, which this construct does with no issues), more power to some maneuvers (my Dodge is +7 DCV, for example).
 
I do spend more END, though. 
 
I don't think this is vastly more efficient, but it is certainly not less efficient.  A lot depends on what you want to do.  I can't chose to fall prone in order to Trip a target, nor do I get that Velocity adder for a Throw, for example.  But my Trip can be better than a Sacrifice Throw by 1 CV or 5 STR, and I do not fall.  I can get +15 STR and the same +1 DCV for a Throw, or I can have a +2 OCV, +1 DC Throw, which is a Legsweep with no DCV penalty and an extra to add in (missed that 3 point maneuver above).
 
From this analysis, I would say that MA is not more efficient, but it also doesn't feel less efficient.   That suggests reasonable balance to me.

As one of you already knows, my job gives us the week of July 4 off.  The youth group is, of course, off all summer.  We have played a _lot_ of Champions this week. 
 
Final game of the week (I called off the Sunday--the normal-- game because, well, I have other things to do, I'm afraid. ) 
 
Red Cloak's player:  Okay, I want to unleash my Cloud of Fear, but I want to make a presence attack out of it. 
 
Me:  sure; no problem.  Describe it for me. 
 
Red Cloak (per description):  [eyes begin to glow, clouds begin to circle overhead and the sun seems to dim just a little]
 
Red Cloak's player: I let the Dark Spirits slip just a little bit into me, and my voice becomes raspy and like rocks grinding as I start chanting the incantation for the cloud of fear.  The wind starts to pick up and the air feels electrified.  Slowly long ribbons of fog start to ooze out from beneath my cloak, and they bring the smell of burning brimstone... 
 
Two other players look at each other with clamped lips and big knowing eyes.  A third catches on and begins to giggle
 
Red Cloak's player:  It's a _spell_, you idiots!  A spell! 
 
At which point the entire table lost it. 
 
 

 
I love kids. 

I've used it to let a player know a given plan might not work, or give a clue what the opposition might try.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Remember, a palindromedary can reverse direction instantly....

Learned this from Facebook this morning.  Thirty Eight Years ago today, George McDonald, Steve Petersen, and Ray Greer birthed the system we all know and love.  Cheers!

Paragon
 
Val Char Cost
50 STR 40
15 DEX 15
25 CON 30
12 BODY 4
13 INT 3
15 EGO 10
15 PRE 5
16 COM 3
25 PD 15
15 ED 10
4 SPD 15
15 REC 0
50 END 0
50 STUN 0
Total Characteristics Cost: 150 Points
 
Cost Skills
3 Conversation 12-
3 High Society 12-
1 FB: Press Pass
2 Navigation [Ground] 12-
3 Oratory 12-
3 Persuasion 12-
2 PS: Newspaper Columnist 11-
2 Rep: Superhero 11-
3 Seduction 12-
3 Streetwise 12-
Total Skills Cost: 25 Points
 
Cost Powers
10 Damage Resistance 10 rPD 10 rED
50 Multipower (50 Points)
5 u) Drain [STUN] 5d6
3 u) Entangle 2d6 DEF 2, Based On EGO Combat Value (+1), Takes No Damage From Physical Attacks (+1/4), Works Against EGO, Not STR (+1/4), Eye Contact Required (-1/2)
3 u) Invisibility [Hearing], No Fringe, No END (+1/2)
2 u) Leaping +10", 8x NCM
2 u) Running +5", 8x NCM
Total Powers Cost: 250 Points
 
Total Cost: 250 Points
 
150+ Disadvantages
10 DNPC: Renee Porter, Newspaper Reporter (Normal) 8-
10 Hunted: Cleopatra (As Powerful/NCI/Mild) 8-
10 Hunted: Mastermind (More Powerful/NCI/Watch) 8-
10 Hunted: Ultraman (As Powerful/NCI/Mild) 8-
15 PsyL: Overconfidence (Very Common/Moderate)
20 PsyL: Showoff (Very Common/Strong)
10 SocL: Secret Identity [Parker Adonis Gordon] (Occasionally/Major)
15 Vuln: Ambushes/Treacherous Attacks, 1/2x STUN (Very Common)
Total Disadvantages Cost: 250 Points
 
 
Origin:  Parker Adonis Gordon was a Newspaper Columnist who wrote an editorial attacking Ultraman as a danger to society.  While most people ignored the editorial Mastermind, Ultraman's arch-enemy was so impressed he offered Gordon superpowers so that he could become a rival to Ultraman.  Given powers to count Ultraman's abilities Paragon has gained an undeserved reputation as a Superhero.  He's also made an enemy of Cleopatra after attempting to seduced her and taking credit for the captured of Speed Demon.
 
Paragon is an original character.

One thing not included with the TA source book itself is the sort of detailed index one came to expect of all Fifth Edition Hero books. This one provides only a broad subject index. However, Steve Long created a separate, exhaustive combined index and glossary for the setting, the Encyclopaedia Turakiana, as a free downloadable PDF, available on the Hero Games website: https://www.herogames.com/files/file/206-encyclopaedia-turakiana/
 
That file was first hosted on a much earlier version of the Hero website, along with several other free downloads related to the Turakian Age. Among them was a summary/classification of the dominant Turakian Age gods; and a calendar for the Westerlands, a major region of the world of Ambrethel. You'll find links to those at the bottom of this archived webpage: https://web.archive.org/web/20060209130204/http://herogames.com/FreeStuff/freedocs.htm
 
Continuing the parade of freebies , if anyone would like to get an advance look at what Ambrethel, the Turakian Age world, looks like, you can download maps in various sizes, color and B&W, from the first couple of links on yet another archived webpage:  https://web.archive.org/web/20060209130319/http://herogames.com/FreeStuff/wallpapers.htm
 
However, the current website also hosts free collected scans of the detailed maps from inside the TA source book, which you can download from here: https://www.herogames.com/files/category/9-maps/

 

Crap, I totally forgot the best one of that night!  That'll teach me to try to save it for last, won't it?  
 
 
In an attempt to deceive the would-be assassins, the team has hatch a plan to make the assassins _think_ they have taken their charge to the Lockdown super-prison for the ultimate in protective custody.  Half the team and their charge load up onto a well-guarded and armored boat and head for Lockdown.  Once beyond the horizon, Kinetica, carrying the target, leaps off the boat and runs across the water back to the mainland.  As she approaches, a voice on her coms yells "Inconspicuous!  You're headed straight back to the marina!  How do you expect to hide the fact that you're carrying him right back to shore?!"
 
Kinetica:  "Uhm...   drag him between my knees and make jet ski noises?"
 
 
      
 
 
Took _several_ minutes to recover from that....  
 
 
 
Duke
 

Red Cloak, attempting to lecture an NPC on the history that lead to the current problem:
"... and they did this sort of thing portentously, even when they knew they were under constant surveyance, (sic), which lead to this sort of geese / gander die costomy (sic)--"
 
Feral's player, OOC: "Dude!  It would hurt a _lot_ less if you just rolled Conversation, Man...."
 
-------------------------
 
Kinetica, witnessing an angelic woman in a long flowing white robe walking barefoot across the bay:  "Holy crap!  I think it's She-zus!"
------------------------
 
Firefly is coming in hot for a rooftop landing just as Magnificent (below) uses his Energy Eye to cut a precision escape hatch through the roof.  A flubbed unluck roll (Magnificent) and a flubbed Dex roll (Firefly) gives them the same target area-- Firefly makes a hard landing and tumble twelve feet lower than he planned on.  Firefly:  "Okay, this roof isn't going to hold all of us."
-------------------------
 
Red Cloak begins chanting his levitation spell as he steps from the helicopter.  He refuses advice to secure his cloak against the rotor wash, concerned about the loss of his clothes earlier (given to a victim of a sinking boat:  "He can have my dry clothes; I've got my cloak, right?")  another flubbed Unluck and his flapping robe snags the chopper skid, jerking his arm back (interrupting his gestures) and starling him (failed EGO roll means he was distracted enough to interrupted his incantation; he immediately begins to drop, cloak billowing up about his head as one would expect it to.  Feral, from the copter, on the coms:  "Well, bums away!"
------------------------------
 
Red Cloak recovers in the nick of time, joining the ground fight with two of his comrades.  The thugs outnumber them and have them surrounded, and are beginning to tighten the circle.  Red Cloak, grasping his silver sun pendant:  "I Flash them!"
 
Kinetica:  "Nope; had enough of that, thanks."
 
 
 
 
Very, _very_ long session with the youth group yesterday, but I think they're finally starting to come alive with spontaneous in-character interaction.  It's fun to be part of.  
 
 
 

Well, as long as you're within Stretching range, yes... I suppose it could be some kind of "tear off and immediately grow back" thing, but without regen anywhere else in the build that's, ehh... Stretch range has been cut down a fair bit from the original "this seems like a good length" too as other things ate the points and honestly I just plain forgot to come back to it to examine in detail after copying it from a different build on the internet and renaming it, because it was sitting there working as is. ...I kind of like the idea of the not-hentacle being able to quickly throw up a bunch of tentacular walls around the place actually, but it doesn't fit the theme as written.
 
Botheration.
 
Now I'm all conflicted about it.
 
What is with people being all logical and making me think when I just got up because as I was waking up a voice asked me "What if Smurfette found the Witchblade?" and I wanted to come write that down? Then the browser had to bloop at me with an alert since I forgot to turn scripts back off here earlier. Now I'm going to be too haired up to get back to sleep

Sorry DialNforNinja I totally missed seeing the page with the character on it!
 
Please note that your Complications are 85 points not 75.