adidamps2

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

There is a rare (in humans, Belgian Blue cattle all have this trait) genetic disorder in which the body in unable to produce any fat, except for that used in the nervous system and the linings of some organs. Theres a young boy on the east coast somewhere with this, I can't recall his name or the name of the disorder, but I'm looking through my notes for it.

The big, obvious advantage is that a person who has this abnormality is able to put on tremendous amounts of muscle by being a couch potato. The downside is that infants tend to be very large and muscular, and their mother's often don't survive. Also, their stamina is directly related to what and how much they have eaten recently - they have no fat to store energy in and their lungs don't always work very well. They may suffer from starvation more rapidly too (this is just conjecture from me)

 

Edit: After googling around for this Joseph Greenstein character, it seems he may have had this - powerful bone structures and incredibly hard hair & fingernails, as well as respitory problems stemming from a lack of fats are some of the traits of this condition.

i believe the disorder actually is not an inability to store fat, but it is a myostatin disorder (more like blocker) allowing one's body to build muscle with out limitation (this will most likely be the Bodybuilding drug of the future). heres a wiki link for the "disorder" too littel of it, but i tgoes on to describe what happens if the body doesnt have it present either: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=67f15c17-2717-4022-bb76-1b982456e793 (it had a really cool name before it was given myostatin (Growth differentiation factor8)) and here is a news link and picture of an overly musclular Whippet who has it: http://http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=67f15c17-2717-4022-bb76-1b982456e793 and i use to have the link for the story of the boy in which you are reffering to also. but i cant find it right now. the story was actually in the wiki article: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070530/strong_toddler_070530/20070530

and heres a pic of the cow with the disorder:

Re: thanks for ALL the help guys

Thank'ee. So, as others have probably mentioned above this post, you'd get an end result for the example race having STR 25 at a cost of 20 points.

 

(I have a limited amount of 5th ed. material in print myself so far: 5th Edition, 5th Edition Revised, Sidekick Revised, UNTIL Superpowers Database Revised, Character Creation Handbook, and the Champions Universe for 5th edition.)

tha'st essentially ther core book with out all the fluff right? would that be a good book to buy in lieu of a "revised" 5th ed book? to have it go along with my 5th ed book.

Re: package deal question

Revised is about half again larger. It has all the errata between the 1st version and its release, and most of the FAQ up to that time too, as well as more examples, the Genre by Genre web supplement, and various other little goodies. It also has some modified mechanics...the most significant that comes to mind is that the Trigger Advantage is greatly expanded.

 

You don't need it per se, but its definitely a real value IMO, not just a reprint with a few fixed typos.

that means the most to me...as i despise spending money on new books that just rehash things but really dont change things.

Re: package deal question

If you have the word REVISED on the cover' date=' you have the Revised book.[/quote']

hmmm well it seems i do not have that word on my cover. what am i missing out on then? is there a PDF file available or soem other resource that summ's up all of what has changed? is it even significant enough to worry about?

thanks for ALL the help guys

First' date=' let me mention that I've seen [i']Terran Empire[/i] yet, so if what follows turns out to be totally out-to-lunch, my apologies.

 

Second, within that book—if someone would be so kind as to check me on this?—is it stated that Normal Characteristic Maxima (NCM) is being enforced? Terran Emprire page 192 under PLAYER CHARACTERS, 2nd paragraph " NCM restrictions automatically apply to all Terran Emprire characters for no Disadvantage points"

 

And third, it appears that Package Deals in 5th ed. are built on the presumption that NCM is an option, rather than a requirement, and the costs for characteristics have been calculated accordingly.

 

If it not being enforced, then the costs with the Package Deals may be used as-is.

 

If it is being enforced, then one could either increases the costs of the affected characteristics (like the +20 STR costing 40 points in the example), or decrease the final characteristic value based on the increased cost (like the +20 points yielding a STR of 25, as mentioned by sbarron).

 

That's all I've got to toss into the ring, hopefully it actually makes sense.

ok well now i see were went i awry...i am a long time D&D player ..so when i saw racial bonuses in package deals i automatically went with my long time gaming exp. that racial bonuses/penalties adjusted NCM for said ability score. however you guys have done a great job of explaining to me how the package deals work (which was really my biggest question) and how i can work with those rules to make them fit my campaign idea's. i truelly appreciate the help here.

BTW how do you tell which 5thed version book you have? i am pretty sure i do not have the "revised" edition.

Re: package deal question

The Race Package Design notes document I linked to above and here again describe the way I use them in quite a bit of depth -- nine printed pages worth of depth.

 

The Packages themselves are a generic resource intended to be usable in whatever setting; mathematically they cost the same whether they modify NCM or not. It's up to the GM.

 

 

And, with that, its time for bed.

i hope you didnt think i meant your "text"...i reffering to the core book text.

Re: package deal question

Yes' date=' this is what I have done since 5th Edition came out and the old (mathematically flawed) mechanism of altering NCM was removed. [b']This is in effect in the Race Packages I linked to above; stat mods plus and minus in the Race Packages affect NCM for that race[/b].

 

However, to apply negative characteristic modifiers in HERO Designer you have to make a custom template anyway, so in practice I handle both pluses and minuses via the custom template maker I linked to previously. Keeps it consistent.

and that's what i was originally thinking when i read the packages. and is what i plan on doing regarding NCM in my setting. i just wish the text was more detailed about what the "packages" do if a NCM is used in a champaign.

Re: package deal question

both of those would be good idea's as well. although i do "understand" the reasoning behind NCM's.

Re: package deal question

NCM doesnt fluctuate by default. However many GM's use some means of altered NCM for various races in Fantasy, SciFi, etc.

 

Here's how I do it in my Fantasy games:

 

Race Package Notes

 

Here is a utility web page I wrote to created altered NCM templates for HERO Designer:

 

Altered NCM Template Maker

 

Here's a bunch of Fantasy Race Packages on my site:

 

Race Packages

 

 

And also, here is a very detailed D&D 3e to HERO System conversion:

 

DnD 3e to HERO System Conversion

all i can say is WOW...awesome write up for the package deals...thanks for the links:thumbup:

Re: package deal questiom

Yes' date=' NCM does not change (anymore). It was like that in BBB (or in GURPS), and results in the D20 "If you want to have high strength, play a half-ogre"-phenomena. Now you just get some of your points assigned for you. So +20 points in strength would result in a strength of 25 (10 from 10 to 20, another 10 for 5 more due to NCM).[/quote']

oh ok..this makes more sense. i was thinking more along the lines of D&D and how racial adjustments adjusted the maximums of ability stats.

Re: package deal questiom

i believe in 5th Edition that package deals apply all points normally; so if you're using Normal Characteristic Maxima' date=' they "must" take the extra points to boost their STR, and they have to pay for them as anyone else would. The Package Deals are really there to enforce homogenization among racial packages, so when you encounter X race, you know, within reason, what they can do, because the "race" is a Special Effect that always has [these powers.']

that would make sense with small stat boosts like a +2 or +5 but a +20 to str tells me that they dont have a max str of 20. the package deal i was using as an example there had the Korundar only paying 20 points for the +20 str. if what you said held true i'd have to pay 40 points for that +20 boost. right?

how do package deal's work in relation to normal maximum's? or specifically for racial package deals. i was reading through the "terran empire" setting book for star hero's...and noticed that the Korundar race has +20 str bonus but that it did not indicate an increase in points over the maximum of 20. is this because the bonus/racial package sets the "maximum" for what ever stats in the package at a new level. so that the Horundar's max str is 40, and any point added beyond this will cost x2 as much? am i understanding this right? package deals "can" increase/decrease the maximum of stats that pertain to it? (did that even make sense?) i re-read through the hero core book and the terran empire book but i didnt see any thing that indicated either way what actually takes palce with a package deal?

Re: Best ever reason to NOT be a superhero...

i just dont have the time.

Re: Rejected Superhero Names

Sea-man (Aquaman was already taken)

Subparman (not quit on the supeman level)

the Flasher (uses blinding flash attacks to stun villians)

Peterbuilt

Re: Super Football

One line offensive playbook:

 

"Give the ball to Juggernaut."

With The Hulk lead blocking???

Re: Super Football

although another question would be: who would be the head coaches of these teams???

Re: Super Football

not to high jack a thread but how bout a list of marvel vs D.C supers for this super football game. with characters put into positions on a team. 11 offensive players 11 defensive players per team and 1 kicker 1 punter or a kicker/punter.

if its not a good idea..you can pretend i never mentioned this.

other wise posn's would be as follows: i'll start off with a guy i put in a posn.

OFF MARVEL D.C.

QB

RB

FB INC HULK

TE

WR X2

Off T X2

Off G X2

C

DEF

DE X2

DT X2

OLB X2

I/MLB

CBX2

SS

FS

SPEC TEAMS

KICKER

PUNTER

Re: movies/t.v. vs comic books

wow, thanks guys you guys sure are comic-conosaurs(sp). i appreciate the time and effert to respond to my questions.

Re: movies/t.v. vs comic books

Lana Lang was Superboy's romantic interest. Supposedly he didn't meet Lois until he moved to Metropolis.

 

Lois and Lana have also been protrayed as rivals for Superman's affections.

 

http://supermanica.info/wiki/index.php/Lana_Lang

http://supermanica.info/wiki/index.php/Lois_Lane

 

Incidentally, there's a longstanding theme that most of the important women in Superman's life have the initials LL.

 

An example of this is the mermaid Lori Lemaris:

http://supermanica.info/wiki/index.php/Lori_Lemaris

wow, ok...thanks for the story info. i feel so out of the loop in comics now a'days.

Re: movies/t.v. vs comic books

so in super man there is a lona lang and a louse lane??? wierd?

lol yea i realise i said 8 arms..oops i meant 4 mechanical arms...oh ok so spidey now shoots web outta his wrists in the comics too.

yea the Xman and the members i thought was outta sinc but like i said my Xman history is a wee old and never really kept up with the whole story line.

after seeing the last episode of smallville (were Clark goes to his father and turns back time to save Lonna Lang)and watching a few of the new comic based movies that have come out recently, it got me to wondering just how close to the comic book story line are some of these movies/t.v. shows coming? i have been out of the comic book loop for quite a while but some of the stories have me, well confused or quite agrivated. thanks all.

i guess some example's of what i'm talking about would be nice huh?

-like Lonna lang in Smallville? in the comics was there such a person?

-spiderman, doesnt doc oc have 4 mechanical arms? and the whole web shooting out of his wrists, doesn't it come out of a canister he created?

-Xmen story line...i have entirely to many questions and dont know were to begin..but xmen was never a strong suit for me any ways.

-Batman (the new one that just came out)- i dont remember him going to another country and learning to fight like that. and the batmobile??? hell the whole story and idea.

Re: Wal-mart Miniatures Score!

wal-mart=white trash mini mart or the white trash mike-mike(military for for the mini-mart)...but the deal for the game and figures sounds nice

Re: solo play???

thanks for that tid bit..ill look in to that too...ty

Re: solo play???

No hobby shops in the Portland area?

Or Maybe a college or highschool club?

i seen one since i been here, but i havent been able to relocate it yet...yea i know that sounds dumb but when i first moved here this place was like a maze...now i know the general area i live in pretty well but the shop is outside my comfort zone of area knowledge....

there is a college near and ahigh school right around the coner from me...never thought about trying them..although the high school would lead to a bunch of adolecent "possible noob" players, or just out side of the age i would prefer to play with(that didnt come out right i think). the college i guess i could look into...

Re: Your favorite Archetype examples in super hero comics

I put Mags solidly in the "Energy Projector" category' date=' myself.[/quote']

 

yes i can understand that too..just i see him more as mentally controlling metal? maybe not...both seem fitting imo