薔薇語

This is Grace's rebuttal of the "I've now seen the whole movie because of one trailer" meme going around. This is just a video about spoilers but together by Idea Channel.

We don't know if Zoom NEEDS Dr. Wells. Only that he has a goal for him. A goal he has been fulfilling with others - Not all of whom are still alive. Dr. Wells has no reason to think he is indispensable, only useful. He obviously didn't worry about Wells when dealing with Garrik. So, Wells says no and then he and his daughter are killed and Zoom moves to plan K. Soar.

I think the issue here us the rather normal confusion of Sf/x and Mechanical effects. But to parrot Hugh's signature: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck flavored RKA. We must break away the special effect of "creates food from nothing" from the mechanical effect of "benefacor us no longer hungry / delays negative effects of hunger". The one power that best simulates the delaying of negative environmental effects is LS. And I think Lucius' example is great. We build air support systems as a Transform but as LS: no need to breathe. There is good reason for that. Saor.

Go to a particular kind of doctor. Soar.

I think that is a level cf over thinking that isn't needed. ^^ If we do indulge it though, we have to ask: "What are the special effects in play?" The Holy Cleric Holly casts "Food of the Gods!". It create magical fruits, vegetables and meats for individuals to consume. It is a divine spell in the setting and the food is not normal food but divinely infused foods that quench the hunger of those who consume it. The Evil Cleric Eric casts "Dispel Holy food." It withers food of its divine essence and causes the remaining morsels to rot. Because the food is still out on the table and un eaten, Eric's spell needs to hit a DcV of 3 and overcome Holly's PwrD of 1. He does, the food rots. Because the food has been consumed an hour ago, Eric has no target to aim for with his "DISPEL" power, he can not use it / it fizzles. Because the player in control of Eric still wants to have an effect, he has a secondary build of the same power that is a DRAIN vs [something: body, con, stun, REC, etc]. But this spell only has effects on characters who have consumed food created though Divine Magic. This time Eric must target the individuals who may have consumed the Divine food and overcome their DcV and PwrD to have any effect. That is of course only one set of ideas. Soar.

The main Opening to Attack on Titan: Full Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfuZqGvruug Soar.

So your point is that it is too easy to stop the power? Yes, assuming my general build which is just a few active points, a three dice Dispel could easily remove it. Thus a 6 Active point Dispel could remove a 3 or 4 active point UoO LS. I understand that but still don't see the issue. Is this a negative or a positive thing for you? To put this in a different context but maintaining the relevant points: Mr. Mage has a 'Arcane Push' attack (6d6 blast - PD - 30 active). But Ms. Counter Mage has a 'oh no you didn't!' counter spell (9d6 Dispel vs Blast - 27 active). For fewer active points Ms. Counter Mage has rendered Mr. Mage's attack pointless. Is this a problem? I think most people would say no. Why? Ms. Counter Mage can only affect blast unless she buys advantages to expand her target. She must be near Mr. Mage and notice him casting otherwise she can't stop it. She must make an attack roll against Mr. Mage and any Power Defense Mr. Mage has gets to protect his Arcane Push attack. Ms. Counter Mage's attack is also 'all or nothing' (IIRC). All in all, the Dispel power is only 'too cheap' (assuming that is your issue) if one ignores all the other context of it. Getting back to the LS:Food&Drink vs Dispel, we can see that for Ms. Counter Mage to affect the LS:Food&Drink UoO build with a DISPEL, she would either need to be indescribably specialized for it to be cheap or is wasting a lot of points to keep other people hungry. So, I don't see the issue here. But lets assume your issue is simply with the fact that food can be dispelled in the first place: So? Normal food can be dispelled - it is called "Blast, HtHa, RKA, HKA...". But if your concern is that this food is somehow NOT normal food and thus shouldn't exist, we can easily alter that with one simple advantage: inherent. Turn the 4-5 point built into a 4-6 point build and say that the INHERENT advantage is applicable only after the completion of the power. Thus the food is REAL but created by magical means. It can no longer be DISPELLED by anti-magic dispels post facto. It can still be affected pre-completion under that design but if you don't want that, then allow the INHERENT advantage to be used normally and thus completely prevent that from happening at all. All in all, I am still confused as to the issue here. This power is not easily dispelled as one might think. And the food can be made 'real' for almost 0 active points. Soar.

Soar.

Christopher, I am not sure I get what you mean with your point about dispelling. Assuming you mean dispel the Special Effect of using magic to counter magic, you could dispel the stated powers above that use magic as a base. My above build for making things non-harmful, if defined as magic, could easily be dispelled. It would be hard to dispel (magic to counter magic) a Power Build that is not using a Magic special effect but that is hardly an issue solely with the above builds but rings true across all builds. So, if I had my build above but swapped out Immunity for 'no food or drink' and tacked on Requires Skill Roll, I could just define it as 'really good at foraging for food'. That, of course, is naturally not going to be effected by a traditional 'dispel' effect. If you mean dispel in a strictly mechanical sense of the DISPEL power - yeah, while a case could be made that the UoO build could be Dispelled (it is an attack power), the standard Life Supports can't be (not an attack power). But if you are talking about a broad mechanical sense of "stop a power", then all the above builds can be stopped by a variety of powers; sometimes determined by the mechanic and sometimes by special effect. Standard Life Support can be stopped with a simple drain. UoO LS can be stopped with a dispel or stopped after the fact by drain potentially. Magic special effects can be countered by magical effects that target magical effects. But those same magical dispels might not work on normal foraging of food special effects. But those effects can easily be counter by a variety of RKA and Blasts that just destroy the items in particular - a makeshift dispel. Lastly, when it comes to the visibility of a power, that is largely going to be determined by the special effect at play. Is it divine creation of bread where onlookers can easily notice that the loaf of bread never gets smaller? Is it the arcane forces coallescing into solid food? Is it nature spirits and guardians bringing you sustenance? Or is it just you going out to the market and buying some bananas? All of which could be built along the same power concept but would require different advantages / disadvantages to properly calculate among other things the 'visibility' of the power in question. So I come back to my initial issue: what is the issue?

That version of the trickster (A clinically ill person who is somewhat sympathetic) is okay. I certainly don't mind him. But I like the TV version, too. I also like that they didn't try to repeat the character just because it has Mark Hammil. And I really bet that Mark Hammil is appreciative of that, too. Soar.

Well, unless your specific Spelljammer setting diverges quite a bit from my experience of the game, Food and Water is an afterthought at best. Thus I still hold to the idea that the druid should not be spending more than 1-3 real points for the power to provide sustenance. Your current build would require at minimum of 8 points and possibly 11 (if you force the Druid to buy purify as being separate from creation). To respond to an earlier point you made about which should be more costly (purify vs create), I disagree with your basic assumption that creation should be more expensive. I think the mechanical effects of removing a poison (which is equivalent to making someone immune to a poison) have a greater in game effect than provision of food&drink. Why do I think this? Well, it is a two fold issue: 1- Food&Drink provisions are solutions to 'natural' problems and are not interacting with effects other players are buying (as a normal rule of thumb). 2- But anti-poison and/or anti-disease (spoilage) provisions are solutions to 'natural' problems AND effects that other players are likely to purchase. It is far more likely for a player to have an NND attack nullified by "LS:Immune to poison" or "LS:Immune to disease" than it is for that player to buy an attack nullified by "LS: Does not Eat". Even with that said, though, I don't think an extremely limited LS:Poison and Disease should be costing more than 5 or so points unless there is a genre convention at work; SpellJammer doesn't strike me as a setting that represents that exception. To put into perspective why I think that 5 point limit is a good measure is because I could make any character immune to any poison / disease for ANY source for a day for cheap: Immunity for All!: LS: Immunity to all diseases and poisons - 10 pt base UoO: Usable by other - Granted to up to 4 targets - +3/4 Time Limit: Persistent power to 6 hour limitation - -1/2 Active Cost: 17pts Real Cost: 11pts. If we add on extra limitations (Gestures, extra time, foci, incantations, cost end, etc), it becomes significantly cheaper. Soar.

I think Lucius's original post option was by far the most succinct and RAW build. Using a transform for this does seem initially okay but I think it is actually far too round about an option. And I would not require that it go above a cosmetic and certainly never above a minor transform to make food. I know that people tend to think of "create something from nothing" must equal Major or Sever Transform but that is fundamentally misunderstanding the objective value of transform. More than "what is created", "What mechanical value is gained" is the defining quality between the several transforms. That is why nothing more than a general +2 bonus should be achievable from a Minor Transform while a Major Transform can do more. So it comes down to looking at the creation and purification of food in purely mechanical terms: how much real value is it creating for the player character? In HERO terms it is providing a temporary solution to hunger. Is there any other solution in HERO that provides this solution? Yes, LS: Food & Water. So it makes sense that we should pin our cost expecations against that value; a value of 1-3 points only. So if your Power build is costing you far more than 2-6 points (akin to a UoO LS:Food&Drink), then you are likely over doing it. This gets back to Lucius's original build. Rather than use a completely separate power mechanic to represent an already existing power mechanic (which is generally frowned upon for good reason), he just used the one as presented in the RAW. Then expanded upon it to make sure it could be usable in a variety of special ways (foraging, magical doubling, whole-cloth creation, etc). It was a simple and sweet build that is price point appropriate (the most PPA a build for this could be - 1 real point!). Lastly, unless there is a genre expectation that food is a rarity and thus that is a major factor for the PCs, then I do not see any reason to ever get above a 1-3 point cost for a food&drink power. Of course if you are in a Post-Apoc world where food is scarce, I would reconsider that standard - but then again, I might reconsider the RAW pricing for all the LS powers as they would obviously be FAR more valuable in that setting than in any other one. Soar.

The Geek and Sundry show? Good show. I listen to it live on my way back from work on Fridays. It is a nice way to kick off my weekends and fill up the hour long bike trip home. Soar.

I really enjoyed the last episode of The Flash. I thought that episode, more than any other, captured the flavor of comics - over the top characters, impossible to fathom setup, and general "good guys win in the end" with a stupid gimmick all capped off with a "but next time!!!" ending. For people who love comic book versions more than the normal TV versions, how was this episode not exactly what you wanted? I personally enjoyed the episode for what it was - a bit of a lighthearted break from the standard formula with a strong emotional undercurrent regarding acceptance of one's lot in life: Nothing will change that RF killed Barry's mom, nor Spivot's father, nor the time lost with Wally; what matters is how those characters cope with the cards they've been given. And so far all of them are making the 'heroic' choice by overcoming their baser emotions. I also really liked that they brought in Wally as a character at the same time they clarified the motives for Zoom. It would seem to foreshadow a link between the two. Perhaps Wally will gain the Speed Force powers and team up with Barry to finish this plot line? I have my own hopeful idea of what could happen from this but it seems to wild to actually publicly speculate on with. Soar.

For anyone who likes anime and ones a great mini series to watch over a weekend, I highly recommend "未来日記" - Mirai Nikki - Future Diary. The following is a cover of that opening and then the actual opening. But seriously, though, that is a great anime - perhaps my favorite miniseries one. It has a unique plotline that keeps you guessing and in suspense all the way to the end. And the sheer number of tragic and not so tragic characters keep your emotions up high and your tears well refreshed. Soar.

I see your Scandinavian bluegrass coverband and raise you a Scandinavian Metal cover artist: And so many more! Soar.

I am the exact opposite. I loved the bit we saw. Gene Hackman was terrible in the role. Keven Spacey was okay but it didn't grab me. The cartoon version from the 90s was nice but always just struck me as "board room baddy" which isn't terrible but hardly that inspired. This one seems to have a subtle charm with a revival of the Homo-Superior take on Lex that was more often in the comics - the one where he takes on the mantle of challenging alien gods rather than simply trying to develop more real-estate. Soar.

Are you wanting an actual Hulk clone done on 400 points or do you want a Hulk-flavored 400 point character. The former is harder just because we don't know what era of hulk is desired and because getting that "no limit to str" style of special effect is difficult given the mechanics without expending tons of points (for obvious reasons). But if you want a Hulk Clone done on the cheap, that is easy enough to do. Soar. Some possible cookie cutter ideas from published works off hand: Ripper (from viper). I am trying to find him in one of my digital books but I can't at the moment. I guess he is only in the Viper specific book (which I don't have a digital copy of). He is super strong and has a Bane like serum to get stronger. Just switch out that built for a 5th ed Absorbtion or 6th ed Aid. Of course this would just be the Multiform of the Banner-like character. Piledriver (5th ed from "Evil Unleashed"). Just remove his flight and replace it with leaping and you have a generally similar version but for more points. Just cut back on some of his defense, strength, constitution, and speed should help bring him even more in line with your concept. Of course this would just be the Multiform of the Banner-like character. Ogre (5th ed Conquerors, Killers and Crooks) is a straight forward brick like character on the cheap side. Just adjust him to get some of the special effects you want, too. Again - this would be part of your Multiform.

I think the reason they didn't do a full background on him was because the Heroes might not fully know. They did tell the part that was needed the most: He is immortal and kills the two Hawks each generation and doing so increases his own abilities. I think most of the other backstory elements for him will come up as they get more into the story arc - which still isn't over. Soar.

To me, if you were going to introduce such a dynamic into your games, you should do it with either defensive power limitations (does not work vs 'stabby' attacks, -1/2) or with vulnerabilities (plus 50 percent damage from 'smashy' attacks). The latter being a rather in-elegant way of solving the issue but might work for creatures who have unusual weaknesses; like how lycans are weak to silver, maybe a Glass Golem is just more vulnerable to Smashy than Slicy and Stabby attacks. Soar.

I don't know. That seems like a specious argument to me. Seriously, it is the 21st century. By know we should be more accepting of our Lycan brothers and sisters. Soar.

From the stills I wasn't all that impressed. He kind of looks like Christian Bale. So much so that I actually thought it was him until I saw the final still where we got a look at his face directly. Seriously, if these were claimed to have been long lost production stills from Batman Begins I would have believed it. Soar.

I don't much mind the desert scene being the real characters. It makes me wonder if maybe there was more too it than we are assuming. Perhaps that is the heart to heart moment Bruce needed to get his point across. Maybe that was when Clark finally realizes it is Bruce and recalculates what he has been up to. Maybe something else? But if it were a Bizarro version of Superman that would be okay, too, but I just don't think it is. Could be wrong, though. Soar.

Metal version of Barbie Girl. Soar.

That was a good trailer! It makes me want to watch the movie and it does draw me more into the characters we have. I liked the Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent back and forth. But the absolute best part of their back and forth was the interruption by the new Lex Luther! I wasn't sure about the casting but I think I am going to love him in this role the way I liked Ledger as The Joker. There was humor, charisma, and a nice touch of demented. Great job! The reveal that doomsday will be the boss with him essentially being a weirdo clone of Zod was interesting too. But of course, now I do feel like I know the whole movie plot. I wonder what will be left over to see. Soar. Oh my goodness! I just checked the IMDB release date info. This movie actually releases in Japan the same time as the US! I won't have to actually avoid a movie thread for several months while I wait for this one! That is so weird. If only Marvel and Disney would catch on!