薔薇語

I wonder if they will use the Infinity War to kill off most of the characters and end it with the Terragen Mist hitting Earth. The fallout would then be the Inhumans who act as the heads of phase four. La Rose.

Bazza can gloat. I did 5:0 him last season. His revenge is bitter but justified to some degree. La Rose.

As a bit of a self serving notice, I would like to note I picked Mystique that round and my original pick for that spot was Groot. My Second pic (before choosing Mystique) was Mimic.　(^^) La Rose.

Yeah, I agree the issue of power disparity is not one that is easy to resolve even assuming it could be. That is part and parcel of the Arena. But I want to be a bit more clear in saying that I am NOT saying that is a bad thing all together. Just that if we are willing to accept such power disparities, why not just loosen up on the ban list and allow Superman and Dr. Strange? They are not really going to unbalance the matchups any more than Godzilla, Hulk, Thor, or Maxima do. All three of those characters have been taken down in matches. Yet at least one of them has fought Superman to a stalemate and another has broken Dr. Strange. Sure, Franklin Richards might be a bit much (He does subjugate Galactus after all), but Dr. Strange is far from that. So is Superman, for that matter. La Rose.

Yeah, it would seem like a hard thing to do (having weight classes). And that leads to a level of complication that might not be inducive to a purely 'for fun' game on a messaging board. As to you not picking skilled normals - that is part of the thing I worry about. Leading from Season 1 and Season 2, I think people will be far less inclined to go for variety. While I don't have strong facts to back it up (because I don't have access to last season's rosters), I feel like we have already seen some power bloat from our members this season over the last one. I can't imagine that trend will not continue into the next one. La Rose.

This quote is from a different thread: I think this comment brings up a good point: what power levels are people really dealing with in the arena? Without double checking, I think it is fair to say that everyone has at least one overly powerful character - Godzilla being mine, for example. These are characters who, while not actually being on a ban lit, are most certainly close contenders for it. Characters who, minus writer's fiat, should always win (or in the case of Batman - always lose). There is no real way that Groo is going to beat Ms. Marvel. Or that Tygra is going to stop Godzilla. The difference in power is absurd. YET that is the kind of variation we have here. So, is this a problem that we should think about or is the the status quo okay? Let's take the latter first and assume it is okay. If it is okay, then why have a ban list that includes anything short of "Galactus", "Eternity", "The one above all", etc.? We have Hulk (essentially world buster) and Maxima, why not have Superman and Strange? They really aren't that far off from each other. I mean, Hulk did take out Strange in Continuity under reasonable terms. Maxima does fight Superman to standstills. Doomsday is the creature that killed Superman. It just strikes me that we should probably contract the Ban list to only being truly intergalactic powers like I stated above. Perhaps what would be better would be to have "weight classes". People are only allowed one Ultra-Galactic, 3 World Busters / Savers, and 5 nation / City / Street Heroes. That limits the race to the top while allowing there to be a top. But then we would still have the same issue we do now where Michonne must find a way to KO the Juggernaut. So, unless we also define arenas to be class specific or give points to act as a handicap, we really can not avoid that issue. The other side would promote an expansion of the Ban List. A move away from "Ultra-Galactic" and saying no one can go above the 'Nation' or 'world' level. Kind of like the idea of saying "if you can't build the hero on 500pts, then it can't be played". That might encourage some more diversity. Anyway, those are just my rambling thoughts on this. La Rose.

Thanks for the observations, Hermit. I agree that art work is important. I wish I had recalled that when posting the above. Part of the problem I had with drafting against other teams is trying to fit anti-pics in my already limited theme. Last season I tried to work around that obvious problem by pre-planning all my picks such that I wouldn't have any amazingly big gaps. I had a powerhouse: Big G. I had a completely different style powerhouse: Dr. Light**, my semi-familiar name: Flash (Rei Tanaka), cute girl: Go-Go, etc. But that didn't quite work. I think one thing about trying to do anti pics is that everyone is going to try and do that. But no one is going to have a full team of Anti-Tech or Anti-Magic pics. And if they don't, then they really are only getting that edge for one match. It could be the match that decides a week, but it is still just one match. And unless one drafts a completely dedicated "All metal users" kind of theme, it would be hard for your opponent to know what you will bring out on any given day. Also, even if one does have obvious pics - such as mine, then it is still not an easy match up just because the opponent knows the team. I have always used Godzilla on the Islands. I have always use Swamp Thing in the forests. I used and would have always used Kurt on the plane. The Bridge, Cave, Manor and Coliseum were the only ones that were really up in the air - and even then you could probably guess who I would put in each given the layout of the rest of the week. La Rose.

Another concept could be "A Family Affair". Every character must have some kind of family relation to another on the team. Something like how I have Mystique and Nightcrawler. But this idea, while novel, would be quite hard to pull off. A snipe on any character could be devastating. Plus matching two members from the same family up under two separate criteria would be hard. Perhaps if the Commish would allow a person to wait one turn and pic two at a time that could easy the selection process for them but means they have to survive two rounds of Snipes per character rather than just one. La Roe.

You have no idea how close I am to doing that. La Rose.

Indeed, the rehash characters I don't think have fared well. I originally thought about going after Squirrel Girl and Krypto myself (one being a former team member and the other being an enemy) but declined for a few reasons: the concept was hard to use* and I worried they wouldn't get any love. I figured I was safe with Big G because of his fame. I did get Hellboy but that was because I couldn't get Yoda and didn't want to put much more thought into who could qualify for that stop. So I went with an obvious choice that was around from last season. He has done okay but nothing spectacular. *One concept I had before Monster Mash was "The Rejects". Only characters who fought in Season 1 but didn't get picked up. I decided to not go with that idea. La Rose.

With season two winding down for me I am starting to think of team themes for next season. Things that I have learned to be great bonuses: When in doubt, go for a cute or sexy female. Fame is far more important than power. Good guys play better than vllains. Points are important but can be hard to gain in the draft. I personly prefer having a theme rather than a random association but it can be hard to have a narrow theme when drafting as it makes snipes a bigger problem. ___ So thinking of the above I want to find a theme that let's me have a good chance next time while satisfying as many of my above observations as I can. To aid in that I thought I would outsource it a bit. Does anyone have any thoughts? My first theme was Japan. My second was monstrous characters. For my third some ideas I have now are: Mind over Magic: Only Science based characters who have advance degrees. Thus characters like the good Dr. Light or Peter Parker. No characters like Doom as he also has magic. Pan Asia Power: Only characters from Asia in general. This should ease my need to find specific matches from as narrow a field as 'Japan'. Villains Unleashed: Only bad guys for each pick. Lots of variety and many power houses but they are limited in their popular support so points will matter a ton. Spring Time of Youth OR New Kids on the Block: The former is only children or youths. The latter is only children or youth who have a pedigree for heroism or villainy. Any other ideas you all have? Or suggestions for how to fill one of those ideas? La Rose.

My favorite piece of music from perhaps my favorite RPG: Dream of the Shore Near Another World from Chrono Cross. Such a peaceful yet inspiring tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMEb6XXXi08 Edit: Let's add to that. The intro piece to that game was also amazing! "Time's Scar" is the name this piece of music. The graphics for the intro were equally amazing and inspiring. Hard to believe that they had such great quality graphics on the original PlayStation. La Rose.

There were parts of it that seemed fun and compelling but it didn't really grab me. I can't really lay my finger on what exactly is off putting about it but there were times where a got more of a female-audience oriented show (Gilmore Girls, etc) rather than the superhero show with a female protagonist (Dark Angel). But that said, I will still give it a watch. Maybe I will like it after all. And hopefully the whole series won't maintain that same kind of tone. La Rose.

Here is a little bit about what could be going on / being set up in the next Thor movie. I have spoilered the youtube link because even the title of the video has a spoiler. If you do not already know about the spoiler Marvel Comics released about (female) Thor and do not want to know, then do NOT click on the spoiler. If you do already know or don't give a hoot about (female) Thor, then feel free. La Rose.

Make it so. La Rose.

As I recall Google Glasses could do that. You could open up the YouTube app and do a live stream of whatever is going on. But alas people hated Google glasses. And that makes me sad because I loved the idea. La Rose.

Please remember that I am honorable when you vote. Or that I'm vengeful. Either is OK. La Rose.

I don't know those characters nor if anyone has a write up on them. There are typically two or three posters here who will have a write up of almost any type of character. But this forum doesn't get the same traffic as the others. Maybe try posting in the HeroSystem Discussion one if you want a faster response. La Rose.

I have not read everything that has already been posted so if I repeat anything, I am sorry. It could have built in compartment to hold small things: Fine wire line, caltrops, blasting powder packs, etc. It could be curved to be better able to compel movement - this would assist with tossing / dropping opponents. I could have an edge built into the above curve that would give it the ability to cut when positioned at the correct angle. I could have a highpower light source suck in one end. This would act as a flashlight OR work to blind an opponent when put close to their face without warning. Parts of it could be designed to be a high power electromagnet thus making it easier to disarm foes with metal weapons (guns, knives, etc). I could have a air filter built in so that if the hero is in a room of poisonous gas, they could breathe through the filter to buy them a few extra minutes. And probably many more options. La Rose.

The Pikachu song - 10 hour mix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr4IxMgHdDY It is a remix of one of my favorite classic DDR songs - Butterfly. La Rose.

I would almost never allow someone to buy a life support via a build like this. Why? Because a reasonable player would know that the various LS can and will come up in a game. And since he wants his character to be immune to the effects of such environments, he should pay ahead of time for that ability. Unless there is a reasonable chance for him be quite hurt, given his desired special effect, then there is no reason to allow him to grab LS via a VPP. Next up, I still would not allow someone to get any additional armor (rPD, rED) via a VPP. That seems too prone to some abuse or ineffectiveness. Rather, I would encourage the player to buy 10rPD / 10rED with the -1/4 lim "only vs 1 or 2 recently experienced special effects". If it was only against 1 special effect and even more so if the character had to 'activate' the power, then I would call it a -1/2 lim. Now, to account for things like "Flash" or "Drain" etc. I might recommend buying 1 point of a variety of defenses. Then having an AID that can add to them for most characters. But the problem here is that the player wants these bonuses to be permanent. If that is the case, then I would tell the player he must simply buy the defenses with the same Limitation as the armor build I suggested above. IF the player is willing to have the defenses NOT be permanent and fade with time, then point saving triggered AID build would be great. It would kick in once hit, add immediate defenses but wear off in time. Then later on the player can spend normal XP to increase the base defense that the AID is already going on. And he can justify the increase by showing how often he has had his AID build affect a certain defense. Lastly, I generally try to avoid VPPs when other options are available. Even more so when the powers one gets from the VPP are suppose to be Constant (advantage), Permanent (advantage) or become permanent (normal meaning). La Rose.

Based on what you have described, AID is not the power you want. Why is that the case? Because AID will grant the recipient a bonus but that bonus will fade with time. If you want the Armor to give a bonus to defense against a certain special effect for a limited amount of time, then AID is a good way to go. But, as you and your player said "[the] player wants the Evolution to be permanent". Permanent means "not AID". I think banking points off to the side is an option you do not need to and generally should not take. I think you are making this build far more complicated than it needs to be. Others have suggested the build I would go with, but I will restate it below. I am really not sure what to make of this set of statements. Please clarify. --- Adaptive Armor Build. Base Armor: 45 pts. Resistant Protection (10 PD/10 ED/10 Power Defense) Adaptive Armor Bonus: 45 pts. Resistant Protection (10 PD/10 ED/10 Power Defense); Limited Power Only vs experienced SpFX (-0) -- The above build would mean that against all attacks the Hero has 10rPD, rED, and rPwD. The above build would mean that against Special Effects the Armor has experienced before, he would have an extra 10rPD, rED, and rPwD. This would give him an effective 10rPD, rED, and rPwD against previous experienced special effects. Thus, if the player fights Corporal Cool and is hit with an ice ray (and it is the first time vs COLD special effects), then he would only have 10rED against the first attack. From that point on, though, he would have 20. Against Captain Cooler, who he fights later that day, he would still have 20rED against Cooler's Ice Ray. And against Colonel Coolest, who he fights the next year, he would also have 20rED against that Ice Ray. This allows the armor to gain defense after being exposed to a special effect and for that defense to last forever. This seems to be what the player wants. This build does NOT require the setting aside of points. Nor does this bill need the Player or GM to do any on the spot builds or rearranging of points. Everything is done and easily understood. If the player wants the defenses to be higher, he can just buy them up like any Brick would buy up theirs. --- I think the limitation of "only vs special effects he has experienced" is worth only a a -0 limitation as it isn't limiting at all. Unless this character is absolutely brand new with your campaign, the player can easily argue that the armor has experienced all the normal types of special effects (Fire, electricity, cold, etc). Likewise, the likelihood of him coming across completely new special effects on a regular basis is probably low. Lastly, unless ALL of his armor is locked away, he will still have a decent amount of defense. If ALL his armor had the lim, then maybe it would be worth a -1/4 because it would mean there is a slight risk of him taking serious damage every once in a long while. As to putting the armor activation on a delay, the above build would allow you to decide that as you choose. Nothing in the build presented above expressly states that the effects of the Adaptive armor starts after the first contact with a special effect or waits until the player gets to act. In general, I would allow the armor to take effect immediately after the first attack / first series of attacks if autofire, finish up. Thus Corporal Cool gets his Autofire Ice Ray to hit 3 times and each of the three hits deals damage without the extra defense. Immediately following the conclusion of that attack, the Adaptive armor kicks in. If you want there to be a longer delay or for the player to actively have to turn it on, then I could see a reason for the limitation to be increased but even then, not by more than a -1/4th. --- I hope that helps. If you think the above build is not quite capturing what you want, then could you please explain why? If you want to continue with a VPP or AID build, could you explain why you want those builds as opposed to standard limited armor? What benefit does it give given that the player wants something that can adapt quickly and is PERMANENT? La Rose.

First and foremost, I would be weary of putting major defense powers in a VPP. That can too likely lead to the player feeling that they aren't enough or the GM feeling like they are too much. And striking that balance can be hard. Since you have talked with your player more, may I ask you some questions that are more specific then? First, how long is this adaption for in more concrete terms? For example, your Hero faces Chris COLD on May first at 1pm. The first attack CC does is a cold based attack. The adaptive armor has NEVER experienced cold attacks before and is caught off guard. Thus the Hero takes a bit more damage. Now the Adaptive armor knows what cold damage is and adjusts. How long does that adjustment last? For the rest of the battle? For the rest of the day? For the rest of the month? Year? Forever? Now, on May second your Hero faces Fred Fire. Fred attacks your Hero with a fire attack. The armor has NEVER experienced fire attacks before and is caught off guard. Thus the Hero takes a bit more damage. Now the Adaptive armor knows what fire damage is and adjusts. How long does that adjustment last? For the rest of the battle? For the rest of the day? For the rest of the month? Year? Forever? Now, on May Third your Hero faces Christy COLD who wants revenge. She attacks your Hero with a cold attack. The armor experienced cold attacks two days ago. Does it still know how to block it? Has the time caused it to weaken? Has the fire attack caused it to re-prioritize to protect against fire and not cold? - Full protection? - Zero (extra) protection? - Reduced (extra) protection? If reduced - why? - Time? - Attacked by different Special effect? What is the time scale between experiencing an attack of one type and adapting to it? Your Hero faces Lightning Lucy on May 4th. Lightning Lucy is speed 12 and uses lightning bolts to attack your Hero each turn with a hit. Your Hero is speed 2 and only acts on turn six and twelve. When does your Hero's armor adapt? Turn 1 (post attack)? Turn 2 (start)? Turn 6 (on the Hero's Dex) Turn 12 / Post 12 Recover? On May 5th your Hero faces Thunder Theo who seeks revenge. She is also speed 12. He also has Autofire on each of her attacks. He rolls to hit and succeeds in landing 5 shots against your Hero. Does he do full damage with each hit in that ONE attack? Or does the armor adapt between autofire hit 1 and 2? ---- If the General answers are that the armor remembers for a long time (week+) and takes effect generally after being hit (maybe in between Autofire - maybe not). And that the armor doesn't have to choose one special effect to adapt to but can generally do all special effects at once, then we are talking about normal armor with a weird limitation. A limitation that I would think is worth at most -1/4 and probably really worth just -0. If the adaption only lasted a single day, then maybe a -1/4th lim would be appropriate. But if it last a week or more, then no lim at all. If the armor is limited to one special effect at a time, then buying a set amount of defense with an "all or nothing" and / or "limited to x special effect after first experiencing it" seems good. This would mean he could buy 2 levels of Damage Negation with XYZ Lim. After being hit with the Freeze Ray of Chris COLD, his armor adapted. The next attack loses two DCs. But if he is attack with the Fire Ball of Fred FIRE before hand, he gets no extra bonus and the GM must decide if the Adaptive armor re-aligns to the Fire Attack or stays with the COLD attack. ---- As to the life support, unless there is an actual chance he could die or be severely injured or incapacitated by vacuum, cold, etc, then he should just by the Life Support as is (no lims, etc) and define the special effect as "adaptive armor". La Rose.

What can the armor adapt to? enviromental conditions: heat, cold, vacuum, pressure, radiation? SpFX of attacks: Fire, Ice, etc something else? If the former, buy life support like normal. Put on limits if the spfx really need it. If the latter, go with a triggered aid to a defense vs the spfx of attack he has been hit with. The aid will fade with time and only offer protection after being hit. If he wants permanent bonuses, then he just buys up his armor vs an effect or in general. La Rose.

Some good news: Vice News - Baltimore Police charged for the death of Freddie Gray https://news.vice.com/article/baltimore-police-officers-charged-in-death-of-freddie-gray?utm_source=vicenewsfb I wonder if the judge will say the prosecutor went overboard in her chargers or didn't go far enough when he releases the police in a couple months. La Rose.