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DasBroot

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Everything posted by DasBroot

  1. I knew I recognised that 30d6 from somewhere. Funny. That 60 m/s is closer to someone falling spread eagle than simply free falling (again according to Professor Wikipedia). As an aside one of the math guys in my gaming group (definitely not my forte) started playing around a formula after he realized that the hundred ton 1.9 meter tall hero with density increase hits the ground for the same amount of damage as a 1.3 meter tall 40 kg child ("That's just not right") - he started by calculating force (the good old f=ma) and then determining what that force could 'move' if applied to an object and taking the resulting mess and applying it to the strength table under lift (and grumbling about the inaccuracy of that since 'lift' is above your head and hold to take a few steps... not move one inch off the ground, push, pull, drag). The imprecise nature of it had him abandoning the idea in disgust but I thought it was a neat idea - and probably utterly impractical. Best to leave it alone probably (or, since being crushed by objects does damage based on how much strength is needed to lift them, add their weight to the fall damage - a hundred ton object (str 60 = 12d6) falling a distance needed to take 8d6 would take 20d6 instead (so an M1 Abrams tank would actually take body instead of shrugging off an 8d6 attack against its PD - though yes I know the tank armor was probably bought with Real Armor as a limitation). That could get out of hand with a game's DC caps in a hurry if weaponized, though ("Cannonball!" screams the density increase hero turning off his flight a hundred meters above his Entangled target).
  2. I think the cost break point for vpp vs multipower is 10 or 11 powers used regularly at capacity? I normally don't shove that many things into a multipower so it's more efficient (for me) to use MP. Also with VPP I find it's go 'cosmic' or go home. The versatility isn't as useful if you have to change it between scenes, etc. If I run into something I wish I had a power for then making sure I have a power for next time isn't necessarily going to help - I might never have need of a triple armor piercing 4 meter teleport to get out of an overzealous entangle ever again.
  3. It would be a real shame if something mysterious were to happen to most of their research and fissionable material stockpiles before that happened...
  4. Being first and loudest is all they have - and it's success rate is, as always, alarmingly high. If a person truly has no opinion on something then they are often open to forming their opinion based on what is being said with the most conviction. It's why attack ads WORK and It's seen all the time in all aspects of life :a <insert thing> is bad because other people said it was, and that's good enough for someone who didn't plan on getting invested in <insert thing>. They might repeat it, though - and the snowball rolls further down the mountain. It's just depressing and borderline dangerous when applied to politics and social issues, that's all. Lisa: Better to to silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Homer's Brain: What the hell does that mean? Quick say something clever. Homer: Takes one to know one! Internet 2017: He's got a valid point. Who does she think she is? Quickly, attack her credibility - that will invalidate what she said! Also the Internet 2017: That's... not how discussion works. Internet 2017: Takes one to know one!
  5. Hi Steve, Herodude has a base PD of 25. He also has a multipower pool. In this pool he has a slot dedicated to providing +5 PD and Protects Carried Objects (15 AP). if he uses this slot to protect a civilian (as per the text stating it can even protect carried characters) from an AOE hitting them how do these effects combine? He clearly gets 30 PD. How much does the civilian get? The full 30 or the 5 from the slot? If he'd used usable on others - simultaneously - the civilian would clearly add 5 pd but this isn't doing that, exactly - it's adding to his existing PD and putting an adder on it which allows him to use his PD to protect carried objects. Thank you
  6. Is terminal velocity 30d6? I honestly thought it was but I didn't have my copy of CC in front of me ... is it somewhere in there? Did I do math for nothing? (Although interesting the see the difference between what a terminal velocity impact *should* do using the velocity/move through rules vs what they decided it does do) Like I said - the 75 was to illustrate the cost of the 120 meter leap (same price, cool design, much weaker effect - orbit fall vs medium skyscraper). If I wanted to take a serious stab at it *and* respect a campaign cap of say 30 PD I'd make a compound power: Shield Fall: (Total: 75 Active Cost, 75 Real Cost) Resistant Protection (10 PD) (Real Cost: 15) plus Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (Real Cost: 60) Slot Cost: 7f I had enough points using a 75 point slot to cover falling from orbit onto spikes or something (Killing attack) and walking away with (assuming a 20 PD base on the rest of the character) with probably less than 5 body and probably 18-22 stun (even if that 10d6 killing impact against spikes was defended against solely by the rPD of the shield fall power - 35 average body - 10 = 25/4 = 6 body) And there's really nothing beside the GM making pleading doe eyes (or more likely limiting combining defensive powers) to not just use that as the shield's basic defensive slot against physical damage all the time since I didn't bother putting limitations on it (no real need - powers in multipower slots are crazy like that). Suddenly allowing a campaign limit break of +75 PD for one specific situation looks a lot more appealing. (0 body, 30 stun if the 75 was the only PD applied - 15 stun if you assume a base of 15 PD when not using that power.)
  7. True, but when using theorycraft you can't really factor in limits that aren't universal - like the active points used in the power it's being compared to, It's to point out the cost associated as much as anything - I *think* 30 points of armor will technically stop you from taking body at terminal velocity (but not the stun - even the 75 might be hard pressed on that) and is under most games caps. That said I'd personally be inclined to 'let' someone exceed limits for such a specific situation anyways: If I denied it they'd just come back with a Desolidify (cannot pass through objects, falling damage only) or a 1 meter teleport, no relative velocity, must cross intervening space, triggered within 1 meter of the ground while falling, some variation of triggered flight, or something even more clever. All would let you fall from orbit and actually are probably fewer points but, like the leaping, while they're (probably) mechanically sound I don't feel they accurately replicate the 'feel' of what's happening... your shield is absorbing the fall damage. Why not let it? It's my opinion that the simpler you make the conditions for accepting a *very limited and situational defensive power* (-2 in the original post) exceeding a campaign 'limit' the less likely someone is to need a master's degree in Hero System Studies to play along and try and get around said limit.. edit: Actually I think terminal velocity (Professor Wikipedia recommends 320 km/h) works out to be: 320 km/h x 1000 m / 3600 (seconds/segments in an hour) = 88 meters per segment. That's a 14d6 move through against the earth? 75 would stop all but the most extreme fall damage and 40-50 will do it on average. 30 will stop all body like I guessed.
  8. For 75 active points I think I'd rather take 75 PD (only to stop falling damage). No endurance and you could fall from orbit and not take body.
  9. Yep. Pretty much a staple of any character I build is the ability to recover multiple body per day somehow (healing, regeneration) - just in case. It's cheap and even in street level games it's not particularly genre accurate to be out for months at a time: they're always better by the next adventure and while comic book time is fluid it's rare (not unheard of but rare) to mention the character who was covered in lacerations and coughing up blood from their last issue being out of action for a month.
  10. I'm definitely in the 'take it away' over 'destroy it' camp... though that's harder to do with 'obvious inaccessible' foci. A 'disarm' spell, for example, could be TK and Martial disarm (perhaps with weapon element TK depending on GM ruling and edition), Foci use their own defenses or the defenses they provide (whichever is higher) - if you have a Persecuted Player (that one guy who feels that any attack against his character is being singled out by the GM) you could definitely get into an arms race where his magic sword ALSO provides his defenses and power defense so it's harder to affect. (Also clinging with +40 strength to resist disarms. At this point, though, it wouldn't be a bad idea to suggest Only In Hero ID or restrainable before they blow a hundred points 'defending' their focus. Or... let them and never try and take the focus out of the equation again so those points are 'wasted' - depends on how big a pain he is) I think extradimensional movement counts as non-combat movement and can't be used as an attack? Not positive. The teleport, though, is always downright hateful. "Fools! Now I shall rule the skies! Mwahahaha!" Says Doctor SKyruler from his newly completed sky skiff (a vehicle) "How much does it weigh?" Player "Uh... 5 tons." "Cool. I create a usable as attack teleport, 10 meters, with enough mass multipliers to affect it with my vpp." "Uh oh." "I teleport the sky skiff 10 meters. I can't target the doctor because line of effect is blocked and the vehicle itself doesn't have teleport so ... only the skiff moves, right?" "...."
  11. An Accurate Penetrating 1d6 Killing Autofire attack would beat up most destructable foci nicely... but the real question is 'why?' It's expensive and very niche. If you use it as a GM there's no way you're not calling someone out, in their mind. If you use it as a player then the GM may be inclined to just stop using foci (enemies are built on unlimited points, after all -- limitations are there to specifically give players an advantage rather than bring costs down). There is a point to BIg Blammy drains or KA vs a focus, though - it may lose a power for every attack that does body, sure --- but it loses ALL powers when its broken.
  12. I don't even keep track of my players speeds, really. I track when the enemies are going and call segments. My combats go something like this (speed 4 enemy). When a segment is over I flip a d12 to the next number. Call out: 1 Nobody? Segment over! *adjust d12) 2 (me! says someone with speed six) - resolve actions 3 (the mooks and players) 4 Player: Wait, I was supposed to go on 3! "I called it and declared segment over unchallenged. You held. Stay off your phone. Fours? etc I know the mooks are going on 3, 6, 9, 12. I trust the players to listen for their segment number. I retcon them into holding if they miss it. I don't worry about anything else. (I'm super lazy in combat, though - one player has a dice roller and I have them use it on my behalf for any non-secret roll. A fringe benefit is whoever gets nailed for 60 damage on a 12d6 attack blames the player with the roller instead of me fudging the dice )
  13. Indeed. Unless you extend the 'cannot activate or deactivate a power more than once a phase' to mean 'once a round' you could end up with this (speed 6): Super turtle mode activate! Round A) Attack (1), attack (2), desolidify and break line of sight/effect by moving into the floor (3) Round B ) Move out of floor , drop desolidify, attack (1), attack (2), desolidify and move into floor (3). Lots of ways for constant or persistent powers to become troublesome even excluding Hugh's already pointed out skill levels and pool slot allocation concerns.
  14. Girl shoots boyfriend in youtube stunt gone wrong A 50 Calibre Desert Eagle from a foot away. They used a hard cover encyclopedia for armor. Please people... please. Never point a gun at someone you aren't prepared to kill.
  15. I find it a little amusing that Sony's costume doesn't really look like something he could have made at home, when presumably it was, and Marvel's does - when it was made by Stark.
  16. I do think the webbing on Holland's costume could definitely use a little punching up - either darker lines or borrow the silver from Sony. It's hard to see even in the trailers (but maybe not on the big screen). Still, it's pretty faithful and I like it over all.
  17. I'd hesitate to call it 'protection' when you're still blind. If you're in the second cloud when the first wears off you're blinded again - not a great tactical move. It's not an immunity in the descriptive sense: Eyes watering and choking when you stagger from cloud to cloud should definitely still be how its described - it's just that mechanically there's no further effect. Now Steve's ruling does allow one point of silliness: You could create a fixed effect (1) Flash on a trigger that fires when you're subjected to a flash attack. You blind yourself, sure, but it's better to be blinded for one segment than for whatever they roll. I close my eyes!: Sight Group Flash 1d6 (standard effect: 1 Segments), Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates; When targeted by a sight Flash attack; +1) (10 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Only works on self; -1), No Range (-1/2) (Though I think you'd be better off just buying 'x' many points of Flash defense instead)
  18. Neat idea but why not just buy 20 more stun to begin with?
  19. For those who didn't see: http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/95658-overlapping-flash-durations/ While I'll admit I'm a little surprised that he didn't rule it 'greater effect overwrites lesser' his reasoning does make sense to me. Couldn't 'Flashes' that extend or last until certain condition are met be better simulated by Darkness? Or perhaps change environment? Tear gas, for example - you can't see until you get clear of the cloud. Is that really a Flash? Other powers have problems, sure: If you use Darkess to create the effect then you can't see the target afterwards, either. Maybe selective would help? Or perhaps use CE to force a large penalty to perception until you leave the cloud? There are other ways to impair someones senses in Hero.
  20. I don't mind retcons so long as they add something to the continuity they're modifying. If they want to use this to further cement a sense of hero worship / attachment to the MCU relationship between the two characters that's fine with me.
  21. Problem is there wouldn't be much of a show if every cold open ended with 'back us up and launch a probe'
  22. Do flash effects 'stack' with each other or over-write each other with the greater effect? scenario 1: Strobe, speed 6, uses a flash attack against a mook on phase 4 and nets 6 body, flashing sight for the mook for six segments (until phase 10). On phase six he repeats the attack and gets 5 body. Is the mook still flashed until phase 10 from the first attack, flashed until segment 11 (6 plus the new flash), or does this damage 'add' to the result of the first flash (pushing the flash until phase 3 of the following round) Scenario 2: Strobe uses his Funky Chicken power - an Autofire 3 Flash attack - against a different mook. He gets lucky and hits all three times and generates 2 body, 3 body, and 3 body for damage. Is the second mook Flashed for 3 segments (the greatest damage) or 8 (the total damage)? Thank you
  23. Damage, sure - blind people wear sunglasses because they can't see the sun hammering their eyes to know to avert them... but looking at the sun makes them no more blind. That's a little different, though: Damage due to prolonged exposure to flash attacks would be a different mechanic in the Hero system (Does Body? Low powered drain with a high cap and delayed recovery?) I'm curious, though...
  24. It must be hard to be tactical and / or security on these shows. Captain: "Tactical officer... your assessment?" TO: "The anomaly is mobile and possesses an unknown maximum energy output. I recommend we raise shields and pull back to a safe distance." C: "Noted. Science officer?" SO: "We'll need to be closer to use our madeupium whatsitscope." Captain: "Understood. Helm, take us in." TO: *sighs*
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