Gauntlet

I would be fine with characters being unhittable by physical or energy attacks, if that's their main thing.  For example I had a game where a guy played a crossbow specialist with the usual gadget warheads.  His OCV was 12 with that thing.  He never missed, not once in the campaign.  That was his thing.  He wasn't the most dangerous enemy, or the toughest or fastest, he just was accurate.  That kind of character I am okay with, I like player characters to shine, as long as they don't dominate.
 
But if you're unhittable AND really dangerous AND really fast etc, well we have a problem.  Like Lonewolf and Gauntlet said, its about being challenged.  If you can create a challenge for them, then its okay.

There is nothing wrong with a GM telling a player that is a cool concept but it is not going to work in the game I am running.   The game is a cooperative effort that is supposed to be fun for everyone.  When your concept starts to create problems for the GM and especially for the other players you need to be willing to modify your concept.  In fact this is something that a good GM will do to ensure everyone is enjoying the game.   I would go so far as to say that it is a responsibility of the GM to ensure that no character ruins the fun for the rest of the group.   
 
A good GM will should give some advice on how to tone things down so you can play a character you want. But they should make sure that no one character dominates the game or creates problems.    
 

Sometimes the regular PD or ED should work against spells. Should the spell be something that is definitely real, which could even just be regular fire, the in this case their ED should be in play. But if you want to have that magical fire attack that can burn even that creature who can survive in lava, then add the AVAD Advantage so that they only get their ED that is magical in nature. Normally in 6th Edition the AVLD Advantage is not as high as it is in earlier Editions. The only thing I would state that in your game the "Does Body" +1 Advantage is not required. This would make an AVAD attack be able to actually be purchased in a heroic campaign. This would mean that the AVAD Advantage where the target can only use their magical ED against the attack, only be a +1, not a +2. In addition, should the caster want a spell that does not do BODY, they can add the -1/2 Limitation "STUN Only" which would drop the cost of the spell even more.

I definitely have to agree with you. There is no reason for randomness as there are plenty of things a character, or villain, can do to keeps things interesting. Many people don't realize that just because you have a DEX of 25 you do not have to go at DEX 25. Many times it is a good idea to hold off to see what your opponents are going to do or to allow you to work with one of your team members. In addition, just because you go in Phases 3, 6, 9, & 12, it does not mean those are the only phases you are allowed to act in. You can hold your Phase 3, to phase 4 or 5. Once again this can cause opponents problems because you are not going in the same phase or will allow you to better work with one of your teammates. Heck, when I use VIPER, I definitely have the agents not acting in their regular phases, that way if there is a number of them they can be attacking the heroes in every phase, not just 4, 8, & 12.
 
Note: I do know this is something I have said before but I believe it is something that can be said twice as I have seen a lot of players, especially new ones, who do not realize this is available.

Interesting through. One thing to always make sure is that your player's characters can work together and don't use each other's sticks. Can be hard to do sometimes.

Funny but I disagree with all the points you made at the top of the quote. The fixed initiative is such a relief compared to die roll randomness. Most combat is sort of planned or at least has objectives. Champions was a Wargame of superheroes. The chaotic randomness is a product of melee or martial arts fights, when ranged combat is more planned out, or at least rules based. A lot of this chaos and randomness seems like a desire for more of a fiction forward flavor.  My preference is not to mess with Champions RAW. 

Another rule is that if a hero does a heel turn and becomes a bad guy, they gain 50% or more power level.  Conversely, a villain who turns good loses a good half of their power or more.

Considering that I live in West Alise, Milwaukee Wisconsin, the birthplace of Liberace I say thea, nay.

Yes, but Armor Piercing attacks don't just have to be Killing Attack. Normal attacks can be Armor Piercing as well, which still reduced the target's defenses for both STUN and BODY. Penetrating attacks only do a bonus of BODY for Killing Attacks and only a bonus of STUN for Normal Attacks.
 
And yes, I have had plenty of character ignore Penetrating attacks feeling that they were not that much of a problem. In fact, most players I have had in any of my games have felt that Armor Piercing was more of a threat then Penetrating, yourself included.

How about Liberace Reborn. He is a dancing martial artist who can attack with sonic powers that can both shatter stone or control your mind.
 

One thing that everyone should be aware of is that you do not have to go in the phases listed by your speed. If you are a 3 speed and are set to go in 4, 8, & 12 you can always hold your action. So when phase 4 comes you can wait and go in 5 instead, or 6, or 7. I have found this to be great against heroes fighting large number of slower targets. By switching the phases they act in, they can be attacking the characters in EVERY SINGLE PHASE, not just in 4, 8, & 12. This means that the characters have to pay attention to every phase, not just the three their enemies go based on the Speed Chart.

I don't think that Penetrating should be reduced to a 1/4 Advantage, I think that Armor Piercing should be increased as a 1/2 Advantage. They may be different in what they can do and when they are at the most advantageous, but they still have about the same value. I don't see Armor Piercing being only half as valuable as Penetrating.

Okay, so it looks like we are all on the same page. My big thing is that I don't believe that Penetrating should be a higher advantage than Armor Piercing. I think that both should be 1/2. I am not sure why they would put Armor Piercing at 1/4 while Penetrating is still 1/2. 

Why do we need to eliminate either of them?  There is nothing wrong with having more options, both advantages have their place.  The whole point of the Hero System is that you can build any power you want.  Some attacks are better built as AP others may work better as PEN. 
 
 
As to the cost difference AP attacks are more useful on higher dice attacks, where PEN works well on low dice attacks. Putting AP on a low dice attack gives you less bang for the buck then PEN as the target with decent DEF can still often bounce the attack.  PEN on the other hand becomes less effective at higher dice.   

Space Ghost was the series that really kicked the Saturday morning cartoon supers trend into high gear. The success of that show prompted the other two of the Big Three TV networks to contract H-B and others to develop their own series.
 
Many younger viewers only know the character from his later satirical pseudo talk show, and haven't experienced the coolness of his original adventures.

One thing also to remember is that you are going to play games you have some understanding of, and that many times will depend on where you come from. I will bet that a gamer in India or China or Japan would have incredibly different world bases than someone in the United States or Europe. And there is nothing wrong with that. The whole point is to have fun using your imagination. But then again if you want to run something different than the norm in your area, then take some time to learn different cultures, history, and imaginative lore.

They in some respects have gotten themselves to be the "Cool Thing To Do".

There is nothing wrong with using folded paper figures. They are easy to get and to make and work very well.

I am pretty sure the argument about if Champions is just variations on superheroes is kinda pointless. All heroes in movies, roleplaying games, or even computer games are Superheroes. The fact that they may not wear a cape or have lazers out of their eyes is irrelevant. For example, look at any of the Die Hard movies, in real life he would probably be at least hospitalized, or even dead, at the first encounter of the movie. Hell, Conan the Barbarian was even considered a superhero in Marvel.

I was one of the contributors and playtesters for 5E D&D for WotC from the beginning and the first half of the edition cycle, and what you have said about D&D being more confusing than Hero System is spot on. Hero System, learn the rules and put some effort into really learning character creation and your done. In D&D, everything works differently, every class ability, spell, racial ability, magic item, and monster. Each has statistics, just like Hero System, but each also has the dreaded text to be interpreted, misinterpreted, misconstrued, and the second paragraph, the one that has the negative, always gets forgotten by the player and you have to go and look it up, and interpret it, misinterpret it, etc. D&D/Pathfinder appear to have a million options, but if you have to take them to keep up with the neverending encounter scale and the rest of the party, are the really options? If 80% of the advanced paths and feats for martial characters require either Power Attack or Weapon Focus, then is it really an option. If there are a million different choices that will never get chosen, then they are just noise. I will take the system that lets me and my players build exactly what we want, learn one system for everything, and the system is a formula that is consistent in nearly everything in the game. 

Plus, with miniatures and such you got something to paint and show.

Plus, with miniatures and such you got something to paint and show.

I definitely have to agree with you. Problem is most young players really just want to play a video game, not an actual role-playing game. They want it short and simple. I have played the new D&D and the reason they need to have 50,000 different character types is that each character is pretty much the same. And to actually look at it, in many ways D&D is more confusing than Hero, with each character type being completely different and nearly impossible to tell which would be more powerful as there are plenty of character types that are almost completely useless. But I have found a good note. That players as they get older do find the repressiveness of some of those simple game to no longer be fun and go to more interesting games, such as Hero, where you can actually make the character you want, not just something listed in a book the same as every other one.

That’s interesting however for a system that prides itself on building the game you want should that be a default assumption?

I definitely have to agree with you. Problem is most young players really just want to play a video game, not an actual role-playing game. They want it short and simple. I have played the new D&D and the reason they need to have 50,000 different character types is that each character is pretty much the same. And to actually look at it, in many ways D&D is more confusing than Hero, with each character type being completely different and nearly impossible to tell which would be more powerful as there are plenty of character types that are almost completely useless. But I have found a good note. That players as they get older do find the repressiveness of some of those simple game to no longer be fun and go to more interesting games, such as Hero, where you can actually make the character you want, not just something listed in a book the same as every other one.