Utech

Re: RKane_!'s heretical and Audacious Block variant I still think you're doing way too much work here. Just buy extra PD with RSR, call it a block and you're good to go.

Re: Thoughts on the Speed Zone Would it be possible to just limit the amount of damage a speedster could do in the Speed Zone? Mechanic: attacks made in the Speed Zone do 75% less damage than attacks made out of the Speed Zone. Advantage: Attack does 50% less damage in the Speed Zone +1/2 Advantage: Attack does 25% less damage in the Speed Zone +3/4 Advantage: Attack does normal damage in the Speed Zone +1

Re: RKane_!'s heretical and Audacious Block variant Thank you. I'm afraid I was not clear, then. I choreograph realistic-looking fights. Not pretty ones. Down and dirty is exactly what I was describing. Ah, I think I see the problem. You think what they are doing is Blocking the attack. I disagree. In game terms they are using extra PD with RSR. They are not successfully blocking the attack if they are taking damage.

Re: RKane_!'s heretical and Audacious Block variant I sometimes work as a fight choreographer. I'm afraid your ideas on Block just don't track with the way I choreograph fights. In any fight I choreograph, a defender would never perform a successful Block that resulted in injury to the defender. I have found this simple in choreographing fights with no weapons knives rapiers double rapiers rapier and dagger sword and shield sword and cloak broadswords small swords quarterstaves and any combination on that list (quarterstaff vs broadsword, etc) It seems to me that what you are describing is the result of a failed block. Many times I have choreographed a fight in which someone performs a desperate block that partially deflects the blow, but not entirely. In game terms I would call this the GM narrative of a failed block with a low roll for damage.

Re: What fundamental thing would you change about the Hero system? Ditch the quarter system for valuing Advantages and Limitations and replace it with decimals. This would allow for greater variation on the values for different Advantages and Limitations. For example: Reduced Endurance Advantage Half END cost is a +1/4 Advantage and might become a +.3 Advantage 0 END cost is a +1/2 Advantage and might become a +.6 Advantage Costs Endurance Only To Activate is a +1/4 Advantage and might become a +.4 Advantage. This would reflect that Half END and Costs END Only To Activate are not really equal advantages. Costs END Only To Activate is generally more of an Advantage and should be valued accordingly.

Re: Ego Attack: What am I missing?

Re: Ego Attack: What am I missing? I've already explained this before. To repeat: Most campaigns feature nearly all player characters with a higher DCV than ECV but nearly all average folk with roughly equal DCV and ECV scores. I call it a -1/2 Limitation. If you lose other benefits that are usually assigned to Ego Attack then the Limitation would, of course, be worth more.

Re: Ego Attack: What am I missing?

Re: Phenomenal Cosmic Power... itty bitty rules question

Re: Ego Attack: What am I missing? (bold mine) I don't know that anyone has actually answered this directly. I'll try... Ego Attack and Energy Blast are two different powers. They have different costs and different mechanics. You seem to be trying to add Advantages to an Energy Blast in hopes of creating an Ego Attack. But that's like putting wheels on a horse when what you want is a car. It just doesn't work.

Re: Ego Attack: What am I missing? Fair enough. I assume that most campaigns feature nearly all player characters with a higher DCV than ECV but nearly all average folk with roughly equal DCV and ECV scores. I call it a -1/2 Limitation. If you lose other benefits that are usually assigned to Ego Attack then the Limitation would, of course, be worth more.

Re: Ego Attack: What am I missing? Works vs DCV could be either an Advantage or Limitation on Ego Attack depending on your campaign. Campain 1: All mentalists. Nearly all characters have a higher ECV than DCV. Thus Works vs DCV is an Advantage. Likely valued somewhere between +1/4 and +1. Campaign 2: Lots of mentalists mixed with lots of non-mentalists. Probably a wash. Thus Works vs DCV is (you call it) a +0 Advantage or a -0 Limitation. Campaign 3: Very few mentalists. Nearly all characters have a higher DCV than ECV. Thus Works vs DCV is a Limitation. Likely valued somewhere between -1/4 and -1. So I guess it is not all that surprising that there is no offical ruling on how to do this.

Re: Cumulative to the Max I think what you've described is best handled by the Standard Effect Rule applied to a power with the Extra Time Limitation. If you really want to go with a mental power that is Cumulative, does nothing until it reaches the level you want and is able to become undetectable, I'd say you've got yourself an Advantage, not a Limitation. As long as the target is not aware that he is being attacked this is a pretty sweet deal for your character. I'd call it roughly equal to the Advantage, Invisible Power Effects at the +1/2 level. If the target is fully aware that he is being attacked then I'd say it is worth something. Depending on how often mental powers show up in your game it could be worth anywhere from -1/4 to -100.

Re: Delusion disads I was in a campaign which included a DNPC called Gamma Lad. Gamma Lad was a young boy who had been exposed to gamma radiation. He then simply assumed that he had been granted super powers. Those powers were unfortunately (he felt) not self evident. No rippling muscles. No feathery wings. So Gamma Lad kept trying to discover his super powers by doing things like leaping off of tall buildings. Stepping in front of speeding trains. Walking into infernos. Trying to disarm bombs. Naturally the truth was that Gamma Lad did not have any super powers. Gamma Lad was an excellent DNPC but I have no idea if he could possibly have been played as a PC with the same level of enjoyment.

Re: Entangling giants

Re: END to activate

Re: Entangling giants I think this all depends on the story you're telling. If Glue Girl has been squirting her opponents left and right and hardly facing a challenge, then surely Monstrous Man should be that challenge! Her standard tactics are just not good enough. She's got to think of a new way to handle the problem. If there are plenty of other targets available and Glue Girl has some teammates this would be a great time for her to say, "Geez! There's no way my glue can stop Monstrous Man. He's all yours, Captain Alpine!" If Glue Girl is working alone and really needs to take down Monstrous Man pretty quick because he is -- oh, I don't know -- about to step on a bus full of nuns, then I would rule that her mighty glue gun works just fine on the dastardly dude. If Glue Girl's player had the presence of mind to suggest that she was doing as Manic Typist suggested, then she should not only find her entangle working just great, I'd probably give her an experience point just for the creative thinking. Of course there are infinite story possibilities so there are definitely going to be plenty of other possible results to the Glue Girl vs Monstrous Man scenario. And that's a good thing, yes?

Re: The Power of Presence I suppose the obvious answer to the problem of PRE Attacks being too useful is to simply cap PRE. I don't see anything wrong with the GM taking a look at your example character, Sean, and saying, "Interesting. No. Drop his PRE down to..." Should you wish to go the Disadvantage route, an extreme PRE that causes others to want to kill you could really get ugly. After all, it has already been pointed out that PRE Attacks do not have a clear time limit... Imagine racking up new Hunteds after every fight. Imagine your character calling out your enemies and then finding out that since the battle was broadcast on CNN, every villian in the world with cable TV is on their way to beat the snot out of you... Sounds like the beginning of a campaign to me.

Re: Regeneration: And Other Examples Power That Violate The Rules Well said!

Re: What's the big deal?

Re: Hit from behind

Re: Exploding Duplicates Here's a little extra wrinkle... What if the duplicates can recombine at range only when they take X amount of damage? The rest of the time they need to be right next to each other. In other words, how might you buy the ability to recombine at range but not as a matter of choice? No Conscious Control only on the ability to recombine at range?

Re: Affects Solid World I think you'd do better buying ASW on a VPP so that you can handle all sorts of situations you may not anticipate with the MP.

Re: Synergistic Meld Here are two methods that might work for you. The first is... Think about the largest number of creatures that are likely to meld together in your game. Create a character sheet for that melded Alpha creature. Give the Alpha Duplication with the number of duplicates set to the number of creatures needed to make Alpha. Define some of the Alpha's Powers, Characteristics and what-have-you as "Not while composed of less than [Alpha # of creatures - 1] creatures." Define some of the Alpha's Powers, Characteristics and what-have-you as "Not while composed of less than [Alpha # of creatures - 2] creatures." Continue until you are down to the last "base" creature, OR... Smack yourself in the head and say "Oy! This is a lot of work!" If you fall into the "Oy! This is a lot of work!" camp, then you probably want to just... Think about what Powers, Characteristics, etc you want to imcrease when the creatures meld. Once you have decided that, ignore all this business about writing up the Alpha and just rule that: All creatures function as duplicates of some Alpha creature. They can combine just as though they had the Duplication Power. When they do so, the resulting meld has these extra Powers, Characteristics, etc... Season with time limits to taste.

Re: Affects Solid World As a GM I would have to take a long, hard look at the character and have a long, deep conversation with the player before I would ever allow a build that would even approach this sort of problem. This seems to be an obvious attempt to "win" the game without playing it. Something I have no interest in -- no matter how much logic goes into supporting it.