Ockham's Spoon

Re: Dating Catwoman plot seeds? I'm glad you put "heroes" in quotes there. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I like my heroes to be morallly upright. They don't have to be squeaky-clean boyscouts, but they have to have a moral center and not be motivated for primarily selfish reasons. The villains with the vigilante who is already a borderline criminal and the misunderstood monsters are potentially good couplings though.

Re: Night vision goggles Passive NGV would not have the IR flashlight, while active ones would, true? The active ones can operate in complete darkness since they provide their own IR light source but then you can be seen more easily by others with NGV or thermal imaging. Good enough. So would I be correct in saying thermal imaging covers a larger chunk of the spectrum which is what lets you see body heat and whatnot at longer wavelengths? I know someone with the 5th edition Hero Equipment Guide which I think has the Dark Champions equipment in it; I will have to check on NGV in there. Thanks.

Re: Dating Catwoman plot seeds? This trope can be done well or it can be ham-handed and unbelievable. I am not talking about having the hero and villain fall in love in their secret IDs, I am talking about the relationship between their alternate identities. Heroes are heroes because they have a strong moral code of some stripe, not because they are bored and it is something to do. That being the case, they aren't going to fall in love with someone they know to be violating their moral code. If the villain half of the equation is a Robin Hood type or possibly a vigilante you might pull it off, but if the villain is a hard-core evil or amoral I don't see it working. The two scenarios that immediately come to mind are the situation where the hero has to decide whether to turn his/her villain love into the authorities or whether to help them escape said authorities (especially other superheroes). Kind of a no-win situation, but good for character development. The second would be the media getting ahold of information that the hero and villain were an item. All sorts of fall-out from that.

Re: Self-directed illusion Summon might be the easiest way to do it, although you will have to write up a character sheet for the duplicates. You might also build it as Images with a computer AI to maintain them. You can have "programs" for the AI to determine exactly what the Duplicates can do and how complicated their actions are. Then buy the Images as 0 END, Persistant so you can leave them running while the caster walks away. Possibly you could build it with Duplication, with the Duplicates being low-point versions of the original and with Physical Complications like "Cannot interact with the real world" and "Dispelled if struck in combat". They would also have to have Regeneration with the Resurrection adder so they wouldn't be permanently destroyed when hit.

Re: Night vision goggles Thanks for the feedback. In game terms it looks like standard NVG would just be +4 PER only to offset darkness modifiers, while thermal imaging is obviously Infrared Vision, possibly with a Active source. From the video, it looks like they can operate during the day without problem. For the game I could certainly leave it at that. I am curious to know though if real-world technology would make NVG wearers vulnerable to light-based Flash attacks. If my players are clever enough to think of that, then I think they should benefit (although the next generation NVG for the agents might compensate for that). But if current technology already has a saturation buffer or something to prevent blindness from excessive light, then that would be less appropriate. Also, if NVG give a vulnerability to Flash attacks, is it a function of the eye or the electronics? Does excessively bright light temporarily screw up the NVG or is the wearer really blinded by an enhanced Flash?

I am making some agent types up, and I have a question for anyone who knows about real-world night vision goggles. Obviously they let you see in low light levels, but do they compensate for high light levels or do they just saturate? Could a wear a pair all the time so I could see both day and night? If I wear night vision goggles during a thunderstorm and there is a nearby lightning flash, will I be blinded by it? That is, in game terms, would I acquire a Vulnerability to Light-based Flash attacks while wearing the goggles?

Re: How would this work in game? True, combat levels won't help there, but if that is the effect you want, buy extra defense instead of (or in addition to) levels. With the exception of the AoE attacks noted above, this is could be represented by extra DCV, the sfx being that the attack bounced off the shield so the user takes no damage himself. You make some good arguements for the use of Barrier, the question for the player and GM is whether the more complicated power is worth the granularity it provides.

Re: Paper If you want old car parts, I hear Cuba is the place to go Archiving may be a small market, but it is potentially important. How much information, literature, and art has been lost over the centuries because it wasn't preserved? And if you don't preserve it in a format from which it can be retrieved, it may as well be lost. Archiving is one of those things that doesn't seem that important when it is being done, but later when you find you really need some old document you'll be glad you did.

Re: How would this work in game? I think Barrier is one of the more difficult ways to build this. The easiest, as Christopher suggested, is just to give him levels with Blocking or simply extra DCV, sfx: shield. If you want the idea that sufficient damage will still get through, buy extra Resistant Protection as Sean suggested, probably with an activation roll or DEX roll required. If you want the shield to be able to defend others, buy either or both of the above with Usable by Others. Or get Missile Deflection. Or both.

Re: Jokes Afterbeing away on business, Tim thought it would be nice to bring his wife a littlegift. “How about some perfume?” he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a$50.00 bottle. “That’sa bit much,” said Tim, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $30.00.“That’s still quite a bit,” Tim complained. Growingannoyed, the clerk brought out a tiny $15.00 bottle. “What I mean,” said Tim,“is I’d like to see something really cheap.” The clerk handed him a mirror

Re: Paper From an archival standpoint, paper has the great advantage that you don't need anything but your eyes to read it. Digital libraries are extremely efficient space-wise and time-wise, but you have to have the right technology to access the information. You can still read books that were printed hundreds of years ago, but if I gave you a book on a 20 year old 5¼" floppy disk it would be useless to you.

Re: Buff from kobold god, to aid kobolds You say kobolds aren't a credible threat. Why? In my experience there are two main reasons for enemies like kobolds to become trivial. First is that they rarely hit. The second is that when they do hit, they do so little damage that it can't get past the PCs' armor. To fix those problems the artifact should act as an Aid to all their damage, grant them all Armor Piercing, or something similar. To make sure they hit with those more dangerous attacks, go with the AoE Accurate suggestion or give them all OCV bonuses. Alternately the artifact can hamper the foes of the kobolds, a Suppress vs. Armor or DCV, but I find most players would rather face more powerful enemies than have trouble with weak ones because their own abilities are impaired.

Re: Useful memory flashes While Clairsentience might be more comprehensive, since this is really more of a plot device than a functional power I think I would opt for the KS route because its easier and accomplishes just about the same thing.

Re: Resistant Question They are pretty much the same. The only difference is that if you buy Resistant Protection, your base PD/ED won't be made resistant. You could then apply the Resistance advantage to it to make it so, but cost-wise it is six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? Mythic Hero! Yay! Sounds like a great book. Here's my 2 pence: Definitely Legendary Hero should be a separate work. There is too much good stuff for it to get short shrift. I agree with Lucius that Sumerian and Babylonian mythos could get rolled into one, but maybe I just don't know those mythos well enough to see them as sufficiently distinctive for each to get its own chapter. The idea of putting most of the Finnish myths in Legendary Hero has merit too. Jehovah should not be written up for two reasons. One is the potential for offense. The other is that despite his alleged omnipotence, he is a real hands-off kind of god, so any direct intervention would be better handled by angels or just played as deus ex machina. So that said, a write-up for angels would be nice. I could see this in the Demonology section possibly, or maybe you just want to say "For angels, use the write-up for devas or asuras in the Hindu section" since they are similar beings. I think. My feeling is that most gods have rather variable power levels, depending on the story you are reading. As megaplayboy pointed out, heroic level guys sometimes best gods in contests, but other times they are nearly omnipotent. Does the power of the god depend on the venue or the number of worshipers or some other parameter? Since we will have write-ups for the gods, certainly the characters will interact with them at times. Some of those times the PCs might fight the gods, other times it is really just an excuse for GM fiat. At the simplest level this could just be a limitation on their powers or a Complication of some sort. I don't see that multiple write-ups of the same god for different power levels as reasonable, but that could be done too.

Re: Jokes Two old widows, Edna and Grace, agreed to go traveling together since they had always wanted to do so but were nervous about going alone. Grace got behind the wheel and Edna rode shotgun. As they started off, Edna was thinking how nice it was to be sharing this journey when Grace ran through a yellow light. Edna was a cautious driver and she certainly would have stopped, but she didn't see any harm done so said nothing. A few blocks later, the a traffic light turned red, but Grace drove right on through. Now Edna was nervous, but there had been no on-coming traffic and no danger of being hit, so she said nothing. At the very next block, Grace drove through another red light. This time the traffic going the other way was forced to swerve and slam on the brakes to avoid an accident, but Grace seemed unfazed. Edna turned to Grace and said "I didn't want to criticize your driving, but you could have gotten us killed back there!" Grace turns to Edna in alarm and says "Oh my God! Am I driving?"

Re: Telekinesis with PARTIAL Fine Manipulation??? Okay, that was disturbing. Still your point is valid, certainly there could be uses of Fine Manipulation that require a lot of STR. But I don't see that it will come up often enough to justify much of a limitation. Even if it did, that is going to be something like a -¼ on the Fine Manipulation Adder, so you save 2 points assuming there are no other limitations. For me that isn't worth the clutter on the character sheet, but obviously the GM in this case feels differently.

Re: Story Threads from Disadvantages or Complications

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon Hollywood doesn't often insist that sequels/prequels be entirely consistent, so picking a single movie as canon and borrowing from others as you see fit sounds like a good strategy. My own two cents is that while you might limit metahumans to being mutants (no magic or extraterrestrials, etc.) you will probably want to have some kind of foil for the mutants. Governments may try to control mutants for their own purposes, but that is a limited resource pool and they will want to have some non-mutant way to deal with them. You could go as far as the Sentinels from the comics, but you might just have highly trained, super-equipped soldiers. Soldiers could be anything from Competent Normals with really good gear all the way up to Iron Man clones, depending on the power level of the game. However you handle it, the non-mutant forces should be a credible threat, even if individually they are no match for most mutants.

Re: Nesting Instinct I have had a number of cagey players that don't feel safe unless they have their own private hideout, and it has never been a problem in my games. Typically not much happens at those private bases, since it is a solo part of a group game; it is more like a security blanket. If you don't like the idea, ask the players why they want to spend points for another base when they already have one? They will either realize they'd rather spend the points elsewhere, or they will tell you why they have a bee in their bonnet. The followers are a whole different kettle of fish, especially because it means more NPCs for you to deal with. If a PC wants followers, they should have to fully write them up, including background, subject to your approval. They should also know that you as GM are free to change anything about the Follower that suits you, which they may or may not know about.

Re: Stun Blaster I think both Hyperman and Doc D have good builds for this. My first thought was just a 10d6 EB, STUN only. If you don't want the gun to do widely varying amounts of damage to normals and supers, then put on a limitation "Cannot inflict more than 25 STUN with one shot" or something similar. Or go with Doc D's build.

Re: Bird Vision I would give them Telescopic Vision to represent their keen eyesight at a distance, but a 5 point Physical Complication "Limited peripheral vision".

Re: Telekinesis with PARTIAL Fine Manipulation??? I have to agree with CrosshairCollie; Fine Manipulation by nature is already limited in STR so I wouldn't give any limitation for it any more than I would make you pay for Indirect on your TK because that is the nature of the beast already. But then I don't know why your GM would specify that either. I would ask what the concerns are and whether this is a real issue.

Re: Upsilon That's cosmically powerful all right. The only error I saw was the Autofire slot in her multipower, because the Reduced END cost for Autofire is higher than for other powers. I am curious to know how you would use her. Most of the time when I have a cosmically powerful villain they are almost more of a plot device than an actual opponent. But Upsilon strikes me as more random; a force of nature that periodically blows a hole in whatever scenario happens to be transpiring. How would she interact with the heroes, or would she even bother?

Re: Effects of "Heightened Libido"? Unless she has a physical need for sex and/or combat, I would avoid Dependency. Maybe Distinctive Features or a Social Complication if she flirts a lot, intentionally or not. But mostly I think this would be a Psychological Complication "High Sex Drive" that would conflict with her other Psych Comps. As for plot hooks, I would have someone she is attracted to ask her for a favor or make her promise something that she would have trouble refusing but would cause problems later, kind of the classic honorable paladin conflict. The object of her affection may be intentionally trying to ensnare her or it might just be a seemingly simple request that gets her in far deeper than she expected. The other plot hook that would be classic would be some villain trying to seduce her in order to ruin her reputation or just for psychological warfare. That works fine as long as she discovers the villain's intent before consumating the relationship, but it could seriously change her character if she doesn't, so you might be careful with this one.