Ockham's Spoon

Re: Proportianal to remaining power... While I understand conceptually what you are doing with this, and it is a good idea, I would recommend handling it a little differently. First, most systems work at max power just fine until the battery starts to get low, then they begin to peter out. This is good, because it means your character can operate for the first Turn or so at full power which saves the headache of recalculating all his powers each PHA, at least for the first Turn. Also it means you don't have to start with an overpowered attack in the beginning just to keep it from being ineffectual a few PHA down the time chart. What you can do is buy his powers in 3 steps. First the base power, say 6d6 Blast, +10PD/ED Resistant Protection costs END, and 10m Flight; the base level has no END limitation. The second step is +3d6 Blast, +5PD/ED etc. with the limitation "Only when END Reserve is over 50% (-1/2)". The third step is +3d6 Blast, etc. "Only when END Reserve is over 25% (-1/4)". This doesn't have quite the granularity you initially proposed, but it will be a lot easier to play. Alternatively, you can buy all his powers with Side Effect: 3d6 Drain (standard effect 10 pts) every time END Reserve drops by 20% (-1/2). This may be closer to what you had in mind, but it assumes all his powers have the same Active point total so they drain at the same rate.

Re: Limitation: Increased Endurance Cost, Good or Bad Idea? When I build a character, I will generally figure out their typical END use per PHA (including attack, defense, and some move), multiply it by their SPD to get their END use per Turn. Then I buy enough END to last 2-3 turns, which is as long as most battles take im my games. I don't usually bother to track END for these characters (NPCs primarily) just to keep things simple, unless there are unusual circumstances. You can do this either by buying lots of END or buying a little END but put Reduced END on your powers. END is cheap, so that is the easy way, but Reduced END powers let you get back into the fight more quickly if you get K'Oed or if someone has an END Drain. For PCs, I follow the same general rule, but a PC will often have special powers or attacks that eat a lot of END. In those cases I do track END, and managing their energy resources becomes part of the fun of playing the character. Hyper-Man has good suggestions for the top end powers costing more END. Pushing is often appropriate, but if you are pushing your powers every battle, then you should probably consider reworking the powers to better reflect what you want out of the character.

Re: 5th Ed - Autofire & Area of Effect... I don't think you can apply Penetrating to less than a full 1d6 Killing attack; otherwise you end up with amazingly cheap Autofire kills like you have here. I would model this quite differently. The sfx is the everyone in the area is skewered by dozens of little needles, but the basic result is they die. I would build this as 4d6 RKA, AoE, Selective, NND - defense is Hardened rPD, Does BDY, Personal Immunity etc. You might want to throw another reasonable defense in for the NND to balance it. The effect is the same, but the build is a lot more streamlined and easier to work in combat. The cost is much higher, but a power that kills virtually everyone nearby should be really expensive.

Re: Alternate terms for "superhumans"? Well sure, but why do you suppose Groening named him that? The very concept of a robot on a drunken binge makes the character amusing from the get go. In all fairness to Megaplayboy, were it not for the slang usage, "bender" would be a great term.

Re: Mook busting One I found surprisingly effective was a whirlwind attack from weather controlling character built as: Whirlwind: 5d6 Blast, AoE, Double Knockback The initial damage wasn't enough to put them down generally, but if the Knockback didn't finish them off it usually left them wondering whether it was worth trying to get back up.

Re: Alternate terms for "superhumans"?

Re: Weapon familiarity and martial arts With the disclaimer that I know nothing of Lua, a manuever called the Crab Throat Pinch sounds like a very different choke hold than you would get using a garrote, so I don't see them adding. However, the Crab Throat Pinch also sounds to me like a one-handed manuever, while a garrote requires both hands, so that would be a possible advantage. Finally, any coward can sneak up behind someone and use a garrote, but only Lua practitioners can do the much cooler Crab Throat Pinch (I am envisioning Darth Vader strangling the ship officer in the beginning of Star Wars).

Re: Blowing Up Prootwaddles, or Character Self-Destruction I had a Champions game where one of the villains created robots bombs that were designed to rush over to a character, grab on, and explode. The grab part served two functions - first it allow the robot to position the charge for maximum damage on the target, and second it gave the PCs a dramatic extra PHA to try and remove the bomb. It was built as 1d6 RKA Explosion, requires Grab, and a 3d6 RKA Explosion, adds to first RKA, Triggers when bomb-bot takes 3+ BDY. Both had the limitations of 1 charge and bomb-bot takes maximum damage from blast. Of course I am not sure why anyone would want to play a bomb-bot any more than a Prootwaddle, but the bomb-bots were a lot of fun so I thought I would throw it out there.

Re: Help with Mechanical Affinity If it were me, I would just buy him Overall Levels, only for mechanical affinity. The levels can be used to boost Combat Driving or sharpshooting or Computer Programming or whatever. The Aid build you show is perfectly valid, but it will actually allow him to push the car/rifle/dohickey beyond its normal capabilities. So if the absolute top speed for a car is 120kph, he can make it go 150kph (depending on the amount Aided). If that is what you want, then the Aid is a good build. If you just want the character to be able to push the mechanical object in question to its maximum limit, the levels are the way to go.

Re: Critical and Altered Maths I've built characters with Critical Hit powers two different ways. The first was extra combat skill levels only useable to make placed shots. Hitting someone in the head is effectively a critical (as Xavier pointed out) and with the extra levels making a placed shot becomes a reasonable combat tactic. The advantage to this method is it works for any kind of attack and it has a certain "realism" factor that the critical hit is occurring because you were a really good shot and hit just the right spot. The downside is that it tends to be all or nothing - either you take your opponent out in one shot or you miss completely. Also, it doesn't work against opponents that have no hit locations. The other method is to have a damage boost, either extra levels only to increase DC or just a straight +1d6 KA, but limited to hits that are made by a roll of 3 or better. This isn't as elegant a solution and tends to be more constrained (adding +1d6 KA to a sword strike is one thing, but it doesn't mesh as nicely with a quarterstaff), but it has a more consistent outcome and just because you fail a critical roll doesn't mean you fail to do any damage whatsoever. While conceptually I like the placed shot method, from a game balance standpoint buying the extra damage works better IME.

Re: What do speedsters do in 6E? For a basic speedster, lots of movement and some extra HTH damage defined as "superspeed" punches is just fine. And when you are facing a bunch of thugs, you can do multiple move-bys or passing strikes or whatever with relative impunity because they are just thugs and their combat value and speed are so low as to be no match for a superhero. But there are combat penalties, as noted above, so you have to be consider whether it is worth doing this manuever. And seriously, you are trying to take out several opponents at once, this shouldn't be easy to do. If you want a souped-up speedster that can take out a crowd of mooks without a thought, buy a Multipower for speedster tricks and put a AoE Blast with Selective in there, the sfx is that you run around smacking everyone in the area. This allows you to hit everyone in the area with no combat penalty. It doesn't have the elegance that the basic speedster gets cost-wise since you don't actually get to use the points you spent on movement, but it accomplishes what you want to do.

Re: Critical and Altered Maths The easiest would be any roll you make by 6 or more is critical. That will skew things in favor of high OCV characters somewhat, but that shouldn't be too bad unless the OCV spread of your characters is large. Of course this method means it will be impossible to get a critical on some opponents because their DCV is just too good, which seems reasonable enough. But if you want anyone to risk suffering a critical hit, add the rule that a natural roll of 18 automatically does a critical.

Re: Wade Wilsons Missile Deflection? The 6e version of Missile Deflection on the one hand is an excellent idea because everyone should be able to deflect a ranged attack like a block; baseball and cricket depend on it. But there is a big difference between "blocking" a baseball or a even a single bullet (even if the character can't see the bullet they could track the movements of the shooter and still successfully block) and deflecting the spray of a machine gun. Hyper-Man's idea of requiring a Rapid sense to detect fast objects is a good one conceptually. Practically you can't block several bullets in a single PHA because the cumulative penalties get too big. So Missile Deflection under 6e might just be Combat Skill Levels only for blocking ranged attacks. Of course practically speaking Hugh's idea of just a DCV bonus with the sfx "he blocked" is better because it makes for fewer rolls and faster combat.

Re: 6th Edition Mega-Scale and Movement That is a good point, and a compelling reason to buy more than 1m T-port Megascaled. Of course from a plot standpoint it would be very convenient for the GM to be able to so easily remove the teleporter's long distance movement, so maybe we don't want to encourage that too much...

Re: Do you buy Resistant alternate defenses? I have never used resistant Flash or Power Defense, but resistant Mental defense is not unheard of, mostly because we have a number of psychotic mentalists with Does BDY Mental attacks. Generally though the amount of resistant Mental Def was low (2 to 6 points) because by the time you add Does BDY to any mental attack the cost becomes high enough that the number of dice is small. I should also note that all the resistant Mental Def we use requires END -- essentially the defender has to make a conscious effort to shield his mind. I have never used Hardened or Impenetrable for unusual defenses either because unusual attacks are almost never AP or Penetrating. Why pay for an advantage like that when most people aren't going to have the defense in the first place? Now that AP in 6e is only +1/4 it might be worth it, but it hasn't happened yet. Any use of those advantages on unusual attacks would be for plot device purposes anyway as far as I am concerned.

Re: 6th Edition Mega-Scale and Movement I think Hugh got it right that Megascale is really more of a plot device than a power that needs to be examined under a microscope (which is why it is so cheap as an Advantage). It allows your hero to get across the country or around the world in what would be a single comic book frame, but it isn't practical to use for more limited travel any more than you would take an airplane to get across town. Consider too that if you are travelling at 1000 kph you can't see anything around you but a blur. Practically speaking you have to slow down around your destination so you don't miss it. If you teleport 1000 km, you first have to be able to figure out where you are going to end up -- even if you have enhanced senses to allow you to do this you still have to locate a point 1000 km away; it isn't like picking out a point on a map. If the disconnect between normal and Megascaled movement bothers your sensibilities as a GM then don't use it, but you have to admit it is handy for some character concepts (I remember some clunky 4e builds to achieve the same thing; Megascale is so much nicer).

Re: Fishing for ideas: The Gypsy A couple of curses you might consider: Deathmark: 3d6 RKA, Variable SFX, Triggered by dangerous situation. This curse just hangs around until the victim is in a potentially dangerous situation at which point it goes off (conveniently up to the GM). For instance if the victim is walking near a bonfire, he trips and falls in. He might get hit by a car with a jagged fender while trying to cross the street. He might get struck by lightning in a thunderstorm. Of course most superbattles would be considered highly dangerous... Paralyzed by Fear: 2d6 DEF2 Mental Paralysis, Triggered by Psychological Complications. This curse goes off when the victim is confronted with some situation that affects one of their Psychological Complications. If they are afraid of snakes, then they become completely frozen by the sight of one. But from a curse standpoint it is even better if they have something like Must Defend the Helpless or Loyalty to Friends, because then they seize up at a moment when their actions could affect something near to their hearts.

Re: Does this Power Work: Mental Wound that Never Heals So when you say "never fully heals" you are basically saying anyone hurt by this effect will be down BDY for a very long time if not forever. Is that really the effect you want, or do you just want some kind of psychic scarring? Consider this analogy. A swordsman gets stabbed with a regular blade. He takes BDY. Eventually he heals (up to full BDY) but he will always have a scar to remind him he got cut. Then the swordsman gets stabbed with a cursed blade that prevents healing. The wound never closes. The swordsman is down BDY and will never get it back. The second effect is what I see you trying to model, on a psionic level. Personally, I would just have a Mental Damage Shield that did BDY, and by way of sfx say it left a scar. Why? First it is easier to build. Second, I see no good reason that the hero must inflict permanent damage on someone. But if you concept says that permanent damage must be done, then Transform is the way to do it; link the Transform to the Mental Damage and there you go. If you don't want people toying with your character's mind, you might consider buying the Mental Damage Shield and then buying a extra d6 or two, only versus those who have already been hit by the Mental Damage Shield, the sfx is that it hits the psychic scar that the first contact left and so it hurts more.

Re: Beginning of the End (Just want to share) Nice premise. You have a wonderfully layered storyline that should keep your players guessing for a while. Out of curiosity, what are the point levels for the heroes? Is that 5e?

Re: New character idea. I was going to suggest Combat Luck and extra levels in DCV, possibly reduced by attacker's Mental Defense, because that is a build I have used for mentalists in the past that works reasonably well. And I have recently been tinkering with Damage Negation which does a fine job too. However I think DocSamson's suggestion of Damage Reduction sounds like it will fit your conception better. One thing I have found with mentalist characters that have evasion-style defenses is that they are really easy to accidentally kill if their mental protection doesn't work for one reason or another (attacks from automata, other mentalists, or area affect attacks for instance). So you might consider giving him a protective suit, armor, or magic item for a bit of extra defense. It will help overall, and although it won't keep him from being KO'd if his mental protection is lost, it could keep him alive.

Re: Requires A Skill Roll: Skill Vs. Skill Contests? I don't see a RSR at all here. From your example, you can't use Tactics without a Cryptography roll. I would say this is a case of a Cryptography vs. Cryptography roll. If the code can be cracked, then let the Cryptography work like a complimentary skill. If the code isn't cracked, then let Tactics work but with a significant penalty because of lack of information, just as you would apply bonuses/penalties to a normal Tactics roll based on circumstances. I would only allow something like a RSR to be put on a skill if it was bought like a power, say an Unlock spell might have a RSR - Magic Skill applied to a Lockpicking skill.

Re: Clinging for only two hands Spiderman can crouch on a wall with just his feet, or hang by just a hand if he had to. I expect he could "walk" up a wall if he wanted to (despite the awkward cantilevered position), but it is stealthier to crawl generally. Most likely he crawls because his namesake does and it just "feels" right to both Spiderman and the reader.

Re: Special Effects Interactions: Burden on the defender or the attacker? I would argue that if Dr. Smoke's Darkness is defined as actual smoke, then not only does Blowhard's Drain affect it, but so does "normal" wind, even if he didn't take the limitation for it. BUT as GM I would not expose Dr. Smoke to conditions sufficiently windy to affect his power if he didn't take the limitation, except in unusual circumstances (death-trap or somesuch specifically designed to challenge the character by denying him use of his powers). For Dr. Smoke, wind is just an enviromental hazard, just like heatstroke could be an environmental hazard for any character battling in Washington DC this week where the temperature is hitting triple-digits. But it isn't one that should come up much if he didn't take the limitation. If he did take the limitation, then any thug with a large box fan could dispel his Darkness, and periodically I would rule that there was enough wind to inhibit or prevent its use. In a similar vein, heroes get Complication points for DNPC's, but not necessarily for the random citizens that they save on a daily basis. The difference is just a matter of degree. SFX should play a part because they add flavor to powers, but that part should be fairly small unless the character takes a limitation for it.

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order? I will throw out two "historical" McGuffins. The first is the Philosopher's Stone, which not only allowed to user to transform any metal to gold, it also allowed the creation of an immortality elixir. In the real world it was discovered by J.K. Rowling and used as the starting point for a fantastically lucrative series of books. So maybe to "turn to gold' thing works... The second is the Holy Grail. This artifact was rumored to have all sorts of powers, immortality just being one. But in my mind the real beauty of this relic is that as a "holy" object it might well be hunted for by both good and evil people. Will the evil people be ultimately destroyed or converted by its power? Will people with good intentions ultimately be corrupted by an ends-justifies-the-means mentality? Is the Grail really a sacred artifact or something mistaken for one? The role-playing possibilities make this an excellent object of desire.

Re: Floater Disk Since all the passengers have to be close by and this is Non-combat flight, I would just buy regular Flight for the shapeshifter, and then buy Extra Limbs only for holding passengers, the sfx is that they are on the disk. That way the mouse form (with low STR) can only take a few people (if any) but the dragon form (high STR) can carry a lot of folks.