Ockham's Spoon

Re: 6E p172 Object BODY table I think that dramatic license is a large part of living things having more BDY. But the other thing to consider is if you do enough BDY to break down a door, you have just split it in two or maybe only knocked it out of its frame, you haven't reduced it to dust. When the BDY of a nonliving object is considered, you need to look at function as well. It may only take 3 BDY to functionally break a pair of handcuffs, but you still have the bracelets even if the chain has snapped. To functionally break a living thing, you have to kill it, which is more than just breaking an arm. Or to put it another way, living things can continue to function when damaged while inanimate things may not.

Re: Enough to Destroy A Planet? This brings to mind one of my pet peeves with the movie Star Wars. The Death Star fires its big gun at a planet and the planet explodes. Why is it that the giant plasma bolt doesn't just punch a hole through the planet? Granted that would cause lots of destruction and may set off earthquakes and volcanos and atmospheric catastrophes that would ruin the place for the inhabitants, but it isn't like the core of the planet is made of dynamite. If I had to design a weapon to reduce a planet to gravel in Hero terms, I would require a massive AoE (Megascaled of course) to make it hit the whole planet instead of just buying it as a high damage RKA. Now from a military point of view, destroying a planet doesn't necessarily mean reducing it to gravel, it just means killing everything there, so the Death Star would have been just fine blasting holes in things. Of course that isn't as cinematic, which is obviously what really counts.

Re: Lame or awesome? Lame: I have specialized body hair. (no, no, get your mind out of the gutter, this guy looks completely normal, maybe just a bit hirsute) Awesome: Sensor hairs give me Passive Sonar. Awesome: Barbed hairs give me Clinging. Awesome: Supertough hairs give me extra PD/ED Awesome: Super friction gives extra STR only for grabs & holds Awesome: Super friction give 1pip HKA - superpowered Injun burn or the "strike a match on my chest" effect Awesome: Thermal regulation gives LS: Immune to Heat and Cold Awesome: Striking Appearance - the Don Johnson 3 day stubble look

Re: Teleportation [usable as Attack] If you let the player have an EDM power to send other people to hell, you need to constrain it in some way so that the player can't use it willy-nilly. If the player is good about staying in character this could be as simple as a strong Psychological Complication; sending people to hell is a morality call that most humans aren't fit to make. Personally I would want something stronger than that. Maybe it takes a long time to activate or requires an extensive ritual. Maybe it costs x10 END and requires Concentrate so he will only use it as a last resort in combat. Maybe the Side Effects are so egregious that he is loathe to use it (anything from a BDY Drain to becoming possessed by a demon for a time). Maybe it has all those problems. You should mention to the player that in the comics transdimensional travel is not a casual affair except for the most cosmically powerful individuals. This power should not be casual either. Don't forbid the power necessarily, but work with the player to figure out why the special effects of the power won't ruin the balance in the game.

Re: Machine class of minds For my games, if you are a PC you have a human class mind, because if you don't then you simply can't relate to the other PCs on any meaningful level. Machine minds are for machines, not even AIs as far as I am concerned (because AIs are designed to mimic human minds really). And "alien" minds in my games means non-organic energy creatures or Cthuluian horrors or something equally bizarre. Now if a PC wants to have two classes of mind, fine, but they have to have some humanity in there. Really the only reason to have classes of mind that I can see is to prevent a psionic character from controlling robotic automatons but allowing a provision for a cyberkinetic character to do so, which is almost more a sfx thing than anything else. Really in most cases I would just handle it as extra mental defense defined as "alien mind".

Re: PRE and EGO I have used INT+DEX as an initiative calculation in 5e in an effort to stop DEX inflation (INT inflation is less of an issue in my mind), so I fully buy into your proposed roll for INT. Now that DEX has been recosted and had the combat value calculation removed in 6e, I probably won't need to go that route. Although I love the elegance of symmetry between mental and physical characteristics, but I don't think it quite gels, at least not with my conception of those stats. EGO is force of will over your own self, willpower. PRE is imposing that will on others, more like exuding confidence or intimidation. From that perspective the idea of using EGO in place of PRE for defense seems natural; you may still be quaking in your boots because you lack confidence, but you have the willpower to stand your ground anyway. Breaking out of a mental Entangle is still affecting just you, not anyone else, so it goes to EGO. And if you want to hurt someone mentally, you don't buy EGO or PRE useable at range, you get Mental Blast. EGO used to be both mental STR and DEX, but now that we have MOCV and MDCV the role of EGO isn't so all-encompassing and conceptually works better IMO.

Re: Negatory Well except for STN and BDY, negative CHA don't really mean anything (and conceptually what exactly is something like negative REC?). The only real exception to that was STR, but only because of the lift chart, and quite frankly once somebody hits 0 STR it rarely matters what his exact lift capacity is because it is too small to make significant difference, at least in my experience.

Re: HERO Basic Rulesbook : Superhero caract bracket The Characteristic scores are going to vary a lot depending on the type of character you have. An Energy Projector type that stays at range and has a good force field might only have 30 STN, but a brick that expects to suck up a lot of damage could have 70 STN. Part of that is going to hinge on what the character's DCV is and how often they expect to get hit. Although I was not initially happy with the idea of removing Figured Characteristics from the game, now that I am toying with it I find that it really allows a lot more freedom in designing characters exactly the way you want them. Conceptually your Energy Projector character should not have a 20 STR since he isn't an olympic weightlifter, but with Figured Characteristics it was so cost effective that you almost couldn't afford not to. So what I am really saying here is build for character concept. Determine "average" damage and figure out how many shots it you think it should take to KO the character. Then set STN and defenses as needed. Figure how energy hungry your hero is to set END and REC. Finally, as Ghost Angel says, if everyone has similar ranges for CV (and to a lesser extent defenses) then the exact numbers won't make too much difference because everyone will be on the same level roughly. You can tweak it later as you get a feel for it.

Re: One roll to rule them all (6E) The idea of combining the roll with the affect is appealing in many ways, but I personally don't like having to reference tables all the time. It may be a personal failing of mine, but I already spend too much time shuffling papers around while gaming without having another table to refer to all the time.

Re: Bigtime Blowout This looks like it will be a fun campaign. I am thinking your reporter is going to be desperate enough that she may find some gloryhound(s) who agree to pose as one (some) of the heroes just for a little bit of limelight. Imagine the real heroes' surprise seeing themselves unmasked on the SuperNews channel. Will they confront the imposters? Will they protect the imposters when the Triad comes for them? You might have to give the imposters a few gadgets to mimic the heroes' abilities to make them seem legit, but that is easily done (and of course opens up the question of what happens to said gadgets in the aftermath?).

Re: Another view of Damage Negation (6e) Depends on the sfx you are going for. Do you want an artful dodger or someone who rolls with the punch? I wouldn't get rid of Combat Luck, but Damage Negation could be a good alternative in some cases. The three defense sfx I am particularly happy to represent with DN are: 1. Mentalist with a "mind control field" that makes attackers pull their punch or throw their aim. 2. Energy draining character that literally sucks the power out of an attack before it hits. 3. Godzilla (or other giant monster) that is immensely difficult to hurt simply because it is so big. The armor plating may not be the toughest, but it simply isn't going to notice something as small as a bullet. (okay, a high PD/ED could work on this one, but I think DN does a better job). I have used just PD/ED for the above effects because building a Suppression field vs. incoming attacks was just too clunky. But DN works like a charm here. I won't give it to everybody, but it is definintely a nice tool to have in the toolkit.

Re: Character ability guidelines table Physical defenses for mentalists are always a bit of a problem. Here are some ways to work it out: 1. As you said, give them a flak suit for protection. Easy enough, but not for everyone. Depending on the background, you might have a force field belt or magic ring for protection too. 2. If your mentalist has psychokinetic powers, some kind of telekinetic force field works well. 3. For a straight telepath or psychic, try using high DCV and/or Combat Luck, the special effect being that they see the attack coming a split second before it lands, allowing them to dodge some or all of the effects. 4. Mind-over-body type powers could simulate resistance to pain or limited regeneration. This would either prevent the damage or allow quick recovery after the damage is taken. 5. Limited Mind Control to beguile attackers into pulling their punches (an excellent application for Damage Negation in 6e). Only problem here is that it doesn't work vs. robots or environmental hazards. 6. The mentalist is just a psychic entity that controls an automaton in order to interact with the physical world. Because the automaton isn't alive per se, it could take all sorts of damage without hurting the mentalist. 7. Combinations of the above if any single one is not enough to achieve as much defense as you like. Hope that helps. Have fun with it!

Re: dive for cover and mental attacks Yeah, what SecretID said so concisely. For AoE attacks, DFC works just because it gets you physically out of the area being affected. Movement powers could work too, but DFC is almost always Abort-type action in my experience.

Re: dive for cover and mental attacks See I think it all depends on how mental combat is handled in the game. Generally I can't see a Dive for Cover for mental attacks, except in the case of a physical DFC to get out of an Area Affect attack. In most cases a mental Block or Dodge seems reasonable to me (the hero is just concentrating on defense), but DFC doesn't have a intuitive mental analog. That said, I think there are some situations in which it would work, such as instances where mental combat takes place on the astral plane. To the casual bystander it looks like the two mentalists are just staring intently at one another, but on the astral plane it resembles physical combat. The same could be said for a cyberkinesis type of character interacting in a William Gibson-type cyberspace.

Re: Environmental Adaptation My question would be what are the effects of then environment on the characters? Because my gut reaction is just to call it colorful description for the players and let them play out how happy/miserable their characters are in said environment. If you are going to pay a point for cold/heat/etc. resistance, then the environment should have some tangible effect on gameplay (reduced END in hot weather for instance). That 1pt for resistance should offset the temperature/altitude/etc. effects by one or two levels. You should also decide whether it is going to impact Change Environment powers by one or two levels, if that ever comes up.

Re: Thoughts on Damage Negation (6e) In my mind one of the biggest advantages of Damage Negation is that you can counter-act the STN lotto from Killing Attacks without buying ridiculously high PD/ED. Of course that is the 5e point of view, maybe it isn't as big a deal in 6e (which I will get soon but haven't actually read yet). But it also cuts down on the randomness of the BDY total on KA too (fewer dice mean less BDY range to be rolled), so that you don't get that fluky high BDY roll that you won't generally see with a Normal attack. So when the heroes face off against a dragon or some other big tough foe, the GM can set the defense level more easily so that heroes with both KA and NA have a decent chance of damaging the silly thing. That's a big plus in my book anyway.

Re: Thoughts on Damage Negation (6e) I am writing here without actually having a copy of 6e, so please forgive my ignorance. In the case of pre-rolled damage, why not just have some pre-rolled Damage Negation too? It doesn't work quite like straight up DN, but close enough. Or just rule "Standard Effect" and subtract 3 points per die (or 3.5 if you are feeling generous). I agree that DN will make for brittle characters, but I think that could be an asset too when it comes to making mega-villains that the heroes can only defeat in a certain way. And I think that DN as part of an Invulnerability model could work well, but obviously you are going to need some standard defense to buffer things. I have had characters under 5e with clunky Suppress vs. Incoming Damage constructs to represent unusual types of defense, so I for one am really glad to see the addition of Damage Negation. Now I just have to get my hands on a copy of 6e...

Re: Seeing in the dark

Re: Sean style pointlessness! If you are meaning that you can shift all of your 6 PHA into the first half of the turn, then definitely a 12 SPD with -½ limitation. But if you only want the ability to shift a PHA forward one segment, then I would buy it as +1 SPD, Only to take held actions (-½), Can borrow from next Turn (+½). It costs only 10 points, but I don't see it gives a great deal more utility than a vanilla held action.

Re: Seeing in the dark

Re: Seeing in the dark I have had more than one character that could "see" in the dark as though the darkness were light. Basically that is Spatial Awareness for 25pts (5e rules). You might argue the cost lower since anything affecting vision will wipe out both normal vision and your Darksense, while Passive Sonar lets you hedge your bets on a different sense. But then you can't read those top secret files in the dark with sonar, so maybe not.

Re: Seeing in the dark I confess the idea of Nightvision as just +4 PER Vision only to offset darkness always struck me as a little off, if only because you have to have some light for vision to work. So then if the darkness modifier is more than -4 (you are entombed underground for instance), do you just call it Darkness (per the 5e power) and be done with it? If that is the case, what does that suggest about a -6 PER modifier? Maybe I just never got a good grasp on what the PER penalties for various light levels should be; of course I have terrible night vision so maybe that is part of my problem. On the other hand, the -4 modifier is conceptually simple and easy to deal with in game terms, so interesting though your idea is, I am not looking for any fixes myself.

Re: Presence and Classes of Mind Classifying PRE as a Mental power does make some intuitive sense, but when you hit Classes of Mind you run into problems it seems to me. If you are trying to scare your opponents into submission with a PRE attack and are acting threatening, your opponent is going to recognize that as a danger and react accordingly, regardless of Class of Mind. Since the GM is likely to assign penalties to PRE-based skill rolls when dealing with very different cultures (or Minds) anyway, I don't see any benefit to trying to lump PRE into Mental powers. So my question would be, what is the benefit?

Re: Question about Combat skill levels and damage In my experience using levels to boost DC rarely happens in heroic level campaigns, but does occur in superheroic campaigns in the case of a martial artist with lots of CSLs going up against a brick. In heroic level campaigns, most characters are already at the max damage for the weapon (no more than double the base damage) through STR or martial arts manuevers and so those CSL are better put toward a placed shot if they want a damage boost. And although I agree that CSLs to raise DCs seems a bit cheaper compared to buying extra damage outright, if you are capping weapon damage at double base damage, then the CSL route is going to hit that wall while buying extra damage doesn't. That said, I think the real determination should be the sfx of the damage increase. If it is just superb combat technique, then CSLs is the way to go. If you are electrifying your sword, then buy the extra damage.

Re: It's the Little Things.... This is a little power that is mostly useful for Heroic level campaigns when Encumbrance rules are used, especially for players who like to horde equipment: Featherweight Charm: 5 STR TK, 0 END, Invisible, No range, Only to negate Encumbrance (-2). Active: 14, Real: 4 5 STR doesn't seem like much, but when you consider the kg that it can lift independently of the character, you can see what a benefit it can be Encumbrance-wise by keeping DEX rolls and DCV at normal without having to buy extra levels. I had a character in a Sci-Fi campaign with a similar effect, built as a Magnetic Buoy.