Ockham's Spoon

Re: Temperature affected silicon life form My knee-jerk response is to buy up their INT and DEX as high as you think it will go when properly chilled (say -50°C or whatever), and then give them a Disad "For every temperature level (per the Environmental rules in the book) above -50°C, character loses X INT and Y DEX," where you set X & Y so that at room temperature their INT and DEX are "normal". If you want them to be particularly affected by heat & cold attacks, use the Susc. Disad to reflect loss of INT and DEX when hit by a heat attack and give them an Aid to INT and DEX that only triggers when they are hit by a cold attack. Will that work for your concept? _____________________________________________________________ Dancing screaming itching squealing fevered-feeling hot hot hot!!! - The Cure

Re: Michael's Mook-Mashing Concept Absolutely. That is why heroes keep on going no matter how beat up they are, because they are heroes and it makes for a good storyline. But your average run-of-the-mill thug doesn't have that kind of will power, so you can just have them give up as soon as they are seriously (or even lightly) wounded, but only if that makes the game run better.

Re: Michael's Mook-Mashing Concept This is a nice way of framing it for quick combat resolution. Two thumbs up. That said, I generally use Alibear's method that when a mook gets hurt badly he just stops fighting (how many normals with a broken arm would really keep tangling with a super anyway?). "Badly" is up to the GM's discretion, so as to make the combat faster and more dramatic. This also allows for some distinction between regular mooks and fanatics or drug-crazed mooks who will fight until truly incapacitated.

Re: How to use always on and how to shut the powers off in interesting ways.

Re: EGO Attack I kind of see your logic here, though admittedly in my mind it EGO Attack is close to Energy Blast than Mind Control. I like the tool-kit notion of HERO, where you take the basic power and add Advantages and Limitations to suit. I can make an "EGO Attack" from Energy Blast that way, but I can't do it nicely with Mind Control or other mental powers. But then we have another problem, which is if EGO Attack were priced relative to Mind Control instead of Energy Blast, and EGO Attack is cheap relative to Energy Blast, then Mind Control is too cheap also (being, as you pointed out, even more effective than EGO Attack). Which is maybe one reason why people tend to hate having mentalists in their campaigns.

Re: Teleport redirection I think that some form of T-port UAA is probably the easiest way to model this, but I confess I dislike using UAA with movement powers because it often ends up being abusive. You might have the "defense" against being teleported by someone else be some kind of T-port vs. T-port roll like Doc D suggested. So how would you do this if you were trying to override some other movement power, say forcing a runner to go someplace they didn't want to but using their own movement to get them there? Mind Control is the obvious pick, but the sfx may not fit well. Telekinesis could work, limited only to changing the direction the target is facing so as they run they will go where they are directed rather than where they want to go. You could buy a Telekinesis, Transdimensional, to allow this kind of interference on a teleporter. Finally, I think a Transform could work, defined as transforming the Teleport power only to a fixed location (as defined by the attacker). There was a discussion about using a Transform vs. the active points in a power instead of vs. BDY in The Ultimate Supermage (I forget exactly how it worked) which might be relevant here, but that could be a good approach.

Re: Guidlines For Skill/Power Advancement The "can't buy it up until you miss" idea is nice and simple to implement, but be careful that the player doesn't work around it by trying to make wildly difficult shots (only targeting eyes or something) with the express purpose of missing. I would also point out that if the character is already hitting almost all of the time, then more points in OCV is kind of a waste, isn't it? If it is within the concept of the genre, maybe he should start buying powers to represent truly awesome bow skills (buying a simple RKA with OAF bow effectively allows him to ignore lots of the standard bow limitations for instance). You might also put caps in place that are based on the character's point total, something like maximum DC allowed is Total Character Points/20, so that a 150 pt character can't have an attack over 7 DC, but a 160 pt character could go as high as 8 DC. You could work a similar bit for max OCV and such. This also gives a feel of level advancement if you like that sort of thing.

Re: A new basis for PRE atatcks Nice guidelines I would say, esp. #1 (although I might let an Interaction skill be used in place of Mind Control in some cases). I do think there should be some kind of PRE mechanic, just not necessarily the PRE chart, or at least not without the GM being able to overrule it as needed. Unfortunately, arbitrary rulings by the GM like that tend to irritate players, hence the need for a mechanic to govern it. I think PRE attacks should work more like a Change Environment type of ability, where it might force a PRE roll or EGO roll (either as a skill vs. skill type contest or with penalties as you noted), and failure on the part of the victim means they lose an action and/or some DCV. The amount of time or DCV lost would depend on how badly the roll was failed. I have not really thought out exactly how that would be implemented, but it seems to me it would keep PRE attacks from being quite so powerful.

Re: I need help making.... Maybe I am missing something, but why not just buy it with "No Range"? Then as long as he is paying END for it (unless it is 0 END, Persistant, & Always On) by default it has to follow him, no?

Re: Knowledge/Profession/Science Skill question I have always considered stuff like that just "background" skills, and different cultures/species will have different backgrounds and so different skills. I don't generally bother to list them because it would just clutter the character sheet. But if you are going to have KS: Shaayd History, you should realize you probably won't have KS: American History. (Come to think of it, most Americans don't either; better make that KS: Pop Culture.) That said, aliens in my campaigns will sometimes take the Disad "Cultural fish out of water". If they take that Disad, then they don't automatically know how to drive a car or operate an ATM or not to slip the French Prime Minister some tongue when he greets you; the GM decides what they know and what they don't. If they don't take that Disad, the player can decide what they know and what they don't. In my experience, players (especially character-driven ones) are usually happier with the latter.

Re: What do you know? I think Ghost Angel is right; they will know what has happened to them. The interesting role-playing aspect in my mind, is how much do they care? Is the Transform such that they become completely devoted to the healer and see the Transform as a necessary part of their salvation, or do they resent the fact they have become a slave? Or does it vary from person to person? That's where the fun really begins.

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery Agreed, but I think that the half die is really only a problem when computing BDY damage, because there is no issue for a 3½d6 NND or EGO attack; you just divide the STN on the last die in half. Has anyone given thought to using the half die not for damage in itself, but as an option to reroll one of the other dice? And how about using such a system for Killing attacks, where the extra pip isn't extra damage but an option to reroll a low number. I can see where that would be more advantageous for low DC attacks where there are few dice to begin with, but it might be something worth considering.

Re: Has anyone used the DEX split-into-3 rules in a Champions game? I have not used the Ultimate Speedster setup specifically, but I have used some "alternate" DEX rules. For most games, I don't think it is worth the extra complication, but there are a few exceptions. If you are playing a character with Normal CHA Maxima (either because it is heroic level or because that is just the character's background in a superhero game), having the ability to buy stuff like Lightning Reflexes is really handy. However, it is more expensive to build a character with Lightning Reflexes and extra skill levels to put him in league with superheroes than it is to just buy the extra DEX. If all you are doing is making sure that your hero gets to go first in a heroic level campaign it is less of an issue. You can lessen the importance of DEX slightly by making initiative based on the sum of DEX and INT, basically the sum of physical and mental agility. This of course makes INT more valuable, but most of the value of INT is out-of-combat applications, so it doesn't dominate so much. It also means that players tend to buy up INT more, which is a good thing IMO, but you might not want that. Anyway that is the initiative system I prefer, because I like smarter characters and it helps prevent DEX monsters from dominating combat.

Re: Pain

Re: Pain Okay here's another 2 cents. Gritting your teeth and working through the pain is heroic, and in combat adrenaline will keep you going anyway, so mostly I would let the players ignore the fact that their characters are in terrible pain unless they had some Disad that dictated otherwise. That said, I can see where you might want to build a "pain" attack. For that I think you have to have some pain effects first. So I would require an injured character to make an EGO roll at -1 for every 2 BDY the character has taken to perform a strenuous action or they have to take a PHA to just grit their teeth (maybe a CON roll would be complimentary, and certainly the Resistance talent would help). Probably just one roll at the beginning of combat, and every time they take damage. You might put negative modifiers if the attacker specifically targets the wounded hit location, or conversely only apply the penalties for BDY taken if they get hit in the wounded spot, depending on the nature of the injury. Now for a "pain" attack, you throw penalty skill levels on top of some other attack to represent the fact it is more painful than most. Every time it hits, the injured character will have to make an EGO roll at the penalty to avoid losing a PHA due to pain. Because that could be a pretty powerful effect, the PSL should be at least 5 pts each (kind of like 1d6 of Flash).

Re: About Detect Magic (FH) The cost for PER penalties? There is an optional rule under Penalty skill levels that allows you to apply a negative modifier to someone else's roll I believe, kind of like buying a PSL in reverse. I would probably start there, although you might just make it the same cost as increasing the PER modifier per the Images power (it might be the same as the PSL even, I can't remember).

Re: About Detect Magic (FH) Maybe I am wrong here, but it sounds like you want this flavor for spells and you just need some kind of framework to guide the PER modifiers. I think this is mostly a GM call depending on the situation, similar to saying that it is easier to hear a gunshot than a bow being fired, even if the RKA damage is the same. So I would suggest this. High active point spells generally give a bonus to the PER roll, but not necessarily +1 per 10 AP; look over the suggested PER modifiers table in the rulebook to give you a guideline on noisy vs. quiet effects and how much of a PER modifier they might give. For any given situation, just call it. In my mind, this is just a way to give the players a handle on how powerful a magic they are dealing with, so decribe the magic as such and grant bonuses or penalties accordingly. As for magic "residue", I think for that to work properly you are going to have to add the Tracking adder to the Detect. Then you can use tracking rules, where penalties are accrued the further you get down the time chart. If you want a spell to be inherently quiet, buy an adder to impose PER penalties for detection, or buy it Invisible if it is supposed to be completely indetectable. To keep people from seeing where the magic came from, as opposed to detecting the magic itself, that is if a wizard is just trying to be inconspicuous while casting his spell, have him make a Stealth, Acting, Sleight of Hand, or Concealment role (as appropriate), modified the the active points and nature of the spell to suit.

Re: Nnd Good point. But I think you could probably just define it as working with ECV instead of regular CV. I suppose that would give mentalists a slight edge since EGO is less expensive than DEX to buy up, but since they have to pay more for the attack now we will cut them some slack.

Re: Nnd You know you could ditch EGO attacks and BOECV under this system. Give them "Reduced by common exotic defense (+1)" and "No Range Modifier (+½)" to represent the LOS aspect. Yes that would make them more expensive, but I have always thought EGO attacks weren't really on par with a standard EB anyway.

Re: Dextracardial That was my first though too, but I would bet (and I have no actual knowledge of this of course*) that anyone skilled enough to try a placed shot to the heart would actually aim to the side slightly to go through the ribs and avoid hitting the sternum. Since your heart is only a little larger than your fist, that might be just enough to skew a direct hit on the heart itself. *Just take my word for this, it is better that way.

Re: Variant types of damage? This is a very intriguing concept, but I think to build it properly you need to figure out what gameplay effect you want, and then contruct the powers and/or CHA to fit that. For psychological damage, maybe this means the character has to make an EGO roll to perform any dangerous action while he is "psychologically injured", or instead maybe the character picks up a temporary Psych Lim. Maybe a "horror" attack substitutes EGO for BDY and PRE for STN, so that the hero is less able to resist the next horror until he recovers from the first. Then again, maybe the horror causes people to faint, so STN damage is appropriate. Maybe the mystical attacks make the hero feebleminded so that they do INT instead of STN damage, or instead it might fundamentally weaken the hero so that they take CON instead of BDY damage. The point is that once you figure out what you want the sfx of the attacks to do in gameplay, you can design the powers around it. And then let us know what you came up with, because I for one am curious to hear it.

Re: Dextracardial I think I would go with the consensus that this is a character description rather than a power, but if a player wanted to buy it I think I would do it as 3d6 Luck, only to prevent a placed shot to the heart (-4). Cost 3pts. Not a fool-proof miss, but if you get shot through the chest on either the right or left side, the chance that something vital gets hit is pretty good.

Re: Killing Attacks vs Stun Lottery

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... "Could it be? Yes, it could. Something's coming, something good, If I can wait! Something's coming, I don't know what it is, But it is Gonna be great!" Great quote!

Re: Variant types of damage? Some nice ideas, although maybe your pages of notes give some more details. I see an appeal to mental-type attacks (including extreme PRE) doing damage other than BDY damage, and EGO would be a good choice if you go that route. (I don't see "mystical" as a separate catagory myself; either the magic has physical or psychological impact so it doesn't require its own heading.) Since BDY and EGO are priced the same, you could easily define an EB saying it affects EGO instead of BDY to change the flavor of the power a bit. The problem is that most people don't have much if any Mental Defense, which is why BOECV is a +1 Advantage (and makes the attack STN only IIRC). If you want it to do BDY too (or EGO in this case) you need another +1 Advantage. Suddenly those adjustment powers don't look so bad... You might consider this though. If a mental attack stuns someone, or if the "BDY" rolled on the dice would cause impairment (per the impairment rules but use EGO in place of BDY and obviously no EGO is actually lost) the target might pick up a temporary Psych Lim or have to make an EGO roll to perform an action. That is going to make mental attacks potentially a lot more powerful, so be careful (this could be offset by giving everyone base level mental defense of EGO/5). My only other comment is that heroes are often supposed to be strong-willed and most players hate their characters being psychologically handicapped more than being physically handicapped. There is an appeal to someone overcoming physical adversity, while psychological adversity is often considered just weak-willed (maybe that says something about how our society views mental illness, but that is another topic). Anyway, if you are going to have mental/mystical attacks do damage to EGO be careful not to turn the heroes into cowardly, wishy-washy wimps.