Ockham's Spoon

Re: the point cost problem An excellent discussion. I will just post a couple observations from my own gaming, in which equipment either cost money or was picked off of dead foes, and most abilities cost points. First, to keep standard issue equipment from being "free points", make sure you use "real-world" limitations. That is, equipment is breakable, requires maintenance or it wears out, has STR Min, etc. And make sure stuff gets broken or used up, not to the point that the characters are constantly unarmed, but enough to give them a few harrowing scenes and keep them from relying too heavily on any one item. (really IMO gear-heads should be skilled at getting the most out of their gear, whatever it may be, and not wed to the gear itself). Now that you have baseline equipment, throw a few pieces of nice equipment along, stuff that is unbreakable, minaturized, lighter, slightly more effective, etc. The players love this stuff and it fills that craving for loot without really changing the point totals much. If players wanted reliable and/or unique equipment that they almost always could use (like the ninja who always poisoned her weapons) then they have to pay points for it. I have not had real problems with this approach, and players quickly learn to rely on their own abilities more than the stuff they carry. And let's face it, who wouldn't rather play a character that is cool for what he can do and not for trinkets he has? ___________________________________________________________ "Who needs super powers? I have a grenade!"

Re: Help with spell construction You are welcome for the input. I love the give and take on the boards, and quite frankly had you not asked the question, I would not have thought of the build, which I think I will now have to use for my own campaign... Now having read the Runequest text, how about a Change Environment "demoralizing zone" which would require an EGO check to attack at "full strength", however you want to define that. For a single target it would look like Change Environment, 1 hex, demoralizing zone, EGO roll at -4 to attack at full strength, 4 charges last 5 minutes each, cost 17pts This makes high EGO people more resistant, which seems to be in the flavor of the spell to me. And although it doesn't work absolutely, it will put most victims at an EGO of 7- which is fairly effective. Given the nature of it, you might want to make PRE a complimentary roll. ___________________________________________________________ "No comment." - anonymous

Re: Wisdom I concur with the above, but I would also throw in high EGO, or at least bonuses to the EGO roll, since wise people generally have a lot of restraint. You might also give them (defensive) PRE since they will be less flappable than the inexperienced. ___________________________________________________________ "The fiction in her family was that she was never nice. I'd say she was very, I just did not see the price." - S. Vega

Re: Help with spell construction Having never played Runequest I am not familiar with this spell, but from your description, while it sounds like a PRE attack, mechanically it really is a more like a Drain vs. DEX or something similar. Mind Control might do nicely too (one command, "Defend only or attack at half OCV", which I would probably give a limitation of -1 since you can get a -½ for "stand perfectly still"). This keeps it a mental power which is in keeping with the sfx. Another possibility would be Darkness, 1 hex, Contining charges lasts 5 minutes, does not affect PER only CV (-½). Since it doesn't affect PER, we assume you always make a PER roll, which puts your DCV at full and OCV at half. The only problem here is that you would have to cover all targeting senses (maybe you could skip mental ones since this has a mental sfx). __________________________________________________________ "I didn't forget; I just wasn't paying attention." - R.C.

Re: Momzer Robot Scan I kind of agree that this is just a Detect. I might even let a character pull this off with High Range Radio Hearing and a good Systems Operation roll. And although it is a bit off-thread, thanks for the momzer tutorial. Bits of trivia like that make the game (and world in general) a richer place. Also of course because I have been know myself to inadvertantly give characters unfortunate names so a heads up is always good (don't have a police chief MacHeath unless you like the irony). ________________________________________________________ "No, no, no, the mohawk goes the other way! You look like a turkey!" - Crow

Re: A very strange build for critiquing. Fascinating though the sword build is, you are thinking way too hard. The sword is basically useless without a wielder, so from a roleplaying standpoint you are always going to have someone around. So have the player build a random character, but he/she/it has to buy all the swords abilities as part of the writeup. The disads would include things specific to the sword in addition to whatever other problems the person had. Whenever the sword changes hands, the player (or more fiendishly, the GM) works up a new character that must buy all the sword's abilities again. Now during actual roleplaying, let the player be the sword and the wielder (unless the wielder becomes a mindless slave while holding the sword, but that is a lot less fun). Or you as GM play the wielder to provide a little more interaction. GM and player should agree ahead of time how much sway the sword has over the wielder. In any event, come combat time, the player runs this character. This sounds like a fun concept, but to me it is really just a way to easily swap abilities for a character by changing the wielder. _______________________________________________________ "Why follow me to higher ground, lost as you swear I am?" - Ed Roland

Re: Supernatural Special Forces Modern military depends a lot on information and being able to target the enemy in adverse conditions. They would certainly want to develop some means for detecting the supernatural before the monsters got too close. Nightvision goggles might be widespread since the monsters invariably love the dark. But if the supernatural inherently gives off some energy, odor, or whatever, you can bet a military going after the beasties will develop something to detect it. As Sociotard mentioned, holy symbols, if they work, would be on every piece of equipment. They might have crucifix hologram generators to set up a safety barrier as well. And if you get clever with the optics, how about a laser weapon that burns a small cross in whatever it hits (extra dice of killing attack only vs supernatural)? Finally, since I would envision fire-base weapons as being in heavy use, you would almost certainly have lots of fire-fighter type equipment in case things got out of hand, or at least breathing apparatus and flame resistant outfits (actual fire extinguishers maybe not since the monsters might get a hold of them unless they could be covered with holy symbols or something to prevent that) _______________________________________________________ "Invisible monsters!? Oh my god, they were to cheap to hire villains!" - Tom Servo

Re: Terrible Thoughts -- Simple Concept, Expensive Build Not that the Damage Shield discussion isn't interesting, but to return to the original question: How about +50 PRE, only for attacks (-½), no conscious control (-1), only vs. people making mental contact (-1), Side Effect: character takes same PRE attack at half strength (-½). Real Cost:12 The total extra PRE might depend on the power level of the campaign, but you could buy a pretty impressive PRE attack this way for a handful of points. If you allow characters to be driven mad by PRE attacks achieving PRE+40 or more this becomes even more effective. I only give a -1 for NNC because even though the character has no control over it, it always goes off in a predictable fashion. The side effect could be at full strength at the players option. You could argue that this build would require BOECV and a Trigger, but the point is to make a reasonable cost power out of this and I don't see that either of these advantages is absolutely necessary given the nature of the power and the way the limitations are written. _________________________________________________ How would you rate your service today? [ ] Orgasmic [ ] Effervescent [ ] Bland [ ] Repugnant [ ] My own personal hell

Re: Top Down Bottom Up Interesting idea, and I have to concur with the others posts by and large. One other thing you might consider is that the degree of control someone has in manipulating the everyman VPP also dictates how much of it they can control. Otherwise you will have some clown with a Cosmic Skill roll of 11- trying to effect a 1000 point power, blow his roll and destroy a city. The number of active points they can actually use should be limited some way, maybe they can utilize 10 active points for every point they make an EGO roll by. Masters would have either really high EGOs or skill levels for their EGO roll (which seems appropriate to me anyway). This would allow two people trying to use the VPP simultaneously to "block" eachother's effects with an EGO vs EGO roll. Or maybe this should just be combined with the talent that allows them to manipulate the VPP in the first place. Anyway neophytes should not be able to accomplish feats as amazing as masters, so some mechanic to limit them should be in place. _________________________________________________ The greatest trick the devil ever did was to convince the world he didn't exist

Re: Working Precognition Okay this is a brilliant idea! I love foreshadowing and all, but what a pain in the neck for the GM to make it work out. This not only attaches some workable game mechanics to what would otherwise be a plot device, but it gives psychic characters more flexibility and real utility. Repped! Let's not forget defenses too: the psychic predicts that Harold the Hemophiliac will miraculously survive his upcoming battle with Bloodletter McVicious, the effect is +10 PD Armor, Useable vs. Others, Ranged, Indirect, only vs. attacks from McVicious, 1 charge lasts 5 minutes. _____________________________________________________ "I didn't forget. I just wasn't paying attention." - R.C.

Re: How to: Ego Roll Wall I am not clear whether this barrier is only to keep people from coming through or if it could block a chair someone threw at it (chairs being unlikely to make an EGO roll). Let me reread the thread when I have had another cup of coffee. If it is a physical wall, just buy as Force Wall, Transparent (+½) to anyone making an EGO roll (per normal transparency rules). You could probably also say transparent to everything except people who fail an EGO roll if it isn't a physical wall. Here is another way to do it (a bit munchkiny, but I have used a similar construct for a trap in the villain's lair) 1" Teleport, AoE Hex(+½), 0 END (+½), Useable as Attack (+1), Continuous (+1), Persistent(+½), Trigger (+¼; when person tries to go through), fixed location (to the spot the person started), Only vs. sentient (-½), Requires EGO vs EGO roll (-½; trespasser vs. the caster). Active Cost: 14, Real Cost: 7. The shut off for the Continuous would be removing the card. ____________________________________________________ More impenatrable than a calcified bureaucracy...

Re: Your PCs might be overpowered if... You might be overpowered if... Your character is able to end all religious wars and strife... because seeing is believing. _______________________________________________________ Deus ex machina - also known as the plot contrivance switch

Re: JEFFVERSE - Jeff T's name quest Dr. Destroyer types are always coming up with intricate plans, so his name could be Machination. If your government organization is supposed to be secretive, don't refer to it as anything at all except for some esoteric bit like H12 (which might be the number for the office in which part of it resides, or the designation of the original members - Bram Heller's 12 recruits for instance - which may or may not now be obsolete). Drop references to it here and there and even H12 can become a mysterious and intriguing name. And finally for the shadow mage, well, yeah, Penumbra pretty much. _____________________________________________________ "I didn't forget. I just wasn't listening." - RC

Re: Fixing Find Weakness Since it was asked about earlier, here are two examples where find weakness made sense for the special effect. 1. Sonic character used FW to find the resonant frequency of opponent's defenses, which allowed greater damage. 2. Mentalist with FW for all mental powers, defined as sizing up the psychological limitations and thinking patterns of the target so as to more easily slip past defenses. In both these cases the characters had senses that justified the FW, and in both cases the sfx was well-defined. That said, either could have easily just used the AP advantage with a skill roll (and I have had builds that way too). I should also say that FW tends only to be abusive if the character has spent a certain threshold of points. If it is only on 11-, it is too unreliable to justify the cost. By the time it is 14- and you have a good chance of it working once and a reasonable chance of it working a second time, it can get really dangerous. To some extent that is true of any power (just a few more DC to get over those high defenses for example) but for FW it is more pronounced because of the way it works on the bell curve. I have no great attachment to FW, and given it's potentially problematic pitfalls, I would be just fine with losing it. Sure it might be conceptually nice for some characters, but I don't see why you couldn't achieve the same effect with extra DC or AP on a skill roll, or one of the other work-arounds already mentioned. Why clutter up the game with powers you can so nearly duplicate with less potential for abuse? _____________________________________________________ "Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow

Re: A New Use For Hardened I have to kind of agree with Phil that Hardened already covers a lot of ground and I don't see a real need for this added effect. Of course it hasn't come up in my games where obviously it occured in yours so maybe I am missing something. Personally I think this is once again addressing the STN lotto issue and I would rather fix the problem than treat the effects. If you like the STN lotto as is, I would just have people buy extra defense, only vs STN of killing attacks to cover this effect. Just my two cents. ______________________________________________________ Fortune favors the well-prepared - Edna

Re: Who Ya Gonna Call? (and How?) I rely heavily on heroes with secret IDs that would put them places where they would likely see or overhear (or be asked directly about) some problem or another. This works best when the heroes have enhanced senses. Once they find out about the problem they can approach the authorities (or other appropriate individual) in hero ID. My other favorite tactic is psychics who establish a relationship with the heroes (or may just know who they are because they are psychic) and inform them of hazards that they have discovered in some inscrutable fashion. Sometimes one of the heroes is the psychic, but it works best with a non-combat kind of NPC (or DNPC). _________________________________________________________ "Some people spread happiness wherever they go. Others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

Re: Entanglements Ahrg, I type too slowly! Beaten to the punch on AoE TK. _________________________________________________ "I don't want to stop crime. I just want to fight it." - Tick

Re: Entanglements First off let me say that I agree that the Entangle power should be reconsidered (along with Force Wall) to give barrier and immobility powers separately. If you want to do both, put it in a multipower. As for circumventing the problem, consider a continuous, persistant TK to "grab" the affected character. There is your gravity well or glue attack. Since any attack power bought as continuous needs a defined way to shut it down, you now don't have to worry about Captain Plasma blasting the gravity well because it can only be shut down by moving a sufficiently large object into it (one that exceeds the lift power of the TK) - or something. Eyebeam Boy can't blast out of the glue trap because he isn't encased in anything and he can't target the wall, so he has no way to attack the TK (what he needs is some solvent... and a better name). Also note here how anyone trying to free Eyebeam Boy with an attack power risks injuring him since the TK does not provide any protection like a standard Entangle would (oh sure you could buy Transparent I know). Granted, this power can get pretty expensive (a 40 STK TK, Continous, Persistant, 0 END, AoE Hex is 180 Active), but as Sean mentioned it can be pretty powerful. Of course it would be limited (only for performing Grab manuver -1) which softens the blow a bit. Consider though, if you can't use most of your attack powers but just have to rely on STR to breakout, a 40 STR TK will pretty effectively immobilize almost anyone but a brick, so the cost is probably justified. As for your Martial Artist using his Sidekick to get out of the block of ice, I think that as GM you could reasonably say no; if you can't move your legs you can't kick so you will just have to rely on your brute strength (or your fellow heroes). _________________________________________________________ "I don't want to stop crime. I just want to fight it." - Tick

Re: Opinions on build with Naked Advantages I admit it does sound like a multipower might be more appropriate. You might consider making the attack Variable Advantage, but with only limited advantages (which is worth ¼ less than regular VA) to model it in an EC. That said, there are times when a naked advantage is appropriate, but it depends on the advantage and what the character is trying to do with it (e.g. the Mongoose write-up with AP on STR to represent a focused chi sort of thing). In my campaigns, naked advantages are typically last resort or unique sort of powers that are fairly restricted to prevent the player from using them all the time. So if that is the case, I'd go for it, but if it is just a cheap way to get a second type of energy blast I think I'd disallow it. _________________________________________________________ "Some people spread happiness wherever they go. Others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

Re: "Your Most Embaressing Game Mastering Moment" Hmm, I think I have hear the term used as a racial slur, perhaps that is why it got screened. Maybe I should have spelled it doowop instead.

Re: "Your Most Embaressing Game Mastering Moment" Let me first say that I am really bad with names, to the point that they are frequently the last thing I come up with and they still suck. Well one gaming session the suck-a-tude was such that gameplay stop for several minutes while player were laughing. I had a realm called Narn (okay not brilliant to start), that had already been established as existing, although the characters had not yet ventured there. There was an evil group of wizards that had a base there. In my notes I had written the name of the group as the Narnians. Just as I was about to reveal the name of the group to the players I thought, Narnians = Narnia = C.S. Lewis, oops! So off the top of my head I called them the Narnells, which my players immediately seized upon as a great name for a 1950's do-*** group, and began an inspired round of singing. Everytime thereafter when the wizards showed up, the players would break into song and laughter. I have to say this villain group never achieved vicious, fear-inspiring evil status I had initially planned. _____________________________________________________ "Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow

Re: Putting on Power Armor Our house rule is that any costume change requires 1 turn, just to be slightly more realistic and to encourage characters to be creative when they get caught in their Secret ID, or force them to make a decision about revealing their ID in a dramatic fashion. It just makes for better role-playing in my experience. As for giving the character a break for having to take a long time to get into armor (or any other ID change) I would lean toward the using a Disad rather than a limitation, because you are already likely to have OIHID or a focus limitation on the powers bought through the armor, no need to give an even greater bonus which would just encourage abuse in my eyes. _________________________________________________________ "Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow

Re: Help building a power? 5th Ed. has Gate building rules that would work here, you just need to add Invisible, 0 END, and Persistant advantages. It is built as Teleport, AoE 1 Hex, Usable on Others, Continuous with the limitation Gate (-½) to represent the fact it goes both ways. Add xNCM or Megascale to boost the distance if needed. Now treat the phone cord as two connectors that happen to be connected by a wire. Send one connector through the gate and hold onto the other one, and you've strung the cable through the gate. I know it smacks a bit of handwaving, but you can attack through a gate (although it would be difficult if you couldn't see the other side), and if you can do that with a ranged attack, why not with a HTH attack and Stretching? Just a special effect really. _____________________________________________________________ "Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow

Re: The Character Idea Thread This sounds workable to me; I will have to try and write it up. Thanks for the input! on other topics: As for the 30" Gliding for arresting falls, I missed the sidebar about the 6" gliding parachute, but I figured for terminal velocity 30" would be needed. That said, the 30" Superleap only to stop falls is a much more straighforward way of doing it. So the Loki history is interesting, but I am not clear as to what power are you trying to build here. Ability to bamboozle humans? Power to prevent the end of the world? Maybe the skill to advance human society and let them take credit for it? ____________________________________________________ "Some people spread happiness wherever they go. Others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

Re: Older HERO rules in 5E games Okay, the self-inflicted damage rule is a must! How did that ever get dropped? I guess for Supers it isn't in the genre, but for everything else, definitely! I really like the Autofire +1 OCV per "spread" shot. Not only does it make 10 shot Autofire worthwhile, but it makes intuitive sense that someone with a machine gun is going to have an easier time hitting with a hail of bullets than with a single shot. Maybe I read 5th Ed. Regeneration incorrectly, but I thought it did have a cap; if I have 3d6 Healing bought as regeneration, I can't regenerate more than 9 BDY. Am I wrong? Admittedly regeneration is more expensive 5th Ed. but that was because it was kind of unbalanced. Anyway the new regeneration makes sense to me, if perhaps a bit more complicated than before. I kind of liked the old Reduced END rule, where you just kept dividing the END cost in half every time you applied the advantage. It made sense that really powerful attacks would have to have a lot more Reduced END to bring them down to zero. The new way is much simpler (definite plus) but makes it kind of all or nothing (well, all, half, or nothing). I build powers now with Reduced END on only half the power to get around this, but that is kind of a pain too sometimes. ________________________________________________________ "Some people spread happiness wherever they go. Others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde