Oruncrest

Re: The Autofire Attack part of a Sweep Misses -- Now What? She's got all the required skills, thanks. and the Sword of Quickness provides an initiative bonus to all her attack (and movement) provided that she uses the SoQ to attack first (-1 because she'd be stupid not to use it first, and it's nearly impossible to get out of her hand).

Re: The Autofire Attack part of a Sweep Misses -- Now What? Yes. To give you a better idea of what I mean, let's pit her in battle with, say, Ironclad (he's good to skewer). The Marilith has 6 swords: the Sword of Quickness (to get in the first strike plus a second attack), a Vorpal Blade (for crippling and beheading her opponents), A Nine Lives Stealer (to steal her opponents' souls, but since she 'acquired' it 'used', she's cautious about using it's special ability), a Mage Killer Sword (because her nemesis is a Wizard), a Dancing Sword (to give them pesky flying SOBs something to occupy their time), and an Axe of Hurling (to take proper advantage of any fliers that are preoccupied by her Dancing Sword). The Marilith has 20 DEX (for a base 7 OCV), +6 with all blades, and +11 with all combat, and the swords each have one or more 5pt. levels, so her maximum OCV with each weapon (and she placed all her levels into OCV so she can slaughter Ironclad quickly) is: SoQ: 26 VB: 29 NLS: 26 MKS: 25 (26 vs spellcasters) DS: 27 AoH: 23 (since her sword bonuses don't apply) Ironclad has placed all his CSLs into his DCV, cause he's starting out his phase by Finding Weakness. His DCV is 11. The Marilith makes a Sweep Attack using her swords. She's got all the requisite skills (Rapid Attack (HTH), Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, Rapid Autofire, ect.), so the only overall OCV penalties she suffers is the -8 from the 5 extra attacks (with the penaties for one attack negated by 2-w fighting). She starts out with the SoQ (she has to, in order to get the Lightning Reflex bonus from the sword), then goes for a leg shot (using the Special Hit Locations on pg 415 of the revised HSR, also, the Marilith thinks that Ironclad is an Iron Golem, so she's trying to immobilize 'it', if she knew he was alive, she'd be making a high shot) with her VB, then regular strikes with the rest of her weapons. After adjusting for the new OCV penalties, her OCV for each attack on Ironclad is now: SoQ: 14 (the extra autofire attack has an effective OCV of 16) VB: 17 NLS: 14 MKS: 13 DS: 15 AoH: 11 If all that hit, then Ironclad would quicly find himself unconscious and missing his right leg. However, the Marilith's attack with the SoQ was nearly disastrous: a 14! So the first attack hit, but the autofire part was, technically, a miss. the Attack Roll for the VB was a 10, so that hit... ...but that technical miss has been nagging at me, saying that I should've stopped the attack sequence before the VB Roll because the autofire portion of the Marilith's first attack missed, even though she didn't make a 'real' attack roll with the attack. Lord Mhoram & Hugh Neilson's replies have helped to convince me that a sweep sequence should only be stopped by an actual missed attack roll, however, so I can get on with gutting Ironclad without feeling anymore guilt.

A little background: I've just created a nasty villainess based on the Marilith from AD&D (6ix arms, snakes body,ignores physical & most magical damage, ect) to see how effective she would be against a team of superheroes. To make things even harder for the heroes, I gave her some nasty weapons, including a weapon that not only enables her to strike first so long as her first attack is with this particular blade (+30 Lightning Reflexes), but automatically gives her a second attack (Autofire:2 shots). And here's where my problem lies. In my playtest, the Marilith struck out at the Team Brick with a sweep attack (she can do it too, she's got +11 w/all Combat and +6 w/blades), starting with the sword mentioned above, followed by 5 more attacks with other swords. fhe first attack succeeds, but the second (autofire) part missed. How do I resolve the rest of the Sweep Attack? Do the following attacks automatically fail because the af part of the first attack missed? Do I continue her attack because the af portion wasn't resolved through an independent attack roll like the first (and following) attack(s)? Any Ideas?

Re: Characters Losing Their Souls - How To Handle It? I'm sure that I missed the response that already said what I'm going to say, but for your first idea (i.e. continuing to be active despite having lost their souls, like Blue Devil after the events of Underworld Unleashed), I'd suggest you give the characters the following disads: 10 Distinctive Features: Soulless (Not Concealable, Major Reaction, Detectable only by Mages, Supernatural Beings, and Magic Sensitives); Treat this disad as a 'Mark of Cain' for the characters: Heroic mystics will tend to shun the characters, recognizing that they sold their souls for something that wasn't truly important (this is especially true in the case of the guy who sold his soul for a movie script), while villainous mystics will try to tempt them into even further damnation. 15 Hunted by Possessing Entities (More Powerful, 8-); A typical Possessing Entity (like say, a ghost) would have powers like Desolidification, Clinging (that works against EGO, not STR, +¼), and Mind Control, in an Elemental Control at 0 END. Since the character doesn't have a soul, such beings would naturally see a big "RIDE ME!" sign on the character's back. Their plans to take the soulless bodies as their own would be made much easier by he following disad: 15 Physical Limitation: EGO becomes 0 when defending against an Possessing Entity (Infrequent, Fully); You can change the EGO value to ½ EGO instead or give them a susceptibility or vulnerability to PEs, but the point is that they should be vulnerable to the PEs. :Pluto: :Pluto: As for the 'Dead, but we can revive them if we get their souls back', might I suggest this power: 22 I Steal Your Soul: Extra-Dimensional Movement to Beneficiaries Afterlife Dimension, Usable as Attack (+1), Trigger (victim willfully chooses to betray the terms of his agreement with the Beneficiary, +¼); Leaves Body Behind ('Real Body' is considered to have an EGO of 0 while the soul is in another dimension, -1); AP: 45; END 4 The normal means to resist this attack would be to make an EGO roll against the beneficiaries' EGO roll, however, your victims would've surrendered that opportunity when hey agreed to the Beneficiaries' terms (either by handshake or signature). The 'Leaves Body Behind' limitation is from 4th edition Champions and is chosen solely because I feel that it makes for a cleaner mechanic than trying to use a variation of the Astral Form power in 5th ed. In role-playing terms, the body would still be alive, but without a soul, it couldn't do any of the things that most of us take for granted (you know, like eat, drink, or move), the victim's body would suffer from stuff like dehydration and starvation, not to mention the threat of Possessing Entities wanting to take the newly vacated body for a ride. Meanwhile, the victim's soul is trapped in an 'afterlife dimesion' that reflects its rulers tastes (it doesn't have to be hellish; the 'Afterlife dimension' of Adam Warlock's Soul Gem was a nice place). Hopefully, the character's teammates will try to rescue the luckless sap from this horrible(?) fate by finding a way into the 'Afterlife Dimension' to go after him, where they'll discover what this 'Afterlife' is like, why the villain wants souls, confront the villain, ending with a narrow escape from the 'Afterlife' with the victim's soul, and finally forcing the victim's body & soul together. Hope this helps.

Re: The Ras Chrinoicles Ah. So you're Susan's old man. Goodtameetya.

Re: Blue Beetle's Disads? It's been awhile since I perused his book (partially because the writers did their darndest to suck all the fun out of the stories), but I'll see if I can help you here. Note that these are from his '80s comic in the DCU, not from his time with the JLI or BoP or Superbuddies or anything. Due to how Ted became BB (his mentor, Dan Garrett, the original BB, was killed figting Ted's uncle), he suffers from survivors guilt. This usually translates into a desire to live up to Dan's memory (common, moderate, 10 pts) Ted is watched by a police detective (AP, NCI, Ted's easy to find, 14-, 20 pts) who thinks that Ted had something to do with Dan Garrett's dissappearance. The folks at KORD Inc. make a great collective DNPC (Normal, 11-, 20 pts). If they're not related to a supervillian who makes them steal from KORD Inc. (Ted's secretary is the niece of Dr. Alchemy, who invaded KORD Inc. to recreate the Philosopher's Stone), then they're getting turned into superpowered freaks and getting kidnapped by supervillians (a worker at KORD Inc was turned into the metahuman Prometheus by Mento in a crazy attempt to create a 'new' Doom Patrol). And there's always Melody, Ted's old girlfriend (She also works at KORD Inc), who isn't fond of the Blue Beetle and sometimes snoops around ted trying to find out where he dissappears to all the time (no, she doesn't know about Teds secret). All that's probably why she's his ex-girlfriend now. That's all I can remember without looking thru my collection. I hope it helps. edited for clarification

Re: Rifts HERO? Well, If you're looking for that sort of thing... Glitter Boy Val Char Cost Notes 50 STR 35 19-; 1.2t, 10D6 26 BODY 30 1.25 Size 10 -2 KB 23 DEF 57 20 DEX 30 13-; CV: 7/6 4 SPD 10 3, 6, 9, 12 Movement Running: 20â€/ 40â€ncm Leaping: 15â€h/ 8â€v Cost Powers E/- 28 +14†Running 5 Jet Boosters: +5†leaping, no NCM (-¼) 8 Jet Hovering: 5†Flight Only to allow the GB to hover 4†off the ground (-½) 27 0 END on STR 0 33 Stabilization Systems: 25pts Knockback Defense; Non-persistent, -¼, Cannot use any movement powers while Stabilization Systems are active, -¼ 13 Life Support Systems: LS: Self Contained, Temperature, Radiation, Pressure, Disease; IIF 1 Nutrition Unit: LS: Diminished Eating, 1 Week 15 Reflective Surface: ½ Resistant Energy Damage Reduction, only vs. Lasers, -1 75 Mega-Damage Combat 5D6 HKA, 0 END; STR Doesn’t Add 0 RG-14 Rapid Acceleration Electromagnetic Rail Gun, AKA the ‘Boom Gun’: 92 The Gun: 7D6 RKA, 100 Charges, OAF, Gun will not fire unless the Stabilization System has been activated, -¼ 29 The Boom: 7½D6 Hearing Flash in a 30†Radius, 0 END; OAF, Linked to go off with ‘the Gun’ (-¾), no range 0 Sensor Systems: 5 Thermo-Imager: Infrared Perception 17 IR & UV Optics: Detect Infrared and/or Ultraviolet Perception powers at range 15- 4 Laser Targeting: +2 w/Boom Gun 30 Optics Protection: 30 pts Flash Defense Sight 30 Sound Suppression Systems: 30 pts Flash defense Hearing 341 Total Powers Cost 172 Total Characteristics Cost 584 Total Vehicle Cost 100 +Disadvantages 15 Distinctive Features: Glitter Boy, (Unconcealable, Noticed) 10 Hunted by the CS (except for Free Quebec) (mp, nci, destroy) 8- 5 Hunted by various bandits & thugs (lp, steal) 8- 5 Reputation: Laughs off Lasers 8- 450 Pilot Payment 600 Total Disadvantages I'll try to write up my RIFTS ->HERO conversion notes and present them later this week.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist Created by Denny O'Neil, I Ching was the 'Inscrutiable Martial Arts Master' back when Wonder Woman was trying to steal Emma Peel's gig (Diana had lost her powers at the time). When Denny took over the writing of the Superman books and temporarily depowered Supes, he brought I Ching over to help Supes get his powers back, then take them away again when it became apparent that Supes had suffered a brain injury while he was powerless and needed to have doctors operate on him, then helped Supes out while he and the 'Sand Superman' were throwing down with some mental mumbo-jumbo. I don't think I've heard a peep from him since WW got her powers back.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist If you take this line of argument, then you are admitting that the only reason Batman lost the first time is 'cause of surprise advantage... i.e. Bronze Tiger weren't really *that* good. Which only reinforces my point anyway. Let me put it this way, Chuckg... Batman should not get one-punched by any of the other MAs on this list! Not Bronze Tiger! Not Richard Dragon! Not Ranma Saotome (at least, not at the beginning)! And sure as Hail Not Hal Frickin' Jordan! If Ben one-punched Bats then something was wrong with Batman, not Bronze Tiger. And no, I don't buy the idea that Batman has improved since then since he & Richard Dragon fought to a standstill a couple years earlier in Brave & the Bold #132.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist I haven't read Detective Comics #485 so I don't know, but Faraday made it sound like it took more than one punch to beat the Bat. And if Ben was just dealing with rage issues, the above fight might not've taken as long as it did (or at least Ben wouldn't have walked into that kick), but part of Ben's makeover had to do with pride issues as well (in a battle with Stalinovolk, for instance, he knocked the big man down, but instead of pressing his advantage, he gloated. Needless to say, he needed Vixen to save his bacon that day). When Ben was confronted by the dream personification of the Bronze Tiger, 'BT' said, "I am your anger. I am your pride. I will be your death." So Ben had to come to terms with that as well. Or Batman had a better estimation of his foe than he did in the first fight and didn't walk into a knock-out punch.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist I believe she was mentioned in Suicide Squad #38. King Faraday's explaining to Sgt. Steele about the incident that drew Waller's attention to him in the first place - the murder of Kathy Kane. (It should be noted that the story tries to absolve him of the murder by saying that another assassin killed her while BT was fighting Batman, but that would make no sense seeing as how this was BT's test to see if he was good enough to join the League of Assassins, but like I've heard recently, "What's a little inconsistency in a DC comic anyway?" )

Re: Rules For Picking A Superhero Name Wee Willie (From the Great SuperVillian Contest) probably wishes someone had given him this advice a long tome ago.

Re: Mai HiME Actually, the HiME are the bait, as you'll discover in ep. 4. The School is a means to get the HiME onto the island and keep them there. The Student Body, the Faculty, and almost everyone else on the island are merely disposable cover. To be fair to Mashiro, she doesn't have a choice in the matter. As you'll discover in later episodes, she's not in charge of the situation. Neither for that matter is the one who sics the monsters (they're called 'Orphans') on the HiME. And as for Mai and Takumi, they're stuck on the island. They don't have a home to go back to, the reason they don't will be mentioned in ep 19.

Re: Who is the best Archaic/Anachronism/whatever in comics? [Who was/is your favorite Cowboy in comics? Shane Gooseman! Hey, Galaxy Rangers had a one-shot comic made a long time ago. If I was to name a cowboy primarily noted for his comics appearances, I'd say Jonah Hex. Interestingly enough, I only twigged to the character in the Hex stories (Where Jonah was stuck in the post-apocolypse DCU future) and was pleased as punch when Jonah made references to it in the JLU episode 'The Once and Future Thing: Weird Western Tales' Who was/is your favorite Ninja in comics? I'm not a big fan of ninjas (probably why I can't stand Naruto). I can't think of any that's actually piqued my interest. Who was your favorite Knight in comics? I was about to say Misty, then I remembered Sandra Knight. Damn, she looked good in her Phantom Lady outfit. Oh, you meant Mideval Knights! I'll go with Sir Justin, the shining Knight. Who was your favorite Archer/Robin Hood type? Ollie, of course.

Re: Who is the best Archaic/Anachronism/whatever in comics? Mike Grell was the one who reinvented GA in Longbow Hunters, not Kevin Smith.

Re: Sci-fi swear words? Well, if we're gonna use acrostics, we might as well add Bend Over! Here It Comes Again! (or BOHICA, for short) From Negation

Re: And in his wake ... desolation (Power Design Help) 120 Path of Destruction: Change Environment (makes the ground incapable of supporting plantlife, -10 to all hoticultural rolls thereafter) in an 8,192" area (gradual effect: 1 day, -1¼), lasts for 1 millennium, 0 END, Persistent; Always on, No Range; AC:150 I think the above would be what you're looking for. Not only does this kill all plantlife in a hex, it does this rather quickly (1 hex per turn), essentially wiping out all plantlife in a 5 mile radius within 24 hours. Have a fight in a cornfield and enjoy the looks on your players' faces as the cornfiels literally dies around them (hopefully, they'll get the idea to get 'desolator' off the ground). Note that while left alone, the effect can never go away, the GM can have them be neutalized easily by the countering PC for no points (or as many points as you want to charge him).

Re: Essence of Desriability Acually, I was thinking more along the lines of Shiko Kotobuki and Akane Tendo when I came up with the disad, due to the fact that those two get special treatment by their admirers because they're percieved as being helpless (even Akane's gang of 'admirers' each believed that by defeating her, he was saving her from her other suitors). Tenchi (and many other Harem targets) aren't perceived as helpless by their suitors (or by anyone else), so I'd give them the Social Limitation Chick Magnet (the male version of Jerk Magnet).

Re: Essence of Desriability I think that a limitation would be more appropriate: 20 Distintive Features: Essence of Desireablity. Conealable, Extreme Reaction Unfortunates who have this DF inspire an instictive gut reaction from those around the character that ultimately results in their wanting to stay around him or her for as long as the character will let them (and sometimes even longer, depending on their Psychological Limitations. It isn't all bad. The character with this lim gets his or her way a lot more (treat the char as having +5 PRE for Persuasion attempts), and anger that should be vented towards the character is directed instead towards the people around him or her (usually the closest, and most devoted, of the character's admirers). However, those affected usually want to monopolize the character's time and attention, and view all others attracted to the character as competition to be fended off, violently, if necesary. Worse, if the character already has his or her sights set on someone (this person quickly becomes the closest, most devoted admirer) all the other admirers will often develop a hatred for that person (said person should have at least 1 Hunted/Rivalry pertaining to the character) and do their best to replace that person as the Character's Best Liked. As a general guide to how those affected will react; Those older than the character's Peer Group but not romantically/sexually attracted to the character: Will take a grandparental attitude towards the character and try to spoil him or her rotten. If the character does anything wrong in the (grand)parent's presence, the Most Devoted will be blamed for it, saying that the MD should've been watching him/her closer (as if the character is a small child, incapable of understanding the consequences (and thus, incapable of taking responsibility for) of his or her actions. Note that these people will see the character as a child and will act to keep the character from engaging in any dangerous activity. It doesn't matter if the character is powerful enough to whip Darkseid 2 falls out of 3, isnsisting on running out to save the world will end in the character being sent to his room and the MD being chastised for putting fool ideas into the character's head. Those in the character's Peer Group but not romantically/sexually attracted to the character: will take a 'big sibling' attitude towards the character, watching out for the cahracter, steering him/her away from 'bad folk' (the Most Devoted is usually considered to be 'bad folk' by these people, even when he/she's part of their peer group) and generally trying to keep the character as close as possible. If the character does anything wrong in their presence, the Most Devoted will be blamed for it, saying that the MD is bad for the character to be around. Like the (grand)parents, they'll insist on the character running away when trouble rears it's ugly head and try to sacrifice themselves to distract the onrushing threat (although they're more likely to toss the MD at the threat and run off with the character). Those younger than the character's Peer Group: treat the character like he or she is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The character is their personal hero (or have a crush on the character if romantically/sexually attracted to him or her) and can do no wrong (that's left to the Most Devoted, of course). The Most Devoted will quickly learn why young children are called 'ankle-biters'. If a threat should appear and the character is in the presence of this crowd, the character will be quickly trotted out to face it by the rugrats, who have absolute confidice that the character can defeat the threat as easily as s/he crosses the street. Likewise, the MD will be barred from getting anywhere near the fight, since the youths are sure that the MD will 'jinx' the character. Those Romantically/ Sexually attracted to the character: will be a constant pain. If they're not trying to kill the Most Devoted, they're trying to slip around the MD or worse, trying to use the MD to get to the character, then try to bump the MD out of the picture. They'll often have other Psych Lims that'll determine how pushy they are. In the event of an onrushing threat, however, these folk will try to sabotage any actions taken by both the character (No, no, my dear. Fighting such a creature is below one such as you), and the MD ([Martial throws the MD to the ground, right in front of the monster du jour] I shall defeat this horrible creature for the Lady most fair. And while she's showering me with the appreciation I deserve, she'll hardly think of your fate. Bon Apetit!) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shiko would have, along with Essesnse of Desireability, the Physical Limitation: Lolita Body and the Psych Lim: Immature.

Re: Is Power Girl/Kara Starr the DCUs Gladiator? Actually, It's Post CRISIS, Pre TMKboot. Dev-Em's 'new' (ie, Titanian) origin was explained in his entry in Who's Who in the Legion. Dev-Em's Daxamite origin (not to mention his lousy haircut - I can see why he went bad) was unveiled during the 'Time & Time Again' Arc in the Superman books, which interacted with the TMK Legion (and ended up with the Moon being blown up).

Re: The New Circle Darn. I though Ross was a Kid Eternity stand-in (with Keeper as the invisible audience)

Re: A more feminine martial art

Re: Build question on a VPP Would he even need to apply Incantations to the control cost? Does he have to sing to alter the nature of the VPP or does he merely need to sing to use the 'Reality-Altering' powers?

Re: Is Power Girl/Kara Starr the DCUs Gladiator? That's what I'm thinking: Karen is actually Lauren Gand, sent to the past by one of the TMK LSH in a desperate attempt to save her from the ravages of Zero Hour. Since Rond Vidar (Lauren's father) required a Green Lantern Ring to impregnate her, Lauren has a little of the 'Green Beam' wihin her; enough to alter her susceptibility from Lead to Green K to 'unprocessed natural material' to... what's her current weakness nowadays, anyway?

Re: Superhero Images Oh my Gawd! It's Mich-el!