Kevin Schultz

Re: Flying Dodge

Re: Renaissance Fantasy Hitting the OTHER side of the Renaissance, there's Castle Faulkenstien; however, that's early 1800's Steampunk with orcs, elves, and dwarves, rather than 1500's.

1. Is "Does not apply to OECV" a valid limitation on EGO for a character that has no EGO-based offensive powers? The specific situation was in purchasing additional EGO points for a non-mentalist. On one hand, the player isn't planning on using that aspect of EGO, so there seems to be little reason to pay for it. But on the other hand (as Ghost-Angel brought up in the thread that spawned this question), there's no penalty to the character - they CAN'T use that aspect of EGO. Thus, not really a limitation. 2. Is the same limitation on EGO valid if the character could possibly have an EGO-based offensive power, such as having a VPP that could potentially have an offensive EGO-based power. This was the sticking point for me: that a limitation on a characteristic may or may not be limiting, dependent on whether or not you had another power that uses that aspect of the characteristic. (Which seems opposite of the usual "take a limitation that another power invalidates - in this case, it's not a limitation UNLESS another power validates it.) A cheesy way to get around this would be to invent a trivial 1 point Talent that used offensive Ego, at which point having only defensive EGO would be a 'penalty', of sorts. But that seemed an inelegant solution.

Re: No combat respect If that were true, then one could purchase a trivial 1-point EGO-based power and invalidate the "there is no penalty" aspect of the argument. (Yes, I acknowledge that doing so would also be lame.) However, buying a 1 point power so you can spend 5 points on increasing your EGO more appropriately is inelegant and counterintuitive; that in order to purchase only part of something, you have to create a situation in which having the whole would be more beneficial. EDIT - that being said, I agree that you raise an interesting point. So, I've asked Steve about it, here.

Re: What's it based on? You are correct. Let us open our hymnals to FREd, pg. 43, 1st paragraph: "No Skill Levels (not even Overall Skill Levels) add tot he 8- chance to perform a Skill with which a character is Faimiar, since the character doesn't understand the Skill well enough to use his expertise."

Re: Heroes Who Mess-Up OK - unless that movie gets horrid ratings, I'm going to go see it.

Re: WWYCD (kind of): Advice Time for Scarlet! Jake the Troll - "that would be awsome! Um... it's kinda you being, I dunno, a jerk, though." Note that jake is 16 years old and neigh-invunerable. And can bring people back from the dead, if he really wants to. Icon - Emma is planning on becoming a federal agent when she grows up, and considers a SID to be about as relevent as an FBI agent having one. She's also a product of a disfunctional family, and refuses to even TALK to her mother as a result. "Secret ID's are more trouble then they're worth; I'm maintainig one to avoid the hassle of paparazzi before I graduate college. That being said, your parents are jerks; I've found it's a loosing battle to try to validate yourself by such people. I'd say loose the SID, but do it for your own reasons, not theirs." Shinji Miromoto - "Secrets, like relationships, are strings; they tie us up in doubt and fear. It seems as though your attempt to resolve one in such a manner will end up causing you to knot your fate even moreso than it already is." Shinji doesn't have a SID - he was outed on Japanese national television as a consequence of being a sidekick to a supervillian. As a result, he had to flee Japan. Widower - "So... you're going to show them how wrong they were by demonstrating that you've been doing exactally what they told you to do your entire life. Uh-huh."

Re: No combat respect Oh, and in looking at the build - your Damage Shield needs to have Continuous (+1) on it to be book-legal.

Re: No combat respect Here's my claim: there's no way to use a character's will offensively that isn't some sort of power. All other rolls are to resist an influence on a character's actions, which by definition is defensive. I'm also comparing the cost to INT, which for 1 point per level gives you PER and INT-based skill rolls. In comparing it to that, "DECV + willpower checks" sounds comparable. EDIT - besides, cheesy would be buying EGO down to 0, and then buying "Defensive EGO" back up to 10, for a savings of 10 points.

Re: No combat respect And yeah - your martial arts are neat, but they don't have any real synchronicity with your primary combat capabilities; they don't stack, and so that's 15 points not being used to help you blast stuff. I'd recommend modifying that to include the following: Flying Dodge - Can usually be justified in most martial arts, as it's really just "move and dodge". Ranged Martial Arts - having two of these (such as Long Range shot and Offensive Shot) are a good way to get your ranged penalties down and your CV up. EDIT - oh - in terms of character design: you're also spending a LOT on your single attack for that not being an a MP. If you can get away with it, I'd recommend taking that down to 60 active, then purchasing levels of Martial Arts damage to push the damage back up to 12d/120 active. (martial Arts can also represent just the fact that you're innately good with something, rather than training.)

Re: No combat respect Minor min/maxing suggestion: EGO is costed on the assumption that you're paying for OECV. As you aren't a mentalist, there's no reason to pay for this. Change your EGO to Defensive Only (-1). That'll save you 3 points. Defensive EGO and Defensive PRE both do the same thing. Change your PRE to Offensive Only (-1). That'll save you 3 points as well. With the additional 6 points, do some of the things recommended above. (personally, I'd recommend putting 2 points into Defensive EGO, and 1 point into a "Strong Will" Mental Defense, but that's just a thing I do with all my characters.)

Re: WWYCD: Only So Many Shopping Days Till Christmas Jake the Troll - if he found it on one of his jaunts into the Other, he'd get his best friend the boxed set of Seasons 1-3 of Firefly. (The fourth season kinda sucked.) Other than that, he usually makes stuff, because he's really freakishly good at it. Icon - Probably got her dad a tie or something; nothing for her mom. She'd feel a bit uncomfortable buying stuff for her teammates, as they don't really know each other THAT well. Probably get a Dino the Dinosaur cup for Danny (Dino Lad), who she's known the longest. Her friend Ami would get a CD collection, though. Shinji Miromoto - nothing, really; he really disliked the Japanese version of Christmas, and thus cut himself off from it. Which is probably counterproductive in terms of dealing with it healthily, but there y'go... Widower - doesn't have teammates. yet...

Re: Elemental Controls, how do they work? The negative aspect of an EC (it gets drained) is dependent on the GM. Personally, I see a character's sheet as a list of advantages, disadvantages, skills, and powers that the player is asking me to put into a story. Therefore, (for example), if they have a power that has the limitation "In water only, -1", they're asking me to put their character in situations where it will be difficult/impossible to have access to water half the time. Similarly, putting a disadvantage on a character sheet is asking me to design scenarios that have those disadvantages as elements in them. Take Phobia: Insects (uncommon)? You're asking me to put you into situations where that disad will be an issue in approximately 1/3 of the sessions. How does this apply to EC's, you ask? Well, putting something in an EC twofold: it's a reward for linking powers in a logical manner, but it's also you the player asking me the GM to attempt to drain, suppress, or Transfer your powers. I'll try to set this up for 1/3 of time (simply because 1/2 is boring for me, IMO.) And while these won't be complete nullifications of the powers, they will be a non-trivial part of the challenge to overcome.

Re: Help with a concept This type of build also justifies "Charismatic Leadership" type powers: low-level (ie, 5 point) EC's with lots of different effects, all with the "Only with a successful Teamwork/Leadership/Planning roll". There have been a couple of threads like that on this forum.

Re: Help with a concept For the non-superpower superhero: Weaponmaster/Gun Bunny - a la the Punisher: guns, guts, and glory. Much more in a Dark Champions: the Animated Series vibe, though. Anime chick/Heroic Brick - with lots of low-level Willpower "I will not give up!" effects. they seem to be able to beat up even highly-trained martial artists, just so long as it's funny. Vehicle-based: Give her an M1A1 Abram. She'll be good to go. Oracle/Hacker - give her a bunch of computers and let her hack stuff. Let her be the "gal in the van"; telepresence and EM support for the rest of the team.

Re: WWYCD voluntary super registration Jake the Troll - his parents wouldn't let him register: not because they're trying to keep his identity a secret, but because, really: would YOU trust a 16-year old with police powers? Icon - Sure, she'd register. It'll look good on her application to the FBI, after she gets out of college. Shinji Miromoto - already has this with the city of Denver. Widower - Sounds like Haziz is messing with him. He'd grudgingly go along with it, as he would think it's part of his story arc.

Re: Help with a "Susceptibility" Can't negative skill levels be treated as a disadvantage, when applied to yourself? Easily Flattered: -3 to resist any Social Roll (-5/level), only those that compliment her physical appearance(-1/2): -15 active, -10 real. Alternately, it can be treated as a negative EGO value, with the limitation "only when flattered". That'll modify the skill roll. Easily Flattered II: -15 to Ego (-30 points), only to resist flattery (-1 1/2), total cost -12.

Re: Real-Life Comic Book Crossovers We've got ZymoGenetics here in Seattle. Each time I see their sign, I keep on thinking "you guys are a supervillian front, aren't you."

Re: Twist off the WWYCD Jake the Troll - doesn't actually use character points. (he's a plot device in PC form.) Icon - I've already got the 250-to-350 point spread out for her; the next 25 points are to be spent on her costume (10 point EC), a depleted-neutronium escrima stick (another 10 point EC) and 5 points towards a "Experienced Tactician" skill-based EC (10 points, 5 of which are already spent in the character.) Shinji Miromoto - buying a 10-15 point "team player" EC, plus maybe a general skill level. Widower - paying down his 450 point XP debt.

Re: WWYCD: The Seven Deadlies All my characters - assuming there's time, go ask someone who is qualified to give a well-thought-out, professional answer: ie, a Catholic priest.

Re: Help with problem with project 275 When I design Precogs, I usually use something like "Luck, (Only if the player can tie the random clues the GM gives them to something in the scene) -1"

Re: Character for review: Seeker

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? The Mercy Seat, by Johnny Cash. While I liked American IV a lot, and American III had some good tunes on it, I'm not caring all that much for II or I. For the most part, I'm really liking his covers (Soundgarden, NIN, Sting, Paul Simon, etc.), but I'm not caring too much for his originals or takes on traditional folk tunes.

Re: Pet Powers General 'tricks' all of my characters seem to have: 1. EGO, Defensive Only (-1) - this is becuase unless the character is a mentalist, there's almost no reason to pay for offensive EGO. 2. PRE, Offensive Only (-1) - as a correlary to #1; if you have defensive EGO, there's no reason to have defensive PRE. 3a. 1 point of Mental Defense, 2x hardened, nonpersistent - a minor power I give to any character that has any sort of experience in being a superhero; it represents the general 'focused will' that many heroes seem to have. 3b. 3 points of Power Defense, 2x hardened, nonpersistent - same as 3a, above. Generally there to take the edge off of any sort of mental or physical transformation. The hardened is added in mainly to avoid wierd powers like "1 point Major Transform, 2x penetrating, continuous, Increased Effect 30 points". 4. 10 point cosmic VPP, Power Tricks Only (-1/2), Must Practice to add more powers (-1/4) - represents the practiced power tricks a character would have. 5. EC with a travel, Offense, Defense, and Sensory power - this, plus the VPP above, is the standard design I usually come up with for any given hero. This was a design suggestion I remember hearing once, and have took to heart: those four powers are so important to have in a general supers game that it's hard for me NOT to justify putting them in.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Hurt, by Johnny Cash, from American IV: the Man Comes Around. Great googly moogly, can Johnny Cash emote.