Spidey88

Re: New poster here, Character help needed too! Welcome to the forums, by the way! I hope you find them fun and enlightening.

Re: New poster here, Character help needed too! Though I'll try take the time to deal with some of your specific questions shortly - I wanted to tell you right off the bat that I you should happen to have access to "Champions Worldwide", there's a fellow called "Corrente" who's got a lot of chain-related powers that might provide a lot of inspiration for you in terms of mechanics. It sounds like you've got a very good idea of what you'd like your character to do, which is always a good thing. Having a solid concept often speeds things up a lot for me - what time I lose thinking about how to create a very detailed power is more than made up for by not being indecisive On the other hand, even with 285 points, you'll have a hard time squeezing all these powers in (at a glance, anyway) - be prepared to scale back a bit! If you could give us some idea of what his stats are, that may potentially make quite a bit of difference - particularly with his manacles. I've only just begun to realize much of the intricacies of mixing STR with stretching with HA (see the thread I started in the Hero System section: Autofire STR + Stretching - how would you handle it? If you want details on my ignorance...).

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? You're right there DinoMan - though I'm not trying to create an exact duplicate of Spidey, just sort of a tribute - so I don't have to worry about the exact details matching up. I just saw his weblines as being very similar in effect to what I wanted to do with my guy's weblines. I do have a writeup of Spider-Man that I made that I feel is very, very accurate; at least based on his abilities relative to the Champions Universe. That being said, I've seen other people's versions on this site that seem pretty good too! Admittedly, though, I think see my character's webshooting more as producing a gluey ball from his wrist, actually throwing it, and having a line of webbing attached to it trailing behind, sort of like a bolas spider.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Oh, absolutely valid concerns, Silbeg. As I'd mentioned before, our game is quite high-powered: one character has a 15d6 HTH attack that's armour-piercing (and can do it twice in a combat round), another handily deals out 16d6 with every punch and can throw anything effectively, and another can produce 19d6 energy blasts (or produce 10d6 autofire x5 blasts) on those occasions when his absorption (vs. pretty much any energy) is fully charged. Even so, I can see your point! My intention was such that I wouldn't generally be using all 6 arms, all the time - but when the poop hits the fan, I wanted to be able to cut loose and hit pretty reliably. Sort of an unspoken gentleman's agreement, and the same reason I don't cut loose with a 21d6 move-through at every available opportunity (even though I do have specific defenses that allow me to handle the damage to myself when doing so). I definitely plan on discussing it with the other players to see how they feel about it; they were cool with the autofire STR at least, and I don't think this will change things too significantly from that, but I'd rather get their opinions than just assume. I appreciate the feedback - as a powergamer, it's good to hear the voice of moderation sometimes!

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game I'm on Justice too - SaiyanSlayer and I play together (sometimes on CoH, and twice weekly in roleplaying sessions): My characters at the moment are: Phidippus (lvl 25 scrapper), also my Champions character (roughly converted) Yo-Yoeman (lvl 12 blaster) - I take pride in his goofy backstory Zzorch (lvl 6 blaster) - whose look I am proud of (a funky robot in a tattered, sleeveless trenchcoat) I only play occasionally, hence the lack of crazy high levels.

Re: Phrasing a Psych Lim There's some heroes like that in Marvel, too. Daredevil is a good example - Hell's Kitchen is "his turf". You mess with someone there, you mess with DD. I don't know nearly as much about Luke Cage, but I get that impression from him too.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Well, based on all the info you guys have thrown my way (for which I can't thank you enough), I've decided to fall back on plain old Sweep. 1) It avoids a lot of the sticky points that exist with things like the HA bonuses stacking with the Autofire stacking with the martial maneuver stacking with the stretching quandries. Not that you didn't explain things to me very clearly and thoroughly, Hyper-Man; or that the multipowers you suggested weren't very cool and potentially useful - just that I'd rather avoid the complications, esp. when I don't have 5Er yet. 2) Since I've already got Two-Weapon fighting, Rapid Fire (HTH), and Amidexterity, this would easily be the cheapest option! With the points I save by not having Autofire on my STR (and doubling the cost of the END reduction to boot), I can put the stretching at say, 1/2 END (I think it would still be a good idea for it to cost some END, so I'm not flinging around everyone within a 13" radius all the time), and buy some OCV levels with Sweep. If the minor reduction in DCV ends up bothering me later, I could easily buy "+2 DCV, only to counter Sweep penalty" or some such thing. 3) An area of effect attack would probably cost a whole mess 'o points to have at a 13" radius, and attacking 6 guys a round is more than enough for me (and probably close enough to AOE for now)! I still might pick up an area of effect for a smaller radius to represent some aspects of the strength, speed, and multitasking - but I'll have to give it some thought. I'm really tempted, but I think I'll wait on that one for a bit. I'd rather buy things incrementally than bam-bam-bam! Well, it seems that most of my questions have been answered for now, and your ideas have fallen on willing and appreciative ears. Any last thoughts, fellows?

Re: World Watchers Beta Team I didn't think of it at first, but Dr. Bufo pretty much needs a ridiculous PRE in some form as well - defense only, if you're playing him straight (because he looked a demigod in the eye, and spit in it); offense as well if you're playing him goofy. "What was it, Jimmy? Who stopped you?" "A t-t-t-t-toad!" "AAAAUGH! RUN!"

Re: World Watchers Beta Team Dr. Bufo: Once a mystic of no small power, Erik Olaafson was once one of the city's most dedicated defenders. When a fantastically powerful eldritch monstrosity began to breach the barriers between its dimension and ours (so that it might feast upon the souls of countless mortals), Erik put everything into ensuring that mankind was safe. Using every ounce of energy he posessed and more, he made sure that our dimension was out of reach and forever concealed from the invader from beyond - and in the process, destroyed himself. Still, despite his sacrifice, a considerable portion of Erik's spirit remained. Faced with an eternity without a body, and with his time on our plane without one ticking by quickly, he did the only thing he could - he posessed his familiar. Its life force was connected to his, after all, providing an easy conduit - and his faithful pet would have soon died without his master anyway. So Erik, having once been one of Earth's most powerful mystics, is now a four-inch-long talking toad with a Norwegian accent (Possibly with a cape and a tiny amulet or two as well). Erik's powers are now far more limited in strength due to the fact that much less magical energy can be stored in and channelled through a tiny amphibian body, but the scope of his powers and skills remain as potent as ever. (eg. a small VPP for the magic, with a surpisingly high EGO, INT, and a vast array of occult and knowledge skills. Probably some mental defense too, for truly this toad has a strength of will like unto a thing of iron!) Naturally, people will assume he's fallen prey to one of his own spells that backfired!

Re: Your occupation, please. SaiyanSlayer: avert your eyes! My character, Phidippus, is an extremely talented comic book artist. Not entirely original, mind you; but between his skill of 19-, extra hands and eyes, and the fact that he only needs to sleep about an hour a night, he can get a lot of work done very quickly. I figure he's currently drawing the Champions-licensed book at the very least; since he's got a pretty good working relationship with the "real-life" Champions, he'd want to make sure they were well represented - and who would be better to draw them than someone that knows them well, and knows what the life of a superhero is like first-hand(s)? So far, his teammate Ashley (SaiyanSlayer's character) has no idea that he does anything other than superheroics - Phidippus has confined his work to the times Ashley's been out patrolling or asleep. (I've dropped a couple hints here and there, but I haven't gone over the top.) I figure the Danger Sense might help to keep him alert, to protect his I.D. if Ashley came barging in unannounced. To be honest, Phidippus is really more of an NPC at the moment (since I'm always the GM, I didn't have anyone else to jabber about), but I'm looking forward to when SaiyanSlayer takes over for me for a while (as he's mentioned he'd be up to the task) and I describe what I'm going to do for the day. "What? Since when does Phidippus do that?" "Since forever - he just hasn't told Ashley!"

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? It seems as though 5E and 5Er differ on quite a few of these little details! Certainly enough to add up to a big difference in the end when you've got a character like mine...

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Silbeg: If: a) "Two-Weapon Fighting" is basically still the same in 5Er as 5E (in that it's just a modified Sweep), and my character could concievably make multiple Sweep attacks (ie. more than just two) using it with only a total flat penalty of -2 DCV (still having cumulative penalties to OCV, of course) regardless of how many attcks he makes, then that makes a huge difference. If that is in fact the case, then a few bonuses to OCV (only to deal with Sweep penalties) as you suggested previously would be an efficient, acceptable option. Taking a hit of 2 DCV is a pretty minor drop in the bucket compared to having his DCV halved, and cheap to counter! Not to mention the even greater attack options with Sweep, as you mentioned... If, on the other hand, there's a -2 penalty to DCV per attack (much like OCV), then I'd still tend to avoid it under most circumstances (until I got the chance to give my buddy's 5Er some serious study), at least for attacks with more than a couple arms at a time. I gather this isn't the case, but I just wanted to make sure I was absolutely clear on it.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Gotcha. That makes a lot more sense. Is that in the description of Hand-to-hand attack from 5th ed., Revised, or is it somewhere else? Nothing like that in my old vanilla 5th (and also good to know), at least under the description of this power.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Hyper-Man: What I meant specifically with the question "What would stop me from buying various slots in the HtH MP that were only, say, one extra dice of damage? eg. could I basically end up with autofire punches that did 10d6 damage for 10-15 points or so using this method (which seems like exploiting the rules in a nasty way)?" was this (I wasn't clear, or at least wasn't sure If I was based on your answer): Would I be able to have STR, without the Autofire advantage, purchase +X HA (again, potentially something stupidly cheap like a single dice) with Autofire, and be able to: a) make just as many attacks with it as if I had Autofire on my STR, stack martial maneuvers on top, without having purchased autofire for them too? all the while, I'd be getting a slight bonus to damage with all attacks? Ouch! It would seem that I could (at least based on how I've interpreted your examples), but it seems really cheap - too cheap.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Dust Raven: Removing the successive penalties on additional Autofire hits (which I thought was -2, without purchasing a particularly nasty Autofire skill) wasn't something I had in mind anyway. I'd honestly rather avoid being able to hit a target 5 times just as easily as I hit that target once. Even I have limits! I was referring more to things like that "tracking across multiple hexes to hit several spread-out targets" thing I keep bringing up. Not that I'm necessarily obsessed with it - it just seems like the best example. I tend to get a little confused sometimes with CSLs vs. PSLs. With the Autofire thing, it seems like: "there's a penalty - I want to eliminate it, without creating positive modifiers." I'm not arguing with you here (I realize you're right), but doesn't it seem to make a little more sense than CSLs that you arbitrarily decide won't work past a certain point to give you positive modifiers, only counteract negatives?

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Silbeg: Unless there's a significant difference between 5th edition and 5th edition, revised, using two-weapon fighting will put my character at half DCV. Two-weapon fighting only reduces the initial -2 OCV penalty. Under Two-weapon fighting: "Characters using Two-Weapon Fighting are subject to all rules for Rapid Fire or Sweep, regarding the maneuvers they can use, CV modifiers, etc." Under Sweep: "Sweep requires a full phase (thought this is countered with buying Rapid Fire-HTH) and reduces the character to 1/2 DCV." My character already has Two-Weapon fighting, Rapid Fire (HtH), and full ambidexterity anyway, and has made use of them all - but only in a) dire situations where he was unconcerned about being spanked, and situations where the villain's CVs were so lowered by maneuver "X" that he couldn't resist. Again, I'm working off of 5th edition - so if it's the case now that sweep only adds a flat -2 DCV, then huzzah! Good to know. That could mean things might be a lot less complex.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Ha - so simple! I'm not sure why that didn't occur to me, especially considering you've already mentioned it. Somehow that part of the point you were trying to make never really reached me... So, an issue that I seem to recall giving me mental alarms of game-balance problems when I built the character in the first place: What would stop me from buying various slots in the HtH MP that were only, say, one extra dice of damage? eg. could I basically end up with autofire punches that did 10d6 damage for 10-15 points or so using this method (which seems like exploiting the rules in a nasty way)? If I wanted the attacks to be 0 END, would I have to pay for a +1 advantage on my STR as well, since it dovetails with the attacks? Questions beget questions beget questions... (Thank you for your patience!)

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Well, you guys have done a great job thus far answering my questions. (though if anyone else has anything else to contribute, I'm still open to suggestions!). Here's what's left on my mind for the time being: So, it seems that I'll need to pay a few extra points to use martial maneuvers in conjunction with the Autofire. Can I then assume that maneuvers that cost no points (eg. your standard grab, disarm, etc.) are all perfectly valid options as-is? Obviously things like a move-through aren't valid, or at least shouldn't be. (Hee hee - what if I got Autofire on my running or leaping? Just kidding - but that might be funny for a very stubborn, dimwitted speedster in a Tick-style world... Wham! Wham! Whamwhamwhamwhamwham! "Call me Hammer. Jack Hammer". Instant KO, both for the victim and the attacker! Makes me think of "Superfriends" for some reason - perhaps it's Superman's answer to force fields.) I could think of ways to simulate a triple-punch move-by, but I don't imagine there's a way to combine the move-by with the Autofire (and that's just fine, anyway. Just sort of thinking "out loud"). Would I be able to potentially purchase something like PSLs or limited OCV levels to counter certain Autofire penalties, like the oft-metioned "tracking across multiple hexes to hit several spread-out targets" (thereby potentially avoiding the DCV-sucking Autofire skills)? If not, then I might be better off spending a pittance of points for OCV bonuses with Sweep. Halved DCV, but more flexibility right off the bat with the types of attacks I can use with it. (Just curious here - I don't necessarily need to find powers to deal with all situations perfectly with no risk!) If I were to go with your route of the HtH multipower, Hyper-Man - would you have any suggestions as to how to create effects within it that could simulate things other than punching; like disarming, grabbing, and throwing (without resorting to such esoteric effects as "transform armed opponent to unarmed opponent)? Throwing objects at opponents would be easy enough to simulate, but throwing the opponents themselves seems like it might be problematic...

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Heh heh - nice call, Shaft! That pretty much simulates pushing perfectly! And 2 points! El cheapo!

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Until that situation comes up (assuming my solution is valid), I could just assume that the aerobic nature of his musculature somewhat precludes the use of anaerobic effort, ie. pushing his STR.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? One that had not escaped me, actually. I'd toyed with the idea of something like "+10 STR, only for pushing" - would that cover those situations where I'd actually need to push? It hasn't really come up yet, surprisingly - so I've never really had the need to give it a lot of thought.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Actually, Hyper-Man, I had forgot to mention that my character's STR has reduced END (0 End) on it too to represent his super-enhanced, amost entirely aerobic (thereby generating effectively no fatigue poisons under normal conditions) arthropoid musculature (which I did pay double for after I got the Autofire ability, and paid a lot for) - though the End cost will still probably be pretty prohibitive, considering there's no END reduction on the stretching anyway! Still, knowing that any martial maneuvers and such won't add anything damage-wise will make a difference. I guess I'll need to buy Autofire for some of them, too (in order to make use of them, anyway, if I keep things as-is) - but that should be relatively cheap. Glad you brought it to my attention! The reason I decided to go with the Autofire STR in the first place was: a) because of the flexibility I assumed it implied: I could wade into a pile of bricks (the masonry kind) and throw a few at a time; or grab a guy's arms, legs and wings all at once; or deprive multiple agents of their weapons in one fell swoop; and the fact that it allowed for multiple attacks, determined normally (again, my initial assumption), without a reduction in DCV (without his DCV, my character's dead meat - trying to go for the "Artful dodger" thing). I'll have to think about the sorts of powers you've suggested (eg. the HtH MP) and see if I can accomplish the breadth of what I had in mind for a similar amount of points. Considering how many points I've now thrown down for my character's STR, it may not be hard - though I'm still stumped as to how to deal with the grab/disarm elements (I'll have the opportunity to think about that later, just not at home at the moment). So far I haven't used the autofire for anything other than decking a single opponent a few times in one round, so retconning the ability shouldn't be too problematic if that's what it comes down to. And yes, DustRaven, I did mean multiple targets. Of course, you could interpret that as "attacking multiple attackers", but I wasn't really thinking while I typed that... Thanks for the input! I've made characters for years, but rarely had the chance to play, so there's a lot I'm having to figure out on the fly. There's more I'd like to ask based on your responses, but it'll have to wait for now!

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Absolutely. Here's what seems relevant: Str 45, with the autofire x5 advantage (I might save up for x6 on principle) Dex 39 SPD 8 lots of Superleap, swinging, and running (in a MP, much like the "Wall-Crawler" powerset in the Champions genre book) (Yup - I paid through the nose for those) Stretching, 13" , with: direct, no NCM, no velocity damage, range mod applies, limited parts ("hands" only), no fine manipulation (-1/4 seemed right); and a custom disad "limited vectors" at -1/2, to represent that he's limited to basically straight impacts (at 1/2 STR), grappling/tripping attempts, or pulling things more or less towards him (though his own momentum may alter this slightly with something like a passing disarm or flying throw if he's say, leaping over a target while shooting) - so he couldn't just lift something lateral to his position. Really, I was trying to duplicate Spider-Man's weblines as accurately as possible - though produced organically rather than using any sort of focus. If memory serves, the inches of stretching aren't linked to his swinging movement, to represent that he could shoot out a webline while running or jumping to trip someone or fling them around in certain ways. My character is also incapable of any real entangle attacks - the webs are produced as lines and can't be emitted in a spray of any kind (yet, anyway). 360-degree vision, defense maneuver IV, and the double-jointed perk (so he likely doesn't have to worry about what direction he's facing too much) I think he's got the full "Speedster martial arts" set of martial maneuvers now... The sort of utility things you'd expect, such as Clinging, Perfect Balance perk, Danger Sense, etc., and a bevy of athletic skills (eg. Acrobatics and Breakfall). He's also got Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, and Rapid fire (HTH) - I'm not really looking for what he can do with the "Sweep" maneuver, but I thought it might come up in the discussion. I hope that's a little clearer - and I hope I didn't come across as ungrateful for your input, Hyperman. I'm anything but! (I already Repped you for your contribution, anyway!) Let me know if there's anything else that you need to know.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Perfectly valid and cool powers, Hyper-Man - though really, what I'm interested in is the parameters of what my character already has. That's not to say that I would never consider building an ability like that, though! It could come in very "handy". ba-dump-bump *CHING*

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? It's just a question of how many of them I'd need, ie. which ones would be applicable! My character depends pretty heavily (almost entirely, really) on a high DCV, so using autofire skills willy-nilly could get painful - but it's no worse than using Sweep/two-weapon fighting... Suggestion noted!