Jump to content

Spidey88

HERO Member
  • Posts

    955
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Spidey88

  1. Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings In the published CU, I recall that Hydro from Champions Universe: News of the World is gay. Not much mention is made of it in his writeup, aside from DNPC: Boyfriend. I rather like it this way - why should it be any kind of big deal? Nothing there screams "HEY! CHECK IT OUT! HE'S GAY!" or anything like that. As for others? None immediately come to mind, but that isn't to say there aren't any more. I'd be inclined to think that some of the shapeshifters around, like Masquerade or that sample villain who's name I forget from The Ultimate Metamorph (was she just "Morph"?), would be likely to have a flexible view of their gender identity. Edit: Ah! LL beat me to the punch. Justicar was an obvious one, too.
  2. Re: "Electromagnetic pulse" Suppress: how to handle the effects? Dagnabbit - seems the description for Dispel covers things pretty clearly. Seems I should avoid thinking about GM stuff at 2 in the morning... Thanks for your time, everybody! I appreciate the feedback, even if I am a bit more of a doofus than usual right now.
  3. Re: "Electromagnetic pulse" Suppress: how to handle the effects? Considering the robot's susceptibility to magnetic fields, the dispel will definitely set that off. I'm also going to assume it will at least frazzle his circuits enough to stun him if the effect roll exceeds the active points in his CON, but will otherwise leave him fairly unfazed. I'll dive back into the rules to look at Dispel, rather than Suppress (d'oh!) - I'm still open to more feedback, esp. in regards to the power-armour guy. Thank you all for the responses! I'll rep who I can. I'm pretty sure someone will have to get Bloodstone for me - or, do you accept IOU's?.
  4. Re: "Electromagnetic pulse" Suppress: how to handle the effects? I agree in regards to the thoughts on Transforms - they are a catch-all power of last resort for me.
  5. Re: "Electromagnetic pulse" Suppress: how to handle the effects? Well, count that as a giant "Whoopsie" on my part - having to identify literally thousands of mosquitoes at my job the last few days has seriously affected my focus. Thank you for catching that! My questions probably would have been the same regardless, but it seems I should dive back into the rules to see if I find anything different... That was part of my quandry. Special effects-wise, it makes sense; and the power description says "All electronic device powers simultaneously", and the robot is technically an electronic device... Of course, his characteristics aren't bought as powers - even if they were, his DEX and STR are pretty monstrous (way more points than the arrow could affect), though his INT and EGO aren't (and have a low enough level of points sunk into them that they could be "dispelled" if I decide they would be able to be affected). He's fully sentient, but is built pretty much as s standard PC would be - he's got the typical "affected as human and machine classes of minds", as well as a susceptibility to intense magnetic fields (further cementing the thought that this arrow should throw him for a loop). He has a power defense of 5, if memory serves - nothing major. Part of the issue for me is that he has almost no electronic "powers" - armour, life support, clinging, extra limbs, flash defense, and the aforementioned power defense - the rest is skills, characteristics (STR 50 and DEX 30, notably), and gobs of leaping and running. My default assumption is that if he could be affected by the arrow, he'd be down for a short period of time, but would be able to reboot his systems with no long-term problems. At worst, maybe a frazzled memory for the last second or two of the fight; but he'll have at least some sort of record of having been hit with serious EM interference, putting on his guard to watch out for such things.
  6. Re: "Electromagnetic pulse" Suppress: how to handle the effects? Umm... Anyone? Anyone at all?
  7. Re: Champions Villains, Volume 3: Solo Villains I'm itching for this one too - hopefully things are able to get sorted out soon.
  8. Hey, gang! I hope to be able to pick your brains briefly. I'm posting it here, since I'm unsure as to whether Steve still answers 5E rules questions... I've started running a 5E Champions game, and the session I'm preparing for involves a giant-scale, no-holds-barred, superpowered sports match (sort of football/rugby-like) for prospective members of a big-league superteam, a la The Justice League or The Avengers. Each team has 16 players, with 9 from each team on the field at any given time. The players consist of the PCs and a whole mess of NPCs, including Der Bogenschutze from Champions Worldwide (an archer, very much in the vein of Green Arrow or Hawkeye). My question is this: how exactly would his EMP arrow work? It's built as a Suppress 8d6, All Electronic Device Powers simultaneously (with a couple other disads that have no bearing on the question). Specifically, I'm trying to figure out exactly how much it will affect a powered armor user and a sentient robot on the other team. The powered armour guy seems fairly simple - he's got all sorts of abilities derived from the suit, including enhanced attributes, senses, etc. The EMP arrow would likely shut everything down in the suit briefly, perhaps until such time as he could reboot it? (As I understand Suppresses, there needs to be some sort of reasonable condition that can be met that can dispel the Suppressing effect if it's bought with 0 END, but this has the Charges limitation.) As for the robot: I'm unsure where to draw the line. Would the suppress affect most of his characteristics, as they surely qualify as "Electronic"? How should I handle this? Any and all advice as to how to adjudicate the use of this power would be much appreciated - to be honest, I don't think I've ever had a single character (or ran a game with a character in it) that used Suppress, so I'm a little fuzzy on how to use it overall. Thanks in advance!
  9. Spidey88

    Fish-Men

    Re: Fish-Men Check out "Hidden Lands" for fifth edition. A whole chapter on Atlantis, another that deals with Lemurians (another aquatic race), and a whole chapter dedicated to aquatic adventuring. Well worth a look!
  10. Re: If powers were related to personality traits, what power would you have? I can be terribly impatient at times, generally go rather bonkers if I can't be doing something, hate tardiness and apathy like you would not believe, and take considerable pride in finishing tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'm always having to wait for folks when I'm on foot, because I hate having to mosey along sedately. Being stuck in traffic absolutely infuriates me. At a glance, superspeed seems like a good fit for a single superpower. Animal speech/control would be pretty appropriate too - I've had friends comment on how I seem to have a rapport with critters (just good awareness of their habits, behavior, and body language).
  11. Re: What's *your* superpower? What would be on my character sheet? Let's see... 1) Nightvision, +2 to Perception rolls (sight group), + 2 to Perception rolls (sight group, only to counteract size penalties with living organisms). I can read a novel outside in the country on anything but a completely overcast night, my vision tests better than 20/10, and I can notice things like 1/8 " creepy-crawly critters from thick vegetation while running (comes in handy as an entomologist, let me tell you). 2) Environmental move: no (or at least significantly reduced) penalties while prone. I can move on all fours as fast as some people can run quite comfortably. I've been told on more than one occasion that I remind them of an unaired episode of the X-Files. 3) +10 PRE or so, only vs. PRE attacks from cold-blooded creatures. Comes with my job and hobbies. Spider crawls across my face in my sleep? Typical summer night in our old ramshackle cabin (I was the only one who would sleep by the window in the loft for this reason). Wouldn't faze me remotely. Boa gets loose and crawls across my foot? Oh great - there you are! 4) +2 with EGO rolls, only to maintain focus on tasks I'm interested in. There's an upside to ADHD. Assuming I'm actually thoroughly interested in a task or project, my focus is like an unyielding, nuclear-powered laser. i However, if I find said task boring, assume I receive a penalty or -2 to my EGO rolls instead. I have this one too - in spades.
  12. Re: Fading Stars...when and why should superheroes retire? A few ideas - forgive me if some of these have been covered already... 1) Perhaps that alien, subterranean, or aquatic race the old guard dealt with all the time are having some serious troubles - their regent died without a clear heir (but endorsed one of the older heroes on his death bed), there's a civil war going on, there was some horrible disaster that nearly destroyed their society, etc. For whatever reason, the older group of heroes has to go away to help, possibly for a pretty long time; and they're recruiting some new blood to watch over their old turf while they're gone. 2) The old guard isn't ready to actually give up crimefighting; but they are kind of bored, or feel things have gotten too stale, or there's some other need to shake things up (possibly long-standing interpersonal issues) - so they want to bring in some new blood. 3) All of the old guard but one died saving the world from a danger of epic proportions. The remaining member realizes he can't carry on alone, and the team's old enemies are still out there - perhaps even bolder, thinking their main opposition is no more. The last of the old team may even want to keep the new team on the down-low, using the element of surprise to catch the old batch of villains off guard, or do things that the old team couldn't because of their high profile. 4) For that matter, the old team may just need a team that can a) act as a covert branch (no rep means the new guys are a lot easier to disguise), or add some much-needed muscle in the wake of some massive recruiting by their enemies. 5) The old team needs a specific set of missions performed - missions they aren't cut out for, but the PC team is. 6) The old team has been keeping an eye on the PCs, thinks they're a good bunch that would work well together, and want to give them a good head start. The old team isn't necessarily going anywhere - but they want the PCs to learn things by doing them, not by having their hands held - so they'll be giving advice and training, but not calling the shots.
  13. Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. Actually, the Triceratons were an entire race. Mostly military commando-types, but as of the last few issues of the Laird comics, there was a small contingent of them being trained to be, well - ninjas...
  14. Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. At my friend Darrin's little boy's birthday party Sunday: Darrin's sister: you should help mom go get the vacuum, in case she falls. Darrin: What? How could she fall? She goes to the apartment (we were in the apartment rec room), gets the vacuum from the front closet, walks out to the elevator, goes on the elevator, walks to here. Darrin's sister: Darrin, how old are you? Me: He's old enough to know you can't fall off an elevator.
  15. Re: The October Eight competition Probably a case of real life intruding on stuff. Seems DocD hasn't been on the fora since November. (Mind you, I was MIA even longer, so it's not like that's necessarily any kind of cause for worry...) (Heh - he probably started drawing Kraken, and had an aneurysm or nervous breakdown over all the bloody suction cups! My bad!)
  16. Re: The October Eight competition I don't want to sound like I'm nagging or anything, I'm just curious (and have been out of the loop for a while) - did anything else happen with this, DocD?
  17. Re: Web-slinger: fun with spider webs Though I'm fairly confident it wouldn't work with 6th ED, Spidey built in 5th could be built with TWC, OCV levels with sweep, and some DCV levels with the limitation "only to counter DCV penalty from Sweep". It's how I did it with my interpretation of him, anyway - he routinely smacks around 2 or 3 thugs at once without seeming to worry that he's lowered his defenses doing so. Since I assume he relies almost completely on his stratospheric DCV (possibly some combat luck too), I'd say that's something of a necessity!
  18. Re: Web-slinger: fun with spider webs My own opinion leads towards limited stretching (at least, that's what I've used for this sort of thing). Focus should cover the stretching "limb" being damaged without the character being hurt (at least close enough to handwave it - if not, throw in "physical manifestation" for a swinging slot in a web MP and it covers the bases close enough for me). In addition, I'd want to thrown in another limitation (besides the obvious ones) - "limited vectors" (for -1/4 or -1/2 or so) to represent that the character can't directly lift objects at the end of a webline without some sort of pulley action. Basically, he yanks on the line, whatever's at the other end moves more or less towards him. Still, there's a lot of fun to be had with weblines in combat - Passing Throw is a particularly fun combo. While leaping or swinging over or past a target, catch the target with a webline and you can fling him all over the place with both cinematic awesomeness and some vague adherence to the laws of physics, using your own mass and momentum like a pendulum! Clinging makes some moves even easier to imagine, especially when you're dealing with 3-D combats or flinging a baddie in a wide arc around you (AOE - circle). As for the "web to the face", I concur with you that Entangle, with "blocks sight group" is the way to go. Target can't see until the web comes off. It should work for shutting JJJ up too, since you're webbing his mouth shut IMHO. A little handwavey, but it follows the special effects and is a pretty specific situation - you could awlays toss in "blocks hearing group" if you really want to cover the bases. Unsurprisingly, I've got some experience dealing with this in my own games. I was usually the GM, but my players never offered any complaints with the power build.
  19. Re: Help - Criminal Organization My money's on this one, personally.
  20. Re: Help - Criminal Organization I don't have any particular suggestions other than "check out some scientific names of spider families and such". Not only might it be good for some names, it'd be a good way to provide some inspiration too - salticid stealth agents, lycosa transports, etc. If it ends up being of any use to you, I'm more than happy to provide as much info on spiders as you could ever want - I study them professionally.
  21. Re: The October Eight: Artwork Great job - that looks awesome!
  22. Re: KAs vs CvK I've had this conundrum too - in my opinion, it depends entirely on the way said attacks are intended to be used, and context. For example: a cold-manipulator type, a la Iceman, purchases an RKA as part of a multipower (which includes standard energy blasts, entangles, change environments, etc.). Firing ice spears/icicles, IMHO, is thematically part and parcel of this sort of powerset, so it makes some sense to me to include it. As far as using such a power in conjunction with a CVK: KAs are really useful against automatons (robot goons typically take no STUN), can be used with certain ranged martial arts (if you allow things like ranged disarms), and work handily on any number of inanimate objects (including foci). In addition, they're a pretty solid projectile, which may come in handy for certain last-ditch utility needs (hitting the "stop deathtrap" lever, creating a foothold in a wall to climb up it, etc.). Different special effects mean different utility, of course - but most killing attacks don't need to be used to actually kill and still be useful. As another example, a skilled swordsman (a pretty common archetype, even in a superhero campaign), really can't be built without an HKA - no matter how noble he is. It really doesn't make sense to not have it on the sheet, even if he usually uses the flat of the blade against living opponents. You could have an individual who's a skilled fencer, and "pinks" his opponent, but is so precise that he can do that with little fear of doing any lasting damage - this is a tricky line to walk, but do-able. On the other hand, you may need to watch out for the sort of player who intends to use this power as his go-to attack, thinking "I'm fighting supervillains - this won't kill 'em, just slow 'em down and put a few holes in 'em. They can take it." If you've got a CVK, that means that you not only won't kill, but you won't take actions that are even modestly likely to kill someone. You don't get to "accidentally" kill someone, say "oops", and carry on with your day. If this is the player's attitude, honestly, just take an eraser to his disad list and replace CVK with "blithely flings deadly projectiles around." In a nutshell, there's not necessarily any need to be nervous, but you'd better cover all the bases and talk to your players - find out just what they intend to do with their knives, bullets, spears, swords, and icicles!
  23. Re: The October Eight: Artwork That is some fantastic work. I'm impressed with the photorealism - all the lines on the face, esp. the eyes and nose, are exactly the right strength to convey the details without overdoing it. Very difficult to do monochromatically IMHO (without shades of grey involved).
  24. Re: The October Eight competition
  25. Re: The October Eight competition You might want to check out an obscure Spider-Man villain called "Typeface" for some inspiration - he had some similar schtick elements to Printer's Devil, though he was most definitely not "dark".
×
×
  • Create New...