Vestnik

Re: Who is your favorite character?

What an unusual character.

I almost never actually play, but my favorite character I ever wrote up was a Greek Fury.

Hope I get to play her some time.

Re: Yog-sothoth.com

So that would make me the pimp of an Outer God? I wonder if I can now afford to give up my day job?

Don't pimp slap Yog-Sothoth, man. It ain't wise.

Re: Airlocks are for losers

Bah. Forget biology. Be a full-conversion cyborg' date=' or upload your brain and leave the meat behind completely. That'll make this whole vacuum thing much easier to deal with.[/quote']

 

I was thinking of some sort of organism that had naturally evolved for such an environment (however incredibly unlikely that would be).

Re: Airlocks are for losers

I suspect you'd need really' date=' [u']really[/u] big fins. A few square meters in fact. Big enough to get in the way a good deal. And don't forget, if such a critter got on the sun-lit side of a high albedo object (like a space-habitat) that it would no longer be able to radiate it's heat and would risk heat-shock. It would definitely be a huge problem.

Retractable fins on a big critter?

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

But Sean. For you to offend me, first I'd have to care what you think.

See, this is a perfect example. My character would not be able to detect your absence of caring what Sean thinks. On the other hand, if you felt active disdain or contempt, he would detect it.

Re: Stegosaur at Angkor Wat?

I've heard that theory before and it sounds credible. I've also heard that dinosaur bones were thought proof of pre-flood giants.

St. Augustine City of God, 15:9:

Chapter 9.—Of the Long Life and Greater Stature of the Antediluvians.

Wherefore no one who considerately weighs facts will doubt that Cain might have built a city, and that a large one, when it is observed how prolonged were the lives of men, unless perhaps some sceptic take exception to this very length of years which our authors ascribe to the antediluvians and deny that this is credible. And so, too, they do not believe that the size of men's bodies was larger then than now, though the most esteemed of their own poets, Virgil, asserts the same, when he speaks of that huge stone which had been fixed as a landmark, and which a strong man of those ancient times snatched up as he fought, and ran, and hurled, and cast it,—

thus declaring his opinion that the earth then produced mightier men. And if in the more recent times, how much more in the ages before the world-renowned deluge? But the large size of the primitive human body is often proved to the incredulous by the exposure of sepulchres, either through the wear of time or the violence of torrents or some accident, and in which bones of incredible size have been found or have rolled out. I myself, along with some others, saw on the shore at Utica a man's molar tooth of such a size, that if it were cut down into teeth such as we have, a hundred, I fancy, could have been made out of it. But that, I believe, belonged to some giant. For though the bodies of ordinary men were then larger than ours, the giants surpassed all in stature. And neither in our own age nor any other have there been altogether wanting instances of gigantic stature, though they may be few. The younger Pliny, a most learned man, maintains that the older the world becomes, the smaller will be the bodies of men. And he mentions that Homer in his poems often lamented the same decline; and this he does not laugh at as a poetical figment, but in his character of a recorder of natural wonders accepts it as historically true. But, as I said, the bones which are from time to time discovered prove the size of the bodies of the ancients, and will do so to future ages, for they are slow to decay. But the length of an antediluvian's life cannot now be proved by any such monumental evidence. But we are not on this account to withhold our faith from the sacred history, whose statements of past fact we are the more inexcusable in discrediting, as we see the accuracy of its prediction of what was future. And even that same Pliny tells us that there is still a nation in which men live 200 years. If, then, in places unknown to us, men are believed to have a length of days which is quite beyond our own experience, why should we not believe the same of times distant from our own? Or are we to believe that in other places there is what is not here, while we do not believe that in other times there has been anything but what is now?

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

For those of you with the USPD, look up the Aura Sense power. That's pretty much Detect Emotions in a nutshell.

 

I have a character with a very similar power construct in my Champs game right now, and we sat down and worked out just what such a power would detect and how. She can figure out what emotion a target is primarily feeling, though (obviously) not what has spawned said emotion. Hers is bought 'Human class of minds only' and 'blocked by Mental Defense', as a side note.

What Limitation value did you give for Blocked by Mental Defense? -1/4?

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

I'm having a little trouble figuring out how being able to detect emotions leads to increased abilities in combat.

 

I can see how it might alert you to the presence of someone with immanent hostilities on their mind, but once combat has been started, isn't it pretty obvious that the person trying to insert a sharp piece of metal in you has fairly malevolent emotions towards you?

 

Knowing that Mike Tyson is four feet away from you and feeling intense anger is useful, but I don't know how it's going to help me not get pummeled.

 

Now, on the other hand, if the power worked in the opposite direction, and you could make your opponent feel an emotion you generated, as opposed to you being able to detect theirs, I could see that having an effect on combat. A demoralized opponent is less likely to be operating at peak efficiency. A sympathetic opponent might feel hostile towards you and purposefully miss. A bored opponent might get sidetracked.

I think you're right on second (third) thought...

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

Either one...but what is the disadd for always on? sure it's on the list, but how does it actually limit you?

Hmmm I'd give a -1 Per for every 3 pts of mental def.......Question: do you not sense things with no emotions? Or do you sense the absence?

The character wouldn't sense anything -- he senses emotions, not minds or mental states. An automaton or someone in deep sleep would be completely invisible to the power.

Re: Martial DC, HA, HKA, Strength and Maneuvers

You guys have obviously never met my Granny.

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

Hmmm, Mind Scan, Uncontrolled, Area Effect, Always On? Does that make any sense conceptually?

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

The second build raises so many questions, so many of them complicated and difficult to resolve consistently that it proves for me the rule about two equally valid builds.

 

Of course, you could just go with 'Mind Scan' with the -1/4 Limitation "Does Not Work on Emotionless Minds", and the -1/4 "Must be Centered on Source" if you really intend it to be restricted to a bubble around the character with the power. The special effect is that you're sensing emotions. The Telepathy is then much, much less expensive, since it doesn't require AoE.

Doesn't Mind Scan work on one mind at a time?

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

For my campaign you'd have some trouble justifying it, since everything short of an automaton has some sort of mind or emotion. I would likely suggest to you, my player, the following:

 

Only familiar minds (i.e., an 'alien' mind, such as Fae, Demon or Alien wouldn't count)

Only 'humans' & 'intelligent monsters,' on the argument that an animal doesn't really 'think' in combat terms. It's thinking of survival, so I don't know that for my purposes I would say that you're justified in taking a +2 in all combat against an alligator. It's a gator. It's probably hungry.

 

A human, however, will have a plan of some kind, most of the time, an objective, and a fighting style that you can 'feel' through subtle emotional shifts "I have him," "I need to fall back," "I'm afraid" "I'm triumphant!" "Oh, crap, I'm dying" and so on. Animals only get two: "ATTACK!" and "RUN!"

 

But again, that comes from the realism side of the argument. It's a perfectly legal construction, but wouldn't quite pass muster in my game.

Hmm, I think it would depend on the intellectual sophistication of the animal. I think dogs can handle nervousness, confidence, etc. I suppose you're broadly right though. I think I'll nix it.

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

How about the following. The idea is that he reads his opponent's emotional state and thus is able to anticipate what the opponent's actions would be:

8 +2 with All Combat (16 Active Points), Only vs. Opponents with Minds and

Emotions (-1/2), Requires a Detect Emotions PER Roll (-1/2)

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

Common Sense. Since you're perceiving "emotions" I would submit that it's a matter of the strength of the emotion. For example, I'd be hard to detect under normal circumstances, because I keep a lot of that locked up; you could say I have a "human" level of Mental Defense in this case, because I got good at it.

 

However, you put me near my brother, you'll pick up on a whole range of emotions very quickly and very powerfully. Near one of my co-workers, a whole nother set, but much more negative. So it's a matter of circumstance and what you could reasonably perceive. "Line of Sight" is likely much too far, since I would argue that Common & Dramatic sense play into it. i.e., knowing how someone is feeling is a matter of: Look, Voice Intonation, Body Language, Pacing of Speech, and so on. Were I to build it on the Heroic level, I may even slap Extra Time on it (Must observe target for one full phase, or longer).

Oooh, very nice thoughts. Thanks.

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

Thanks guys. I think the second option is better (as well as being a heck of a lot cheaper!).

How does one determine the range on a ranged sense? Is it assumed to be line-of-sight?

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

Hmmm, I'm not liking this Telepathy option. It seems way too expensive for what it does.

4d6 Telepathy vs. Human, Alien and Animal Classes Of Minds, Area of Effect (8” radius;

+1 ¼), 0 END Cost (+1/2)

That's 96 Active Points! A 19d6 Energy Blast!

Re: Would you allow this mental power?

The second is a Detect; you could build a Limitation around the power itself' date=' "Mental Defense Applies, each point of MD acts as a -1 penalty to the roll" or some such, or 2:1 or whatever makes you happy. I'm more inclined to go with the first one, although "only to receive" assumes that emotions are being 'broadcast.' So I would actually remove that, personally, and just build it as "Surface Thoughts" and then limit it again, "Only to Sense Emotions."[/quote']

 

I thought "only to receive" was usual terminology for "can't send thoughts" (or emotions in this case)?

I'm building a character who senses the emotions of those around him.

Would you require this construction:

xd6 Telepathy, Area of Effect (Radius; +1), 0 END Cost (+1/2) (x Active Points), No Range (-1/2), Always On (-1/2), Only to Receive (-1/2), Emotions Only (-1/2)

Or this construction:

Detect Emotions (Mental Sense Group), Ranged, 360 Degrees, Functions as a Sense, Discriminatory (x Active Points), Mental Defense Applies (-1/2) (I'm not sure how this last Limitation would work)

?

Re: Stegosaur at Angkor Wat?

Dinosaurs as a scientifically-identified group have existed for only a couple of centuries at best. I suggest that dino fossils have been repeatedly found by humans throughout history (and pre-history), and this forms a major basis for numerous "Dragon" legends. I know that traditional Chinese medicine has, for centuries, included ground-up fossils as an ingredient - usually known as "Dragon Bones".

In the City of God, St. Augustine uses the existence of giant bones in the earth as evidence that the Biblical Giants were real.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Your morning workout lasts long enough to watch an entire movie? You must be physically fit enough to make a standing broad jump to Mars (which was perhaps John Carter's secret as well -- are you John Carter?).

Re: Language?

Well, what is the origin of language (and different languages) in the world? Did they evolve "naturally" (whatever that means, since we don't know the origin of language in our world), or through some other means? Was there some "Tower of Babel event," or was writing a divine invention, or stuff like that?

Re: Humans are "Special"

Ostriches and emus were dating the GM.

Re: Airlocks are for losers

LS: Vacuum, LS: Self Contained Breathing.

 

What?

Well yeah, but I want a rationalization.

Hmm, wgat happens in Hero terms if a character is dumped out an airlock?

What kind of biological modifications would be required for a human being (or other similar organism) to survive for an extended period (say, hours or days) in deep space?

As I understand things, as things stand, you would lose consciousness in a few seconds (why I'm not sure), and the killer would be lack of oxygen in a few minutes. Damage by decompression is more gradual. So the main problem for the short term could be overcome by an ability to retain oxygen for a longer time (as whales do for instance). What about later decompression?

I understand also that vaccum is a great insulator, and so heat loss is not as extreme as one might think. But would you eventually freeze, or is body heat enough to make up the difference? What about radiation?