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Christopher R Taylor

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Posts posted by Christopher R Taylor

  1. I find that Hero doesn't scale well to a really, really high power game either.  It does well up to a point then things just stop working.  You can have 150 STR, which is enough to lift, I dunno, Pluto, but you're only doing 30d6 damage.  I mean, that's a lot but you should liquify entire cities with a punch at that level of strength.

  2. Quote

    When you have super science that can manipulate the molecular structure of an object at range there is no reason you cannot have something capable of doing a genetic analysis without having a sample.

     

    Well and its not unreasonable to say that the mutation causes a signal of sorts, something that can be detected rather than a molecularly scan of the target.  If you want to have such a concept in your campaign.

  3. EDIT:  heck, we can go with something incredibly classic....NO ONE seems to connect that Clark Kent is Superman? 

     

    They have done a decent job of dealing with that over the years, particularly in the Silver Age when they did stuff like have Batman, his good buddy, dress up as Superman to fool Lois Lane.  And I think Chris Reeves did an amazing job showing how it could work.  But yeah after a few decades, even the slowest person would work it out.  But they don't because its internal consistency for comics.

     

    That is the part that too many people don't get: the comics have internal rules that you follow to make them work.  If you start arguing that Batman clearly would be spotted going into the Batcave or whatever, you start to challenge what makes everything hold together and work well.

  4. Quote

    Very often, saying someone has "mutant powers" really means, "We don't know why they have powers."

     

    Yeah I like this.  There's no reason every hero would know why they are the way they are -- most probably ought not.  

     

    "how come you can lift a car and fly, mister?"
    "I dunno, maybe I'm a mutant or something?"

  5. Quote

    You don’t need a complication to be able to be spotted by it because the person paying for the detect bought it to specifically detect mutants.

     

    You don't.  The GM can just hand wave it and say "it finds mutants."  But in a campaign like this one, it does make sense to me for a complication that makes you specifically targetable with these devices.  And if you can be detected by a special device in a campaign specifically about the dangers of being a mutant, as opposed to anyone else, that seems to me to be a complication.

  6. Quote

    A character does not have to purchase redundant powers and skill, nor do they get credit for redundant complications.  

     

    But they are not redundant.  Each one has a different effect. Its like buying blast, ka, flash, and drain, not blast, blast, blast, blast.  Distinctive looks just makes you stand out in a crowd.  Social complication means you are mistreated for your status.  Reputation makes people prejudge you and expect you to behave in a given way, etc.

     

    Quote

    A physical complication detects as mutant by itself does not cause any problems ... By this logic I can take the physical complication detects a male because a genetic test will show I have a Y chromosome. 

     

    Of course, its campaign dependent.  If you were in a game where nobody used mutant detectors or was hateful toward mutants it would not be worth any points.  If you were in a campaign where men are a hated, hunted minority that has to disguise themselves, then having a Y chromosome would be a detriment.  At least, that's how I understand how complications work.

  7. Quote

    I am not saying not to use a complication; I am saying you don’t need two complications.  If you take the social complication mutant, you don’t need a physical complication to detect as a mutant.  

     

    Well the logic behind having two is what the complications do.  Social complications cause problems for you socially, they make life difficult and affect interactions with others.  Someone could have social complication: mutant and not actually be one, just be perceived as one.

     

    Physical Complications affect your character's being.  Even if you perfectly pass as a human being and hence are not detectable as a mutant to most people, you still are one, so you can be detected as one with the proper technology.

     

    Its like the "some groups may not have a problem with you" choice in Social Complication: the reason you take that, even if all the heroes in the game are mutants, is because you will work at jobs, or have DNPCs, or interactions with people who are not mutants.  Among your kind, you're not treated differently or badly.  But your kind are just the heroes and villains, and there are a lot of other people in the world how are not that kind.  So fellow mutants give you a haven, and you're treated terribly outside that social circle.  Unless everyone in the world, or a vast majority are, mutants, it makes sense to take that because you'll have some places your social complication won't take effect. 

  8. The thing is, the only effect the No Hit Locations power has in the rules is "now you don't take different damage from being hit in a location."  So like I suggested above, the way you simulate different areas causing different effects would be the "loses powers" option for Takes No Stun.  You can still roll hit locations, you just assess what area loses power by that, not what damage is sustained.  At least, that's how it seems to me.

  9. Legion is a bit of a silly concept but honestly it works really well.  When done right it has a strong Manga feel (or, vice versa, I guess, since Legion predates most Japanese comic books).  Yeah the whole "they're all kids with one goofy power and are the galaxy's cops for hire" thing doesn't make much sense, but once you go with it, it works really well.  And some of the best characters in comics came from that -- as well as some of the worst.

  10. 11 hours ago, Stanley Teriaca said:

    So how many levels of Striking Appearance does Hideous have?

     

    You know, when I built him I didn't give him any.  He has distinctive looks, but I guess he just keeps his mask on all the time in the Island of Dr Destroyer adventure.  You're right he should have had a good 2-3d6 just for being so scarred and horrible looking

  11. Just wanted to necro this thread in case someone gets the rebuild bug.  Buncha guys from the old Enemies books waiting for an update.  It should be interesting seeing how these old amateur rebuilds stack up against Surbrook's official Strike Force rebuilds, there are some crossovers like Yoosoo and the Blood.

  12. I cannot find it right now but there is a huge thread on this forum of updated characters to 6th edition, part of them from Euro enemies (with colored pics!).  We were trying to cover any that were not reprinted somewhere else.  Panda, Racoon, Sledge, Wyvern, and I think one other* [ed: Hideous!] are updated in the 6th edition version of Island of Dr Destroyer as well.

     

     

    *Oh yeah, and Vibron!

  13. Quote

    Actually hit locations can make since for animations. Hitting that skeleton in the toe and even cutting it off will not have as much effect as hitting it in the chest and splitting it in two. I take the zombie's head off and while perhaps it might not kill it, it may make it harder to see me and attack me.

     

    If you have bought "takes no stun" but loses powers, to me that covers the hit locations.  You can use the hit locations to figure out what part is affected and starts to lose powers when they lose body, but the purpose of the "no hit locations" power is to  specifically avoid the damage variants that hit locations result in; "a hit for, say, 5 BODY and 20 STUN does that much damage whether the Automaton is hit in the head or the hand" as the rules put it.  And, of course, they don't bleed.

  14. I just wanted to make sure I was not overlooking anything.  Thanks all.

     

    If you want to be really technical about it, they should have no hit locations (it doesn't hurt an animated skeleton any more to hit it in the pelvis than the toe) and life support (no, that poison gas does not bother them), and maybe something to simulate being made of thin bones so arrow attacks are less likely to hit, etc but... you don't need all that unless you're a completionist.

  15. Typically automatons require repair rather than healing: zombies, robots, constructs such as golems, etc.  Vampires and such have their own healing mechanism (regeneration and healing when lying in their coffin, etc).  In any case, NPCs usually don't worry about healing Body, its a very long-term thing.

  16. Quote

     

    Drew Hayes wrote a short story about a hero whose power was that everyone forgot about him...not invisible in the normal sense, but very similar.  It was always on, too.  He had a difficult life...because he was 100% alone.  It was rather melancholy.

     

     

    There's an X-Men character called Forget-Me-Not who has that power.  People just don't remember him, but he's in lots of their adventures helping out and doing stuff that later seems like luck or some amazing coincidence.  Its a great concept well handled in the comics.  He does heroic things but gets no praise or notice.

  17. I usually buy automatons to 0 CON, REC, and END, then buy all their abilities to 0 END Cost.  You can't push then, but usually they're mindless anyway so they won't have the willpower to push.  Its a whopping savings of 18 points, so it doesn't exactly pay for any of their very expensive automaton abilities and life support but its a bit of a cost offset.

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