Christopher R Taylor

This is what I do. If you break free by enough, it took you no time at all. In fact, I thought that was the rule.

Well in real life combat, grappling is very, very useful. Almost all real fights (as in, not in a controlled environment with extremely rigid rules and prohibited maneuvers) that aren't a one-punch affair end up on the ground, wrestling. So it being effective is not exactly unrealistic or unreasonable. Remember all the other stuff that goes on during grab maneuvers though. You can only grab a certain number of limbs, you cannot prevent the other limbs from being used to attack you, you're 1/2 DCV not just to the grabbee but others, you're at an OCV penalty to attempt a grab, etc.

Looks like it went well I think the more figures and stuff you have the more people really enjoy it lately, and it helps attract people.

Aetherstone: The Aether is largely insubstantial but there are pockets of dust and some large ‘islands’ of stone that can be mined for their unusual properties. Aetherstone can be worked to produce a sort of non-ferrous metal greenish in color, with odd refractive qualities and a slightly misty, insubstantial texture. Aetherstone has a base PD of 8 and ED of 13. Working Aetherstone is a -5 penalty. Aetherstone armor is impenetrable, prevents teleport and Desolidification bought Usable Against Others from working on both it and the person wearing it, and grants Affects Desolidified to the wearer and his unarmed attacks. A shield with Aetherstone worked into it protects from indirect attacks (even flail attacks) and can shield bash a desolidified target. Weapons made from this affect desolidified creatures. They also act as transdimensional to strike creatures in other dimensions, assuming they can be perceived, reached, and targeted.

I wasn't going based on my group, just on the published characters both hero and villain from the time. That's why I said that kind of thing was "all pretty standard" at the time, not that it was not. Probably not, but they ought to try it some time, its pretty fun!

I think a 1st level superhero would be a guy with like one power he could use a couple times a day, or a few points of extra defenses. Champions presumes more than that, but at least in the old days they started you as a New Mutant, not an Avenger. Vulnerabilities, activation rolls, etc were all pretty standard in 2-3rd edition.

Its been my observation that if you give players enough points they can build their characters with all the stuff they want, they have a hard time figuring out where to put experience except in "I want to take less damage" or "I want to hit harder." Leaving players hungry with gaps in their build gives plenty of inspiration to spend xps and places for the GM to exploit and build stories around.

Well if I built a Cyclops in a game I'd do that but there's no evidence of that in the comics. His personal immunity to Havok is just because they're brothers and they have the same basic blast type (he's immune to his own attack as well, as in his eyelids can keep back a blast that can punch through a tank). Storm is pretty much just given plot protection. I remember her standing in one image, with no powers, in front of everyone else as this crappy morlock killer uses this blizzard of shrapnel attack. She sort of cringes and everyone behind her gets torn apart, Collossus is hurt so bad he passes out. Plot protection. In Champions, you just get hit with the AE, heh

Exactly, in a game, the bad guys are typically a bit smarter in terms of tactics, the combat is more about the fighting than telling the story, etc. What works in a comic book doesn't necessarily in a game. That's never been my favorite either, I really prefer the arc of a campaign where you start out small and accomplish something rather than start out on top and... I'm not really sure where you go at that point. I'm not saying you can't pull it off or nobody should do that, its just not my preferred structure, nor most players that I've met.

A lot of comic book characters are pretty defense-free. Cyclops for example is a huge energy blast in two legs. Yeah he's got some martial arts training and body armor, but its not very significant. Storm has no defenses, wears little in the way of clothing let alone armor, and is pretty much never hit - but when she is, she goes down in a heap. Until she lost her powers, then she shifted all her points into martial arts and suddenly was a master hand-to-hand fighter.

Well I guess it depends on definition again. The 12 damage class/60 active point level didn't change, but in Hero, more points = more power. If you get 50 more points for stuff, that's 50 points more powerful than the guy who didn't spend that. Moving to 6th required more points to pay for characteristics, but not as much more as 400 points gives.

Here's the thing: a character in 4th edition at 250 points in a literal translation power for power to 6th edition ends up only 50-75 points more expensive, not 150 points more. I know this, because I've done exactly that on this board with hundreds of 2-4th edition characters. There's a real increase in power over the editions beyond increased cost. Nothing in 5th edition made characters have to cost more than 4th, people just wanted more points. So the base points for the character went up. There's nothing compelling people to use the suggested starting points, of course. I don't. But its false that the point total or power total hasn't gone up over editions.

Attacks of Opportunity also deal with the abstracted representation of combat that D&D uses; you can move past people and away from people without them being able to reasonably react as they would in a real fight because its taking place over a time period instead of blow-by-blow. That said, I do allow people to abort to a straight OCV attack (no levels or special maneuvers) on someone in more gritty games if they try to blow past someone in combat. Because of the jerky way movement works in hero combat, it helps offset how you can just race around on the board on your phase while everyone else stands still.

These days Thor just speaks with a different font, from what I've seen. He dropped all the Thees and thous because Millar/Nicieza et al thought it was lame and, like, old.

You two should collaborate on it. I know I suggested the Viper's Nest bit because its so established and would be easier to do, but if you can and want to come up with something unique and new, I'm fine with that. It might even be easier to fit into the proposed sequence of revealed rules and bits as a tutorial.

So is anyone other than Deadman and I actually working on this? I mean, I can write it and all but I have other, paying stuff to work on.

Yeah I'll typically build the slower or less agile sort with 14 or so dexterity: enough to move reasonably well but not particularly exceptional. Unless the character is modeled on The Blob, they're going to be reasonably athletic despite being big and strong. This is important. A GM is best served if they are comfortable enough with character design and combat that they have a gut level or instinctual feel for how characters match up. It helps when setting up combat and building bad guys, it helps when assessing challenges, etc.

I typically build bricks with low speed, but mentalists fairly high because they're usually acting mentally which is quite fast - especially in someone trained with mental powers and an unusually keen brain. The typical hero seems around 5 speed, with 3 quite low and 6 very fast. Anything above that is speedster territory to me, but I could see a really well trained martial artist having 6 speed. I've had a few fantasy hero characters played in my games with 5 speed. Just that 1-2 points over everyone else really shows up.

I figured 10-20 because characters started at 10 and 20 was a reasonable max for human strength - lifting 800+ lbs over your head is someone who is in really terrific shape. It seemed to make sense if you extrapolate from STR to the other stats. Figured was a bit less clear, since there were no benchmarks, but you could just use max stats to figure from and see what you got.

Yeah I like both of those better, good designs.

Its no myth, its easily traced through each edition from 4th onward. I mean, its obvious that each edition suggested more points for your superheroic characters (even if some GMs like me ignored the increase). Whether that represents a real increase in power for characters is debatable, but there's not really any way to label that increase as "mythical."

Ask Magnus, Robot Fighter!

Damage Shield in 5th edition was really, really awful. It cost a zillion points to get virtually no effect.

Nah, I've been of the opinion that ain't nobody gonna turn this ship around, no matter who they are. We're past the point of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, its almost vertical.

Dzole Dzole is not rare, but it is difficult to spot and isolate. This mineral is found in pea-sized tan nodules among other rocks and sands in deserts. Effect: Doubles effectiveness of most potions and herbs, where applicable (2d6 aid becomes 4d6, +2 paramedics roll becomes +4, etc). GM can always rule it has no effect on a given herb or potion Addictive: Moderately Origin: Deserts Rarity: -3 Preparation: 2 nodules melted under tongue, then potion or herb used within a minute Storage: d6 years Cost: 3 silver