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Christopher R Taylor

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Everything posted by Christopher R Taylor

  1. This is true, you remain unconvinced by all the examples and information people provide. The game's designers and most players here disagree with you.
  2. I get the same sense, that they will be starting up other characters and focusing on others. For one thing Cap and IM are too white and male for Hollywood trendy types, and for another, they rely heavily on actors who aren't getting any younger, although Chris Evans has a lot of mileage in him still. Plus, I have always gotten the sense that Millar, et al never liked those characters anyway.
  3. I agree, and it makes logical sense. There's a concept called "weighting" which understands that some abilities or results are of greater value than others. If this product wins 2 awards no one has ever heard of, and that product wins a nobel prize, then the one is worth significantly more than the two. What DEX does is more game-significant than what, for example, what Intelligence does.
  4. I really don't know why you keep talking about damage reduction. Its like we're having two different conversations, in two different languages here. My only point is that tripling the cost of defenses is too expensive for what it gives you, and doubling is closer to the real value. And that some defenses such as DCV, flash defense, and knockback resistance ought not be included in this increase. You're off arguing in Swahili about damage reduction.
  5. Good for you. On a public forum, people discuss what interests them, related to the topic. Not what you demand them to, but what piques their interest. Take what you like, ignore the rest.
  6. And, as mentioned before, lots of other uses for CON besides being stunned.
  7. Work is ongoing with this project, and I plan on posting some things here to help give a glimpse into what the project is. Essentially, the Field Guide is a book of the other stuff in the world besides monsters and treasures and player characters. It is about the animals, plants, minerals and such that player characters can interact with to their advantage or detriment. This includes poisons, trades such as blacksmithing and leatherworking, herbs of fantastic enchanted quality, and much more. For example, in the world of Jolrhos you will find this: Pepper Moss This dappled green and white hanging moss is uncommon on trees. It dangles like Spanish moss, especially in areas away from water sources. Dust-like material grows on the moss containing spores, and a strong wind or being physically jostled can cause the dust to cascade around the moss. Most creatures are not particularly bothered by Pepper Moss, but humans, ratmen, wolfen, and zhai (not elves or dwarves) react to the dust as if it is very finely concentrated pepper. The moss causes stinging in the eyes and strong repeated sneezing. This acts as a flash attack of d6 worth of d6 (1-6d6) in the target for each plant’s worth of dust. Further, at the beginning of each phase while blinded, before moving, the target must make a Constitution Roll at -1 for each additional segment of blindness they are suffering from (so if a character has 3 segments of blindness, they must make CON roll at -3). Failing this CON roll means they are stunned and must recover as normal that phase, taking no other action. These effects are only on creatures that are affected by the pepper effect. Others only cough slightly in annoyance. All normal animals and most monsters are affected, but nothing such as dragons, demons, or undead is bothered by Pepper Moss. Naturally any creature that does not breathe is unaffected as well. Pepper Moss is found in forests, swamps, and jungles, in temperate to tropical regions.
  8. You are correct, I suppose, but I wouldn't want to do that or allow a character to do that, anyway. Here's the thing, though. a 60 active point Killing Attack is 4d6, that's an average of 14 body. Your PD won't do jack against that. So now that you've spent your 120 points to be protected from normal attacks, you have to spend another 252 points to ignore killing damage as well. Now, I guess if your campaign is fine with that kind of spending okay but even at 2x cost, its still a huge number. You're not really convincing me the price is right here.
  9. Well, lets put it this way: someone with 30+ presence is a massively commanding force, but it takes a player with talent and understanding of the system to use properly. Combine that with a presence drain ability and it gets even more potent.
  10. The advantage of the tape measure approach is nobody is counting hexes any more. I would love to have a big flatscreen under the figures and project the terrain and stuff like AE templates. How big was that explosion? oops...
  11. The gyrojet bullet. Neat idea, but really expensive and in most conditions draws a line to your gun in exhaust fumes
  12. You have to keep in mind campaign limits for PCs as well. Even at x2 cost, if you're fine with a PC spending 80 points on defenses (plus flash defense and whatever else like life support), I guess you get what you're asking for.
  13. Actually a trick I found useful was to not change knockback from 5th to 6th edition. So when it went from 2m inches to 1m... one meters, just treat it as meters. So effectively knockback halved.
  14. HONEY BADGER This is the brawler/berserker character for fans of Wolverine. By using Honey Badger, it taps into popular culture and keeps the theme going while being kind of fun. He's your basic beat 'em up type. I focused more on tough and fearless than regenerating, so its not too obvious a connection, and so it feels more like the Honey Badger viral video. HB has a little bit of slowish regen, but mostly the character doesn't tire out or take much damage. A 12d6 attack would do 9d6, reduced by 25% and 15, which means the average 42 stun and 12 body attack turns into 9 stun and no body. Falling out of orbit (20d6) becomes 30 stun and 0 body - still conscious and not even stunned! So I might have overdone it, the character can be nickle and dimed down but nobody is going to hurt HB very badly with any ordinary attack. Losing the damage reduction would make HB easier to run and a bit less invulnerable but conceptually it works for how badgers are built (hard to hurt, can turn in their skin etc). My concern with him is that he's a little complicated for the GM to deal with. Damage Negation plus Damage Reduction makes HB really durable and hard to put down, but its a bunch of stuff for a newbie GM to figure out in combat. Plus he has Martial Arts and Combat Levels, which means choices rather than straight up "hit em til they fall down" straight forward combat. So I'm pondering how to handle that. Maybe strip the Martial Arts and levels and just give him damage and a higher OCV, then add in the martial arts and lower the raw damage to represent skill increase but not damage increase. BASE STORY: Honey Badger has always been tough. From a young age, this caused the durable HB to become fearless and bold, charging in where others held back. This naturally led to a career as a firefighter and rescue worker, the crazy one that the rest are amazed by. But that wasn't enough for Honey Badger, who loved to help people and save lives, but was faced with a more awful danger than fires; criminals and supervillains. Honey Badger learned to fight from a variety of sources, from mixed martial arts teachers to boxers to a man who learned to survive in the worst Russian prisons. Now Honey Badger takes to the streets to protect especially young people and children. But HB has drawn the attention of those who hate and fear mutants, and has to avoid their attacks as well. Unfortunately, the fearless determination and refusal to back down can cause Honey Badger to become a bit too fixated in combat and lose their mind trying to defeat an enemy. MALE VERSION: No additional story FEMALE VERSION: Its not easy to break into the man's world of fire fighting as a woman, but Honey Badger demonstrated so much strength and endurance and such a fearless approach that she quickly was accepted and is one of the most award winning firefighters in The City. Honey Badger Val Char Cost 20 STR 10 Lift: 400kg; 4d6 20 DEX 20 25 CON 5 CON vs being stunned: 35 10 INT 0 18 EGO 8 25 PRE 15 Defensive Presence: 35 5 OCV 10 5 DCV 10 3 OMCV 0 4 DMCV 3 15 PD 8 rPD: 5; 25% Damage Reduction; 3d6 Damage Negation 15 ED 8 rED: 5; 25% Damage Reduction; 3d6 Damage Negation 5 SPD 30 10 REC 6 30 END 2 12 BOD 2 36 STN 8 18m RUN 6 6m SWIM 1 8m LEAP 2 Characteristics Cost: 154 Cost Power 6 Healing: Regeneration (1 BODY per 6 Hours) 24 Brawler: Damage Negation (-3 DCs Physical, -3 DCs Energy) (30 Active Points); Unified Power (-1/4) 12 Brawler: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 25% (15 Active Points); Unified Power (-1/4) 12 Brawler: Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 25% (15 Active Points); Unified Power (-1/4) 12 Brawler: Resistant Protection (5 PD/5 ED) (15 Active Points); Unified Power (-1/4) 6 Brawler: +10 CON (10 Active Points); Only to protect from being stunned (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 2 Tough Mind: Mental Defense (13 points total) (3 Active Points); Unified Power (-1/4) 2 Tough: Power Defense (3 points) (3 Active Points); Unified Power (-1/4) 4 Fearless: +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Only for defense (-1), Unified Power (-1/4) 4 Fearless: +10 Mental Defense (13 points total) (10 Active Points); Only vs fear-based effects (-1), Unified Power (-1/4) 4 Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (4 Active Points) applied to Running 5 Tireless: Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (5 Active Points) applied to STR Powers Cost: 93 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver 3 Legsweep: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -1 DCV, 7d6 Strike, Target Falls 4 Fast Strike: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, 8d6 Strike 5 Offensive Strike: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 10d6 Strike 8 +2 HTH Damage Class(es) Martial Arts Cost: 20 Cost Skill 16 +2 with HTH Combat 1 Bureaucratics 8- 2 KS: Fire and Building safety laws 11- 3 Mechanics 11- 3 Paramedics 11- 2 PS: Firefighter 11- 3 Streetwise 14- (16-) Skills Cost: 30 Total Character Cost: 297 Pts. Complication 20 Dependent NPC: Any helpless or needy child he encounters Infrequently (Incompetent; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID) 15 Enraged: harmed in combat (Uncommon), go 11-, recover 11- 20 Hunted: Mutant Hunters Infrequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish) 15 Psychological Complication: Never give up, never surrender (Common; Strong) 15 Psychological Complication: Very protective of young people (Common; Strong) 15 Psychological Complication: Fearless and reckless (Common; Strong) 10 Social Complication: (Secret Identity) Frequently, Minor Complication Points: 110 Base Points: 300
  15. The story should indicate the reputation of being a killer, I agree. Toxxyn isn't but has been branded as one; thanks for reminding me. I wanted an "unfair treatment" element like Spider-Man puts up with from the news, but something different. In this case, because of something in Toxxyn's past, cops and the public remember that supposedly there was a murder but it isn't true. the problem with 20DC of damage negation is that its 100 points, which is way over what I'm trying to put the active cap at and breaks the character's cost. 20 PD makes the fall from any realistic height in the game survivable, if painful. I really should have split out the stats in the write up for Vulcan, though, you're right.
  16. If you don't move to 6th I strongly advise borrowing a few of the changes: Area effect cost, extremely well done and flexible Damage Over Time advantage, somewhat complicated but solves massive problems from previous builds Restructuring of Transform costs Change Environment concepts and additions (such as choking) Some of the new sense modifiers like Adjacent and penetrative instead of N-Ray AVAD and ACV advantages, much better than previous attempts And yeah I use a modified Champions Universe, with my own timeline and stuff added in and some left out (like Detroit being obliterated).
  17. To be honest, I wouldn't allow this. I get the concept, but what you're doing is building in a limitation that lowers cost considerably, then finding a way around that limitation with a power pool and I just don't like that at a gut level.
  18. TOXXYN OK, so its a bit of an Image/Iron Age 90's -name, but it has some charm and should appeal to some players pretty well. Toxxyn is the Spider-Man type, the agile fast sort. I built Toxxyn around a Jumping Spider as per the suggestion of Steriaca and so no webs but lots of jumping ability, and a poison-concept physical attack so its a spider concept without being a Spidey clone (and a lot less complex than the web build). Toxxyn is built to be able to fall long distances safely (that 30 PD plus breakfall = can fall from orbit safely) and has 360-degree vision instead of spider sense. Hit hits hard (9d6) but can do the 5d6 poison-based AVAD as well. ALL STORY: Toxxyn was a Taxi Driver who was driving a strange guy in an obvious disguise through The City when the fare opened up his briefcase and out rushed this green smoke that filled the cab. The fare laughed and shouted something about how they were all going to pay, then passed out. Toxxyn pulled over and bailed out of the car, but felt no ill effects. It turned out that the fare was a mad scientist who meant to set off a chemical attack to punish the City for refusing Toxxyn a grant, but the spider venom-based bio weapon was not properly designed and seemed to have no effect. However, it did do something: it activated Toxxyn's latent genetic abilities, and gave the character fantastic jumping spider powers. Now, Toxxyn uses their amazing powers to fight crime in a spectacular manner. Unfortunately, early in Toxxyn's crime fighting career, while chasing a criminal he fell to his death just as Toxxyn was reaching for him, and cops below thought he pushed the wretch off the building. NOw, cops and many on the street think Toxxyn is a lethal vigilante, but this character avoids killing at all costs and hates the idea of it. No distinction between male and female stories here. Toxxyn Val Char Cost 30 STR 20 Lift: 1600kg; 6d6 23 DEX 26 18 CON 8 10 INT 0 10 EGO 0 15 PRE 5 Presence Attack: 3d6 6 OCV 15 7 DCV 20 3 OMCV 0 3 DMCV 0 10 PD 8 With Combat Luck: PD 19; rPD 9 (Against falling damage: PD 30) 10 ED 8 With Combat Luck: ED 19; rED 9 5 SPD 30 9 REC 5 40 END 4 10 BOD 0 30 STN 5 15m RUN 3 4m SWIM 0 30m LEAP 13 Characteristics Cost: 170 Cost Power 33 Toxic Bite: Blast 5d6, Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Life Support vs poison; All Or Nothing; +1) (50 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 12 Spider-Punch: Hand-To-Hand Attack +3d6 (9d6 w/STR) (15 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4) 8 Drift: +20 PD (20 Active Points); Only for falling damage (-1 1/2) 18 Tough: Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED) 5 Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees) with Normal Sight 5 Jumping Spider: Leaping 0m (30m forward, 15m upward) (x4 Noncombat) 6 Keen Senses: +2 PER with all Sense Groups 10 Spider Climb: Clinging (normal STR) Powers Cost: 97 Cost Skill 3 Breakfall 14- 3 CK: The City 12- 3 Combat Driving 14- 3 Streetwise 12- 2 PS 11- Skills Cost: 14 Cost Perk 1 Fringe Benefit: License to practice a profession (taxi medallion) Perks Cost: 1 Cost Talent 18 Combat Luck (9 PD/9 ED) Talents Cost: 18 Total Character Cost: 300 Pts. Complication 15 Dependent NPC: Current love interest Frequently (Normal) 20 Hunted: Mutant Hunters Frequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish) 10 Hunted: Local law Enforcement Frequently (As Pow; NCI; Limited Geographical Area; Mildly Punish) 5 Negative Reputation: Killer, Infrequently 15 Psychological Complication: Loves city, protective of city and population (Common; Strong) 15 Psychological Complication: Code against killing (Common; Strong) 15 Social Complication: Secret Identity Frequently, Major 5 Unluck: 1d6 Complication Points: 100 Base Points: 300 *updated to reflect complications more clearly.
  19. Right: combat stats are more expensive. REC is probably too cheap right now because of this, it maybe should be 1.5 per point but the math is funny that way. I think END is too cheap right now as well.
  20. Its a problem, and related to the way players tend to avoid vulnerabilities as a complication as well. The genre is now "I can't be hurt, hulk smash" most of the time now. This is why campaign caps and careful examination of characters is a good idea. The low DCV thing you can teach players not to do with some strategically placed AVAD attacks.
  21. Every time I've run a convention game I had pre-made characters and a pretty straight forward scenario. Nobody had any problem with the system, as they were already fans.
  22. Exactly. Its especially good compared to the alternatives out there in gaming today. I still haven't seen a system I prefer over it. Its not really any more simple if you use any tool at all to keep track. And variations of when people move is an excellent way to represent skill and swiftness in combat that is simply stripped away by removing the speed chart. Even in games where all speed values are very similar (most heroic settings) you can still get a feel for combat ability through one point variations.
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