Christopher R Taylor

Running (only for half move, -1/2) plus a HTA with double knockback would work for that. Try a Line Effect HTA, run up and run back. To end up on the other end of the list, either buy lots of levels with multiple move-by, or a triggered teleport after the HTA line attack Other tricks I have used in the past: running usable by all within a small area (carry people along with your kinetic energy as you run) Damage Reduction/Negation with DEX roll or just only attacks he's aware of (move at the last moment to minimize damage) Clairvoyance only areas he can run to (run up and look, then run back) Teleport, not through solid objects (dash to a specific spot)

It never was very well done; weak art and subpar writing. but at least it had a good heart and showcased the Champions universe. In my opinion, there could easily be a Champions comic book, and I tried doing webcomic once, but it would take a dedicated and talented writer and artist willing to work for peanuts - or nothing - a long time until it caught on and made some money. The old comic got better art but pretty much turned into cheesecake and the writing was never any better.

Yeah she does a lot of hovering poses. Given her powerset, she technically ought to be able to fly (sort of, unpredictably) but she doesn't in the comics.

I tihnk Icicle was Icestar's sister - the guy from the Guardians. Although that might have just been in the comic?

I'm against anything that makes the rules more complicated, to be honest. They're already complicated enough as is.

Well I hope DJWebb wanders across this at some point. Posted in July with no responses, and its such an easy thing to rebuild guys. From the very first champions game I played in 1982 I understood normal humans were 10-20 without any charts, I think it was even mentioned in the rules.

I can't find my old books, I had the old gray cover Champions and the first printings of II and III, the bindings had fallen apart so I had them in a notebook but I lost it apparently

Today's spell is an Everquest inspired effect. Enchanters and other characters could reduce "aggro" in targets, so they were less likely to care about actions you took nearby them. That way you could get one target from a group and pull him over to attack, or move by a monster without them becoming upset and attacking. I liked that effect quite a bit and it took a while to puzzle out how to make it work in Hero. What I finally came up with is a Mind Control that made creatures think that the targets are non threatening, uninteresting creatures, ones that are so meaningless that if they don't get too close or do anything that conflicts with this idea, they will be left alone. And since using Invisible Power Effects on mental powers makes them forgotten once the power is ended, they don't get mad later. HARMONY EFFECT: Calms and lowers aggression in a group of creatures Active Cost: 50 Range: LOS Real Cost: 10 Gesture: yes Spell Roll: -5 Incantation: yes END Cost: 5 Side Effect: yes Casting Time: Phase focus Concentrate: ½ DCV Focus: OAF Area: 4 2m x 2m areas Like Soothe, this spell calms creatures so that they do not perceive the caster and those he chooses to protect as significant threats. As long as the party does nothing aggressive or moves within a half move (by the creature’s movement) of any of the targets, they will be ignored. Harmony only requires an effect equal to the target’s Ego score to take effect, unless they have conflicting Psychological Complications. POWERS: Mental Control 5d6 (ignore distant enemies) MODIFIERS: Area Effect Any x2 (+1/2), Invisible to target (+1/2); Bonus (1), Gesture (1/4), Extra Time Full Phase focus (1/2), No effect if in combat (-1/2), OAF (-1), Side Effect cannot use on target again (-1/4), Concentrate ½ DCV (-1/4), Single Effect - telepathic (-1/4) [+1; 4] ACTIVE / REAL COST FOR OTHER MASTERY: Journeyman: 4d6=40/8; Master: 6d6=60/11; 7d6=70/13 Grandmaster: 8d6=80/15; 9d6=90/17

Oh, and BTTUMEY up there is the player of the mentalist Rose from the first Champions campaign, ever. Thanks for the info on Gargoyle, when I get more info I'll tweak him a little.

A lot of it had to do with figured characteristics too. Starburst has 25 Con, Crusader 28 DEX. That was done because those stats gave you lots of bonuses more than character design or logic.

I'm getting in touch with the original first GM and co-creator of Champions George MacDonald for campaign notes and info on the characters :) So hopefully I'll be able to hook you up with good authorized editions and information soon.

I think you're right, actually. I seem to recall at least one little comic in the Champions books depicting him in that capacity. Or was it he that ate the microphone from Gyro Jim?

Yeah, she punched ol' Marie clear to the moon. I've heard good things about the reboted Ms Marvel, supposedly.

Binary is one of those characters that probably shouldn't even be given a character sheet. Talk about vast cosmic power.

Yeah I gave it the 12- activation roll because that was Crusader's Find Weakness roll in the Big Blue Book. I think they pulled Find Weakness because it was infinite, you could in theory reduce everyone's defenses to 1 (or 0, depending on how your GM treats fractions).

The guy that played Rose still does, at least. I have her built based on some notes he shared but I'm hoping he'll do a rebuild so it will be official. That leaves Icestar whose personality and background I know nothing about (save that he's not the womanizing frat boy he was portrayed as in the comics).

Yeah, its protective. But they have no defensive powers, and the armor can't be very impressive. I'm sure, in any case, you know what I mean by characters with lots of power but no defenses like oh, just to pick one out of a hat, Wanda/The Scarlet Witch. Right?

And now a truly horrifying monster, the Kurse. These are two foot long locust with evil intent. They don't cost very many points and don't seem like much of a threat to a PC but normal locusts can utterly obliterate a nation's economy even in modern day. So many will arrive they blot out the sun and are nearly impossible to keep out of houses, cars, etc. It takes them a matter of hours to strip trees, crops, almost anything. Now imagine them being bigger than a cat, swarming by the tens of thousands. Kurse Val Char Cost 8 STR -2 14 DEX 8 7 CON -3 5 BOD -5 3 INT -7 3 EGO -7 10 PRE 0 3 PD 1 rPD: 1 2 ED 0 rED: 1 3 SPD 10 3 REC -1 20 END 0 14 STN -3 8m RUN -4 2m SWIM -1 7m LEAP 2 Characteristics Cost: 2 Cost Power 15 Bite: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1/2d6 (1d6 w/STR), Penetrating (+1/2) (15 Active Points) 12 Grip: Clinging (14 STR) 5 Wings: Flight 8m (8 Active Points); Restrainable (-1/2) 2 Chitin: (Total: 2 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Resistant (+1/2) (1 Active Points) applied to PD (Real Cost: 1) plus Resistant (+1/2) (1 Active Points) applied to ED (Real Cost: 1) 2 Bug Eyes: Increased Arc Of Perception (240 Degrees) with Normal Sight 3 Devour Crops: Major Transform 0 1/2d6 (Green and prosperous crops, dead creatures, and trees to dead, stripped, and chewed), Partial Transform (+1/2), Area Of Effect (10m Radius; +3/4) (11 Active Points); Extra Time (5 Minutes, -2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Limited Target (Plants, wood, and dead animals only; -1/4) 7 Chew: Tunneling 2m through 6 PD material (14 Active Points); Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2) Powers Cost: 46 Total Character Cost: 48 Pts. Complication 10 Physical Complication: Small (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing) 20 Physical Complication: Instictive Intelligence (Frequently; Greatly Impairing) Complication Points: 30 Ecology: There is never an encounter with just one Kurse, they always move in swarms of hundreds. These creatures descend on a plot of land and strip it totally bare to the ground in a matter of minutes, then move on. Anything at all caught in the area will be attacked, plant or animal. Personality/Motivation: Kurse think of little beyond simple hunger and desire to destroy. Individually they are calmer, but in a swarm they work up to a frenzy of wanton rampage. Powers/Tactics: Kurse attack by clinging to something and biting. Like any Locust, they can chew through things very rapidly, but their size makes the Kurse far worse. Able to chew their way through any wood and even soft stone, these creatures will level a farm and devour entire trees at a time. Enough of them can make very short work of even cattle, bones and all. Individually, the Kurse are not especially tough; a single sword stroke usually will take one out. But in a swarm, the Kurse can be very deadly. Campaign Use: Kurse are super locust, with all the threat and danger of the Locust multiplied by hundreds due to size and strength. Because they are encountered only in very large numbers, these can be quite a challenge for even powerful characters and a horrendous blight on a large area of agriculture. Kurse chitin is too small and weak to be used for armor, but their “tobacco” spit is a minor alchemical base. Appearance: Kurse are giant locust, up to two feet in length and around 20 pounds in weight. These gray-green horrors have black markings on their wings that somewhat resemble a skull when Unfolded and viewed from above.

I'm not sure what his regular day job was, so I left it blank. Professional Skill (whatever he did for a living)

True, with first edition you have to limit yourself to area effect, fine control, and invisible power effects for fancy TK stuff. But you can use the blast, flight, and force field as well.

That is the problem with most comic book characters, they're either really tough... or have no special defenses at all. Cyclops is the perfect example. He's a guy with an energy blast, he can't take a hit. Storm is the same way, lots of offense and utility, no defense. Only the kindness of writers keeps them above ground, really.

And Starburst. A little quicker and easier build, although his vulnerabilities make him basically toast in any street fight. Certainly not a build I'd do. Nothing tricky about his abilities, except his Force Field. Because of the active cost I had to slash his FF down from 25/25 to 15/17 to fit it in the Multipower, then put a non-multipower forcefield outside it that's linked to the one inside. Yes, its cheezy and I'd never allow it with my campaign, but it gave him the full defenses he's supposed to have, and it also gives him the advantage of having some decent defenses without the FF on full power in his multipower. Plus, I had to muddle about with his Reputations. In the 4th edition build he had an 11- reputation "superhero" which is neither negative or really significant. So I played on his publicity seeking by giving him a positive rep so people would point and cry out his name (as a result of his efforts to be known) and media would scoff at him for being such a camera hound. Again, a bit gaudy in the stats, as was the norm back then. Starburst Val Char Cost 15 STR 5 Weight: 200kg Damage: 3d6 23 DEX 26 25 CON 15 10 BOD 0 10 INT 0 Perception Roll: 11- 11 EGO 1 15 PRE 5 Presence Attack: 3d6 10 PD 8 With Force Field: 35 PD; 25 rPD 15 ED 13 With Force Field: 40 ED; 25 rED 5 SPD 30 9 REC 5 60 END 8 31 STN 6 12m RUN 0 4m SWIM 0 6m LEAP 1 Characteristics Cost: 166 Cost Power 5 Star Sight: Infrared Perception (Sight Group) 6 Star Vision: +4 versus Range Modifier for Sight Group 50 Starburst Powers: Multipower, 50-point reserve 10v 1) Star Blast: Blast 10d6 (50 Active Points) 6v 2) Star Field: Resistant Protection (15 PD/17 ED) (48 Active Points); Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) 10v 3) Star Soaring: Flight 40m, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points) 13 Star Burst: Sight Group Flash 4d6 (20 Active Points); Linked (Star Blast; -1/2) 13 Force Field: Resistant Protection (10 PD/8 ED) (27 Active Points); Linked (Star Field; -1/2), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) Powers Cost: 113 Cost Skill 2 +1 OCV with Energy Blast 3 Computer Programming 11- 3 Scientist 1 1) Science Skill: Computer Science 11- (2 Active Points) 1 2) Science Skill: Mathematics 11- (2 Active Points) 1 3) Science Skill: Nuclear Physics 11- (2 Active Points) 1 4) Science Skill: Physics 11- (2 Active Points) Skills Cost: 12 Cost Perk 2 Positive Reputation: Famous Superhero (A large group) 11-, +1/+1d6 Perks Cost: 2 Total Character Cost: 293 Pts. Complication 10 Hunted: Pulsar Infrequently (As Pow; Harshly Punish) 5 Negative Reputation: Publicity Hound, Frequently (Known Only To A Small Group - reporters and media) 15 Psychological Complication: Publicity Seeker, lives on media attention (Common; Strong) 10 Psychological Complication: Underconfident, insecury (Common; Moderate) 15 Psychological Complication: Scientific Curiosity (Common; Strong) 5 Rivalry: Professional (Co-Worker; Rival is As Powerful; Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry) 15 Social Complication: Secret Identity Frequently, Major 25 Susceptibility: Darkness Fields 3d6 damage per Phase (Uncommon) 20 Vulnerability: 2 x STUN HKAs (Common) 20 Vulnerability: 2 x BODY HKAs (Common) 10 Vulnerability: 2 x STUN Darkness Attacks (Uncommon) Complication Points: 150 and of course the HD file again Starburst.hdc

I'll get them built here in a bit just out of nostalgia. OK first, Crusader. He's a bit of a nut job, almost crazed. I toned down his "berserk" into an enraged, so he's not so unstable but he's still a bit unhinged. His stats are really gaudy because that was kind of common back in 4th edition, but I kept him as exact as I could. Plus, since Find Weakness and Missile Deflection went bye-bye, I had to build equivalents of both effects for 6th edition Crusader Val Char Cost 20 STR 10 Lift: 800kg Damage: 4d6 28 DEX 36 20 CON 10 12 BOD 2 18 INT 8 Perception Roll: 13- 11 EGO 1 18 PRE 8 Presence Attack: 3 1/2d6 15 PD 13 With Shield Deflect: 20 PD; 5 rPD 11 ED 9 With Shield Deflect: 16 ED; 5 rED 6 SPD 40 12 REC 8 40 END 4 33 STN 7 14m RUN 2 4m SWIM 0 8m LEAP 2 Characteristics Cost: 226 Cost Power 4 Shield: Resistant Protection (5 PD/5 ED) (15 Active Points); OAF (Shield; -1), Requires A Roll (Block roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -1), Only vs attacks Crusader is aware of (-1/2) 7 Glider Cape: Flight 18m (18 Active Points); Gliding (-1), OIF (Costume; -1/2) 4 Find Weakness: Armor Piercing on Punch Martial Art (7 Active Points); Requires A Roll (12- roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4) Powers Cost: 15 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver 4 Chop: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, HKA 2d6 4 Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 30 STR to Disarm 5 Kick: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 8d6 Strike 4 Punch: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 6d6 Strike Martial Arts Cost: 17 Cost Skill 3 Acrobatics 15- 3 Breakfall 15- 24 +3 with HTH Combat 6 +3 with block maneuvers using shield 3 Criminology 13- 3 Deduction 13- 2 KS: Organized Crime 11- 3 CK: Home City 12- 3 Shadowing 13- 3 Stealth 15- 3 Streetwise 13- Skills Cost: 56 Cost Talent 3 +1/+1d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all characters) Talents Cost: 3 Total Character Cost: 317 Pts. Complication 20 Dependent NPC: Sally Robinson - girlfriend Frequently (Incompetent; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID) 20 Enraged: If people killed (Uncommon), go 14-, recover 11- 15 Hunted: CIA Infrequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Mildly Punish) 20 Hunted: Viper Infrequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish) 10 Negative Reputation: Vigilante, Frequently 20 Psychological Complication: Code vs Killing (Common; Total) 15 Psychological Complication: Distrust of Authorities (Common; Strong) 15 Psychological Complication: Hatred of Killing Attacks (Common; Strong) 10 Psychological Complication: Hatred of Criminals (Uncommon; Strong) 15 Social Complication: Secret Identity Frequently, Major Complication Points: 160 And of course the HD file Crusader.hdc

A few GMing tips from my experiences: Mooks and minor agents, thugs, and assorted criminals should be at most speed 3 and dex 14. They aren't meant to be a significant threat, just something to slow the PCs and give them a feeling of accomplishment. Mowing through a crowd of nobodies makes you feel heroic and powerful. Instead of assigning them all their stats, just give them an attack, their dex and speed, a base CV for both OCV and DCV (to make it easier to remember and use, keep it the same, and lower than 6 at absolute most), and just assign them "hits." Figure any successful attack on a mook ticks off one of these "hits" and when all their hits are gone, they drop and don't get back up. 2-3 is good for faceless minions. Sergeants and special units can have 4-5. Against lieutenant level guys who organize and command the minions, build them as NPCs and give them good stats; they should be the equal or nearly so of any one given PC. Their fights should matter and use up some of the party's resources (charges, endurance, etc). "boss" fights or main supervillains should be built and be significantly more powerful than the PCs. I used to use a rule of thumb for my supervillain builds of starting at the average party member's point total, plus 50 for each additional member of the party. So if you have an average point value of 300 points and 6 members of the Super Troopers, then give your big villain 300 + 50x6 or 600 total points. That should give you enough points to make the whole party have to work to beat him, but not be overwhelming. I don't know 100% if that rule of thumb still works well, given the point inflation Champions has undergone over the years. A big boss needs enough speed to act so he's not just overwhelmed by all the PCs. For each one move he gets, every PC will move once, if he's got the same speed as them. That means he gets one action to every six of the Super Troopers in that scheme. That's bad for Mr Big. So he needs to be faster than the average PC, and it helps if he has lieutenants with him to tie up the party. Make sure your big boss is not vulnerable to any special attack from the party. If he has a DMCV (mental combat value) of 2 and no Mental Defense, then Brain Boy of the Super Troopers is going to use him for a boot licker. That's not to say he should be invulnerable to their attacks; Mr Big can have a vulnerability or weakness to some obscure use or rarely tried power. Brain Boy has a flame attack he uses only against robots, maybe Mr Big has lower Energy Defense against fire? I prefer lower DCV for my villains, because few things are more disappointing than missing in a game. It means you failed, you did your last thing that phase, and all you can do is sit and mope until you get to move again, which might be a while. By keeping DCV relatively low and defenses higher, you can give the party a challenge without making them feel like they're wasting time and continually swapping dice out for luckier ones.

I've never had that happen but in several games we've had a roving NPC called "Bacis Tira" who was the guy visitors, guests, and one-shot players would sit in with. He's been in a wide variety of different non-superheroic games and became sort of our term for an NPC that everyone can play.